Beginning of Essay
? In answering this question in historical terms, we must first look at the events leading up to his arrest and ultimately, his execution. We know that Jesus performed that symbolic gesture of “cleansing” the temple, by overturning the money changers ....

Middle of Essay
.... Pilate was around for crowd control, and to announce so liberally that the freedom of their people was at hand, would incite a threat to the Roman stronghold. It is known that Pontius Pilate was not a nice guy to begin with, and he was not happy to be in Jerusalem during its most crowded time of the year. Passover is a holiday celebrating the Jews freedom from slavery, so he was there as crowd control. Paula Fredrickson states in an interview: “He had a reputation for crucifying untried prisoners…Pilate was legally responsible to be in Jerusalem when it was most crowded. He was in a bad mood already when he got into town…he ....