Pontius Pilate & the Trial of Jesus | Jesus: His Life (S1) | Full Episode | History

the story of jesus is the greatest  story ever told get out where is he for over 2 000 years the story of jesus christ  has touched the lives of billions around the globe jesus felt what we felt he  faced what we face today if we want to understand western history at  all we must understand the story of jesus   now for the first time his story is told  through the eyes of those who knew him best   pilate was a pretty tough hard-bitten political  player he had to be are you the king of the jews he needs to stop any uprising before it starts  i have the power to free you or to crucify   you is this person a threat to roman stability  anyone who claims to be a king opposes caesar   pilate is looking for any way out of the  situation i am innocent of this man's blood i hate this place once i wanted to make a name for myself but now i just want to scrub the place for my skin every year they test my patience pontius  pilate was the prefect that is the roman   military governor in the province of judea  from 26 to 36 a.d he's famous for one thing   he's the man in charge  during the execution of jesus every passover this gets  worse it won't be for long pilate he has a wife we don't  know her name from the gospels   but later tradition fills it in as claudia  prakula russ on get them out of the way pilates come from the lowest  level of roman nobility   and he'd probably clawed his way up  the roman army fighting barbarians in   distant corners of the empire and now he'd been  sent out to a backwater far from rome to deer we know from history that pontius pilate would  have arrived in jerusalem right on the eve of   passover passover is the single worst time  to be a roman governor in the entire year   not only do you have 500 000 pilgrims coming  into the city but you also have a festival   whose whole purpose is about god liberating the  jewish people from oppressive tyrannical rule   and the romans are in charge everybody is  celebrating liberation and yet not being   free everything's on our knife's edge and if  there's one false move the city could explode pilate despises jerusalem pilate lives over  in cesarea maratima on the mediterranean   pilate only goes to jerusalem when he  absolutely has to during festival times pilate has an important role behind  the scenes during the passover festival   he works closely with caiaphas the high  priest to make sure that there's no unrest caiaphas is the high priest of the jews and so not  only is he the religious leader of the people but   next to pilate he's the most important political  leader as well you will want your ceremonial robes yes one of the reasons why pilate comes  into the crowded city of jerusalem at   has to do with the fact that he  holds onto the ceremonial robes   that caiaphas needs to wear at  the temple for the ceremonies that they hold the ceremonial  robes the priests hostage   suggests what they're telling caiaphas is  essentially look you can have all the local   autonomy you want but at the end of the  day if you don't actually make the right   decision something might happen to your robes  or they won't be there for when you need them is there anything i need to know about no  i'm i'm not expecting any trouble prefect pilot and caiaphas don't really like each  other they don't get along but they know   that they have to work together why answer  with that of course he was expecting trouble when pilate is awoken in the middle of the night the height of passover by  a messenger from caiaphas i imagine pilate's heart  sunk the sense of foreboding every festival they drag their troubles to my door who is he his name is jesus of nazareth  caiaphas wants pilate to deal with jesus because   jesus was popular among the people and  caiaphas doesn't want to be seen as the one   who was taking care of jesus he  wants to pass that off to the romans what accusation do you bring against this  man this man has been perverting our nation   forbidding our people paying taxes to the  emperor and calling himself the messiah a king let me speak with him are you the king of the jews is this person a threat to roman  stability that's what's behind his   question that he asks him he needs to  know is this person going to be trouble   this is the crime of sedition  there is no king but the emperor you say so i need you both to hold your nerve jesus is  one man weighed against the safety of many   caiaphas seems to be genuinely concerned that  if jesus has a following perhaps he'll stage   a rebellion and if that happens  there will be massive bloodshed he stirs up the people of judea with  his teaching he started in galilee and   now he has come all the way here take him  yourselves and judge him by your own laws initially it seems like pilate doesn't want to  get involved in the trial of jesus because he   has uh transgressed jewish law and so he wants  the jewish leaders to take responsibility for it   but we have no right to execute anyone execute him why was caiaphas even pushing for that the jewish authorities couldn't legally  condemn anybody to death for any crime without   the assistance permission or  direct action of pontius pilate why did they want him dead what was i missing leave him with me pontius pilate is one of the few figures   from early christian history that we  know about from outside of the bible there's definitely a contrast between the pilot  of the gospels and the pilot of history the pilot   of the gospels weak vacillating conflicted  tormented the pilot of history ruthless and merciless historically the pilot was not the  sort of person who would shy away from violence   he was an unrestrained sadist vicious petty  tyrant at one point early in pilot's career   pilot brutally crushes the protest  over an aqueduct that he was building there are a lot of deaths there's a lot  of injuries and pilots trying to show to   the