Pilate
James Watkins
Synopsis
Early Easter morning, Pilate struggles with his decisions
concerning
Jesus Christ. Based on Matthew 27:11-66; Mark 15:1-45;
Luke 11:13, 23:1-53; John 18:28-19:42
Stage Setting
Bare
stage with chair or throne center stage
Props
Props
include a single chair suitable for a throne,
a
small table; several sheets of parchment (available at most
stationary stores); a metal bowl sitting on the table.
Characters
PILATE- Pilate, Fifth Governor of Imperial
dressed in royal robe with several rings on his fingers.
(Pilate enters looking nervous and
exhausted; slumps in
chair)
Pilate [angrily] “Jesus”! That’s all I’ve heard this
week.
On the last Day
of the Sun, a mob of Jews paraded Him through
riot at the
temple on the Day of the Moon. I
thought
all this
nonsense would be over after my men flogged and
crucified
Him. He's dead--sealed in a
tomb--surrounded
by temple
guards. I have the transcription from
the
trial, orders
for his death, and the soldier's report of
the crucifixion
right here.
[he waves
parchments angrily]
So, why should
I worry? [pause, stares into
space] But
for some
strange reason I do.
[he bolts from
chair]
Why does this
Jesus still live in my mind?
My first
mistake was ever accepting the appointment of
Fifth Governor
of Imperial
At the time I
thought it was an honor. But now
I'm
stationed in
this dry, barren land trying to rule a
nation of
religious fanatics. I have been
trained all
my life for
Roman leadership and now... [he points to
throne]
...this. Once a year I have to
leave
and come down
to
religious
Passover. These Jews have been
nothing but
trouble. They rebelled when I placed Roman
banners in
the city. They rebelled when I placed shields
decorated
with the Latin
gods in their temple. But by that
time,
I had had
enough of their religion and rebellion.
My
soldiers
splattered the Jews' own blood over their
precious
sacrifices.
[pause]
But did I get
respect from Caesar for upholding Roman rule?
The chief
priests went behind my back and complained to
And now Caesar
Tiberius has declared that I must honor their
religion to
keep the pax romana--"the peace of
[pause]
To think that
my name, Pilate, means "one who
carries the
javelin." But now I have been
stripped of
my weapon and
power over these cursed Hebrews.
Their
temple guard
alone outnumbers my army of Samaritan and
Syrian
mercenaries. [he shakes his head in
frustration]
And now this
impossible incident with this other Jew--
this
Jesus. I tried to give Him a fair
trial. I swear
to Jupiter and
I swear to Caesar I tried to give Him a
fair
trial. It should have been
just trivial religious
matter their
Sanhedrin should have dealt with.
But
apparently,
this Jesus claimed to be some kind of god.
But the priests
and teachers of the law wouldn't even
come into the
palace to press charges. They
wanted to
avoid
[sarcastically] "ceremonial uncleanness," so they
could celebrate
their Passover. These sons of
vipers
don't mind
crucifying an innocent man, but they don't
want to be
"unclean" by entering a "pagan" palace. I
hope you are
pleased, O Tiberius, that I "honored their
religion."
and went out to them.
[Pilate sits
down]
I sat in the
seat of judgment and declared, "He is a
Jew, you're all
Jews. Deal with your own religious
arguments!"
[He looks to
the left as if remembering Christ's
accusers]
These Hebrews
may not acknowledge the gods of the
Empire, but
they do know Roman politics! They
answered
"We have
found this man subverting our nation.
He
opposes payment
of taxes to Caesar and claims to be a
king over
Caesar himself. If you let this man
go, you
are no friend
of Caesar." What else could I
do with
Jesus?
[looks to the
right as if remembering Christ]
I asked Him,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"
He
answered by
questioning me. "Is that your own idea or
did others talk
to you about me?" He said something
about being
from another Kingdom, so I asked Him again,
"You are a
King, then?" He gave a strange
answer: "You
are right in
saying I am a king. In fact, for
this
reason I was
born, and for this I came into the world,
to testify to
the truth. Everyone on the side of
truth
listens to
me." I asked Him, "What
is truth?" But then
He was
silent. He just stood their like a
sheep before
its
shearers. He wouldn't tell me what
Kingdom He was
from--if He was
indeed a god--nothing. I finally
shouted,
"Don't you realize I have the power to either
free you or to
crucify you." He answered
something
about I, the
Governor of Imperial Rome over
no power of
Him. [Pilate shakes his head in
bewilderment] Somehow, I almost believed Him.
[pause]
I knew that
somehow I had to free this--this--God-Man.
But I was
getting nowhere, so I told the priests and
teachers,
"I find no basis for a charge against this
man." But they only shouted, "He
stirs up people all
over
has come all
the way here."
politics
too! Since He was a Galilean, that
meant he
was under Herod
Agrippa's jurisdiction. And since
Agrippa was in
Herod deal with
Jesus. He had dealt fairly swiftly
with
that other
Jewish fanatic, John the Baptist.
But Herod
could get
nothing more out of Jesus either, so we could
at least both
agree on something. We could
declare Him
"not
guilty." So I told the Jews
that both Herod and I
had thoroughly
examined Him--in their presence--and He
had done
nothing worthy of death. I offered
to have him
flogged and
released, but they still demanded His
crucifixion.
[pause]
I tried one
final tactic. Each year at the
Feast, it was my
custom to
release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.
At the
time I had in
custody a notorious criminal named Barabbas.
He had been
found guilty of treason and murder.
Surely, if I
gave them the
choice of a convicted murderer, they would
choose this
innocent man. At least the question
of
"What do I
do with Jesus?" would now be their
responsibility. While the mob was murmuring, my wife
sent me a
message that she had suffered greatly because
of a dream
concerning this innocent man. He
certainly
didn't seem
guilty. There was something pure,
almost--
god-like--about
Him.
[pause]
But the mob
screamed. "Give us
Barabbas!" "And what do
I do with
Jesus," I shouted over the roar.
"Crucify
Him! Crucify Him!" they screamed even louder. So you
see [talking to
the audience as if hoping for sympathy]
what could I do
with Jesus? There were several
thousand
in this
murderous mob and I had less than a thousand
soldiers
scattered across the entire city.
If I would
have shed one
drop of priestly blood, the entire city
would have
attacked and burned the palace. And
Tiberius
would have my
head if the mob didn't get it first.
Better that one
man die than to have my family and
entire army
killed.
[Pilate walks
over to bowl]
So I took this
bowl and washed my hands of the whole
affair. "I am innocent of this men's
blood. It is your
responsibility." And then I sat in the judgment seat.
[Pilate sits
down]
I ordered the
release of a murderer and the death of an
innocent
man. [shaking head in
disbelief] I handed
Jesus over to
my Roman guards. They made a crown
of
thorns and
shoved it onto His head. They put a
purple
robe on Him and
began to beat Him yelling, "Hail the
King of the
Jews." Jesus didn't say one
word. Even
when they
flogged Him and put the cross bar on his
bloodied back,
He just stood there with the demeanor and
dignity of a
king.
[pauses
reflectively]
Maybe He was.
[Pilate gets
up]
Maybe what I
had written above the cross was true: "The
King of the
Jews." Even when the chief
priests wanted
to change it to
read, "He claimed to be the King of the
Jews," I
answered, "What I have written, I have
written." What if He really was a King? What if He
really was a
god? What, if like His followers
claim, He
comes back from
the dead?" Then, what do I do
with
Jesus? What do I do with Jesus?
[Pilate buries
his face in his hands. Black
out.]
(c) 1993 James N. Watkins
