My name is Pilate, Pontius Pilate

Fr. Bill Yates

     I was, by appointment of Caesar, recently Governor of the Eastern Province of Judea.  And it is my pleasure, honorable Senators of Rome, to present my report to you this day. 

     It seems there have been some malicious rumors floating around lately about a certain Christus who supposedly died there in Jerusalem but came back to life ---- or so people say.  Furthermore, some sources blame me as the one who killed him because I am a Jew-hater.

     Neither of these accusations are true.  Allow me to set the record straight so these falsehoods might be stopped.

     Let me give you my first-hand accounting of the actual events:

First of all – being Governor of Judea is a very difficult job.  You have no idea how irascible those Jews are!  Never has there ever been a people as cantankerous, excitable and rebellious!!  One does not govern Judea – One sits on it!  You must hold the lid on firmly –- with all your strength!

     And they are obsessively religious – but only to their God – They have no tolerance for other gods – can’t stand our venerable Roman Pantheon – Don’t ask them to burn incense to our gods – they’d die first.

          They have three parties.  The first and most dangerous are the Zealots.  They are religious guerilla warriors whose greatest joy is to ambush Roman soldiers.  They are tough – fanatical – Impossible to stamp out.

     And then we have their religious leaders --- called Sadducees – they’re the slickest bunch of weasels you ever saw.

     They’ll say anything to try to get you to do what they want.  And what they want is more money!  They have all kinds of scams in which they bilk their own people!  They put up with Roman authority only because it suits their business interests.  One can’t believe a word they say –They just use us for their own benefit.    

     And then there are the Pharisees.  These are the super religious group of Jews.  They dress special so that people will notice them. 

     And they stand around and walk around very erect, haughty and pious.  They believe that if one can follow all 700 of their rules then he is the perfect Jewish man.  They like nothing better than to sit around all day and argue minute points of their religion.  They ignore us Romans and refuse to have anything to do with us.  Basically non-cooperation. 

     Honorable Senators – Judea is an illogical place!  It’s the ultimate challenge for a Roman Governor.  And I think when I am finished today – you will agree with me that I did the best that could be done in a very difficult situation. 

     Now back to those ill-founded rumors.  The man who died – his name was Jesus called Christ.  He was a religious teacher, - an impressive fellow, he was.  But don’t worry about his followers – He’s dead and this whole business will fade with time.

     Let me tell you what actually happened.  It’s nothing to worry about – I was in control!

Here are the facts:

     As I said earlier, it had been a trying year – all the usual difficulties with the Jews had been dealt with.

     But one morning, in the Spring, near the time of one of their religious festivals which they call Passover – The Sadducees and Pharisees brought me a prisoner – this Jesus.  They lodged many charges against him.

     Upon investigation, I found that most of their charges were in conflict, one witness said one thing – and another said something else – they couldn’t agree on anything except that this Jesus must die.

     Upon examining the man, I could ascertain nothing deserving death.  They were just angry because he was spoiling their party:  the profitable Temple concessions – their special privileges and their authority over the people.

     He was just a simple teacher, that’s all he was, but he scared them to death!

     Since this Jesus was a Galilean, I sent him over to Herod Antipas – tetrarch of Galilee who was in Jerusalem at that time.  He should try him -since he was Herod’s subject.  But before I knew it, Herold sent him back – saying that Jesus was a religious wacko – and that he didn’t care what I did with him.

     Well, the Jewish leaders were more insistent than ever that the man should die.

     About that time, my wife sent me a message.  She had had a dream about the man Jesus which highly agitated her. She wrote – “Have nothing to do with this man – He is innocent.”

     Now the only reason I bring that up is to reinforce my position that he was not guilty of a capital offense.  Even the gods gave me a message through my wife!

     I tried to get him off the hook and set free.  But the Chief Priests had stirred up huge crowds and they were yelling and carrying on.

