Truth and Leadership

By Angela Eicher, Co-Proponent

Until our Bible study discussion yesterday evening, I had always felt a little sorry for Pontius Pilate. I recognized the bullying, manipulation, and deceit employed by the Jewish leaders against him and thought it unfair that the Apostle’s Creed and history books should name only Pilate as the man responsible for the torture and crucifixion of Jesus. 

Really, wasn’t it the Jewish leaders demanding Jesus’ death, and Pilate trying to convince them otherwise? Scripture reveals Pilate believed Jesus to be innocent and did not want to be involved in His crucifixion. If he washed his hands of it - of the spilling of innocent blood - then why is he still declared guilty?  

It seemed so unfair, until last night when the discussion turned specifically to Pilate’s role as the governor of Judea.  He had both the great privilege and the great responsibility of enforcing the law: punishing the criminals and protecting the innocent.  The law of the land regarding the death penalty was reserved to be instituted and carried out only by the Roman government. 

While the Jewish law stated the penalty for blasphemy was death, the Jewish leaders could not execute Jesus for claiming to be God without breaking Roman law. While there may have been many unjust Roman laws, this one about the death penalty was a solid one. Otherwise, people would have been executing each other as they wished.

Since Romans have no laws regarding blasphemy and the death penalty, the Jewish leaders had to come up with some claims to present to Pilate as to why Jesus deserved death under the Roman law, such as discouraging the paying of taxes (a flat-out falsehood) and claiming to be a King.  But, even after examining Jesus under these claims, Pilate still found him innocent.  He was not duped by their false claims, so he finds himself waffling between the truth and the rioting crowd demanding Jesus’ execution. He can wash his hands until his skin falls off, but in the end, it is a gesture empty of any meaning.  Execution is his job; therefore, he is still fully accountable for the crucifixion of Jesus.  

The Jewish leaders cannot execute Jesus legally without the permission of Pilate, and they cannot use Pilate’s soldiers, torture devices, and crucifixion instruments without his acquiescence.  Pilate gave the crowds what they wanted rather than performing his job honestly which was to protect the innocent. He protected his political power but sacrificed his soul to the enemy, the father of lies. When he could have protected the innocent, he washed his hands, instead.

So why did he fail in his main task?  I believe the clue lies in his discussion with Jesus about the truth. Jesus states that He came into the world to testify to the truth and Pilate answers, “What is truth?” This is when we really should feel sorry for Pilate.  He does not know the truth, even when Truth personified is standing in front of him.  The concept of truth is nebulous to him so he must rely on what he sees as most important to him personally and how he perceives, without the anchor of truth, the greater good.  “If you release him (Jesus), you are no friend of Caesars,” the crowds threaten his job as governor and at a deeper level, his identity.

Let’s be honest though, we are all like Pontius Pilate at times, standing with the crowd rather than with the Truth.  We prioritize our status, their approval, our personal goals, or what we perceive as the greater good over the actual truth.  Who we choose to stand with has a ripple effect throughout the population and over time.  The more authority we hold, the greater the ripple. While we as the crowd may all be guilty, it is the names of those in authority who get attached to great successes and great tragedies. And rightly so, as they carry the main responsibility in these decisions.  We must seek leaders, or become leaders, of conviction who stand in the Truth as much as we humanly can. When it is within our power to protect the innocent, we cannot hand them over to those who would execute them while telling ourselves we are innocent of their blood.

Today, I shared this video of gubernatorial candidate Scott Bottoms speaking on the right to the life of preborn children with a friend of mine.  She replied, “I admire his conviction.”  Conviction is derived from Latin, meaning “completely conquering or total victory”. When we speak the truth, we speak victoriously because we stand with Jesus who is the Truth. We stand in His victory over sin and death. We stand on the winning side of a great war which has already been won through the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Do you hear the crowds rioting for execution of the preborn?  Do you hear them threatening your allegiance to democracy if you do not give them what they want?  What are leaders to do? They must speak and act as Scott Bottoms does, with truth and conviction. 

Thankfully, our founding documents wisely recognize a Higher Power ruling over basic human rights and superseding any human law.  The right to life is God given and needs to be equally enforced for all people.  Legal executions here, like in Rome, may only take place by the government for capital crimes. They should not take place because the crowd presses for them.

Just as Pilate could not secure his innocence by simply washing his hands of the matter, neither can we.  We are all guilty of the spilling of the blood of innocent children in our land, and those governing the people ultimately hold the greatest responsibility. We are all guilty when we have an opportunity to save the innocent and we don't.

So now, I see Pilate was not a victim of bullying by the crowds. He was not unjustly held responsible for the execution of an innocent man.  Rather, as governor he was the one responsible.  He failed to make the right decision, because while he knew the truth as far as he knew Jesus was innocent but he did not uphold this truth in action. He said one thing but did another.  Ultimately, he lacked conviction of the truth and trust that it would set him free.  He believed the truth would bind him and he faltered.  For this. I do feel sorry for him and I can sympathize, as I often do the same.

So, I implore everyone - and especially our leaders - to speak and act on the truth with conviction.  I ask each of you to go out and gather voter signatures to remove “the right to” abortion from our Colorado Constitution. It is an evil lie: people have no right to execute the innocent. We must remove it now, as we are going directly against God, violating His goodness and truth.

And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ (Matthew 25:40, 45)