June 19-25

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The death of Jesus was necessary. There was no other way He could have brought about the power of Resurrection for all of us. However, despite its necessity and despite the fact that this was all prophesied long ago, there were still guilty parties associated with the death of Christ. These guilty men may have been fulfilling scripture, but the scripture was only there in the first place because prophets saw the evil men who would voluntarily betray the Son of God. 

Some of the guilt is easy to determine. Judas, one of the men closest to Christ, definitely betrayed him. At least he showed remorse. But the chief priests and elders likely rejoiced in their “triumph.” They continued their work of death after Christ was gone by trying to extinguish Christianity. They delivered up Christ because of the envy in their black hearts, and that will be laid at their feet in the next life.

But then there is Pontius Pilate. Who is this man? What was his guilt? And what do we learn from him?

Pilate

Pilate was a Roman leader placed over the Jewish nation. He held a very uneasy relationship with the Jewish leaders because of his own pagan worship. Pilate had the precarious position of trying to tame a nation that wanted nothing to do with Rome. If he came down too hard, he could find himself on trial with the Roman nation. If he was too soft, he could still be held liable for the rebellious nation should problems arise. The inner workings of politics between different leaders throughout the Roman and Jewish nation were complicated, and Pilate’s position was not an easy one. 

Perhaps this is why we find these verses in Matthew:

Matthew 27:22-24

22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

The Jewish elite could not kill Jesus without Roman approval. Pilate had to agree to the death in order for it to be carried out. 

Pilate very clearly saw nothing wrong in Christ. He called him a just man. He was not personally motivated to destroy Christ because he saw no threat to his own power from Christ. He was objective enough in the situation that he knew Christ was innocent. In verse 18, it specifically teaches us that Pilate knew the Jews had delivered Christ because of their envy towards Him. Pilate was completely aware of what was occurring. 

But just like the Jewish elite needed Pilate’s approval for this act, Pilate needed approval from Jewish elite to stay in power. 

So what is Pilate’s guilt?

I am not the Lord, and so we will leave final judgment to Him. Though we seem to have a pretty good understanding of this one occurrence, we don’t necessarily have knowledge of every circumstance that influenced these decisions. I want to make it ridiculously clear that these are just opinions and personal thoughts. But even though Pilate will ultimately be judged by God, I think there is merit to examine his decisions in order to learn more about our own decisions.

In my opinion, Pilate is not guilty of killing the Christ. However, He is guilty of killing an innocent man. While hanging on the cross, Christ asked His Father to forgive the soldiers who had put Him there because they didn’t know what they were doing. Armed with this knowledge of the Lord’s judgment, we can assume this extends to Pilate. He may have known Jesus was innocent, but it was highly unlikely that he knew Jesus was the Christ. Surely his wife’s dreams could have given him a hint about staying uninvolved but once again, but I’m not so sure they gave Pilate any kind of testimony.

And so what kind of accountability will Pilate be held to? It’s hard to say for sure. I would at least assume there is going to be plenty of accountability associated with the fact that he was willing to sentence an innocent man to torture and a painful death.

So what does it matter? Who cares about the accountability of Pilate if it doesn’t directly affect us?

What do we learn from Pilate?

Perhaps his accountability isn’t going to have anything to do with us, but there is always a lesson we can learn from what’s been carefully recorded in the scriptures. What’s the message here?

I believe one of those lessons will find itself in the relationship found between accountability and repentance. I believe our God is most often a God of natural consequences. 

How will Pilate feel when he gets to the other side? Without any intervention from God and without any look of disappointment or word of agony from God, how will Pilate feel as he stands before his Brother who is so familiar to him? Will Pilate curse the Roman position he desperately clung to during his lifetime at the expense of an innocent man? Even if he didn’t know that he was sentencing the Christ during his mortal life, there will still be a special agony that naturally comes with the fact that he sentenced a beloved Brother to such a horrific end. Perhaps it will not be as acute as the pain that Judas feels because Judas had been given every sign that Jesus was the Christ, but the agony will naturally be there anyway. 

Imagine yourself in the same position. Let’s say you find yourself in the highly unlikely scenario where a group of powerful people are threatening to take away your livelihood unless you let them kill some unknown man. Would you try to wash your hands like Pilate did? Would you convince yourself that they were the true murderers and it didn’t actually have anything to do with you? How would you feel if it was suddenly revealed that you had sent your own brother to die on a cross after being beaten? I would imagine that it would be very difficult to hide from the guilt. It would suddenly seem impossible to deny your part in it, and it would be devastating.

This is what I mean when I say that I believe our God is simply a God of natural consequences. He allows us to fully own up to the choices we made so that we can understand the gravity of choices. What kind of moral courage and responsibility does it take to receive exaltation and live as He does? With every choice we make on this side of the veil, we are building an existence for ourselves on the other side. This is why the Lord does not extend the highest privileges to people who do not live up to the standard. He cannot. What kind of life would we create for our posterity if we cannot create a good life for ourselves?

When we choose to betray or hurt others, there will be adequate repentance. When we choose to slough off responsibility, we will find ourselves face to face with those who had to pick up the slack. We will see perfectly on the other side; we will know what kind of goodness or damage we caused by our choices, and that will be the essence of our existence.

The good news

This message is not all gloomy. Personal accountability can be a heavy subject. Fortunately, because the Savior was betrayed, He claimed the ability to rescue us from natural consequences.

Imagine the difference. We have Pilate or Judas who are willing to make choices that devastate others. But then there are the rest of us. We all act selfishly to an extent. We all shirk responsibility, and it affects others. We all hurt each other. 

But hopefully we have also accepted the Savior and are trying to become better. 

When I get to the other side, I will be able to clearly see how my choices uplifted or tore down others. There will likely be some moments of happiness intermingled with moments of sorrow. However, those moments of sorrow will quickly be wiped away when I watch the Savior heal those I hurt and reward those who made up the difference I created. Because of the atonement and its ability to heal and reward, I do not have to face the full accountability of my actions. 

When I yell at my kids, it affects them. On the other side, I will probably see some very sad moments when I lost my temper and my kids didn’t deserve it, and I currently have to live with those moments so that I can be motivated to become better. In the same breath, I look forward to the day that my Savior will rescue me and heal my kids. I also hope desperately that they’ll forgive me for my weak moments and that we can choose to live happily as we grow and progress beyond our weaknesses. 

Let there also be a warning here. There has to be a true acceptance of Christ and a true attempt towards repentance (according to the varying levels of our accountability) for that atonement to kick in. I can’t imagine that it will be pleasant to stand before the Savior and outwardly admit, “Yeah I did what I wanted because I figured you would just pay for it with your blood.” Christ did pay for us with His precious blood, but in order for that suffering to be worth it to Him, that sacrifice needs to change us. Otherwise we will find ourselves face to face with the personal accountability that we were flippant with His immense sacrifice; that will be naturally painful when we see how close we were to Him before we came here.

The atonement of Jesus Christ is a happy message. The topic of personal accountability is heavy, but it is also so good for us. Whether it pushes us towards repentance or helps us fully appreciate what Christ did for us, it is a healthy message to learn about. I’m grateful for a Savior who paid the price that I could never pay. I’m grateful He loved me enough because there was no other way for me to find eternal happiness.