“The Illusion of Innocence”
Matthew 27: 1-54
April 4, 1993
Ellie Weisel wrote a book called The Town.
In it, he tried to understand the so-called innocent bystander of the holocaust– the German civilian who stood behind closed doors, or watched from safe windows while the monstrosities of the concentration camps were taking place. Here are Weisel’s own words: “This was the thing I had to understand ever since the war. How a human being can remain indifferent, the executioners I understood. Also. the victims. although with difficulty. For the others, all the others, those who were neither for nor against. Those who told themselves: ‘The storm will blow over and everything will be normal again.’ Those who thought themselves above the battle. Those who were merely spectators. It was those that I tried to fathom.
Like Weisel, I want to understand the onlookers, the innocent bystanders, the person who can look on evil and feel uninvolved, the person who can watch and listen — and still view himself as a spectator.
One of those spectators around the crucifixion was a man whose name is quite familiar -Pontius Pilate. Pilate was a second-rate government administrator, a bureaucrat who unfortunately has gotten bad press. Imagine. having your name associated with the crucifixion of Jesus– just because it happened during your watch. As a magistrate, Pilate didn’t find that Jesus had broken any Roman law. As a governor. he had determined that Jesus wasn’t a part of his jurisdiction. As a Roman, he felt it was one of those ethnic problems. As a person, he had washed his hands of the whole affair.
Our text for this morning comes from Matthew’s Gospel. “So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. ‘
Pilate recognized that evil was taking place. He just failed to see how he had any part in it.
Pilate is the quintessential innocent bystander. And as a hand-washer, he’s one of the scariest people in the whole crucifixion drama, in order to maintain the pose of innocence. he had to have little self-knowledge. Only an extremely child-like, immature person can remain unconscious or aloof while blood is flowing.
It’s amazing what ‘artful dodgers’ most of us have become. It’s difficult to be unaware of evil -one need only pick up the morning paper. Yet most of us have mastered the skill of denial. The skill of thinking we are innocent children– in a world plagued by evil adults. The skill of maintaining the illusion of innocence. Things happen- evil exists- but that’s not our problem. We have no part in it. Rheinhold Neibuhr wrote: “Ultimately considered, evil is done. not so much by evil people, but by good people who do not know themselves and therefore do not see their involvement. ”
Pilate was a good man. He didn’t want to do anything wrong. He wanted to keep the peace. He wanted to maintain the illusion of innocence. He truly believed he was an innocent bystander. He was never able to see the error in the assumption of innocence.
Roger Gould came out with a book several years ago entitled Transformations. It was a study of adult life journeys. Dr. Gould defined the journey toward maturity in terms of putting aside erroneous assumptions. His theory was that we progress when we recognize the falsehood of these assumptions and are able to discard these mistaken beliefs.
For example, he said, that between 18 and 20 we often discover the fallacious assumption that if we follow the rules, and do what is expected — life will reward us, Maybe– but maturity is learning that it isn’t necessarily so. Another assumption we put aside. usually around 40 to 50, is the belief that we will live forever. One final assumption that we can put aside at any age is that we are ever truly innocent. This false assumption- that keeps us from maturing into adulthood -maintains that as long as we are spectators we need not feel responsible for evil.
And so it goes, for people who say: “I am innocent of what is happening in Bosnia. I am innocent of the plight of the homeless. I am innocent of the corruption in government. 1 am innocent of the crucifixion. The cost of remaining innocent is to remain childlike. The cost of being unaware is to lose any self-knowledge. The cost of not feeling responsible is to forever remain immature.
A teacher of mine in preaching was asked how many points a good sermon should have. He thought for a moment and answered:
” Well, at least one. ” I’ve preached this sermon to make one point. As adults, we are characterized not only by what we do, but by what we permit. For what we feel responsible– what we condone what we behold in silence.
We can cease using the word ” sin. ” We can forget about guilt. We can fool ourselves into maintaining an illusion of innocence. And yet… and yet, somehow we cannot walk away from our compliance with evil.
Auden. in his poem. “For the Time Being. writes of the howling wildness of the human heart that we try unsuccessfully to ignore. Here are his words:
If we were never alone or always too busy,
Perhaps we might even believe what we know is not true.
But no one is taken in, at least not all the time.
In our bath. on the subway. or the middle of the night.
We know very well we are not unlucky, but evil.
To know that we are not unlucky but evil is hard to take. But it’s also a step towards maturity. To know there is no such person as an innocent bystander is the beginning of wisdom. The choice is ours on Palm Sunday. Do you wish to hold to old assumptions– to identify with Pilate- to say, “I am innocent of this man’s blood?” Or do we want to grow spiritually and to be able to say, ” it’s me, it’s me, Lord — in need of prayer, in need of forgiveness. in need of mercy.
The choice is yours.
Amen