Will God condemn Pilate for condemning Jesus to die like a thief or will Jesus’ word on the cross “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do” free him? 

Also, is a song like “Yes I shall arise and return to my Father” a suitable song for the Lenten period?

Murphy Ossai
Benin City, Nigeria

I am fascinated that somehow the Rev. Know-it-all has reached Africa. I am, honored and amazed that the rantings of a curmudgeon like me have reached such distant shores. I hope that the Christians of Nigeria are praying for us in the United States. I have quite a few Nigerian friends here and their faith puts ours to shame.

Now on to your questions, I'll answer the second one first. Yes I think it is an appropriate song for Lent. We actually read the story of the prodigal during the Lenten season, so I suppose the song is acceptable.

Now the harder question Pontius Pilate was a truly awful man. He regularly stole funds from the temple and murdered those who protested. In 36 AD he violently suppressed what he thought to be a rebellion in Samaria, but which was in fact a religious celebration of the Samaritans. He was recalled from the Roman foreign service because he was just too immoral even for Roman tastes. There is a legend that cannot be substantiated that he ended his life when he was ordered to commit suicide by the emperor. The crucifixion of Jesus was just one item on Pilate's list of crimes.

This brings us to the point. God offers us forgiveness but we have to accept it, and though we may fall again and again, we struggle to accept God's mercy and to express it in true repentance as evidenced by our behavior. God is infinitely merciful, but he never robs us of our freedom. 

Those who say that Pilate or Judas were fated either to be condemned or forgiven don't understand the difference between fate and destiny. We are destined to be the son and daughters of God, but we can say “No” to our destiny as it seems Pilate did. 

I cannot condemn him, but neither can I canonize him. His eternal salvation is in his hands and God's Remember that in Phil. 2:12 we are told to work out our salvation. The Greek verb is katergazesthai and it means exactly that ― “to work out" or “to work, thoroughly.”  God offers. We accept.

If Pilate was condemned as he stood before God, it was because he did not accept the offer of salvation that God offered him when Jesus himself, bruised and bleeding said, “I have come to witness to the truth.” Pilate of course answered, “What is truth?”  I suspect that for Pilate the accumulation of treasure, in the old Roman style of graft, theft and corruption was truth. Truth was what he wanted it to be, as it is for so many people today. He never bothered to recognize the truth that had stood before him and loved him with God's own saving love. He preferred his money to his life and in the end he seems to have lost both.

Thanks for your kind question and your patience.

Rev. Know-It-All