Allow me to introduce myself to you. My name is Pontius Pilate. You probably know me as the Roman official who presided over the trial that ended with the sentence of crucifixion for Jesus the Christ.
Being the governor of an out-of-the-way and insignificant Roman province like Judea was not something for which I had an appetite. I was sent by Tiberius Caesar as discipline for my less than stellar performance in previous charges. No one from Rome aspired to the job of ruling Judea. For the most part we Romans looked down our noses at the Jews.
Clearly, I had no expectation of gaining any valuable experience or knowledge while I was in Judea...but I was utterly mistaken. The greatest lessons came that day when Jesus stood before me at a trial initiated by His own countrymen.
I did not do the right thing concerning Jesus that day. I should have risked my position as Roman governor...but I was so afraid of being called an enemy of Caesar.
If I had it to do over again I would try to be more like Jesus and less the bloodthirsty man I was.
He was brought before me so that I could pronounce judgment upon Him - yet,in reality, I was the one on trial. In a way, every one of us is on trial when it comes to Jesus. How will we respond to Him? That’s the greatest question of life?
So I’m here today to ask you not to make the same mistake I made. I’m here today to talk to you about Christ’s great example that day when He was placed on trial.
What can we learn from Jesus about handling trials?
First of all, on that fateful da when He was put on trial...
1. Jesus taught us to respond to our enemies with love instead of hate.
When the Jewish leaders and their mob brought this teacher and healer to me - the first thing I noticed was their intense hatred for the man.
CHIEF PRIEST: We have come before you today to have this man Jesus crucified. He has broken the laws of our people and he is a traitor to Rome as well.
PILATE: You find Him "guilty" even though you haven’t produced one shred of credible evidence againtst Him. "I dont’ find Him guilty of anything." (Lk 23:4 CEV) I am inclined to set Him free.
MOB MEMBER 1: "If you set this man free, you are no friend of the Emperor! Anyone who claims to be a king is an enemy of the Emperor!" (Jn. 19:12 CEV)
PILATE: Why are you so intent on taking the life of this just man?
CHIEF PRIEST: "First, he has broken the law of the Sabbath. But even worse, he said that God was his Father, which makes him equal with God." (Jn. 5:18 CEV)
So this was the real reason they wanted Him dead - He claimed to be the Son of God. But they knew that if they dared assault Jesus - the people would hold them accountable. So they exploited the power of my office for their own agenda.
I knew they despised me also. But now they were behaving as if I were their friend. It surely must have injured their pride to turn to me - another sign of how much they hated this man.
Normally, I wouldn’t have hesitated to oblige them in taking this man’s life. I had taken lives before. My ruthless nature was very well known.
MOB MEMBER 2: Why is Pilate hesitating to sentence Jesus to death? Everyone knows he cares nothing about taking innocent lives!
MOB MEMBER 3: "...he killed some people from Galilee while they were worshipping. He mixed their blood with the blood of the animals they were sacrificing to God." (Lk. 13:1 NCV)
MOB MEMBER 2: Surely a man like this isn’t concerned about the life of one more man.
I couldn’t stand being in the midst of these people who worshipped only one God. In Rome we were used to hundreds of deities. I hated these Jews for their narrow-minded fanaticism. I hated these religious leaders for putting me on the spot. I even wanted to hate Jesus for creating this controversy by His claims to be the Son of God. But as much as I wanted to hate Him, there was something so radically different about Him! Instead of the hate the rest of us exhibited that day - this man radiated only love!
There were other reasons I knew this man to be a man of love. Take, for instance, the Jewish tax collectors we Romans employed to collect tribute money for us. This was indeed one of my most important tasks as governor of Judea - making sure Rome received her money.
As you might well imagine, the Jews were not very happy with their brothers who worked for Rome in receiving our levies. These tax collectors were considered lower than dogs in the eyes of most other Jews...but not in the eyes of this man of love named Jesus. He loved the unlovable.
PILATE: Zacchaeus, what brings you to my court today? You are not due for another week.
ZACCHAEUS: You Excellency, I am here to report my guilt in withholding more money than I should have. I ask for mercy in whatever you should do to me for the wrongs I have done.
PILATE: Zacchaeus, surely you are joking! No one is more aware than I that you tax collectors are known thieves and scoundrels, taking more than you’re supposed to take. That’s how you’ve become so wealthy. We Romans count on your greed to keep our revenues high. What on earth has come over you?
ZACCHAEUS: Most noble governor, I have met the Messiah, the One promised by God to save us. His love for me has made me see that I no longer need to take from others what is not mine.
PILATE: But I thought all Jews despised you tax collectors?
ZACCHAEUS: Indeed they do...but not the Son of God. There is no hatred in His heart...only love. And now I have decide to follow Him. This is what I told Him: "I will give half of my property to the poor. And I will now pay back four times as much to everyone I have cheated." (Lk. 19:8 CEV)
Who is this man Jesus that He would love the unlovable? Who could turn a greedy, self-absorbed tax collector into a benefactor by the power of His love?
Even though I had hatred in my heart and even though there was hatred all around me, Jesus exhibited only love.
And when I looked at the love in Him I saw all the more clearly the darkness of hatred in my own heart.
