AS WE GATHER – Pontius Pilate, a witness to Christ, consented to order Jesus’ execution. Pilate may wash his hands and proclaim his own innocence in the death of Jesus, but Pilate is guilty. Instead of doing what is right, Pilate has Jesus’ flesh ripped, shredded, dressed in purple, and crowned with thorns. His hard heart is complicit in the death of Christ. While it may be an uncomfortable thought, Pilate’s failures make us examine our own complicity in the evil of others. How have we deceived ourselves in proclaiming our own  innocence? How have we been pressured into allowing evil to occur? Thanks be to God that our journey to the cross shows us Jesus’ forgiveness.