"He suffered under Pontius Pilate"

Luke 23



Pastor Tom Johnson, March 24, 2013 (Palm Sunday)

“Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate.”

In the brief Apostles’ Creed, we include his first and last name. Every week, as we confess the faith, we remember our Lord’s mistreatment, injustice, and death with the name of this Roman official. Jesus also suffers under the religious authority at the Temple court. Jesus suffers under Herod Antipas. And Jesus suffers under the mockery and bloodthirstiness of the mobs. We often remember Jesus suffering on the Cross. We remember his faithfulness and powerful words at that dark hour. But how often do we think of his suffering under human authority as part of his redemptive work?

Jesus’ suffering is important to remember because when Jesus suffers under Pontius Pilate, we cannot dismiss it as some folktale some well-meaning person made up. This story is an account of history. In 1961, archeologists uncovered a limestone with a Roman inscription: “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea.” We remember that Jesus suffered because he did not battle mere flesh and blood but spiritual powers and principalities at work through human authority. He confronts evil as it manifests itself in government, systems, and mobs. Jesus quotes Isaiah 53:12 right before he enters this suffering and says that the Scripture must be fulfilled: “And he was counted among the lawless” or “he was numbered with transgressors” (Luke 22:37). And so his treatment was not that of a rightful King and sinless Messiah but that of a treacherous criminal. And what follows is a grotesque miscarriage of justice under the Temple Court, uner Herod’s court, and under Pontius Pilate. They ridicule him. They bring false charges against him. They twist his words in order to incriminate him. They assault him. They demand that he perform miraculous signs. They belittle him. They humiliate him. They mock him. They dehumanize him.

And here is the sick punch line to an already repugnant joke: Herod and Pilate both believe and declare him to be innocent. “He has done nothing to deserve death,” Herod says. They examined him and found nothing to condemn. That is their official word: declaration of innocence. Pilate says, “I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.” Why did Pilate suggest having Jesus flogged—to have his body torn and bludgeoned by whips with fragments of pottery, metal, and bone? Because it might satisfy the hatred of the mob and religious authority. And so they release Barabbas who was an insurrectionist and murderer. The voices of the crowds crying “Crucify him” prevail over Pilate’s judgment and authority. And so, Jesus continues his suffering under Pontius Pilate as he carries the wood to the hill of Golgotha.

It is as Jesus warn his disciples all along. “It is necessary that he suffer,” he said. “Scripture must be fulfilled.” Suffering under Pontius Pilate is part of God’s plan. Suffering under Pontius Pilate is an indispensable component of his mission. When Jesus suffers under Pontius Pilate he is unmasking human authority for what it can sometimes be—acts, decision, and words that have only one purpose—to maintain power through the abuse of power. This is the truth that this story so dramatically uncovers, that Herod is insecure as King of Judea and sees Pilate as a Threat. Pilate is insecure in doing what is right because he feels threatened by the crowds and the vociferous opinion poll to condemn Jesus to an unspeakable form of capital punishment. The soldiers do their duty and crucify Jesus because they have no choice; that is their duty even though one of them says, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And the crowds are carried away by lies, misinformation, and disappointment that Jesus is not the earthly king they hoped for. The whole world—all humanity, it seems, participates in causing an innocent man to suffer and die. And that is exactly what this story reveals: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:6).

And so, we summarize this tragic course of human history with the words, “He suffered under Pontius Pilate.” And here the really interesting thing: the judged upon the Cross becomes Judge. He makes his own kingly pronouncements:

To those overcome by evil; he overcomes with compassion: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

To the guilty and condemned: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

“He suffers under Pontius Pilate.” In the end, it is not his suffering but Jesus who overcomes. He overcomes even for those who cause him so much suffering. His love and compassion prevail. Through his suffering, he overcomes our sin, evil, and the power of death itself for you and for me.