Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§17.1 Crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato
determined to impose his will, and only moved otherwise by the possibility of
unfavourable reports being sent back to Emperor Tiberius 59 — in other words, a
fairly typical middle-ranking official 60 representing the awesome power of the
empire in a tiresome but sensitive part of its eastern territories. The fact that he
held office as long as he did (26-37) 61 indicates both his astuteness and his ability
to survive most of the crises he engendered, apart from the last. 62 There can be
little doubt that he would have had no qualms about arbitrarily executing someone
who could be plausibly accused of trouble-making or worse. 63 Crucifixion,
we may recall, was a Roman form of punishment for recalcitrant slaves and political
rebels. 64 That Jesus was crucified on the direct authority of Pilate himself
need not be doubted for a minute. 65
The only reason for hesitation before drawing such a straightforwardly
firm conclusion is what we might call the counter-evidence of the Gospels
themselves. For they clearly evidence a strong tendency to shift responsibility
for the execution of Jesus away from the Roman to the Jewish authorities. 66 Pilate
'perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him
over' (Mark 15.10). He gave the crowd the option of saving Jesus or Barabbas
(Mark 15.6-15). 67 Luke emphasizes that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod (Luke 23.6-
2.169-77; Ant. 18.55-89 (introduced standards with effigies of Caesar into Jerusalem by night,
used Temple treasury money to build an aqueduct, ruthlessly suppressed a Samaritan 'uprising').
59. See particularly Bond, Pontius Pilate chs. 2-3.
60. The Roman governors of the few third-class imperial provinces, of which Judea was
one, were drawn from the equestrian order and commanded only auxiliary troops (Bond, Pontius
Pilate 5, 9-11).
61. The usual dates for Pilate's term of office, though D. R. Schwartz argues for a starting
date in 19 ('Pontius Pilate', ABD 5.396-97).
62. The accusation of needless slaughter of the Samaritans is the reason given by
Josephus for Pilate's dismissal in 36/37 (Ant. 18.85-89); see further n. 70 below.
63. One of Philo's virulent accusations against Pilate is that he was responsible for 'frequent
executions of untried prisoners' (Legat. 302); though see Bond, Pontius Pilate 31-33.
64. See particularly Hengel, Crucifixion 33-63; Kuhn, 'Kreuzesstrafe' 706-32.
65. We recall that both Josephus (Ant. 18.63-64) and Tacitus (Annals 15.44) attribute Jesus'
execution to Pilate (above, §7.1). That the death penalty was a power (ius gladiij reserved
to the Roman authorities is now generally accepted; see, e.g., Legasse, Trial of Jesus 51-56.
66. See also Carroll and Green, Death of Jesus 182-204.
67. It is frustratingly difficult to assess the historical value of the Barabbas episode, not
least since the name is uncannily akin to that of Jesus (Jesus Barabbas; 'Do you want me to release
Jesus Barabbas or Jesus called Messiah?' — Matt. 27.17), and the custom of releasing a
prisoner at Passover (Mark 15.6/Matt. 27.15; in Luke 23.17 only as v.l.) is otherwise unknown
(hence the dismissive treatment of Lüdemann, Jesus 105-106; 'parable, not history' — Crossan
and Reed, Excavating Jesus 225). But see full discussion in Brown, Death 793-803, 811-20;
briefly in Pesch, Markusevangelium 2.467; Legasse, Trial of Jesus 67-69; Davies and Allison,
Matthew 3.583, 585; Theissen and Merz, Historical Jesus 465-66.
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