¹¹ Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

¹² When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³ Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” ¹⁴ But Jesus made no reply,  not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

¹⁵ Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner   chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶ At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. ¹⁷ So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸ For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

¹⁹ While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat,  his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent  man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream  because of him.”

²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

²¹ “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

²² “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

²³ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁴ When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar  was starting, he took water and washed his hands  in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,”he said. “It is your responsibility!”

²⁵ All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

²⁶ Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged,  and handed him over to be crucified.

Dear God, I can relate (in only a small way) to what Pilate was experiencing here. He was trying to play diplomat when there was no diplomacy that would work. He was trying to finesse a situation instead of taking it on and just doing what needed to be done.

There is probably at least one time every week when I find myself trying to mediate a problem between two parties (with me representing one of the parties). Just yesterday, I had a situation where another organization in town that supports us was really angry with us and how we had been doing something. They were even threatening to cut us off and not work with us anymore. The surprising thing was that I had no idea there were resentments festering on their end. It all blew up in one moment. I spent a lot of the rest of the day trying to put the relationship back together. They are good people on their end, and it was about miscommunication and some procedures we use, so I think we can fix these things. My point is, I think that is what Pilate was trying to do here. He was trying to diffuse the situation and find a graceful way out for the church leadership, the people, and Jesus. Unfortunately for him, there was a much larger plan at work here and nothing he did would have stopped the train that was going down the track.

Father, there are times when you would have me make peace, and then there are times when your plan does not call for peace. I think the latter times are VERY few and far between, but they do exist. So help me to be an instrument of your peace. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.