Question about Pontious Pilot's intention in hanging sign on cross.?

Question

When he hung the "king of the jews" sign, was it an act of respect and fear due to his wife's dream and his apprehension in and reluctance to sentence Jesus to death or was it just a pure act of mockery? I always just considered it an act of mockery and that is how it is typically portrayed, but the other day the thought came to me in reading The conversation between the two again that Pontious may have been quite haunted if not moved by the words of Jesus. Almost as if he sensed something about Him. Then the sign could have had a whole different intent. I don't know . It was just a thought I had that made sense to some extent in the context of interpretation of scripture. What do you think? What's your opinion? Thanks.

Answer 1

The sign was the "titulus". It was an inscription which had to be carried before the condemned man to identify him and the cause for his execution. The sign would then be affixed to the cross. It was written with gypsum on a wooden board. It was spelled out in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek so that nearly everybody would be able to read it.

Pilate was following standard Roman protocol. Certainly his reply "what i have written, I have written" indicates his displeasure with the Jews and his desire to let his subtle insult stand.

Answer 2

it was mockery,pontious pilot did not speak to jesus otherwise it would have been recorded in the roman diaries of the day but it wasn't,that was only an added bit for the christians,it was just another day for pontious no different to other execution days,what the new testament says is not true otherwise the romans would also have written it down ,

Answer 3

Pilot knew that Jesus was innocent, and did his best to set Him free, short of causing a revolt, what with millions of Jews in the city and all. He respected Jesus, and I think that Pilot had followed the life of Jesus and knew something of Him. I have read somewhere that Pilot was haunted by the death of Jesus the rest of his life, he certainly was cursed by it.

Answer 4

i presumed it became a quite extraordinary call even as i became a baby. Punchus Pilot. We had a cousin whose very last call became Piotti and he appeared like the Pilate from Jesus Christ celeb the movie. We referred to as him Pontious Piotti.

Answer 5

Hmmmm, good question. I have always thought he (Pontious Pilot), was mocking Jesus. He had the ultimate power over who died and who lived, to me it was like rubbing salt into a wound.

Answer 6

If he was mocking anyone it was the Jews and the Phaasees who wanted Jesus put to death.

Answer 7

ive always heard it was mockery. jesus proclaimed before pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. pilate, i believe, took that as an insult to the roman empire, and to make an example of jesus. but, it is curious to wonder, because pilate did not want to crucify him. he said himself that he found no fault with jesus.

Answer 8

I think Pilate was afraid of Jesus. He threw up his authority to hide from the Truth.

I think the sign had double motivations, and double meanings. Maybe triple.

Answer 9

What Grace said. Good answer! That's my feeling as well....the Jews wanted it changed to "He SAID He was King of the Jews..."

Pilate did not. Pilate would not.

Grace deserves "best answer"!!

Answer 10

I think it was from fear from his wife's dream, however it could also tie into that where he wanted to make it known htat he had fully washed his hands of the matter.