Whose Fault Is It?

WHOSE FAULT IS IT? (JOHN 19:1-15)

In the days of the Civil War, it was illegal to trade in cotton; but many unscrupulous speculators tried to buy cotton in the South, run it through the Union lines, and sell it at great profit in the North. One of these speculators approached a Mississippi steamboat captain and offered him $100 if he would run his cotton up the river for him. The captain declined, reminding him that it was illegal. “I will give you $500, said the man. “No,” answered the captain.

“I will give you $1000.” “No,” the captain said again.

“I will give you $3000.” At that, the captain drew his pistol, and pointing it at the man, he said, “Get off this boat! You are coming too near my price.”

It’s been said, “Everybody has a price.”

Pontius Pilate is a key figure, if not the central figure, in deciding Jesus’ fate. He was appointed the fifth procurator of Judea in A.D. 26, but his ten year relationship with and rule of the Jews and Samaritans were poisoned from the start. It ended when he was reported and removed from office for his violent treatment of a Samaritan religious group. His cruelty was addressed in Luke 13:1-2 as well. Pilate was a selfish, stubborn and self-righteous man. He was a corrupt and crooked career politician who served no one’s interest, including his wife’s interest (Matt 27:19).

What opportunities and occasions have God given you to serve Him? How do we exert our influence and be involved and not be isolated in the world and in the community today? Why is the public office just as good as the company office and home office for a place to serve God?

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1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. 4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” (John 19:1-6)

Dwight Morrow, the father of author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, once held a dinner party to which President Calvin Coolidge had been invited. After Coolidge left, Morrow told the remaining guests that Coolidge would make a good president. The others disagreed. They felt Coolidge was too quiet, that he lacked color and personality. No one would like him, they said. Anne, then age six, spoke up: “I like him,” she said. Then she displayed a finger with a small bandage around it. “He was the only one at the party who asked about my sore finger.” “And that's why he would make a good president,” added Morrow. (Bits & Pieces, February 4, 1993)

Verse 1 in NIV says “Pilate took Jesus and HAD HIM flogged,” but all other versions agree that Pilate scourged him (KJV, NASB, RSV) or flogged him (ESV).Pilate was not a passive bystander but a powerful advocate. There was no mistake or misinterpretation. Pilate flogged Jesus, not had him flogged. Pilate was subject, the action was the flogging, and the object was Jesus. Pilate was more complicated, conniving and complicit than most people think. John the eyewitness, who was with Jesus all the way from within the court (John 18:15) to the outdoor cross (John 19:26), saw Pilate flogging Jesus. Jesus predicted he would be flocked by Gentiles in the gospels (Matt 20:19, Mark 10:33, Luke 18:33), but who ended up flogging Him? Pilate (v 1). We often see soldiers whipping Jesus in the movies or the miniseries, but seldom Pilate persecuting or punishing Jesus. The chief priests and officers (v 6), the Jews (v 14), the multitude (Matt 27:20), the people (Mark 15:11) and the rulers (Luke 23:13) all demanded Jesus to be crucified, but never his flogging, so Pilate decided and delivered it himself. He was not provoked or pressured into action. It was his mean, menacing and merciless side working overtime. Ultimately he had no compassion. Encyclopedias such as Wikipedia record much of Pilate’s history but not his flogging. Philo the historian attested that Pilate had “vindictiveness and furious temper,” and was “naturally inflexible, a blend of self-will and relentlessness” (Wikipedia).

Flogging was a Roman means to extract confession. Unlike Indiana Jones’ long whip, the Roman whip was shorter to inflict more pressure and pain, with indented bronze or glass fastened to thongs or cords at the snake-tongue end of the whip to cause more hurt and harm. In those days victims often stand or lie down flogging. Everyone’s last image of Pilate was of him washing his hand, but it was because he soiled his hands by whipping Jesus. Literally and figuratively he soiled his hand.