TRANSLATION MATTHEW 27:11

Jesus stood before the governor, who questioned him, asking, “Are you the king of the Judaeans?”

Jesus said, “You are saying so.”

And when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.

Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they testify against you?”

But he did not answer him, not even a single word, so that the governor was hugely astonished.

Now at the Festival it was the governor’s custom to release for the crowd one prisoner whom they wished. And they had at that time a notable prisoner called Jesus Barabbas. So once they were assembled, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus called Messiah?”

For he knew that they had handed him over out of envy.

Indeed while he was seated on the judgement bench, his wife sent to him saying,”Have nothing to do with that just man; I have suffered a lot in a dream because of him.”

The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death.

In response, the governor said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They answered, “Barabbas!”

Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus called Messiah?” They answered, “To the stake with him!”

But he said, ‘Why? What crime has he committed?” But they shouted all the more, “To the stake with him!”

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere but instead a riot was breaking out, he took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; you are seeing to it.”

The whole people said in reply, “His blood be upon us and upon our children!”

Then he released Barabbas to them, had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be killed on the stake.

.

Given the absence of male pupils of Jesus, and the semi-privacy of some of what was happening- how could anyone know what Pilate’s wife said- we can only imagine that the creation of the basic narrative of Jesus’ arrest, trials, torture and death, was assembled from small pieces of alleged information together with material derived from biblical prophecy and the use of storytellers’ imagination.

The result is however not a hysterical narrative of blame, but a sober account of how religious and imperial powers get rid of troublemakers, and how nationalistic mobs can be manipulated to support atrocities. Matthew’s edited version of Mark is succinct in its portrayal of events and character. I have suggested that since Matthew’s Christian assemblies lived under Roman power, he may have emphasised Jewish pre-eminence in the murder of Jesus. Probably he invented Pilate’s wife for this purpose. Nevertheless it remains clear that Roman power was responsible for this death in spite of Pilate’s washed hands.

If Matthew also invented, “His blood be on us and on our children,” then we might say he has blood on his hands, as these words have been used by persecutors of Jewish people throughout history. One very good Catholic commentary on Matthew, says of this verse, “It is not a word of God.” I agree.

The parallels between the two prisoners are increased if we take the reading of some early manuscripts that Barabbas was also called Jesus. The name Barabbas in any case means “son of the father” so Aramaic speakers would have seen a parallel anyway. It is important in this narrative especially to translate the Greek Christos as Messiah and not simply Christ. Pilate knew what a messiah was.

I have been unable to reproduce accurately the cry of the mob, in Greek staurotheto! because the verb meant to “put on a stake”, not a cross, and so “crucify” although admirably brief, is not accurate.

Jesus calm acceptance of his fate does not indicate passivity but rather a refusal to allow his behaviour to be determined by thugs.