jewish people i'm the one in charge the  pilot that we know from history was decisive   but the pilot of the gospels is different is  someone who's not quite sure of his own authority   who wavers a little who doesn't want to take full  responsibility for the events around jesus's death traditional account of the trial of jesus is  really based on the gospels and the gospels   were written 40 50 70 years after the death  of jesus christ and they were written partly   to show loyalty to the roman empire to  blame the jews for the death of jesus   this was to enable the conversion of romans  to the new religion of christianity the trial   of jesus by pilate as told in the gospels doesn't  really reflect the historical political realities   and it doesn't reflect the power of the  roman prefect are you the king of the jews in all four gospels pilate summons jesus  to repeat the key charge against him   are you the king of the jews is that your thinking anyone who  claimed to be king would have been   in direct contradiction to the authority  of caesar which pilate had sworn to uphold your own people and chief priests have  handed you over to me in no way is this   a normal trial there's no procedure  here there's no witnesses there's   there's no judge other than the prefect talking to  a potential revolutionary this is all very strange   in the gospels telling at the story it seems  that pilate is overwhelmingly anxious to find   out whether jesus is actually guilty or innocent  they want him dead for what what have you done my kingdom is not of this world but where my servants would fight to  prevent me being handed over to our leaders but now my kingdom is from another place he's signaling to pirate i'm no threat to you   i'm no political or military threat to  you his kingdom is not like ordinary human   kingdoms he's not going to tax the people  he's not going to raise an army your kingdom   and you are a king you say that i am a king for  this i was born for this i came into the world to testify to the truth everyone on the side of truth listens to me what is truth when pilate asks jesus this famous  line what is truth he is being perfectly ironic   because here is pilate sitting as judge  jury executioner managing this whole   bizarre criminal trial truth should  be the one thing he cares about while jesus has been in custody something  extraordinary happens pilate's wife has a dream   a very very troubling dream a father in heaven romans take dreams seriously dreams and omens were really important  in the way that romans understood   the gods trying to communicate with them take him away i could not see what calf has feared from this man if anything jesus was passive quiet do not have anything to do with that innocent man  i have suffered today in a dream because of him the pilot in the gospels was already  reluctant to get involved in jesus's trial   and so this information from his wife this dream   would have just fueled fueled the flames of  his reluctance there was ill omen about jesus   i wanted no part of this as jesus's trial progresses in the gospels the  overwhelming impression we get of pilate is that   he's deeply frustrated he doesn't  want to be involved in this   he just wants this to go away and  he wants nothing to do with it   you say this man is galilean he is from galilee  good then this is a matter for herod antipas pilate is looking for any way out of the situation  so when he hears that jesus is from nazareth   in galilee well if you're herod's race your  herod's case off you go then to herod antipas pilate knows how to pass the buck and send the  hot potato to somebody else to make a hard choice herod antipas is son of king herod  the great and the ruler of galilee he's the one who had executed john the baptist   and he also always came to jerusalem  for passover miracle worker at last herod antipas is very glad to see jesus unfortunately for herod antipas the meeting  with jesus doesn't unfold as he would have liked   because jesus is simply not very forthcoming they call you king of the jews don't they antipasto was a hated figure jesus for one  had great contempt for him he called him   that fox herod to pass but you won't stoop  to speak to your subjects king very well herod put a royal robe on jesus this is an honor  in shame culture so if you think someone is a   clown or a pretender or an imposter you would  mock them or demean them or shame them perhaps   herod thought this was a sufficient shaming  to keep jesus from making bold claims again antipas concludes that jesus isn't worthy of death  ultimately antipas simply sends him back to pilate pontius pilate's in a tough spot  he doesn't really want to make   a decision when that's actually  his job power over life and death with all of this to and fro jesus is becoming  like a political footballer nobody wants to take   responsibility for making the decision you brought  me this man as one who has perverted the people   and here i have examined him and have  not found him guilty neither has herod   for he sent him back to us indeed he has done nothing to deserve death the crime which would most readily lead to  execution is being a revolutionary leading a   revolt of slaves like spartacus or claiming to be  a king directly yourself so some serious military   threat does pilot really think that jesus  is providing that kind of threat to himself   no i don't think he does crucify him the portrayal of caiaphas in the scriptures  has created a template for anti-semitism   throughout the ages it's actually naive to regard  caiaphas as a terribly evil character i think in   many ways he just wanted to save lives he knew  what happens when you confront rome in any way only the roman prefect can order someone to be  crucified but pilate has to be really careful   if he crucifies an innocent man  when who has a popular following   then he might face a rebellion as a result caiaphas meant to force my