Why Did Pilate Kill Jesus?
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Transcript of Why Did Pilate Kill Jesus?
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WHY DID PILATEKILL JESUS?
by Rob, Katie, Matt, Flo & Hettie
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RELIGIOUSFACTORS
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In Jesuss time there was a fragile
relationship between religious and
political authorities in the Holy Land.
The religious authorities had to be seento be doing their bit, whilst the political
authorities wanted the religious
authorities to do their bidding.
This is directly linked to Pilate: he was
in power, but he needed the supportof the influential Jewish leaders.
Consequently, he needed to listen and
act upon the whims of the religious
authorities in order to stay in their
favour.
Pilate had crucified Jesus because he
didnt have that much choice: instead
he did it to appease the Jewish leaders
and keep the peace even if it meant
crucifying an innocent man.
FRAGILITY
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The religious authorities wanted to crucify
Jesus due to the tension his teachings
were creating in relation to Jewish law.
Jesus teachings were often the subject ofrabbinic debate his teachings on the
Sabbath is a good example of this.
When reprimanded by the ruler of the
synagogue for healing a woman who had a
disabling spirit on the Sabbath he
responds You hypocrites! Does not each of
you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey
from the manger and lead it away to water
it?
Incidents such as this cause the rulers to
question the exiting Jewish law, whichcould cause a loss of authoritative power
for the religious leaders.
They were therefore urgent to get rid of
Jesus so they could uphold the existing
system without being doubted.
LAW
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The Jewish people were becoming
increasingly agitated by Jesus
suggesting that he knew religious laws
better than they did, and his pragmaticapproach to scripture (e.g: his
interpretation of Sabbath law)
There were further antagonised by
Jesuss clever answers to their
questions, attempting to catch him out;Jesus quick-wittedly avoided
answering whether or not he was
King of the Jews, often turning
questions back on his interrogators.
Pilate knew that the traditionalist Jewsfelt very strongly about their religious
law, and to release Jesus despite his
violation of them would probably result
in a revolt; he therefore had no choice
but to allow him to be crucified.
AUTHORITY
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The religious authorities were
becoming increasingly concerned
about the rising popularity of
charismatic leaders such as John theBaptist, followed by Jesus.
Towards the end of his life Jesus was
regularly gathering large crowds to his
sermons and making a name for
himself, which also concerned theauthorities.
Jesus was popular even in the crowd
that gathered when he publicly trialled
Jesus; however, the pressure of the
Jewish authorities (as a result of their
anxiety towards his popularity)
ultimately left him no choice but to
give in to their demands and allow
Jesuss execution.
POPULARITY
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POLITICALFACTORS
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A similar situation affected the political
authorities.
The religious authorities had to beseen to be doing their bit, whilst the
political authorities wanted the
religious authorities to do their bidding.
This is directly linked to Pilate: he had
power, but needed the support of theJewish leaders. Consequently, he
needed to listen and act upon the
whims of the religious authorities in
order to stay in their favour.
Pilate crucified Jesus because hedidnt have that much choice: he did it
to appease the Jewish leaders and
keep the peace even if it meant
crucifying an innocent man the
lesser of two evils.
FRAGILITY
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In terms of the political authorities, it was
important to confirm the identity of Jesus so
they knew what they were facing.
Jesus was questioned with regards to who and
what he was during the trial scenes, but
answered rather elusively. For example when
asked Are you the King of the Jews? he
responds, You have said so: he never gives a
conclusive answer.
The fact that Jesus was known to have reached
out to those who were outsiders because they
had lived immoral lives would have caused the
political authorities to wonder why he kept
such bad company. Was he rounding up the
outsiders for some sort of political revolt?
Luke would say this was not the case, since
Jesus followers were not rounded up and
executed. From this we can assume that Pilate
did not see Jesus and his followers as a real
threat to the existing political authorities.
IDENTITY
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Jesus posed little political threat to the
Romans, according to Pilates actions:
if he had been viewed as a serious
threat, his followers would have been
rounded up and executed along withhim.
Pilate was therefore forced into
crucifying Jesus to preserve the fragile
relationship between the Romans and
the Jewish authority; failure to do sowould likely have resulted in his
removal from office. This is why Pilate
twice protested Jesuss innocence, but
ultimately was not willing to risk his own
life and career for the sake of a single
prisoner, who he did not believe to bethe son of God.
Jesus was, however, a bigger threat to
the Jewish religious authorities
because of his growing public support,
seen by the Jews as heretic.
THREAT
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The issue the Romans had was not
necessarily with Jesus, rather with the
type of person that he represented: an
anti-authoritarian political insurgent, or
troublemaker.
Jesus was also the perfect example of
someone who rebelled against religious
and political laws in society, increasing
the likelihood that he would be
persecuted.
Jesuss claims that he was the son of
God, along with his teachings,
threatened to undermine the established
powers, in particular the Jews, who
wanted him out of the picture.
REPRESENTATION