The Trial of Pilate-Today
COLLINS, LEROY
The Trial of Pilate—Today by LEROY COLLINS Invited to deliver what everyone expected would be a perfunctory speech of welcome to the Presbyterian Men's Convention at Miami recently, Florida's...
...Where were all of our churchmen...
...I don't mean mobs running down the streets with sticks and stones and shouting and hollering, but I mean people who are motivated by emotions beyond those of love for God and love for their fellowmen...
...I took the position that passage of that sort of legislation would stultify our state...
...Under the rules and laws of Florida a resolution of this character is not subject to approval or disapproval by the Governor...
...There at Rome at the emperor's palace, Pontius Pilate was a young, fine, handsome man at the court...
...All of her day was filled with appointments and she couldn't find the time for that conference, so she asked the Negro nurse to meet her in the back of an eating place downtown where they could have a sandwich and discuss their work...
...He is dangerous, he is evil, he is insidious...
...See to it yourself...
...Our Episcopalians...
...It was a resolution that struck at the very vital concept of law and government.* It was anarchistic in its very *The resolution defied the U.S...
...He must be crucified...
...And she was fired, to the everlasting shame of our citizens...
...Real strength must be within a man and it must show and shine even when he is under the pressures of the mob...
...Where in that situation were our Presbyterians...
...Will you then be all the way for Christ...
...Where were all of our people who are dedicated to this proposition of All for Christ...
...He and his wife, a wonderful woman, and his daughter and others around him were all eager and anxious to know what his assignment would be...
...Where were our Methodists...
...They are monsters, people who are so employed...
...And that great, strong man went out on the balcony and called for a bowl of water...
...I so hoped that some bar association, lawyers who knew better, in our state or somewhere, would say, "Don't do that...
...Governor Collins, nevertheless, made it clear that he opposed this action "to the extent that the same defies the authority of the United States Supreme Court...
...Last spring in our state legislature a resolution was introduced in the heat of all this racial controversy...
...The Pharisees, of course, took Jesus and they tried him...
...Of course, they did see to it themselves...
...Members of his own official family and of his own personal family were saying, "We must do something about this because this man's ministry is developing in a way that is dangerous to the Caesars...
...When the time came for the choice to be made, Pontius Pilate came home dejected...
...Why, they tell me someone asked him down on the street yesterday what he thought of the Caesars, and he took out a coin and he said, 'Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.' What's wrong with that...
...And his wife Claudia came in and said, "Pontius, I heard him talk too and he said, 'I did not come to establish a kingdom on earth, I came to establish a kingdom in heaven.'" And Pontius turned to his advisers and said, "What's wrong with that...
...They came in and said, "Pontius Pilate, he must be crucified...
...Pilate said...
...But the mob was howling, so they washed their hands of it and they said, "See to it yourself...
...He wanted to make good...
...This is wrong...
...Supreme Court in the field of segregation and related issues by asserting that the Court's decisions are "null, void, and of no force or effect...
...The people heard about it and the mob gathered...
...Do we have this Christ, this standard for what we believe...
...Citizens went down to the county commissioners of the town and of the other two counties and cried, "Fire her...
...But it's dangerous...
...They thought he was going to be the procurator of Egypt—then the prize outlying area of the Roman Empire...
...He must be crucified...
...It defied all those things that we as patriots have tried to preach and practice over the years...
...He had capacity and the determination to do a good job...
...The first act starts in 25 A.D...
...One is that you can never tell what kind of important decisions may come your way, regardless of how small and insignificant your assignment may be...
...He told his family mournfully that he had been assigned to be the procurator, or governor, of the little, insignificant country of Judea...
...The blood of this innocent and righteous man will not be on my hands...
...But the mob assembled outside and they cried for his abduction...
...James, only to be notified that he had been given an assignment to the little country of Haiti...
...When he got it and stood there, he shuddered under the pressures of that mob, and he dipped his hands in the water and said, "I wash my hands of the whole thing...
...And Pilate said, "Why must he be crucified...
...Did they go before these county commissioners and say, "Don't...
...Months back in one of our towns here in Florida we had a woman doctor, one of our public health doctors who served three towns...
...That title captivated me because I thought in terms of the trial of Jesus in thinking of Pontius Pilate, but Sherwood tells a great story: in that event of history Pontius Pilate himself was on trial...
...She violated the traditions and customs of the Southland...
...The Trial of Pilate—Today by LEROY COLLINS Invited to deliver what everyone expected would be a perfunctory speech of welcome to the Presbyterian Men's Convention at Miami recently, Florida's Governor LeRoy Collins surprised his audience by delivering a speech which has won wide attention in Florida...
...She needed to have a conference with the Negro nurse who worked under her supervision...
...nature...
...That was almost like a man in this country close to the White House thinking about his possible selection as ambassador to the Court of St...
...See to it yourself...
...The title of the play is The Trial of Pontius Pilate...
...And they did meet and they ate a sandwich together as they discussed professional matters...
...He was awaiting a new assignment...
...There is also a great lesson in the truth in that strength is more than appearance or words or superficial things...
...He was a comer, he was the kind of man everyone expected to develop into a great leader of the Roman Empire...
...But Pontius Pilate went through with his assignment...
...The second act, of course, tells us what happened there...
...When you adopted the slogan, "All the Way for Christ," it sounded good, but remember, you are going to have to believe in that some day when the mob is howling at your door and when the pressure comes...
...You and I today are under the pressure of a mob in many, many ways...
...But why...
...When they started after the Naza-rene he began to get pressure...
...No, they called for the bowl, and they washed their hands, and they said, just as Pontius Pilate said, "The blood of this innocent, righteous person won't be on my hands...
...It is adapted here with his permission.—The Editors Robert Sherwood, the distinguished playwright, has written a new play that has not yet been published, although it has been presented by Robert Montgomery on a television program...
...I think Sherwood tried to get across two basic lessons in writing that play...
...Fire her...
Vol. 22 • February 1958 • No. 2
