literature.

CHAPTER VI.

BACK TO PILATE

The sending of Jesus to Herod had not, as Pilate had hoped, finished
the case, and so the Prisoner was brought back to the imperial palace.

Herod had affected to treat Jesus with disdain; but in reality, as we
are now aware, he had himself been tried and exposed. And Jesus
returned to do the same thing for Pilate--to make manifest what manner
of spirit he was of; though Pilate had no conception that this was
going to happen: he was only annoyed that a case of which he thought he
had got rid was thrown on his hands again. He had reluctantly to
resume it, and he carried it through to the end; but, before this point
was reached, his character was revealed, down to its very foundations,
in the light of Christ.

Herod's spirit was that of frivolous worldliness--the worldliness which
tries to turn the whole of life into a pastime or a joke; Pilate's was
that of strenuous worldliness--the worldliness which makes self its aim
and subordinates everything to success. Of the two this is perhaps the
more common; and, therefore, it will be both interesting and
instructive to watch its self-revelation under the search-light of
Christ's proximity.

I.

Pilate might perhaps have been justified in suspending the release of
Jesus till after he received Him back from Herod; because, although he
had himself found no fault in Him, his ignorance of Jewish laws and
customs might have made him hesitate about his own judgment and wish,
before absolutely settling the case, to obtain the opinion of an
expert. When, however, he learned that the opinion of Herod coincided
with his own, there was no further excuse for delay.

Accordingly he plainly informed the Jews[1] that he had examined the
Prisoner and found no fault in Him; he had also sent Him to Herod with
a like result. "Therefore," he continued. Therefore--what?
"Therefore," you expect to hear, "I dismiss Him from the bar acquitted,
and I will protect Him, if need be, from all violence." This would
have been the only conclusion in accordance with logic and justice.
Pilate's conclusion was the extraordinary one: "Therefore I will
chastise Him and release Him." He would inflict the severe punishment
of scourging as a sop to their rage, and then release Him as a tribute
to justice.

Was a more unjust proposal ever made? Yet it was thoroughly
characteristic of the man who made it as well as of the system which he
represen