Pilate had a bad day. We call it Good Friday, but it was anything but good for the Roman governor. He was charged with keeping peace in the rebellious Jewish nation, and those Jews needed a heavy hand on their festival days.
He was awakened early that day as Jewish authorities brought some rebel to him for an emergency ruling. Pilate listened to the case against this man, but it didn't add up. It didn't take him long to see that these Jewish power brokers just wanted to get rid of this guy. He tried to placate them by having the rebel beaten, and then releasing him. But the Jewish leaders were not satisfied. They whipped up the crowd to call for the rebel to be executed. They shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!"
Pilate found himself between a rock and a hard place. He could not condemn this man in good conscience. But he could not very well maintain peace if he angered those Jewish rulers. It could all get out of hand. The most expedient course of action would be to condemn the rebel. It would be messy, but only for a moment. Pilate had disposed of Jewish rabble many times before. What was one more Jewish execution?
The governor declared that he would take no responsibility for it, and sentenced the rebel to death. Pilate caved. He could not do the right thing with all that pressure.
He sent to death the only truly innocent man in the world.
Maybe you have pressure at work, too.
