Learned historians have informed me that Pontius Pilate was a ruthless governor. While the Gospels and our traditions have treated him as a kindly puppet in the hands of both the Romans and the Jews, the man was apparently nothing like that. History informs us that Pontius Pilate applied a ruthless "zero tolerance" policy in the Middle East a long time before the modern-day Americans, or our own Minister for Justice.
This Sunday, we hear again the story of Jesus's trial and passion. It is a familiar story, but it is also a story with many layers of meaning and message that Christians can conveniently disregard. The trial of Jesus before Pilate contains powerful similarities to many of our actions today. When the contemporary protagonists of "zero tolerance" wash their hands and claim to be innocent of the blood of another, we can see the legacy that Pilate left - an ability to condemn and then to absolve themselves of any culpability for the results of their condemnation.
"Zero tolerance" is, admittedly, an attractive notion. It can be packaged and presented to a vast audience who will appreciate the wisdom of its application without considering its costs. It seems to offer some relief to the victims in a crime-weary society. It fills the prisons with people we would rather be without. It can provide us with peace and ease of mind so that we may sleep safely in our beds. In fact, our present attitudes make it easy to be Pilate.
Is it as easy to be Pilate when an Aboriginal hangs himself after stealing a packet of biscuits? Is it easy to be Pilate when a Californian gets a 20-year sentence for stealing a king-size Snickers bar?
The supposedly Christian West enjoys a great exemplar in Pilate. He was not a kindly governor who found his hands tied, as we like to present him. Pilate was a callous man who ignored the counsel of his wife and allowed a man who had caused a perceived public offence to die (the probable offence being that Jesus enacted a one-man riot in the Temple). Pilate sated the public demand for vengeance and then walked calmly away pretending that it had nothing to do with him.
In the Middle East today, many media reports present a negative view of the Islamic Sharia Law. It is presented as intolerant and brutal. What you will not read very often is that this same law enshrines mercy above vengeance and teaches that God rewards the one who truly forgives. What a pity that this mercy is not an option in Christian interpretations of our law! Sharia also allows for restitution in lieu of punishment. There is rather a lot that we in the Wild West could learn from the nobility of the application of Islamic Law.
In the Christian West we have largely chosen vengeance over restitution or mercy. Yet mercy is a natural inclination for us all. To suppress it we must do as Pilate did. We must wash our hands and walk away and then pretend that this simply never happened. But much as Pilate may have liked to have absolved himself of what happened to Jesus, we know that Jesus', brutal death happened as a result of Pilate's complacency and lack of mercy.
Pilate might not have agreed with the demand for Christ's death. He may have made his decision for political convenience. Whatever crossed his mind, we cannot know, but we can know that when Christ was lead out to die Pilate suppressed his mercy to purge himself of any direct involvement. Maybe it is because Pilate led the way for us that our tradition is so kind to this despot.
As we stand in our churches this weekend and hear the sorrowful account of Jesus and Pilate, let us not be hypocrites. Let us remember that we who bear his name are supposed to identify and sympathise with Christ and not with Pilate. Let us remember that our prisons are mostly packed with the poor. Let us remember that our newly wealthy island has many hopeful immigrants who are likely to be expelled. Let us remember the victims of crime who were neither offered restitution nor the opportunity to forgive. Let us not try to wash our hands and walk away. Let us forget complacency and vengeance and remember mercy.
F.MacE.