hand i am not  to be pushed around it is your custom   for me to release one prisoner  at the time of the passover fetch me barabbas i would use their custom to settle their dispute   according to the gospel of luke barabbas  is a violent revolutionary i mean he's   killed people and he was locked up  sometime earlier during passover week pilate knows what caiaphas  wants caiaphas wants jesus dead but he's not sure how popular jesus really is so  pilate devises a plan to see if i were to execute   jesus would anybody really protest you want  me to release the king of the jews or barabbas in the gospels when pilate presents  barabbas and jesus to the crowd   it's a kind of unfair choice because  jesus's disciples his supporters   have all scattered and so there's no one there  left to yell jesus give us jesus not jesus   one theory would be that the crowd that  clamors for barabbas were stirred up by   the religious authorities but another  theory would be there were enough people   in jerusalem that would rather see a  violent revolutionary like barabbas historically there's no way that pilate would give  the people of jerusalem the choice and release a   dangerous political insurgent into their midst  the custom of releasing a prisoner because of the   passover doesn't appear in other sources but the  story of barabbas serves an incredibly important   function for the gospel writers because what it  does is it allows them to blame all of the jewish   people for the crucifixion of jesus it's not just  caiaphas it's not just the priests it's all of the   jewish people who choose jesus not barabbas for  crucifixion it also conveniently exonerates the romans to execute him would  not then meet with much outrage   i have killed before a soldier and statesman  should see i am not afraid to shed blood when the crowd choose bravos over jesus pilate  knows that there's not a lot of support for jesus   he can get away with punishing jesus  without there being a major uprising pilate has jesus flogged because it was part  and parcel of the punishment of crucifixion   it had to happen they are flogging  with catanine tails it's a   torture device in effect which is not just  one strip could be 16 could be as many as 32   different strips of leather that are heavy and on  the end of them as if that weren't already enough   to tear open the skin and expose the veins  in the sinews there are little metal hooks it would have actually ripped chunks  of flesh out from the individual   it was unthinkably unspeakably brutal when the soldiers mock jesus put  a red cloak put a crown on him hail king are the jews that  mimicking the celebration   in a roman triumph of a roman imperator  commander traveling in his chariot through rome the way the new testament gospels tell the story   jesus is reconciled to his fate and that fate  includes torture and death on a cross there was   no escaping that it was part of his mission and  he accepted it this is the theater of crucifixion that reminds everyone of the danger of being  disruptive of the danger of pushing against   the kingdom of caesar of the  danger of rallying the people up i have had men tortured before they  will see anything to make the pain stop   and yet this man made no demands he didn't  claim anything want anything behold the man   in john's gospel pilate presents jesus to  the authorities he's beaten he's bloodied   he's wearing a crown of thorns and he  has this immortal line behold the man   ek pilot may be mocking the jewish authorities  saying behold your king look at your king i wanted to see if they still  had an appetite for killing him   they should not be spared the cost of  it after all this pain and suffering   could they still stomach it now  crucify him and be done with it part of pilate's reluctance to execute  jesus seems to be political maneuvering   he doesn't want to give the high priest  what the high priest wants he'd rather   say see i have the final authority here and  what i say goes you take him and crucify him   this is another example of the power play that  exists between these two important figures pilot knows that caiaphas can't crucify jesus and  he's reminding caiaphas that he ultimately has the   authority and caiaphas needs to stay in his lane  as for me i find no basis for a charge against him   we have a law and according to that law he must  die because he claimed to be the son of god when caiaphas says that jesus claims to be the son  of god this according to the gospels causes pilate   to freeze in his tracks the gospels say he was  afraid and this could have been due to the fact   that he believed in the roman pagan gods who had  children who walked the earth he was wondering   is this a hercules type character is this a  demigod is this someone that i should know about where do you come from do you refuse to speak to me don't you understand i have the  power to free you or to crucify you you would have no power over me if  it were not given to you from above i often wonder what pilate really  was thinking when jesus said   you wouldn't have any power over me if  it had not been given you from above   i i i have a feeling pilate was probably  thinking you don't know what power is i   represent the roman empire the superpower  of the day you don't know the might of rome   what happens when caiaphas suggests he claims to  be a son of god is that it seems to backfire it's   an insufficient suggestion to really get pilot  to take action there has to be one more step in the gospels we get this reluctant pilate and  caiaphas is pushing to try and get jesus crucified   this is more likely to represent the circumstances  of the gospel writers who want to put the blame on   the jewish authorities if they can present romans  more sympathetically it becomes easier to convert   romans to the new christian movement why do you  delay prefect you have the charges and the man   i have found no grounds in him for