Pilate
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March 26, 2018Déjà vu. First, there was Judas’ betrayal, followed by the trial by the council and then the beating by the guards. Now the pattern is repeated: Peter’s denial, followed by the trial before Pilate and then the scourging by the soldiers. There are two sets of protagonists with different motivations, but the same humiliation.
“Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’” (Mk 15:2)
What have the chief priests told Pilate about him? This time their accusations are not dignified with overt expression. But Pilate has understood this much. His words are tantamount to an ethnic slur, a joke. He treats Jesus like a fool, holding him up before the people to ridicule them (behold your “king”), but also as a kind of threat (Caesar tolerates no rival). The chief priests use the Romans to dispose of an inconvenient prophet, and the Romans use Jesus to mock and subvert the Jewish people’s desire for autonomy. There is manipulation to the left and to the right: a conspiracy for death.
“He answered him, ‘You say so.’” (Mk 15:2)
And yet Jesus sees enough truth in that ironic title to give an answer, albeit an equivocal one. He is willing to be the pawn of rival interest groups. The title is shameful, but it will be transformed.
