Historians suggest that Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Jerusalem during Jesus' day, was an unnecessarily oppressive ruler.
Called back to Rome numerous times, he was instructed to strike that delicate balance between occupying a land and a people through force but not so much force as to incentivize insurrection.
Maybe that's why he equivocated so when the Jewish leaders brought Jesus before him. Pressed and pushed, he simply wouldn't commit, wouldn't say yes and wouldn't say no because he was caught between the powers of Rome and the powers of the local religious leaders.
The great Renaissance poet Dante put Pontius Pilate in Hell, or very near to it. Dante's Divine Comedy is regarded as one of the great, formative works in western literature. You may recall struggling through portions of Dante's Divine Comedy, but in one section the poet Virgil is taking Dante on a tour of the afterlife, beginning with Hell.
Over the entrance to Hell, there is a sign: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." And there at the vestibule to Hell itself, not quite in and certainly not outside, there is Pontius Pilate. The vestibule is the place not for history's monstrous sinners, but for the opportunists, those who would not commit but tried to remain neutral. The people in the vestibule to Hell run about eternally, never getting anywhere, never making a decision, a commitment.
I wonder if that's what Jesus was talking about in this week's scripture passage. We'll explore it in depth in this week's sermon as we continue our series on Seven Words For Living. We'll also celebrate communion, enjoy some great music, and be challenged to decide and declare whom we will serve.
Come, and bring a friend.
