and touch or measure with his hands. So when the Jews claim that Jesus is trying to make a kingdom for himself, all Pilate wants to know is, “Is this a kingdom to be seen with the eyes, or to be measured on a map of the Mediterranean Sea?” No, it isn’t. So that is where his interest in the affair ends. Now he can wash his hands of it all.
But can Pilate wash his hands of it all? Is he just the Roman governor? Isn’t he more than that? Isn’t he a human being? Isn’t it vitally important for him to know the meaning of divine truth? Isn’t it vitally important for him to direct his attention beyond the mere kingdoms of this world, whether Roman or Persian or Chinese, mere kingdoms one can see and measure on a map of the world, to the invisible, intangible kingdom of God?
Then what would I have done, if I had been in Pilate’s shoes? How would I have responded to the good advice of Pilate’s wife, when she came with the dreams she had had about Jesus? Shouldn’t I have told Jesus, “Please wait a moment while I disperse the crowd outside.” And then mightn’t I have returned and asked for glasses of wine and said, “Now we have a little leisure. Now please tell me about this kingdom of God and the truth of God. Who is this God? Is he the same as the Jewish God, or is he different? Isn’t that the reason why the Jews outside have been accusing you?” Now wouldn’t that have been a worthy response to make, as a human being, to Jesus?
On Kingdom
Once again, allow me to return to Pilate and his seemingly supercilious question. Bacon says he was jesting. But was he really jesting? Or wasn’t Bacon with his English sense of humor interpreting his words as spoken in jest? Can we really trust Bacon?
Once again, allow me to repeat the words of Jesus, “For this was I born, and for this came I into the world, to bear witness to the truth.” He is answering the question of Pilate, “Are you a king?” In other words, the kingdom which Jesus claims as son of David is a kingdom of truth. But what he means by “kingdom”, and what he means by “truth”, isn’t the same as what the Roman Pilate means by those words. We have to be so careful with words!
As a Roman, Pilate isn’t truly interested in “truth”. That he is content to leave to the Greek philosophers with their innumerable sects, and their innumerable ideas about “truth”. As a Roman, he is more interested in kingdoms – “the more, the merrier”, for the Roman Empire to embrace and envelop and include under their all-enveloping imperium. So when he hears of a “kingdom” from the mouth whether of Jesus or his enemies, as a Roman, he is prepared to do business with him. Maybe he has a map of the Roman Empire, and he glances at the map to see how and where the kingdom of Jesus might fit in.
But then he is so disappointed when Jesus suddenly switches the conversation to “truth”, away from “the kingdom”. It seems as if Jesus isn’t about to establish a kingdom that will fit into Pilate’s conception of “the kingdom”. For Jesus it seems as if his proposed kingdom is to be based not, like the Roman Empire, on power, or on the might that makes right, but on “truth” – whatever that may be.
Then what does Pilate mean by “truth”, in contrast to whatever Jesus may mean? The very word turns his attention, as an educated Roman, from Rome to Athens. The Romans as such aren’t very interested in “truth”, no more than the English with their sense of humor. The Romans and the English are more interested in Empire, and that for Pilate means “power”, and for Bacon it means the knowledge that brings power.
But Pilate isn’t just a simple Roman. He is an educated Roman, and for Romans like Pilate “education” means Greek philosophy, and it is among the Greek philosophers – men like Socrates and Plato and Aristotle – that one may look for “truth”. Only, that isn’t so easy to come by. It calls for the “leisure” of a scholar, the leisure to sit with other like-minded men over cups of wine – like Socrates as portrayed by Plato in the Symposium. Then perhaps how pleasant it might be for Pilate to sit down at table with this Jewish sage and to puzzle out the meaning of “truth” over cups of wine!
Alas for Pilate, Jesus isn’t a Roman or a Greek. He isn’t interested in “power”, as the Romans grasp it, or even in “wisdom”, as the Greeks understand it. Jesus is a Jew, and for his understanding of “the kingdom” and of “truth”, we have to consult the Holy Scriptures. Then what do the Holy Scriptures have to say?
As for “the kingdom”, there was once a kingdom in Israel, and then it was divided between Israel in the North and Judah in the South. It began with Saul, and then with David, and it continued in the South in the line of David and Solomon, before coming to an end with the deportation of the Jewish leaders to Babylon. Only, Jesus comes in that line long after the end of the Jewish kingdom. Now as Messiah, or as he is hailed by Peter, “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, he has another kingdom in mind.
Now the Messianic kingdom, as foretold by the prophets, is no longer to be limited to the one people of the Jews, or to the one place of Judea or Galilee. From now on it is to be for all people, of all places and all times – without limit or boundary or restriction. And in this respect, it is the fulfillment of the divine promise, made at various times to Adam and Abraham, to Moses and David, and to the long line of prophets. For God is faithful to his Word.
Here is the “truth” in the meaning of Jesus – not a Greek or a Hellenic “truth”, to be defined in the Aristotelian manner as a due alignment of the thought with the thing. So if we say, “It is raining” we may be challenged, “Is it really raining?” and then we may answer, “It is indeed raining. Just look outside, and see for yourself.” It is in such particular cases that we say, “It is true,” and then we pass from the particular to the general, from the concrete to the abstract, and ask, “What is truth?”
That all belongs to the human level. But Jesus is speaking on the divine level. He is speaking of the Word of God, as conveyed through the Holy Scriptures, from the very beginning, when God says, “Let there be light!” He is speaking of the “truth” and the “fidelity” of God. It is the “truth” oddly to be found on American banknotes, of all places, “In God we trust.”
As we read in the opening words of the epistle to the Hebrews, “At sundry times and in divers manners God has spoken in the past to our fathers through the prophets, but now in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son.” There precisely we have the “truth” of God to which Jesus makes appeal to his followers, and all who recognize this “truth” hear his voice and follow him. It calls for no special education, still less any super-sophistication, which are rather obstacles in the way of truth. All that is needed is a simple heart, such as Jesus found among his disciples, except for Judas, the only Jew among those Galileans, but not alas in Pilate.
On Jesting
Was Pilate really jesting? Once again let me return to my question. I really don’t know, and I doubt if Bacon knew either. Only, he projected his own propensity to jest into Pilate’s question. As Aristotle says, “Every knower knows what is like himself.” And so Bacon in attributing a jest to Pilate is really projecting a jest of his own into the mind of Pilate. As his predecessor among English lawyers would say, Pilate is merely indulging in merry fooling.
But, I ask, is that a moment to indulge in merry fooling, when it is a matter of life and death? Does one jest before sentencing a man to death by crucifixion? Rather, when Pilate asks the question, “What is truth?” doesn’t he mean, “I have no time for discussing such philosophical questions now. We must be serious.” Anyhow, he now knows all he needs to know, that Jesus is quite harmless, that he poses no danger to the state, that this is a problem for the Jews, not the Romans, to deal with.
But again, I ask, is Bacon really jesting when he speaks of Pilate as jesting? Is Bacon a typical Englishman with an Englishman’s sense of humor? What does he mean by “jesting” anyhow? Maybe he is just playing with words, and making a pun on “Jesus” and “jesting” – or rather, putting this pun into the mind of Pilate, though one may doubt if the Roman would have had an addiction to puns.
Anyhow, one may well doubt if Bacon had a sense of humor to put into the mind of Pilate. One may well doubt if Bacon was