Left or Right: The Politics of Pontius Pilate

In John 18-19,  Jesus is apparently on trial before Pontius Pilate.  But John, in a brilliant stroke of narrative weaving demonstrates that it is Pilate and the whole system of imperial politics that actually stand in the docket.  As the trial progresses, the reader is privy to the internal struggle of Pilate.  He suspects Jesus of nothing but innocence and he knows that he should set him free.  In fact, he tries, really hard.  He offers to release Jesus in accordance with custom, he tries to accommodate their desires by having Jesus ruthlessly whipped, all the while maintaining that he finds no case against him.  But the fervor of the crowd only grows.  After whipping Jesus within an inch of his life, he parades him before the vitriolic throng in a purple robe and a crown of thorns.  “Here is your king,” he mockingly announces, all the while completely unwitting to the prophetic weight of his words.  And the crowd responds exactly the way we would expect sinful humanity to respond when confronted with perfect, unflinching love:  Crucify him!

Pilate sees the stakes clearly now.  He is caught between his conscience and the political fallout.  And make no mistake, for Pilate, if he can’t keep this situation under control, there will be hell to pay.  If he handles this poorly, a delegation from Jerusalem will set out for Rome to complain to the emperor about Pilate.  Pilate could lose what little prestige he has or worse ^[1]in 37 AD, Pilate is tried in Rome for the unwarranted murder of Samaritan pilgrims. Knowing he has to get himself out of the middle of this no-win situation, he tries to release Jesus.  But the crowd has him and they know it:

“If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.”

Throughout the course of this election cycle, many well-intentioned Christians feel like they have been pulled in two different directions. Maybe you have heard statements like this during the past year:  “If you vote this way or for that person, you’re not being faithful to God.”  Much like Pilate, American Christians seem caught between two uncompromising realities.  But maybe there is more to it.  You see, Pilate’s problem was not that he had to choose between his conscience and the political ramifications.  Pilate’s problem, like the conundrum facing many Christians in this election, was that he had the options reduced for him to a formulaic binary.  It’s either A or B.  Left or Right.  Free him or crucify him.

For instance, many American Christians feel as though they have to choose between the lesser of two evils.  On one side, well-meaning individuals will say that they simply cannot vote for a person who is “pro-choice” all the while ignoring the fact that the opponent is an openly racist, neo-fascist who has been accused of sexual assault on multiple accounts and who has asked the joint chiefs why we don’t use nuclear weapons on our enemies and so, in my humble opinion, can in no way can be classified as “pro-life” simply by spouting empty promises about overturning Roe v. Wade.

Many, upon reading that above statement will feel as they have me pegged.  Just a know-nothing millennial who has been blinded by the liberal media and doesn’t understand how things work in the real world.  If you read the above condemnation as an endorsement of the candidate from the other side, you are falling into the exact dichotomy that I am trying to help the Church reject.   It’s exactly at this intersection that I want to make my plea to Christians from every end of the political spectrum:   do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of your minds and be able to discern the will of God(Rom. 12:2).  When the world presents us with two bad options, we don’t, like Pilate, choose pragmatism over principle.  We don’t wash our hands and go against every ounce of our conscience because “sometimes you put your Christian values on pause to get work done” (actual quote from Ben Carson). No, in the face of absurdity A and absurdity B, we respond as Jesus did before Pilate:  we witness to the Kingdom that is not of this world and when any political party tries to co-opt our faith for their cause, perhaps silence or suffering are our best recourse.

Politics are ambiguous, plain and simple.  Whether you vote Left, Right, or simply “no thanks,” it is highly likely you are being asked to compromise the values of the Kingdom (Matt. 5:3-11 for instance) in some way because America is not the Kingdom.  So what’s the Christian to do?  First, we do not allow our decisions to be made for us.  This is what happened to Pilate and its what’s happening to many white, evangelical Christians along the lines of the abortion debate.  Saying one candidate is pro-choice and one is pro-life is reductionist and may help you sleep at night but is not a conclusion with any basis in reality. Second, we are people who confess our own sins.  The ambiguity of politics should humble us not allow us to demonize those who think differently.  You may wonder how anybody who claims to be a Christian could vote for a “pro-choice” candidate and miss the possibility that your Christian sisters and brothers of color are asking how anybody who claims to be a Christian could vote for a racist.

As Pilate tries one more time to wiggle his way out of crucifying Jesus, he asks the crowd, “Shall I crucify your king?”  The crowd responds, “We have no king but Caesar.”  The binaries are unflinching.  The reductionist rhetoric does not bend, it grind us down into bureaucrats merely following orders.

But there is a third way.

It’s not a way that leads to political power or economic security.  It’s not a way that insulates us from pain or danger.   It is the way of Jesus.  It’s the way of the cross.  The way of confronting evil and injustice with suffering and perfect love.  The way of reconciliation.  The way of bearing witness to a kingdom that is not of this world.  I pray that the American church will rise above the fray, especially the rhetoric that suggests that the fate of the free world somehow rests on this election.  Empires rise and fall, the Kingdom of God will stand forever.  I pray that we will renew our minds to reject the talk-radio rancor and seek what it means to love our enemies or at least those who think differently.  I pray that we will allow our hearts to be washed and not simply wash our hands.  Grace and peace.