the sentence  of death he had to learn i don't obey these people   i obey wrong but of course caiaphas  knew that if you let this man go   you are no friend of caesar anyone  who claims to be a king opposes caesar this is kaifus's trump card i think this is his  moment where he pulls out the last bit that he's   got in his arsenal that is to accuse him of  treason if he doesn't go ahead and do this   i think it's absolutely tactical of him i think  that pilate was a prisoner of political expediency   i don't think pilate had a long view of  history i think that pilot was insecure the ambush caiaphas knew i could  not risk another misstep with rome   not for one man i needed to tread carefully  especially where jewish customs were concerned i made one mistake and i made it for the glory  of rome caiaphas is never letting me forget pilate's been in trouble with  the emperor tiberius before   he had commissioned shields which  were dedicated to the emperor tiberius   when these are brought into jerusalem the  sacred city of the jews the jews are offended   there is an inscription with the full name of  tiberius including his title the son of a god this is a terrible blasphemous thing to  do somebody complains and reports this   and goes all the way up the chain to the emperor  tiberius thinks that their outrage is justified   and he calls for pilate to withdraw  these offensive things from jerusalem   what pilot had done with the shields would  have been widely known throughout judea jews would have known that  pilate was on notice from rome we do not want to displease caesar do we if you don't execute jesus we will report  that you are no friend of caesar you're a   bad governor of the province we'll send out an  embassy to tiberius on capri and report you that   finally reaches home for pilate you would have  me crucify your king we have no king but caesar   pilate's boss is the emperor tiberius the most  powerful man in the world but by the time of jesus   he'd become paranoid and depraved he was actually  having people thrown off a cliff in front of him   and pontius pilate knows that it's not just his  job that's on the line it's actually his life   he's not going to get in the way of  tiberius then i will kill your king for you in the gospels pilate is ultimately  talked into sending jesus to the cross   he thinks that jesus is innocent of these  charges but basically he's pressurized into doing   something against his will you look at the  exchange between caiaphas and pilate you end up   despising them both there are no winners  here there's only losers including jesus caiaphas got what he wanted but he  answers to me i will have the final word   if we were to only read the gospels we might come away from the story having  sympathy for pilate as a character   he's thoughtful he's a worrier he listens  to his wife he tries to do the right thing   that's in very sharp contrast to what we know  about pontius pilate as a historical figure pilate has to have jesus executed because he needs  to do the right thing vis-a-vis the emperor he   wants to keep his job he wants to ensure that  there are no revolutionaries running loose   that the jews stay subjugated people under  roman domination and for all those reasons   he probably didn't lose too much sleep  over the decision to have jesus crucified the pontius pilot's actions   are a display of his loyalties his loyalty  is with the empire and with self-preservation you have heard the charges king there is a throne for you out in golgotha there are many scenes in the trial and  execution of jesus that are full of irony   and perhaps the one that's most full  of irony is the washing of his hands i am innocent of this man's blood it is your responsibility   of course he's not innocent of the man's blood  since he's finally responsible for the execution   of jesus but he's attempting to pass  the book past the blame onto caiaphas the gospel writers are trying to put more  of the decision on the jewish authorities   as people that get jesus taken off  the scene when historically speaking   it's much more believable to think that  pontius pilate was in control of his decision the historical reality is likely to have been that  if caiaphas had brought jesus to pilate pilate   would have not even batted an eye in ordering the  crucifixion of jesus pilate didn't care that much   about these jewish subjects and he worked with  caiaphas to make sure that there was no insurgency   what does another dead man matter to me anyway  golgotha is soaked in the blood of countless men   and i remember none of them rome won't  give a second thought to jesus of nazareth so why should i we should not blame caiaphas and  the jewish authorities for the death of jesus   only one person had the authority to put jesus  to death and that was punches pilot a roman if pontius pilate had not executed jesus  of nazareth pontius pilate would be   lost to history he was just another prefect  of another distant province the pontius pilot   has a unique legacy in christianity without  pontius pilate's decision to execute jesus   there would be no crucifixion and resurrection  and no christianity as we know it pontius   pilate's legacy for christianity is so central  that his name made it into the christian creed you

Channel: HISTORY

Views: 43,876

Rating: 4.8159804 out of 5

Keywords: history, history channel, history shows, history channel shows, jesus his life, history jesus his life, jesus his life show, jesus his life full episodes, jesus his life clips, full episodes, jesus: his life, jesus, watch jesus, jesus clips, jesus show history, disciples, christianity, easter, crucifixion, resusrrection, Jesus His Life s1 clips, Jesus His Life se1 clips, Jesus His Life s1, Jesus His Life s01 clips, Jesus His Life season 1, Pontius Pilate, Trial of Jesus, the bible

Id: h7gFZ_VEzoQ

Length: 42min 50sec (2570 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 09 2021