Lenten Service: So What Do You Do When...They're Putting the Pressure On

Pastor Meyer’s Sermon

 Lenten Service, March 7, 2007

“Guard, advance the line.” “Make way. Make way, Governor’s coming through.”

Good evening. I am the Governor, the procurator of Palestine. You know me. You say my name often enough when you say and recite your creed. When you talk about your Jesus, you say, “Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate.” I’m here to tell you that I was a victim of circumstance. I was at the wrong political place at the wrong political time. I talk like a politician because I am a politician. I am a politician who is concerned about what people think of me. I am a politician who is concerned about my career. You see, I am a politician who is at the very root of what it means to be a politician, that I do good things for the city. I do good things for the city. And it is through this, doing good things for the city, that it means for a Roman politician that we are in control of the city. Because you see, we are dealing with those people who are conquered and they are doing our will, the will of the conqueror, the will of us, the Romans. And I am Governor not just to do the will of the people. No, I am Governor to do the will of the emperor.

I am the Governor to please the emperor. And what does it mean to please the emperor? It means to enforce the Pox Romana, the peace of Rome. That is all I care about, the peace of Rome, to make sure there is no bickering, to make sure there is no fighting, to make sure there is no arguing. That is what is most important to me because you see, before this my career was not distinguished. We’ll just say I had some challenges, that I had some difficulties. And we’ll just say this job was appointed to me because no one else wanted it. You see, the Jews are stubborn people. They are difficult people and they even believe they are a chosen people of their own God. And it’s unbelievable that they would believe in that. And so there is an unrest. There is a discontent under the surface and my job is Pox Romana, the peace of Rome. And if I mess up, if I fail, then I will lose my appointment and I will displease, be out of favor with the emperor and I will not have another appointment.

And so it is with this situation that the Jewish high priests and the Council come to me with this man named Jesus to be tried in front of me. And the chief priests knew what my situation was all about. They knew what was going on. And it’s easy for you guys to say, “I should have been a man. I should have had a backbone. I should have been more decisive.” But what do you do when they’re putting the pressure on?

I know what I wanted to do. I wanted to just get rid of him, to get him out of my hands because to me, this Jesus was trouble with a capital T. Because I knew the chief priests. I knew they had their friends, friends who had the ear of the emperor and so I needed to be able to pacify them, to satisfy them. And so I thought I will go ahead and scourge this prisoner. And if you’ve ever seen the back or the side of a person who has been scourged by a Roman, you’ll know that I went to great lengths to satisfy these chief priests. And my hope was that I would be able to discourage Him and release Him but no, no, no. That wasn’t good enough for these chief priests. It wasn’t good enough for them to see the blood dripping down this man’s back. They wanted Him nailed to a cross, an innocent man. Yes, it’s true. I found no fault with this man, no fault at all with Him but you know, I pitied Him. I pitied Him. He was so calm and I looked in His eyes and they were so deep and so caring. I couldn’t believe this person could be a subverter of the nation as they challenged Him. That was their accusation. And so I went before Him. I asked Him, “Are you King of the Jews?” And it was like He didn’t answer my question. He went on and said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” And so I pressed further. I said, “So, you’re a king then?” And He said, “It is as you say, for this is what I was born.” And He said something so funny. He said, “For I came into this world to reveal the truth.” And I said, “What is truth?” Because earlier in my career, I would have said the real truth is the nobility of Rome. But you see, even the people of Rome threw innocent children into the Pilate River.

And so it was not soon after that I started looking for the water in the basin because I needed to wash my hands, wash my hands of the guilt, stains that are on my hands. But what a second. Why should I feel guilty? It wasn’t my fault. It was the pressure. I was a victim of circumstance. Haven’t you ever said the same thing about this man, Jesus, as you try to wash your hands of Him? Maybe you feel He’s starting to take hold of your life, that He’s starting to take hold of your time and your talents and your money. But you feel the pressure. You feel the pressure of your job and you feel the pressure of maybe it’s peer pressure of your peers, of your friends. Maybe it’s your schoolwork that you feel pressured in. Maybe it’s your lifestyle. And you feel this pressure and so you end up washing your hands of Jesus and just saying, “I’m a victim of circumstance.” And that’s what I did. It wasn’t the job. It wasn’t the job at all. It was the pressure.

And so I went on with the interrogation. I wanted to see if I could get out of this mess and I interrogated Jesus even more. And finally, I found out He was a Galilean and oh, I saw the light. Here was the chance for me to get Him out of my way, to get this problem solved. Because you see, Herod was in charge of Galilee and Herod was here in town. He was here in town to celebrate the Passover so I went ahead and sent Him to Herod. And Herod is one character. Do you remember when Jesus came back from Herod? [Laughing.] He was standing before me. I had not even sent Him to Herod for very long and here Jesus was before me and He has this purple robe on Him. It looked so kingly, like nobility. It was funny. It was hilarious. But then I couldn’t believe He was still here again before me. I had been trying to get rid of Him but here He is standing before me again.

Isn’t that what it’s like when you try to wash your hands of Jesus? You find Him always coming back, always standing there before you, always knocking at your heart’s door, always wanting to come into your life to tell you that He is your Lord and Savior. Isn’t that what He does? Every time I sent Him away, He would come back. I’d have Him scourged hoping to release Him but yet, He would still come back. And finally, I knew I needed to wash my hands of this man, to wash my hands so I would not be guilty of this man’s blood. And so I got the water. I got the basin. I made sure the people would see it. And I said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood and I wash my hands. His blood is on you and on you and on you.” In other words, I’m just a victim of circumstance.

But you see, the interesting thing about this man when I think about Him is He’s an amazing man. He stood before me and He was silent, never pleading for His life, even though He knew I had His life in my hands. He was quiet. It was almost like He had another goal and that goal wasn’t so much to live to the next day, that He had another purpose, God’s purpose? I don’t know. It’s amazing. The other thing is when all the people around Him were washing their hands of Him, when they were just collapsing under the pressure, Jesus never collapsed under the pressure, no matter how much I put pressure on Him, He never collapsed. He never washed His hands of His people. What a man. What an amazing man.

Guards, strike the line. I want to get out of here.

. Copyright 2007 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church