What Shall I Do?

Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. (Matthew 27:22)

Secular history confirms the existence of Judea’s governor during Roman occupation. The inscription above reads:

This building - Tiberium
By Pontius Pilatus
Prefect of Judea
Has been built

I’ve always found it strange that a group of men could drag a woman through a city, collecting stones along the way, to confront Jesus with a question of law – yet it took a Roman Prefect to sentence a man to death. The Jewish leaders were condemning Him for blasphemy – for saying He was equal to God. Yet Roman law was necessary to put Him to death. Convoluted, wasn’t it? We do much the same, though.

So many people echo Pilate’s response to his question “What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” :

When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. (Matthew 27:24)

That’s the easiest thing to do. “Not my problem.” “Doesn’t concern me.” “I don’t want to think about it.” “I don’t have time.” There are so many answers, when the one Christians give is:

And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. (John 6:69)

Pilate had beliefs about Jesus:

Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man. (Luke 23:4)

He did not follow through on this belief.

The question stands before each of us at least once in our lives, “What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” In evangelical churches it is heard often so that everyone has ample opportunity to publicly state their decision.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)

Having heard the message, and having decided to do nothing, many will stay away from churches so that they are no longer faced with the question. They’ve made their decision, as Pilate, to have nothing to do with this man.

There is no clear history that tells us what Pilate’s life was after his tenure in Judea. The Bible does not address his life after Christ’s resurrection, so the inference is he had no additional interaction with Christians. Later writers speculate that Roman authorities sent him west into Europe, but there’s no documentation to show history was accurately written.

I’d like to think that if Pilate had acted upon the witness given to him, his conversion would have been as important as Paul’s. A man who stood before Christ, asked if He were a king and still had to ask:

Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? (John 18:38a)

May those who today ask that same question find their answer in Christ.