The Passion - Easter DevotionalIhe Atụ

"Pontius Pilate" Devotional - The Passion

The story of Pontius Pilate is an interesting one. Jesus is on trial, and the Roman governor could have been His saving grace. In fact, things start to even get a little hopeful when Pilate sides with Jesus at first, as Luke explains in his gospel:

So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus replied, “You have said it.”

Pilate turned to the leading priests and to the crowd and said, “I find nothing wrong with this man!” (Luke 23:3-4, NLT)

After discovering that Jesus was from Galilee, Pilate sent him to Herod. Maybe he wouldn’t have to actually deliver the verdict after all. But Herod (after mocking him, of course) sent him back.

Once again, Pilate concluded that Jesus was innocent and did not deserve the death penalty, and he told those gathered as much.

However, the crowd just got rowdier and yelled for Barabbas to be released instead. Verse 20 says, “Pilate argued with them, because he wanted to release Jesus.” But the shouts of the crowd to crucify Him began to slowly outweigh his gut instinct.

Still, a third time, Pilate took up for Jesus, saying, “Why? What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to sentence him to death. So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.” (v. 22)

In that moment, culture prevailed. The opinions of others swayed Pilate, and he honored their demands. He released Barabbas—a man rightly accused of mutiny and murder—and turned Jesus over to be crucified.

Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, yet with one choice, he compromised for the sake of approval ratings. He chose to please his constituents instead of doing the right thing. Notice that he first tried to pawn Jesus off on Herod so he wouldn’t have to make the final decision. Then, once Jesus got thrust back into his court, he took the coward’s way out.

It’s tragic, really. Pilate had the chance to free Jesus, but he chose to release a murderer back into society instead—all for the sake of protecting his political standing.

How many times have we compromised for the sake of climbing the ladder, or for the sake of acceptance or popularity? If there’s anything Pilate’s story teaches us, it’s that as followers of Jesus, we can’t please everyone. After all, following Christ isn’t always popular. Belief always requires bravery. And if we’re going to follow Jesus, we’re going to need to be courageous.