| Home > e100 > Essential 100 -- Pilate, Barabbas and the King of the Jews |
| Essential 100 -- Pilate, Barabbas and the King of the Jews | | Date Created: Apr 13, 2005, 01:31 PM |
68 — Wednesday April 13 — John 19
Pilate is a complex character. Christians are often portrayed as making everything black or white -- yes or no -- with no shades of grey. John the Evangelist loves the contrast between darkness and light as much as anyone. Yet there can be no denying that the character of Pilate is firmly and dirtily grey. He is not dead-set against Jesus, but neither is he willing to do anything except posture; timidly marking the cross with the title "King of the Jews" and resignedly defending that choice
Yesterday (and in the new book) I said that the crowds weren't as fickle as we're sometimes told. I may need to rethink that. Asking for Barabbas to be released one minute and then saying "We have no king but Caesar" the next is self-contradictory. Barabbas will not have been very pleased with these people he wanted to lead into revolt. |
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