If I had only learned from Him that day that love is more powerful than hatred; that grace is stronger than bitterness; that understanding is better than fear.
When I think back on that day I realize that it was fear that kept me from taking a stand for Christ. Plese don’t make that same mistake.
But there was something else Jesus taught that day at His trial.
2. Jesus taught us to suffer injustice to help others.
What I saw that day in the life and love of Jesus the Christ could not have been more diametrically different than everything I had ever learned as a Roman. Our culture was founded upon the domination of others. Ruthlessness and power plays were a part of every day Roman life.
And yet, before me stood this innocent man unjustly receiving the sentence of death...and He wouldn’t even say or do anything to keep the injustice from taking place.
This puzzled me greatly. I had been learning that injustice was something that particularly bothered Jesus.
There was the incident with Zacchaeus that I’ve already mentioned, but there was more. There was the report of the commotion Jesus caused at the Temple.
CENTURION: Sir, I wish to give report of the recent disruption in the Temple area. "Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the moneychangers and the stalls of those selling doves. He said, ’My Temple will be called a place of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves.’" (Matthew 21:12-13 NLT)
PILATE: I have been hearing more and more of this Jesus. What was His motive for disturbing the peace?
CENTURION: It is a well known fact that during the Jewish festivals when pilgrims arrive in Jerusalem from around the world, the local merchants take advantage of them by overcharging for the money exchange and the purchase of animal sacrifices. Jesus was angered by these injustices.
PILATE: Why didn’t the Jewish leaders interfere?
CENTURION: This Jesus is far too popular with the people. They see Him as their deliverer.
How could a man so grievously displeased with injustice allow Himself to suffer the greatest injustice of all - being publicly beaten and crucified in suffering and shame for crimes He didn’t even commit?
There was only one explanation.
He was going to suffer for the injustices of the world. He was going to suffer for the injustices of Rome, of the Jews...He was going to suffer for my injustice. He was going to die for my guilt! He was paying for my sins on that cross.
I thought I had washed my hands of the matter when I had Him crucified. But dying for others was His plan all along! It is recorded that He even said, "No one takes my life from me. I give it up of my own free will." (John 10:18 TEV)
It wasn’t that Jews that forced Jesus to the cross, or even the Romans. It wasn’t the mob with their shouts...
MOB MEMBERS IN UNISON: Crucify Him! Crucify Him!
But the cries of the crowd did not send Jesus to His death. He went willingly. His goal was to help me and you. He spent His entire ministry on earth helping others. He told His followers that they too were to be committed to helping others. And then He died in the greatest expression of loving and helping others that the world has ever seen.
He died for me. Would you all please say that out loud with me? "He died for me." Please say it again, "He died for me."
And I’ll tell you one more thing Jesus taught that day.
Not only did Jesus teach us to treat our enemies with love instead of hate, and to suffer injustice to help others...
3. Jesus taught us that death is not the end of it all!
He was dead...I was partially to blame for his death because of my sin and indifference. He died an unjust death for the injustices of others. He died because He claimed to be the Son of God - that was the only charge against Him that rang true - He did claim to be the Son of God. He is the Son of God.
There were rumors later that perhaps He didn’t really die, but I knew better. When the Jews sent word to me that Jesus needed to be taken from the cross and buried before their Sabbath, the soldiers went to break His legs to hasten His death. But when the soldiers went to do so they found Him already dead. For proof, "One of the soldiers plunged his spear into Jesus’ side, and at once blood and water poured out" (John 19:34 TEV), a sign that His heart had already ruptured.
The Son of God literally died of a broken heart!
After His death He was placed in a borrowed tomb. And I saw to it that a giant stone was rolled over the entrance and guards set there to make sure His followers did not steal His body.
He had made very pubic claims that He would rise again. In fact, this was one of the other charges leveled against Him at His trial.
CHIEF PRIEST: "This man claimed that he would tear down God’s temple and build it again in three days." (Matthew 26:61 CEV)
I could scarce believe I was enmeshed in this cosmic drama.
Even my wife warned me about this man named Jesus. While I was still sitting in the judgment seat she sent a message to me.
PILATE’S WIFE: "Leave that innocent man alone, because I had a terrible nightmare about him last night." (Mt. 27:19 NLT)
The entire ordeal was indeed a nightmare! At least that’s what I thought at the time. But the truth is different that what I thought that day I contributed to the death of Christ.
The truth is... in Jesus...there is hope! I know He died. I know He was buried. But I also know He rose again! He is alive today!
The seasoned soldiers I sent to the tomb would not have allowed Christ’s followers to steal the body. And there was no doubt that there were many reliable reports that Christ was alive after His death and burial. These eyewitness accounts could not have been hallucinations - for over 500 witnesses testified of His resurrection.
Truly this man was who He said He was - the Son of God!
The Bible say, "Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised Him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit." (Rom. 1:4 NLT)
The question today is not whether or not Jesus was the Son of God. The question is not whether or not He really rose from the dead.
The only question is..."What shall I do with Jesus?" (Mt. 27:22 LB)
May I ask each one of you that same question?
What will you do with Jesus?
Don’t be guilty of the sin of not belieiving in Jesus. That was my sin and I regret it. Believe in Him today!
