Adapted from a message included in the Concordia Publishing House Lenten Series Witnesses to Christ

Pontius Pilate

Text: John 19:1-16

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Perhaps the most famous example of a person becoming petrified, or completely immobilized, because their body became hardened is the Genesis 19 account of Lot’s wife. Ignoring the angel’s warning not to look back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, she becomes a pillar of salt. That’s an extreme example, and there’s not a lot of that type of petrification of people going on, these days anyway. But petrification of the heart is a condition that has existed for all time and continues as regularly today as it ever has. Perhaps the most famous case of this hardening of the heart is Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron ask for the Israelites’ release from slavery and time and again the Pharaoh’s heart is softened and then hardened again. Until finally, God Himself hardens the Pharaoh’s heart so that His people would be able to escape.

Tonight, in our series of Witnesses to Christ on His way to the cross, we meet Pontus Pilate. Pontius Pilate is one of the most notorious people in history. You could probably put him right up there with Hitler, Stalin, and bin Laden. The Apostles’ Creed includes these words: “born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate.”

Next to Pharaoh, Pontius Pilate had one of the worst cases of hardening of the heart. When one has this condition, the heart slowly hardens, until we’re spiritually dead.

But we don’t notice it at first, do we? At first, our priorities are just a little mixed up. But then, very slowly, and before we know it, we stop praying, we stop repenting, and we stop trusting Jesus. Then the day comes when words such as Jesus, The Lord’s Supper, Bible study, Baptism, worship, Easter, and salvation have no impact upon us whatsoever. That’s because our hearts become hardened slowly, until we’re spiritually dead. Pilate knows.

According to a Latin inscription found in 1961 on the Mediterranean coast, Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea for ten years—from AD 26 to 36. Pilate was from a middle-class family. Don’t forget that, it’s huge. Pilate was from a middle-class family. Pontius Pilate served the Roman army in Germany. One year, while on leave in Rome, he married an upper-class Roman woman named Claudia Procula. Claudia was the granddaughter of Caesar Augustus—the Roman emperor. By marrying the granddaughter of Caesar Augustus the Roman emperor, Pilate was in! Because of this connection, Pilate got a position he would never have gotten in any other way. What was that position? Governor of Judea. That’s Pilate’s past.

The posse—led by Judas Iscariot—arrests Jesus on Thursday night. Jesus then stands trial before Annas, Caiaphas, and finally before the Sanhedrin—the Jewish Supreme Court. They accuse Jesus of blasphemy because blasphemy was punishable by death. There’s one problem, though. The Jews can condemn a man to death, but they can’t carry it out. Before Jesus can be executed, the Jews must get the consent of the Romans. That’s where Pilate comes in. That’s his part. Famously and for the ages, that’s Pilate’s part!

That’s what John says. “Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning.” They brought Jesus to the Roman fortress Antonia. It’s about 6:00 a.m. And they’re all there. The chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, all of them. And they have Jesus right where they want Him. Soon they’ll have Pilate right where they want him.

Pilate asks a few routine questions—such as “What has this man done wrong?” The Jews don’t answer directly. Why? Because there’s no Roman law against blasphemy. The Jews can’t say, “This man claims to be the Messiah,” because Pilate would just wave his hand and that would be that. After all, Roman history tells us that Pilate didn’t like the Jews. Pilate didn’t understand the Jews. And Pilate didn’t waste his time in religious debates with the Jews! Pilate’s heart was becoming harder by the minute.

Pilate questions Jesus. He asks, “Are You the King of the Jews?” The all-important word here is king. King means one thing to the Jews—Messiah. It means something else to the Romans—military ruler. Jesus answers Pilate, “You say that I am a king.” What that means is, “Yes, I’m a king, but not the kind of king you’re thinking of.”

The chief priests want to confuse Pilate into thinking that Jesus is a revolutionary leader, and thus a threat to Rome. It doesn’t work, because Jesus tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Then He tells Pilate, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” Pilate cynically says, “What is truth?” Pilate’s heart is becoming as hard as rock.

Pilate has Jesus scourged, just short of death. But the crowd wants more. They want Christ killed. And so, the Jews play their trump card.

They say to Pilate, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend.” Pilate knows exactly what they mean. The Caesar, the king, named Tiberius at the time, was sick. He was always suspicious and often violent. Suetonius—a Roman historian—tells us that Tiberius could turn on his underlings and be brutal. Tiberius wouldn’t like getting news about a riot in Judea, especially when Judea’s governor was appointed only because of family connections. And Pilate was, after all, just middle class.

The Jews blackmail Pilate, pure and simple. And it works. If the choice had been between Jesus and the Jews, Pilate would let Jesus go. But that’s not how the Jewish leaders frame the issue. Their blackmail makes it a choice between Jesus and Rome. This is Pilate’s predicament. The Jewish blackmail makes it a choice between Jesus and Rome. People will do many things to save their job, their status, their reputation. People will do many things to save their skin. They’ll even crucify an innocent man.

Pilate asks, “Shall I crucify your King?” This King isn’t the military type—looking for a battle. No. This King is the suffering and bleeding type—looking for us. He’s the King who cleanses sin-stained hearts. The King who heals deep brokenness. The King who calls us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. The King who triumphs over death. The King who knows the exact place and time of His execution and still goes there anyway—all for us.

The chief priests answer Pilate, “We have no king but Caesar.” Things are getting out of hand. A Jewish riot would end Pilate’s political career. So, he caves in. Pilate has Jesus executed. Nailed to a cross by His hands and feet, lifted up to hang, suspended between heaven and earth. Why did Pilate do it? His heart had become as hard as it could be.

Do you see Pilate’s pattern? “What’s in it for me?” That’s what we see throughout John 18–19. “What’s in it for me?” That’s Pilate’s pattern. Pilate is climbing the ladder of success. Pilate cares only for himself and is trashing everyone who gets in his way.

That’s a pattern we follow more often than we care to admit. We’re all, finally, not that much different from Pilate. “What’s in it for me?” It’s a recipe for a hard heart. And a hard heart is like a wrecking ball. It mangles relationships, it only thinks about itself, and it finishes off families and friends.

Is your heart hard? Is it callous? insensitive? indifferent? dead? If so, it’s not too late! Your heavenly Father will create in you a clean heart, a new heart, a heart that is spiritually alive. He’ll mold your stony heart back into life. This is His promise for you in Christ Jesus. We hear in Ezekiel, “I will give them one heart. . . . I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.” God will take away our stony, stubborn hearts and give us a tender, responsive heart. One that looks to Him for all things. One that focuses on the work He has done for us in Christ Jesus. As we move closer to Holy Week on this pilgrimage to the cross, may both our hearts and our minds be focused on our Savior. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.