Pertanyaan: 235. Apakah Pilatus bisa melakukan selain menghukum Yesus mati?
Ya, seperti yang dikatakan oleh Pilatus kepada Yesus (Yohanes 19:10), dia memiliki kekuatan untuk membebaskannya. Kesulitannya terletak pada catatan buruknya sendiri. Jika dia menolak memenuhi permintaan orang Yahudi dalam hal ini, mereka mungkin akan pergi ke Roma dan menuduhnya di hadapan Kaisar atas banyak tindakan pemerintahan yang buruk. Tidak akan membahayakannya jika mereka mengeluhkan keputusannya membebaskan Yesus. Dalam hal itu, pembelaannya bahwa tahanan itu tidak bersalah, sudah cukup. Tetapi mereka mungkin tidak akan mengatakan apa-apa tentang Yesus; mereka akan membawa tuduhan terhadapnya yang tidak bisa dia bela dan dia akan kehilangan jabatannya. Dia menyimpulkan bahwa dia tidak bisa menghadapi mereka, meskipun seharusnya dia melakukannya.
Question: 235. Could Pilate Have Done Other than Condemn Jesus to Death?
Yes, as Pilate told Jesus (John 19:10), he had power to release him. His difficulty lay in his own bad record. If he refused to oblige the Jews in this matter, they might go to Rome and accuse him before the Emperor of many acts of misgovernment. It would have done him no harm for them to complain of his letting Jesus go. In that matter, his defense that the prisoner was innocent, would have been sufficient. But they would probably say nothing about Jesus; they would bring charges against him for which he had no defense and he would lose his office. He concluded that he could not afford to set them at defiance, although he ought to have done so.
