A Portrait of Two Kingdoms (John 18:33-37)

The Gospels paint a specific image of Pilate’s struggle. He ends up in our story because the Romans run the show in Judea and Galilee, taking over from the Greeks, Persians, Neo-Babylonians, and Assyrians before them. So, we get our representative of the outside evil empire stuck between a rock and hard place. The Temple hierarchy, as powerful stakeholders, have requested the death of this man, but Pilate cannot find any actual crime. Across the various Gospels, he tries several ways to pass the buck. Pilate sends Jesus back to the Temple hierarchy, or Herod, or the crowd, to strike a difficult balance – pleasing the people that he has to maintain control over and not bearing direct responsibility for slaughtering a clearly innocent (if a bit cryptic) man. What’s a man with his own army and the weight of the most powerful empire of its day to do?

We lean into this image of a man conflicted. An angry mob, whipped into a frenzy by the Temple, could overwhelm his meager forces, but he knows the truth of the matter. Even as he shows weakness in giving into expedients, we sympathize with his dilemma. True guilt lies squarely within the Temple confines. Pilate’s lack of a spine merely facilitates their wrath.

Outside historical sources reveal a far different look at Pilate and Roman power in Judea. Josephus, a Roman Jewish historian, records his own perspective on Pilate. He illustrates a scene, where Pilate has his solider quietly arm themselves and surround a protesting crowd. The populace objects to his bringing images of Roman gods into the confines of the holy city of Jerusalem. Pilate readied his men to put the crowd to death. They escape the sword that time, but in at least two other instances, Pilate has his soldiers kill protester in Jerusalem and Samaria to enforce Roman control. After a particularly violent episode, Pilate goes back to Roman and does not return. However, by 66 AD, the Jews in Judea fight an outright rebellion against their Roman occupiers, and the empire exerts extreme force to put it down leading to a siege on Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple, and the massacre of the final hold outs at Masada.

Josephus fought the Romans in that rebellion and, thus, has a particular axe to grind against them. With that, Pilate appears unrecognizable from the put upon and spineless bureaucrat from our mental images. From this perspective, Pilate had no issue slaying a mob angry about a one of his decisions. He did several times. Instead, he just didn’t care enough about killing an innocent man to risk the push back. When Pilate cared, when it matched a Roman priority, out came the swords, and down went the unarmed rabble. Doing the right thing by Jesus didn’t earn him anything that he wanted, so he didn’t. Josephus casts a much darker light on Pilate’s character – uncaring and self-interested rather than scared and spineless.

Either way, Pilate’s behavior in executing Jesus draws a contrast between rulers. Maybe, Pilate was trapped and unable to deploy adequate forces, and, so, to save his own skin and his power, he gave in and executed an innocent. Or, if Josephus accurately captures the man, Pilate calculated that saving Jesus gained himself and Rome nothing and let him die. Neither says positive things about how Rome ruled the world or how the Pax Romana remained in place. If the peace gets maintained, and Rome retains power, a few innocent people here and there can get murdered.

On the other side of this debate sits Jesus, who willingly dies for the sake of his kingdom. Pilate and Christ quip back and forth about kingship and truth, in part, because Pilate will sacrifice the truth to maintain his kingdom, and Jesus will sacrifice himself to illustrate the truth. In this otherworldly kingdom come to earth, the ruler establishes and leads the people with sacrificial love – creating an invitation to share in that love. He does not force, murder, or allow lies to stand. He does not seek to control, nor will he sacrifice the truth or others to maintain it.

Human power, all too often, forces and compels. Divine power invites and offers.

Rome viewed Pilate’s brand of cruelty and self interest as successful enough to make him governor. He didn’t succeed as governor – only lasting ten years and fueling the eventual rebellion, but the empire considered him as a capable enough leader to hand him significant responsibility. In that way, he reveals the larger priorities of an empire – their own. You don’t build the Roman Empire by looking out for other people’s needs. You may end up providing for the people that you rule but only in the ways that promote the power of the empire.

God built God’s kingdom on the exact opposite logic. Christ thought first of us – not his own power. He then invites us to share in that love.