Occasional Impressions

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Occasional Impressions Prayer Collections

Stations of the Cross

Jesus judged by Pilate

Pilate’s

Judgement

This is the worst part of my job - sending someone to execution

I knew that’s what they were after as soon as they brought him here

I’d heard of him, of course

Rumours of miracles and healings, probably exaggerated in the telling

Water into wine, feeding thousands, raising from the dead

These prophets or whatever are always turning up

So what’s so different about this one?

He didn’t look at all threatening - quite the opposite

Yet he’d got them so rattled they had to seize him by night

Try him in a hurry

If you can call it a trial with witnesses contradicting each other

I was interested to talk to him, but didn’t get much out of him

Gather Herod had the same problem

So what was I to do with him?

Obviously the Jewish leaders felt he was a threat to their authority

I can sympathise with that feeling, which is why I couldn’t just overule

them

I did try my best

My wife had put her oar in, claiming to have had a dream about him

But how would that sound to my superiors? Quick route to demotion

I had a better idea, use the tradition of pardoning an offender

What could they do about that?

Well they’d got that covered with the crowd geared up to ask for

Barabbas

I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley

But I had no choice

Knowing that I wasn’t upholding justice,

but anxious not to provoke the crowds

I made a symbolic gesture and washed my hands of the matter

It hasn’t made me feel better - I’m angry at being put in this position

But what can I do?

I’ve got my own back; put the inscription ‘King of the Jews’ on the cross.

They don’t like it, but tough!

Jill Holland

Jesus scourged and crowned with thorns

The Scourging

and the Crown of Thorns

It’s often quite boring being a guard so

Sometimes we try to liven things up a bit

Take this Jesus fellow

Apparently he’s got up the noses of the Pharisees, making claims of

authority

They don’t like that. They’re the big cheeses round here.

Anyone less like a king or Messiah it would be difficult to imagine

Still it gave us the idea for some entertainment

He’d had the usual beating and hadn’t made much fuss

It’s more fun when they scream and beg for mercy

Not him though

Someone found a purple cloak - a nice royal colour

We put it on him and bowed down before him

We were taking the mickey, but he didn’t seem to notice

So we took matters a bit further.

One of us suggested he needed a crown and some kind of sceptre

Some thorny twigs were twisted together and a piece of reed put in his

hand

He didn’t resist

The makeshift crown drew blood from his forehead

We cried ‘Hail King of the Jews’ but got no response

Maybe he was past it by then

Anyway it didn’t seem that funny any more

When I think about it now, it was barbaric - what we did

It seemed OK at the time with my fellow guards egging each other on

He endured in silence

Quiet dignity is the phrase that comes to mind

Maybe he was someone a bit special, he was certainly different

Not your run of the mill criminal

I’m not proud of taking part

I hope he forgives me

Jill Holland

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