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tonyhabibi

posted on Dec 04, 2007 - 01:00 PM

I have been thinking of certain political reasons behind the Crucifixtion of our lord . if anyone has any other information to offer , please share . by the way , i base my thoughts not on facts , but rather my wandering mind , trying to look at political motives behind the crucifixation ... not to say that there were any ,....or perhaps there were . let us reason together .

1 ) - I think it is agreed that Pontious Pilate ordered the SIGN to be nailed to the cross that read " KING OF THE JEWS " in 3 languages . - Why would Pilate do this , when the main reason jesus was being crucified was because the jews DID NOT BELEIVE HE WAS THE KING ? I think pontious Pilate did this because he wanted to send a message to the followers of Jesus . That he was in charge. and he just ordered the death of their King , and any follower who wishes to cause a disturbance will get the same punishment. Pontious pilate perhaps changed his views of jesus after his ressurection , but i feel he wanted to stop any potential uprisings by the followers of jesus , and the Sign above the head of Jesus which proclaimed he was the King of the Jews , was sort of Propoganda .

2 ) i feel the Jews were trying to kill 2 birds with one stone when they brang JEsus to Pilate to be judge , I feel they not only wanted to kill jesus , but the sanhedrin wanted to extend their reach into the goverment of Pilate. They wanted to have a say in the way they were occupied. And if one would read the Texts of the Bible , it would appear to show Pontious Pilate as Weak . and perhaps the Jews did suceed in influencing his decisions , based on the threat of UPRISINGS .

any other theories ?

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HonoringGod

posted on Dec 08, 2007 - 05:42 AM

The first point you bring up is a hard question to answer. First off Pilate did everything he could to save Christ from being crucified. He gave the jews the choice of Christ, whos only crime was to go against the pharises, or barnabas, whos crimes were recognized by the roman government. The Bible also states that Pliate "knew that they had handed Him over because of envy."(Mat 27:18). Pilate knew that Christ was not just a Holy man. The sign he placed on the cross was not for the followers of Christ, it was meant for the jews. I dont remember were in the old testament the prophecy of the sign was, but i will try to find it later.

As for the second part, no. The jews had a right to crucify any criminal they wanted according to roman law. This happen i think once a year. Each city would crucify those whos crimes were beyond forgiveness. The jews did not extend their athority by crucifying Christ. They saw him as a threat to their way of life. They were in charge. They interpreted the law the way they wanted it. Christ was seen as a "revolutionist", which is not the best word, but im too tired to think of another word.

I hope this opens discussion on this topic.
Your friend in Christ,
Tim

Joined: Nov 17, 2003 | Posts: 42
Location: Southern Cal

Peter

posted on Dec 08, 2007 - 08:12 AM

Sign over the cross I think was passive aggressive means of Pilate to stick to the Sanhedrin to show them that he still was ultimately in charge, even though he was backed into a corner. For the actual charge I believe was Christ inciting the people not to pay takes, based on an intentional misinterpretation of "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” (based on Jewish beliefs all things belong to God, so in essence nothing belong to Caesar)

2) Yes Pilate was weak and a lousy procurator, that is why he was placed in charge of Judea. Due to the problematic nature of the region it was used as punishment posting for Roman officials who run afoul of the emperor or the imperial court. Death was usually the next step if he had failed there (and according to either Eusebius or Socrates, don't remember which, Pilate was excuted by Caligula). So in light of that, Pilate had one strike against him, and if you read Josephus you'll find Pilate had a rocky relationship with the Jews, who sent several complaints to the emperor already. Pilate as result wanted to avoid any trouble that would get negative attention from the emperor. So yes he executed Christ for the sake of expediency and the charge of refusal to pay taxes was more than enough justification since his main duty as procurator was the collection of taxes.

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