2024/09/09

160. The Path to Rome

Jesus Christ was thinking of Rome for future Christians. We can barely find its clue from his conversation with Pontius Pilate. So, we need to observe, based on the Gospel, what was happening to Pilate when he came face to face with Jesus at that time. We still say his name as governor of the Roman Empire every time we recite the Creed. That is something special. 

When Pilate interrogated Jesus, he had a measure. That was the custom to release one prisoner whom Jews wanted at Passover. For Pilate, a Roman, whether Jesus was the Messiah did not matter, and there was no problem unless Jesus called himself "King of the Jews", based on Herod's reaction (cf. Luke 23:1-12). However, the following message delivered by his wife while Pilate was sitting in court must have been disturbing: "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much over him today in a dream" (Matthew 27:19). Jesus replied to Pilate's interrogation saying, "My kingship is not of this world" (John 18:36) and "For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice" (18:37). In the face of these words, which spoke of the divine reality clearly, Pilate asked back, "What is truth?" (18:38). At that moment, he had already become one who "hears my voice". 

The Gospel further states that when Pilate said, "I find no crime in him" (John 19:6), the Jews replied, "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God" (19:7), and that "When Pilate heard these words, he was the more afraid; he entered the praetorium again and said to Jesus, 'Where are you from?'" (19:8-9). The words "the Son of God" caught his ear. And it is written that "Pilate sought to release him" (19:12) when Jesus said, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin" (19:11). By engaging in this way with the Roman governor Pilate at the end of his life, Jesus left a trail to Rome. That was the pass on which Jesus was appealed to by the chief priests, stood before the governor and king, and then headed for the cross. Paul headed for Rome following this same path as Jesus (cf. Acts 22:30-28:16).

After Jesus breathed his last on the cross, it is written that "Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph" (Mark 15:44-45). This centurion was the one who turned and stood beside Jesus as he breathed his last on the cross and said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" (15:39). These words suggest that he had pondered upon that earlier. The centurion had once asked Jesus to heal a dying subordinate in Capernaum. When he asked for it, Jesus was impressed by his words, saying, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith" (Matthew 8:10). He then foretold of the coming of the New Jerusalem, saying, "I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (8:11), and added, "while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth" (8:12), foretelling the impending fall of Jerusalem. 

The centurion, refusing Jesus' offer, "I will come and heal him" (8:7), asked only for his words of healing the subordinate. The insertion in the Gospel of the scene leading up to his saying, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" constitutes a prophecy of the future when only the Word would be carried to Rome after the Ascension and, in time, Jesus would eventually be recognised there as the Son of God. The conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity guaranteed for Christians the spread of the new Bible and the opportunity to receive the new Jerusalem. That is as Jesus spoke in a parable: "But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins" (Luke 5:38). But the Church could not get away from the taste of "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs". So, the following words of Jesus were also fulfilled: "And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, 'The old is good.'" (5:39). 

Maria K. M.