The Same Mind
Palm Sunday 2026
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Caesarea Maritima was a fabulous city built by Herod the Great – the Herod that was the King of Judea when Jesus was born. It – not Jerusalem – was the capital of the Roman province of Judea. It sits right on the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, and Herod built the first man-made harbor there. The trading of goods and flow of people all came through it.
It had a large outdoor theater, a hippodrome where they would have chariot races and gladiator fights, and numerous temples including one to Emperor Tiberius. And Herod built his palace on a promontory reaching out into the Mediterranean, with the sea on three sides. He also had a large freshwater swimming pool in the middle of it. Very impressive.
In June of 1961, Maria Teresa Fortuna Canivet was part of an Italian team of archaeologists under Antonio Frova excavating the ancient outdoor theater at Caesarea Maritima. As she was working her way very carefully around a staircase, she noticed writing on a block that was simply supporting a stair with the Latin inscription PONTIVS PILATIVS PRAEFECTVS JVDAE or “Pontius Pilate; Prefect (Governor) of Judea.” That remains the only inscription ever found with Pilate’s name on it, and the only archaeological piece pertaining to him except for some coins he minted. They think it was originally on the temple dedicated to Emperor Tiberius, then later got used to support that stair in the theater during a renovation or expansion centuries later.
Pilate was governor of Judea from 26 AD to 36 AD. (So it began almost exactly 2,000 years ago.) He lived in Herod’s fabulous palace on the sea, with its freshwater pool and incredible view. He enjoyed the theater and the hippodrome from the very best seats. He oversaw the renovation of that temple from honoring the old emperor Augustus to the new one Tiberius. His job was to keep the region calm and producing food for the empire and wealth for the emperor.
In the Gospels, he comes across at most as indifferent and at times reluctant to condemn Jesus. Matthew shares that Pilate’s wife warned him to “have nothing to do with this man.” He does a personal inquiry of Jesus, and while not understanding him, sees no reason to kill him. He offers to release him, but the crowds choose Barabbas.
Pilate is also documented by the historians Josephus and Tacitus. They describe him as harsh and brutal. They say he was prone to conducting executions without trial. He purposefully marched Roman banners hailing Emperor Tiberius’s image as a god. That of course incensed the Jews. When thousands protested, he threatened to kill them. Later, when thousands protested him using money from the Temple treasury to build an aqueduct, he sent undercover soldiers among them and, on a signal, they pulled out their swords and began killing people. HE was eventually relieved of command when he attacked a large Samaritan religious gathering on Mt. Gerizim.
Nice guy.
We see in Pilate an all-too-common human response to power and money, which is to grasp it and use it to our own advantage. Some of that self-interest is quite normal. It drives us to do a good job, to succeed, advance, take on more responsibility and better pay.
But what makes a boss bad? What makes a politician or a king bad? When they grasp that power for themselves rather than the people and mission they are supposed to serve. We see that play out in all sorts of bad behaviors, and any of us can slip into trouble rather easily when our minds are focused on ours desires and our worries.
Paul advises the Church at Philippi to have the same mind as Christ. Mind here is more than just the way we think. The classic understanding is that we are comprised of mind, body and spirit, which are all fully integrated in us as human beings. The mind is the seat of thought, reason, personality, will and purpose. It includes perception and the meaning of what we perceive, as well as how we orient and direct ourselves in the world. Our circumstances feed a lot into how our minds perceive our place in the world moment to moment and how we respond.
Pilate’s mind – his actions and methods – fit with his role under the emperor and within the empire. That doesn’t mean we like or approve what he did, just that we understand the mind of a brutal foreign governor ruling over a rebellious local people, exploiting his position and power for his personal gain as well as self-preservation.
In contrast, Jesus had equality with God. He didn’t exploit that for his own gain. He didn’t even grasp it to make his own life more comfortable. Rather, he emptied himself.
Jesus’s mind was entirely focused on his mission, to reconcile the world to his Father. To do that, he expressly avoided every aspect of position and power that Pilate had and used aggressively. Pilate lived in a luxurious palace on the sea. Jesus was homeless, we might call him a couch-surfer. Pilate had an administrative structure backed by thousands of troops. Jesus had a few friends who voluntarily followed him.
Pilate would do anything, no matter how offensive or brutal, to assert and protect his position for himself. Jesus, through whom all things were made, gave – gave – himself over to death, death on a cross.
Pilate had his name inscribed on that stone to commemorate his rule. Despite his power and position, it wound up hidden under a stair. We mostly remember him as a brief stop on the way to the cross. Jesus is exalted to the right hand of the Father. His name is above every name. He brings light, healing and hope around the world and across the centuries.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Let his mind be in your family life, the ways you see and care for them; how you support and serve your friends; how you conduct yourself in work or retirement.
And let that same mind be in us, together, as a church, so that we can better serve our community within the church and around us, to erase any doubt about the true gift God has given us in Christ Jesus.
AMEN!