“Pilate was surprised to hear that He was already dead.” (Mark 15:44 NIV)
Why was Pilate surprised by the death of Jesus?
Jesus had been scourged before He went to the cross; the leather whip embedded with bones or stone was a death sentence in itself. He’d been beaten about the head by Roman soldiers; a brain bleed could have taken His life at any point. Jesus had lacked the strength to carry His own cross; His blood loss before the long haul to Calvary had to have been staggering. Six hours suffocating on a wooden beam stretched out like eternity, even for those only watching.
Yet Pilate was surprised.
Perhaps Pilate was taken aback because deep down he believed Jesus was Who he had said He was. Maybe on some level, Pilate was convinced of the supremacy of Christ. Why else would he be surprised by the death of God?
Believing in Jesus on some hidden plane is not enough to change our eternal destination. We’ve got to be able to articulate our faith and act upon it. Our intersection with Jesus needs to alter our course. We don’t just add Him to our life, He becomes our life.
Perhaps Pilate had hoped that Jesus would lift Himself off the cross and Pilate off the hook at the same time? But Pilate didn’t understand, Jesus’ Kingdom operates under different rules than Rome: the first shall be last, the humble shall be exalted, Thy will be done. The government that Jesus upheld on the cross was far more substantial than anything Pilate had ever participated in.
I wonder about Pilate and his wife in the weeks and years after Jesus’ crucifixion and consequent resurrection. The Bible is funny about people’s stories: how they pop into the text for a conversation or an interaction but so often they fall out of scriptures after that, never to be seen or heard from again. What happened with Pilate? Did his pre-belief ever unfold into real faith? Did his wife ever meet the Messiah of her dreams? Did these two powerful people ever bend their royal knee to the Ruler of all?
The Bible is silent on the rest of their story but we get to determine the rest of our own. We’ve walked through almost the entire gospel of Mark together these past few months, what will you do with what you’ve learned? Will the trajectory of your story be affected? Have you moved from implied belief to outspoke faith? I hope so.
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9 NIV)
Lord, we don’t want to just cross paths with You. We want to be changed by You. May our life intersection with the gospel change our story significantly. Give us the courage to admit, believe and confess. Make us outspoken in our faith and we follow You all the way Home. Amen.