     The chief priest – ah – Caiaphas was his name – even said to me that he had prophesied under divine inspiration, that “it was expedient that one man should die for the people.”  And he said this Jesus was that man!  Seeing I was getting nowhere with them, I decided to try another tack.  I ordered Jesus to be scourged, And he was whipped within an inch of his life. 

     Then I set the broken, bleeding man before the crowd.  I thought they would have pity on him then.  (He was a mess.)  But they didn’t.  No pity.  They still demanded his death. 

     So, I tried something else. 

     Every Passover, I had established a custom to release one criminal from jail – (a small thing to be sure, but it played well to the crowds!)  So I suggested to them that I release this Jesus for the Passover.

      Was I surprised when the crowd started yelling for the release instead of a murderer called Barabbas (one of those insane Zealots).  I was very loathe to do what they demanded – But what could I do – The crowd was getting larger and uglier by the second.  I had only one cohort in the city and my soldiers were outnumbered a hundred to one, a thousand to one!

     The crowd was yelling louder and louder for me to free Barabbas and crucify Jesus!  They started throwing dirt in the air and rocks at my troops.  The situation was about to explode.

     So I made up my mind that all this trouble was not worth the life of one insignificant man.

     I signaled for quiet and to my surprise – the mob got silent as ghosts.  I sat down on the judgement seat – took a bowl of water – and washed my hands in front of them. 

I proclaimed to them that I found this Jesus innocent and not deserving death – but if they wanted to kill him – it would be on their consciences!  I’ll never forget what some of them replied.  They cried, “His blood be on us and our children.”

     Incredible! Then the crowd started chanting  Crucify  Crucify Crucify!!!   So I had him taken out and nailed to a cross – and the crowd was pacified.  The poor man was so beaten up and bloody that he didn’t last but half a day – And he died….

     A short time later, a quiet Jewish merchant – Joseph, who I knew, from the town of Arimathea – (I think it was)- came to me and asked for the body – and I gave him permission.  He took the dead man down and buried him in a tomb outside Jerusalem…

     Well, as if that wasn’t enough, the Jewish authorities came back again late that afternoon.  They were still unhappy.  Now they were afraid of the dead man!  They asked me to set a guard on the tomb because Jesus’ followers might steal his body and then say he was alive again.  To placate (humor) them, I detailed a small guard to be set at the tomb. 

Then I desired only for peace and quiet and to forget about this whole unfortunate business, So I returned to my chambers.

     Two days later, I was awakened early with the news that the body had, in fact, been stolen during the night.  No doubt some guards had fallen asleep!  I concluded at the moment that it was no big deal and went on about my business.

     The following day, though, I began to hear rumors had been started that this Jesus was alive!  So I summoned my head Centurion who had overseen the execution.  He said that the rumors were absolutely false.  He saw the man die on the cross with his own eyes –He even said he died with great dignity.  But he did die.  He told me that one of the soldiers made sure by stabbing his lance up through his heart.   He was dead.  These rumors have no foundation at all.

     As I end my report to you today, I want to summarize once more my position, basically I refute two charges:

1)     I was not this Jesus’ killer—his own people were.

2)     He isn’t alive.  His body was taken from the tomb.

Oh, I know you and I have all heard stories – how he appeared days later to his disciples on more than one occasion – that he even ate food with them!

     But logic itself would tell us that dead men can’t eat!

And besides – We take note that he supposedly only appeared to his followers – He didn’t appear in my house!  Or yours!

     And don’t you think it odd that only those who believed in him saw him alive again?!

     Well, Honorable Senators, those are the facts!

     This Jewish teacher, Jesus, died for his people – It wasn’t my fault – I tried to prevent it.  But they insisted and rioted! 

I had no choice.

     On the third day his tomb was empty – His body must have been taken – That’s the only Human Answer.

 After all, No one can be raised from the dead – unless he were God Himself !

Thank you, Honorable Senators. – This ends my report.