Anatomy of a Compromised Conscience

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Nov 25, 2024

We inform our consciences with the truth of Christ. The trial of Jesus includes a detailed depiction of a compromised conscience (cf. Jn. 18:28-40, 19:1-16).

After His arrest, the chief priests bring Jesus before the Roman procurator. Pontius Pilate asks, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answer, “If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have handed him over.” The testimony is insufficient for a man trained in Roman justice, and Pilate dismisses the case: “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The chief priests protest: “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.” (Stoning of adulterers, anyone?)

Lacking honest testimony, Pilate resorts to interrogation. Returning to the praetorium, he asks Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Such a claim directly threatens Roman rule. Jesus responds with a question of his own. “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”

A cat-and-mouse game begins, but who is the cat? Who is the mouse? Pilate continues: “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me; what have you done?” Jesus answers, “My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world.” His kingship is no threat to Roman rule. But His truth threatens a compromised conscience.

Pilate asks the “gotcha” question: “So you are a king?” Jesus doesn’t respond as Pilate anticipates: “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”

Pilate was a trained military man, a loyal Roman, and a member of the Roman ruling class. Soldiers served under him. He earned Caesar's trust as governor of Judaea. Was his appointment to this remote part of the Roman empire an honor or a punishment? He knows Jesus represents no threat to Rome. But Jesus tests Pilate’s integrity. Has Pilate compromised his integrity too many times? Pilate’s world-weary response to Jesus echoes throughout every age. “What is truth?” The deflection sets the stage to justify his crucifixion of Truth Incarnate.

Momentarily, Pilate regains his moral equilibrium. He returns to the crowds and reveals the results of his investigation: “I find no crime in him.” But playing amoral politics remains in his DNA. Pilate pretends Jesus is guilty and offers a deal. “You have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover; will you have me release for you the King of the Jews?” Pilate’s taunt backfires. More hatred: “Not this man, but Barabbas!” A violent criminal is not as fearsome as a man who disturbs consciences.

“Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple robe; they came up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands.” Brutality often obliterates compromised consciences.

Pilate’s conscience still stings: “Behold, I am bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no crime in him.” Pilate presents to them the battered body of Jesus, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and says: “Behold the man!” But Pilate’s conscience carries more grievous wounds. He even refuses to heed his wife’s warning from God: “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much over him today in a dream.” (Mt. 27:19)

The sorrowful display inflames more blood lust, and they cry out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate continues to evade responsibility, insisting: “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no crime in him.” The crowd misapplies Mosaic Law: “We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God.”

When Pilate heard these words, he became even more afraid. But Whom did he fear? Pilate returns to the praetorium and asks Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus doesn't answer. Unnerved, Pilate invokes raw power over Truth: “Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?”

Pilate protests too much. He knows he has already compromised his authority with injustice. Jesus reminds him of his duties in conscience: “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.” Did Pilate fear the crowds or the inner voice of conscience? Pilate is desperate to restore his integrity.

The crowds become the cat, Pilate the mouse: “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend; everyone who makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar.” Pilate knows where he received his rank and privileges. But, as he continues his efforts to release Jesus, he cannot resist disparaging his enemies.

When Pilate hears the threats to his career, he again brings Jesus out: “Here is your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate’s desperation grows, but he continues to taunt them: “Shall I crucify your King?”

The response of the chief priests is shocking. “We have no king but Caesar.” They abruptly deny the entire faith of Israel in the Lord God and provide Pilate with a political gift to Rome. Pilate rewards their apostasy. He hands an Innocent Man over to them for crucifixion. The humiliation of Pilate’s conscience is complete.

The evangelists somehow learned of the private conversation of Jesus with Pilate. Did they hear it from Pilate’s wife? Did Pilate himself convert to the Catholic faith, as some traditions hold? We don’t know. But we remember Pontius Pilate by name every time we recite the Creed.

With his name, we may also recall the compromises of conscience that beckon our repentance. The King of kings does not give up on us.