Pontius Pilate usually preferred to stay in Caesarea Maritime, on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. That way, he was safely in an area that was quite Roman, in a luxurious and secure palace complex that had been built by Herod the Great, cooled by sea breezes and fresh water from its own aqueduct. But sometimes, he had to go to Jerusalem—Jerusalem and its religious authorities and its sullen subjects who hated Roman rule and Roman overlords. Jerusalem and its people were a constant source of trouble. They were not adapting well to Roman taxation or occupation.
The worst time Pilate ever had in Jerusalem was during this particular Passover festival. He was charged with keeping the peace and not looking too brutal. These chief priests had a so-called Messiah they want dead, yet they did not have authority to execute him, and they did not want to incur the wrath of the crowds who loved Jesus. To get rid of him, they would need to present Rome with proof that Jesus had political ambitions, that he was a threat to Rome. Then Rome would execute him for them, and they could tell his followers, “Oh, we had nothing to do with it, it was the crowd who called for it, and Rome who did it.”
So Pilate was in a bad position. He’d been maneuvered into being responsible for Jesus’ death (and his own wife begged him to have nothing to do with that righteous man, having been warned in a dream). The crowds were howling for his crucifixion and the chief priests and elders were standing there trying to look not too exultant. A riot was building and he’d been told to avoid that. He felt stuck and not able to refuse. So he delivered Jesus to be crucified, and then he washed his hands in full view of the crowd. It was as if he were saying, “I really am not tainted by this; I have no stomach for this; I don’t want to be judged guilty in this. I wash my hands of it.” We use that expression to this day because of Pilate.
I read an article in SciTech Daily about the psychological effects of hand washing. They don’t know anything about Pilate, but I certainly saw him clearly in this article. Washing your hands, it said, can remove our guilt. It can affect our moral decisions. It can help us justify our decisions, recover our optimism and strengthen cognitive control. Pilate felt better, having washed his hands. But the horror of him handing Jesus over to be crucified will be associated with his name until the end of time. His guilt could not be washed away. He condemned to a humiliating death the one who could truly have washed away his sin!