why did pilate kill jesus?

7/29/2019 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

why did pilate kill jesus?

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