Pontius Pilate left two signs for Archaeology to uncover his identity in Judea.
John 19
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.
The flogging instrument seen on the Shroud of Turrin. These are the Wounds of Jesus marks.
Sancta Sanctorum and Scala Sancta
These twenty-eight marble steps called the Scala Sancta (Holy Stairs) were the steps of the palace of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!"
6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!"
But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."
7 The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."
8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"
11 Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."
12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."
13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.
"Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews.
15 But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked.
"We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered.
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
View from the Cross seeing the North side of the Temple from Golgotha.
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews."
22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
A cross seen with a sign "King of the Jews" Pilate had written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The ties would have held the condemned down to avoid the prisoners hanging crucified on the Passover & the condemned was nailed to the cross three times. To have death occur from trauma as well as suffocation.
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
A seamless robe is a garment created with great care. Unusual even today.
24 "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing."
So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," 27 and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken," 37and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Josephus records Pilate's predecessors respected Jewish customs by removing images on their standards when entering Jerusalem, Pilate allowed his soldiers to antagonize the Jews several times very violently and unnecessarily.
Philo describes a similar incident, Pilate was chastened by Emperor Tiberius after antagonizing the Jews. Both report that Pilate repeatedly caused near-insurrections among the Jews because of his insensitivity to Jewish customs. In describing his personality, Philo writes Pilate had "vindictiveness and furious temper", and was "naturally inflexible, a blend of self-will and relentlessness."
There is a theory Pilate was deeply unsympathetic to the Jews because he worked for Lucius Aelius 'Seianus' under Emperor Tiberius. Seianus Death on the Gemonian stairs was considered extremely dishonourable and dreadful. Ordered by Tiberius and Pilate began to shape up for the loss of Seianus.
Eusebius stated Pilate suffered misfortune in the reign of Caligula (AD 37–41), was exiled to Gaul and killed himself there. The 10th century historian Agapius of Hierapolis says that Pilate killed himself during the first year of Caligula's reign, in AD 37/38.
How does this relate to us today?
Mary Magdalene is forever changed from meeting Jesus. She is new. She realized again the wonder of God and His Promises.
Pontius Pilate was never to have a post as high as the one where his wife warned him not to order the crucifixion of Jesus. Meeting Jesus, according to the Historians, changed his life. He was on a downward trajectory.
When we consider Jesus, hearts are revealed.
This occasionally intersects our lives - the response to Jesus as a new creation. For most of us, we are living our beliefs to some degree - reading this Post.
For me, each day, what occurs to me, after 5 decades of life and being told all my life "you are Not a morning person" - what has changed is I can feel Jesus' mercies to me renew each day. There is going to be a time in the morning to early afternoon - where I can feel the excitement of His Promises of Jesus being in my life. I am able to put down cares and concerns and take time to find a very pleasing gratitude of God in my life. Today. Knowing that as someone who loves Jesus, the door to Eternity is here.
The idea that if I have a bad day and let my concerns overshadow my joy - tomorrow is probably going to be better after I give my cares over to the One who cares for me most. Jesus has given me strength to find a way to find the way Jesus has made my day sufficient and good and I feel gratitude.
If we look for the signs God is paving a path to His Plan, we see those signs. Using our eyes of faith.
All of the story of Jesus is real. He bought us for Grace. And will have us to His Kingdom for Eternity.
Thank You, Father God.
For Your Son, Jesus.
Bless those I love. The People You have given to me.
I ask in Jesus the Lord for blessings upon Churches, this Nation and those who believe and will believe
in Jesus - across this world You want to save in Jesus Christ. Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
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