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Pilate's Political Wisdom
20 August 2004Tired of Deal Hudson? Much better Catholic writing is to be found in V.Y. Mudimbe's story at Words Without Borders, a terrific site that translates literature from around the world. Mudimbe's narrator is a nun in the former nation of Zaire, circa 1978, at the brink of civil war: "I reread the Passion of our Lord according to Saint Matthew. I came away from that with an odd wish: if only our politicians could have Pilate's hesitation! Did he tremble when, questioned about the truth of his kingship, Jesus answered him calmly: 'Thou sayest?' Pilate invites him to defend himself, is astonished at the victim's silence, and bargains with the persecutors: 'Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?' Did he have the power to change this Passion's course, and so the course of the history of salvation? Perhaps he perceived its inescapable character, poor man, and took refuge in neutrality. 'What evil has he done?' he asks. He knows the answer, too: none. He washed his hands and immediately thereafter, to save face, he had the Lord lashed with a whip. In short, the art of politics: don't take any risks..." Read the whole story.
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