Pilate and Herod as Images of the Fall

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Here are excerpts:

The Lies of the Fall Killed Jesus​

And therefore, if it is our sin, and our fallen nature that put Christ to death, was not also the root of His death the very lies of the fall themselves which we have believed? Indeed, the power of the dragon is in his lies, and they came forth from him from the very beginning, in that mystical garden, at the Fall. Therefore, if the lies — the words — of the dragon are what have seduced us, if those lies were incarnated into human history and every human person as sin, and if sin put Christ to death, then the dragon’s lies also put Christ to death. And if that is true — if Pontius Pilate put Him to death — then should not Pontius Pilate, in his whole being and words, be the mystical image of the very same words of the dragon at our preeminent spiritual demise?

It works! It is indeed the case, as we will see momentarily, that Pontius Pilate’s epic words of indifference and cowardice in exchange for concern to please the crowd rather than do what is right that image the very lies of the Fall. Let us probe it deeper.

What are the Lies of the Fall?​

First, what are the lies of the Fall? Let us recall how they developed from ecclesiology. The five loaves and two fish imaged the seven sacraments, out of which the heretics only retain two, and thereby lose five. The two they retained were the two fish of Baptism and Marriage. There, we saw the first step to the lies: What are the summarizing principles of all good ? We recall this from catechism of time immemorial:

• To know, love, and serve God in this life.
• To be happy with God forever in the next life.

Surprisingly, the ultimate aspects of the two great remnant sacraments of heretics, Baptism and Marriage, perfectly image these catechism principles above:

1. Baptismal Desire: have faith, or know God, and repentance, or love of God.
2. Apocalyptic Marriage: to seek as ultimate fulfillment of one’s end to marry God forever in the next life, happiness forever.

What then does the dragon do? Does he not tell humanity that these two great principles are a lie, that they do not bring fulfillment and happiness, and that they only bring bondage and constriction of truly self-actualizing freedom? Yes! And he offers the anti-principles as counterfeits!

1. Anti-Baptismal Desire: have no regard to know God, no faith, and no regard to love God, no repentance : believe as you wish and do as you wish ! And you will be truly free, truly better off!..

 

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1. Anti-Marital Desire toward God: seek not your ultimate fulfillment in the m arriage to your Crea tor in the next life — in holy, profound, and meaningful goods: truth, beauty, goodness, mystery, life, love, gift, and reception — but in f ornication (figurative) with the Crea tion in this life; finding your ultimate fulfillment in the things of this world, not the next — brute, superficial, and frivolous entities: pleasures, possessions, egotistical accomplishments, power, technology, and materialistic wonders. In short, materialism !

Pontius Pilate Images Anti-Baptism, the First Lie​

Pontius Pilate most eminently images the first lie in all his words and actions.

The Sovereignty of God​

“So then, you are a king?”

Christ’s kingship, though spiritual in nature, is nevertheless the supreme sovereignty: all men should submit to the authority of God as a loving Father and benevolent custodian of all good things. The absolute sovereignty of God is presupposed in our reason for existence. That we are called to know God means His truths, even He AS truth, is the highest source of all truth, of all things that can be known, or should! All men should recognize the authority of God as the source of truth and law for their own well-being. Pilate, on the other hand, is indifferent to this. He considers his own sovereignty to be independent and self-realized, as if he were to have some power over God:

“Do you not realize that I have the power to kill you and to have you crucified?”

Truth: God’s Truth​

Too, Pilate is either indifferent to truth, or in denial of it.

“I came into the world for one purpose: to testify to the truth! Whoever desires to know the truth listens to My voice.”

“What is truth?”

When man is fallen, he either denies and refuses to accept God’s truths (atheism, paganism), or he is indifferent to what is true to God, believing it is either not important or is unattainable (the modern relativism: How can we really know what is true in religion and morals? Everyone might as well be equally right. Or else, I have better things to do. Religion is boring.). Hence, “What is truth?” is the first great part of the first great lie of the dragon: “Seek not to know God, or have faith. Rather, believe as you wish!”

 

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Repentance: Knowing Good and Evil​

The second part is like it: repentance. Repentance means one has moral culpability and obligation to shun wrong doing, to do what is right — even when inconvenient — and that God is the arbiter of the moral law, not us. It means that the waters of Baptism convey the great mystery: in immersion, or sprinkling, one is saying, may my wrongdoings of the past be forgiven by God on behalf of my contrite heart , and may, therefore, my future actions , which are still culpable before God , my judge, be holy and right .

Pilate, then, in his epic act of betrayal and murder of God — in the washing of his hands (an Anti-Baptism) — has in no wise contrition for former sins on account of Divine absolution and a contrite heart but a declaration of absolving himself , by himself , of forthcoming culpability , and with the idea that he, himself, judges what is right and wrong, not God!

“I am innocent of this man’s blood! Go and kill him yourself!”

These lies then clearly mock Baptism and form the first great lie. Pilate images anti-Baptism in his whole being, actions, and words. Pilate is Anti-Baptism , the first lie of the Fall!

 

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Herod Images Apocalyptic Anti-Marriage, the Second Lie​

What about the other lie of the Fall, anti-marital desire toward God, or materialism? Let us recall that the one seduced by materialism only cares about this world, for what he can get from this world, not receive. He only cares about pleasures, possessions, egotistical accomplishments, and glorious signs and wonders of purely physical and worldly intellectual progress: science, technology, and man-made grandeur.

This is emblematic of Herod. When Christ is sent to Herod, Herod is not so much bent on condemning him to death as he is interested in seeing those very “material wonders,” or, in this case, miracles:

When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort.

Herod is a man of this world, not the other . He is only interested in what is fantastic from a worldly standpoint, in seeing a physical sign or miracle for its own sake, as when his supreme delight at the young woman who danced before him led him to pledge absolutely anything as a gift of homage, even St. John the Baptist, who images the Baptismal spirit: seeking the truths of God and repentance to live it.

Christ, however, did not perform miracles as ends unto themselves but only as a means to end: to lead others to faith in God’s revelation, to repentance and eventual pursuit of holiness and grace, ultimately from His Church to come, the Bride, the one who represents the truths and graces of God to humanity, those things which alone can fully satiate, and not mere temporal healings, feedings, or any other mere physical prodigy.

But the ones of the second lie take the mere physical wonders and goods as the final end of existence, of happiness, of well-being. Hence, Herod is Anti-Marriage .

 

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For more information, I can give a Homiletic and Pastoral Review article. Readers may find it interesitng