Herod and Pilate—on Trial

James Tissot, Jesus Led from Herod to Pilate (1894)
James Tissot, Jesus Led from Herod to Pilate (1894)
James Tissot, Jesus Led from Herod to Pilate (1894)
James Tissot, Jesus Led from Herod to Pilate (1894)

John the Baptist and Jesus Christ led seemingly parallel lives: from their conceptions (each announced by the angel Gabriel) to their public ministry (proclaiming the need to repent, believe, and be baptized) to their arrest and execution by the secular rulers of their day. John is arrested and eventually executed by King Herod of Galilee (the son of the Herod who unsuccessfully tried to kill Jesus). As a Galilean, Jesus also appears briefly before Herod, but his trial is largely conducted by Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea.

It’s no coincidence that Herod’s life and Pilate’s are also intimately bound up with the other’s. St. Luke mentions that, after the trial of Jesus, “Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other” (Luke 23:12). And in each case, we might say that it’s really Pilate and Herod who get put on trial.

Why? Because these two allegedly powerful men each have before them a man they personally know to be innocent, a man that they want not to execute. Whether they know it or not, this is the most important moment in each man’s life, the moment for which he will be remembered for all of history.

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8 comments

  1. “…Pilate and Herod resemble nothing so much as those elected leaders who are “personally opposed” to killing but are too beholden to special interests to stand up for innocent human life.”

    There. It. Is.

    Brilliant, Joe.

  2. In Joe’s article, he describes the weakness of both Pilate and Herod, and how they succumb to the peer pressure exerted upon them from various people around them. And Joe also says: “These men’s failings are a reminder to each of us to avoid not only mortal sins, but even venial ones, and even situations that seem likely to lead us into sin.”

    The problem with Herod and Pilate is the same as happened with Samson and Delilah. It is a consequence of our need to live and associate with others that we therefore need to balance our wills, desires and decisions with the wills, desires and decisions of those we are closely associated with; and moreover, in both small/micro and great/macro matters. As Samson demonstrates, social conflict is extremely distracting and annoying, especially if it comes from someone as intimate as a wife or other family member. Even as Delilah tormented Samson with repeated requests for the secrets of his strength, this persistant social conflict can ‘wear a soul down’ and make even the strongest person/soul succumb to its continued nagging influence, just to escape the mental distraction that such nagging and conflict produces. So, in reality, it takes a very strong willed soul to repeal ‘in a wise and proper way’, such social peer pressure, the likes of which even kings and leaders such as Herod and Pilate were apparently unable to do. Samson’s trial with the persistent social manipulations of the devious Delilah, which resulted in him being blinded and made a slave of his enemies (the Philistines) was a micro example of how such peer pressure can happen on the familial level. With the stories of Herod and Pilate there is given an example of how this same pressure can exit itself on the macro,political or worldwide governmental level. Fundamentally, it is all pretty much the same thing.

    People, in general, desire peace in their lives, and hate to be inundated by the conflicts and distractions generated by the problems of others. Sometimes it is hard enough for us to handle our own moral dilemmas, much less be embroiled in the moral dilemmas of our wives, children, employees, bosses, political parties, governments…etc.. But with the grace of God, and the Holy Spirit as our helper, we are all called to do this very thing. That is, to stand up for the truth when our consciences convict us of the proper, moral and loving actions to take in our lives.

    Yet, as Joe states above..this is “a reminder to each of us to avoid not only mortal sins, but even VENIAL ones, and even situations that seem likely to lead us into sin.”; wherein, by habitually repelling immoral peer pressure that is pretty much inconsequential, ‘micro’ or ‘venial’, we might be able to repeal the same type of evil peer pressure on the more serious, ‘macro’ or consequential level…such as both Pilate and Herod found themselves confronted by. So, in this way we can see how Jesus’ saying holds true regarding the avoidance of not only mortal sins, but venial ones as well, when He taught:

    “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater.” [Luke 16:10]

    This is really the battle of our lifetimes, and it is also good to heed Jesus Gospel teaching :

    “I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

    [35] “I came to set a man at variance”: Not that this was the end or design of the coming of our Saviour; but that his coming and his doctrine would have this effect, by reason of the obstinate resistance that many would make, and of their persecuting all such as should adhere to him.

    “… a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it. He that receiveth you, receiveth me: and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.”

