Dear Pontius Pilate…

This is the beginning of a series I am starting. This series consists of letters I’ve written to people in the Bible. Specifically for the next four weeks leading up to Easter, I will be writing to people who first hand experienced a part of the Passion of Christ.

Dear Pontius Pilate,

When I was younger and I would read through the gospels and you came up, I always thought you were a hard and cruel man. You sent an innocent Jesus to death by crucifixion. How could I see you as more than that decision? That is, until I reread the scriptures recently. You may have been cruel, but at the time of Jesus’s trial, I found that you were also conflicted. A man stood before you who you saw as innocent, yet the rioting crowds persisted on His execution. But deep down, you knew this man had done no wrong. Yet, you gave in to the surrounding pressure and sentenced Him to death. Sure, you tried to get Him released, but they chose a guilty Barabbas instead. You were sure your hands would stay clean from His death. And I have to ask, did they? After watching Jesus get scourged, did the blood of His wounds not stain your hands much deeper than the skin? When you watched thorns pierce His head, did you not feel the same piercing in your heart? Yet the hardest part of picturing you in this moment making the choice you did, is that I can see parts of myself in it.

How many times have I known the right thing to do and ignored it in order to appease the pressuring crowds? How many times have I chosen to do or say nothing because it was more convenient? How many times have I insisted my hands would stay clean, when every time they were stained in sin? In a culture that prioritizes comfort, how many times have I sacrificed my beliefs? Truly, I am more like you than I would like to admit.

So all I can do now is thank you, Pontius Pilate, for showing me pieces of myself. Thank you for showing me where I can be better, where I must be better. For I know my hands have been stained red in sin. But, I also know through Christ’s death and resurrection, the red stains I bare are cleansed and forgiven. For I am given a new life in Christ. And with that new life, I will do better.