Pilate View of Cross 3

Matthew 27:20-24

A few years ago on a very bitter cold winter evening, a church member and I left a meeting and I followed his vehicle out of the parking lot. On our way out we passed a car with its hood up and two people bent over the engine. I wanted so badly to keep on driving, to pretend I hadn’t noticed these people in distress in the cold, but the church member pulled over to help and I joined him.

It is so easy to turn our eyes away from problems. It is so easy to ignore the needs and troubles of others. But, in fact, we are called to help one another.

Pilate, in his attempt to avoid responsibility, presented a choice to those Jews who were trying to have Jesus crucified. What was the choice? What did the crowd want? What did Pilate do to show he had no responsibility in this decision?

The expression “I wash my hands of this” is fairly common. It is a statement to show that the person has no part in what is going on. They are not responsible.

Pilate instituted this concept by literally taking a bowl of water and washing his hands in front of everyone. He was symbolically washing the blood of Jesus off his hands. He was symbolically shedding any guilt or responsibility in the situation.

But his question in verse 23 shows that he is still responsible. He is not alone in the guilt of crucifying Jesus, but he is still part of it. He asks the crowd what crime Jesus had committed, and this demonstrates that he does not see any guilt in Jesus. Yet, he allows the crucifixion.

There are many times when we as Christians can wash our hands of a situation in an attempt to avoid the responsibility that rests with us. I am reminded of Cain’s question of God in Genesis 5:9 – “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain was trying to avoid his responsibility.

The question asked is never answered outright, but we all know the answer. Yes, you are your brother’s keeper. Each one of us is responsible for serving God, for loving our neighbor as ourselves, and through that love we are responsible for caring for others.

No matter how hard we try we cannot wash away the responsibility of doing good for others. We need to accept the responsibility and duty of caring for one another.

DAILY CHALLENGE: Have you washed your hands of service in any way? How can you change that?