  3. Al, you write so well and I thank you for your patience and insight. For sometime now I find that I don’t say aloud while reciting the cred, “He suffered under Pontius Pilate”. My thought is this, that out of all the people who where instrumental to our Lord’s mission: Adam & Eve, Noah, the law-giver Moses, I almost missed Abraham, then there is David and St John the Baptist, St Joseph, gosh St Paul was kinda important, the High Priest Ciaphas, gee St Michael the Archangel, can’t forget Peter who is still with us in a way–Outta all them our credo forever and ever (and no one else but our Lady) mentions the one pagan- nonjewish guy who states (in all 4 gospels): ” I will not go down in history as the one who put an innocent man to death”. And we did just that for the rest of the Church’s existence. I mean, can it not be viewed that our Lord was convicted by a jury of his peers–and we are them?!
    I am not trying to rehabilitate the evil that he did–just trying to balance the historical perspective. Plus i’m of roman descent and I’m thinking, why beat up on the roman guy? 🙂
    Blessed easter my brother.

    1. By stating that “He suffered under Pontius Pilate,” we are placing the death and resurrection of Our Lord in a definite place in history. He didn’t die and rise again “a long time ago.” No, he died during the span of time when Pilate was in charge in Palestine. Pilate’s place in the creed is not to single his role out of all others; it is to provide an anchor in history that we can point to and say this is when Jesus of Nazareth lived, died, and rose again. It really happened!

    2. Hi Br. teo 🙂

      I think SS has the analysis correct. There was a lot of ‘territory’ to cover for the Early Church to convey all of the aspects of Christianity that were necessary to get the story right. Most important are the words and actions of Jesus, but after that, as SS says, accounts from the actual civilization and history, both Jewish and Roman, were important to ‘put on the record’ also. Actually, I find it amazing how they did such a great job in conveying all of this information on so little ‘paper’/parchment/papyrus. We have the greatest story ever told, which is of eternal value, and much of it, including sacred scripture, was put down on a mere few thousand pages of text (compared to ‘terabytes’ of text used to communicate via writing, today). And this also is the case with Jesus. He spoke so few words, but how eternally potent they are! And the Early Church who composed the Creed is the same. Very few words can convey truths that take a life time to meditate upon. So, I am more of an admirer of those ancient writers, Saints, Fathers and composers. They did so much with so little, but having the gift of the Holy Spirit aiding them, they were able to build almost the entirety of Western Civilization upon those few words.

      Our problem now is to keep the Kingdom of God growing in our own time. And great writers like Joe, and many others, are helping to accomplish this via internet blogs, EWTN, Relevant Radio, You Tube..ect…each in their own way. And we should also be busy about doing similar’ fishing for men’, and not neglect to think of how best to spread the True Faith/knowledge of Jesus, to others. That is, to always to always be busy about this task. This is why Jesus said:

      “The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send labourers into his harvest.” [Luke 10:2]

      And even if we can’t do much, physically, at least we can still pray hard for this very thing. But if we can get out and evangelize we should do it…especially in giving out holy books and other literature to others/strangers. So, in this way, we can all participate in the harvest in one way or the other…if only we strategize …like fishermen must do to be successful… and ask the Lord to help us in the harvesting that He describes in the above quote.

      Best to you also…Brother teo 🙂 ! Keep up the good comments. The Lord is risen! Alleluia!

    3. Happy Easter, Everyman!

      It was not us! God Himself gave the authority (so Jesus says in Scripture) to Pilate. God Himself placed Pilate in contradistinction to Himself at this historical ‘crux’ of Revelation. For that fact alone, Pilate is mentioned in Scripture and in our Creed. It really happened. We were not in essence there then. No one is beating up on Pilate; he did that to himself and by himself.

      We ARE here now. Confronted by such history, whose side do we choose? Pilate’s?, Herod’s, or Christ’s?

      1. And yet, we like Pilate and St. Peter often fluctuate in our faith, almost like the stock market…so feeble is the human mind and soul. And so, we see the need to take pre-emptive and proactive actions regarding the maintenance of the ‘little faith’ that we indeed have. Thus the Churches perennial recommendation for us to frequent the liturgy and other sacraments as frequently as possible, and try to do what Jesus teaches us in so many places of His gospel teachings. When needed we should go and have our sins forgiven, via confession and penance, and start our warfare against sin over again with even more determination. This is the way of Catholic ‘spiritual combat’.

        Have a great Easter Season, Margo!

        1. Thank you, Al. Et tu, in the spirit of spiritual combat! In other words, may God bless you and yours. May he chastise, correct, and perfect us in all needful ways. Then grant us his salvation. Alleluiah!~

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