WHY DID PILATE KILL JESUS?

by Rob, Katie, Matt, Flo & Hettie

RELIGIOUS FACTORS

In Jesuss time there was a fragile relationship between religious and political authorities in the Holy Land. The religious authorities had to be seen to be doing their bit, whilst the political authorities wanted the religious authorities to do their bidding.

FRAGILITY

This is directly linked to Pilate: he was in power, but he needed the support of 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.

LAW

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 of rabbinic 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, which could 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.

The Jewish people were becoming increasingly agitated by Jesus suggesting that he knew religious laws better than they did, and his pragmatic approach 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 Jews felt 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

POPULARITY

The religious authorities were becoming increasingly concerned about the rising popularity of charismatic leaders such as John the Baptist, 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 the authorities. 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.

POLITICAL FACTORS

FRAGILITY

A similar situation affected the political authorities.

The religious authorities had to be seen 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 the Jewish 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 he didnt 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.

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?

IDENTITY

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.

THREAT

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 with him. Pilate was therefore forced into crucifying Jesus to preserve the fragile relationship between the Romans and the Jewish authority; failure to do so would 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 be the 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.

REPRESENTATION
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.