A quick history lesson. King Herod - the nasty one who killed all the babies - died soon after Jesus was born. In his will, he divided his kingdom among his sons. The three who survived him were called Herod Antipas, Philip and Archelaus.
Herod Antipas ruled Galilee. He was ruler there for nearly forty years. Jesus grew up and began his ministry here. Nazareth and Capernaum were in Herod Antipas' territory, and so was the Jordan valley, where John the Baptist was proclaiming his message. It was this Herod who had John executed, and it was this Herod to whom Luke tells us that Jesus was sent on the morning of his trial and crucifixion.
Philip inherited the lands in the north-east. Like his brother Herod Antipas, he was called a tetrarch - ruler of a quarter. The largest part of bad King Herod's kingdom - the part that included Judaea and Samaria - fell to Archelaus, but Archelaus' reign was very short. He was exiled, and his territory was declared a Roman province in 6 AD.
Judaea was not an important province. It was very small and not very rich. Its people had their own traditions - the Romans found these rather strange. They appointed governors from good, but not distinguished, families - equestrians. The neighbouring province of Syria was far larger, and its governors had a higher status. The governor of Syria had four legions at his disposal, while the governor of Judaea had only a handful of auxiliary troops.
Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of Judaea. He was appointed in 26 AD. Pontius was his family name (as I said, we do not know his first name) - it was probably an Italian family. His nickname was Pilatus, which could mean someone expert with the javelin, or just a hairy man - we do not know.
All we know about his career is what we find in the gospel accounts, plus a few facts recounted by the Jewish author, Philo, around 40 AD, and the historian, Josephus, who wrote in the late 70's. The rest is legend. Both Josephus and the Gospel writers were selective in their comments. Josephus wanted to show his Roman readers that the Jewish revolt in the 60's was partly the Romans' fault. The Gospels, on the other hand, sought to emphasize how the Romans had basically been sympathetic to Jesus and his message.
Pilate's capital was at Caesarea, on the coast half-way between Haifa and Tel Aviv. Near the beginning of his term of office, he made the mistake of sending a new squadron of soldiers into Jerusalem carrying their standards, which bore an effigy of Caesar (and perhaps also an inscription referring to "the divine Tiberius Augustus"). This led to a demonstration back in Caesarea, at which Pilate took a hard line. He surrounded the demonstrators with his troops, and threatened to kill them if they refused to accept the standards. Josephus tells us that the demonstrators "extended their necks, exclaiming that they were readier to die than to transgress the law", and that Pilate, "astonished at such zeal, ordered the immediate removal of the standards."
Josephus tells us of a couple of other incidents. In one, Pilate is said to have used money from the temple treasury to pay for the construction of a major aqueduct into Jerusalem. In the other, he quelled a Samaritan religious uprising quite forcefully, and as a result, said Josephus, the Samaritans complained to the governor of Syria, and Pilate was recalled to Rome - this was at the beginning of 37 AD.
The Gospel writers, on the other hand, emphasize the fairness of Jesus' trial before Pilate. In Luke's account, Pilate thrice declares Jesus innocent, and Matthew stresses how unwilling Pilate was to condemn him - washing his hands after his wife's dream. Only in Mark's account is there a suggestion that Pilate was egging the people on - not perhaps through malice, but through insensitivity.
Legend has it Pilate was secretly convinced by Jesus' teaching. And another legend has it that after Pilate's recall to Rome, he repented at his part in Jesus' condemnation and cast himself into the Rhone: his body was recovered and thrown into a lake high on the mountain near Lucerne that bears his name.
This does not explain how Pilate found his way into the creeds we say in church. Pilate's presence there has nothing to do with his personality. To say that Jesus was crucified "under Pontius Pilate" is simply a way of giving a date - or saying that God's saving work was rooted in history, among real people, at a real time. Jesus really lived and died, and because of this, we who are also rooted in history "under Moritz Leuenberger" can be united with him, and can share in Jesus' life, his death and his resurrection.
HD