Day 1 - Wednesday, March 5
Ash Wednesday
Title: Christ’s Trial Before Pilate
Scripture: John 18:28–38 (NKJV)
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.” Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.”

Poetry & Poet:
from “Pilate”
by Gerard Manley Hopkins

There is a day of all the year
When life revisits me, nerve and vein.
They all come here and stand before me clear
I try the Christus o'er again.
Sir! Christ! against this multitude I strain. —
Lord, but they cry so loud. And what am I?
And all in one say "Crucify!"
Before that rock, my seat, He stands;
And then — I choke to tell this out —
I give commands for water for my hands;
And some of those who stand about, —
Vespillo my centurion hacks out
Some ice that locks the glacier to the rocks
And in a basin brings the blocks.
I choose one; but when I desire
To wash before the multitude
The vital fire does suddenly retire
From hands now clammy with strange blood.
My frenzied working is not understood.
Now I grow numb. My tongue strikes on the gum
And cleaves, I struggle and am dumb.
I hear the multitude tramp by.
O here is the most piteous part,
For He whom I send forth to crucify,
Whispers "If thou have warmth at heart
Take courage; this shall need no further art."

CHRIST’S TRIAL BEFORE PILATE

One of the earliest Christian statements of faith, thought to have been used during baptisms, is the Apostles Creed. It’s rather stark compared to later creeds but gets right to point in crucial areas of faith. The creed also acknowledges the role that Pontius Pilate played in the execution of Jesus.

Our ancient creed, and Pontius Pilate gets airtime in it.

To his credit, Pilate did not readily accept the religious leaders’ claims against Jesus. He was also resistant to the demand to have Jesus crucified because he couldn’t find where the fault lay with this humble, weak, powerless street preacher who now stood bound before the most powerful man in Israel.

Mark Wallinger’s sculpture, Ecce Homo, portrays Jesus as a man almost completely unshielded by garments, devoid of body hair, his hands tied behind him, a coronet of barbed wire circling his head. He is stripped of the accoutrements of personhood, leaving him bare and vulnerable to the dictates of the powerful.

And the most powerful person in this scene is Pontius Pilate.

It’s appropriate that Pilate appears in some of our creedal statements because he was a real figure in our story of faith. He is juxtaposed to the apparent weakness of Jesus, and that weakness gives Pilate pause. Despite the case laid before him, Pilate can find no fault in Jesus at all.

We’ve rehearsed this story over and over, so we know where it goes. Fault or no fault, Jesus will go to the cross. The religious leaders have attempted to protect themselves from impurity by assenting to the Roman government’s power to wield the bloody hand of death. Pilate has no compunctions about sentencing people to death—he’s had plenty of experience with that—but he does seem to retain some semblance of justice. However, the pressure of the religious elite and their supporters will force his hand.

When Jesus tells Pilate that his kingdom is “not of this world,” he speaks of something very foreign to Pilate’s view of reality. Jesus appears as a powerless king ruling over an invisible kingdom. At least three powers are in motion at this moment: Sin—the conspiracy to destroy Jesus; suffering—pain inflicted upon the powerless by the powerful; and the inevitability of death—the termination of a perceived threat that seeks to upset the dominant order. Soon, after taking all of that unto himself, Jesus will take it to the cross where those powers will have succeeded in their dark mission. But three days later those powers will soon learn that their ultimate power has been broken.

When we find ourselves feeling powerless against injustice, poverty, pain, suffering, and death, we look to Jesus, whose life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension marked an end to the ultimacy of sin, suffering, injustice, and death. In the darkest of times, we remember that we follow Jesus in his apparent weakness only to learn that in his kingdom, God will reconcile all things to himself.

Prayer:
Father,
In my weakness, help me to remember that I have nothing on earth or in heaven but you, and it is you where my desires live. No matter what happens, I am continually with you and you never let go of my hand. My body may fail, my vulnerabilities displayed before the powerful, but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Amen
    (adapted from Psalm 73:23-26)

Michael McNichols, D.Min.
Pastor and Author

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