The Trial of Pontius Pilate

By Ronald Hee

“What is truth?”

Two thousand years ago, Pontius Pilate, the Roman Prefect of Judaea, ordered the execution of a man he knew to be innocent of the charges brought against him. The man he ordered to die by crucifixion was Jesus of Nazareth.

Pilate was never called to account for his actions. What if, in the weeks after Christ’s death, Pilate was brought to trial for the death of Jesus? How would Pilate defend his actions? And how would Pilate, and the entire court, react if he was confronted by his victim?

As the prosecution and defense argue over the evidence, the truth of the death and resurrection of Christ emerges. And so does the truth of who was Pilate, the man who condemned him.

The Trial of Pontius Pilate – the story of Easter from a completely differently perspective.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ronald Hee
• Release date: Nov 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311618085

Ronald Hee

Ronald Hee was born in Singapore in 1964. He is rather tickled that the delivery was done by a Dr G.H. Coffin, a fine name for a fine baby doctor. With some irony, he now lives minutes away from the hospital where he was born. The hospital no longer exists and the building has been taken over by the Salvation Army.After the usual run ins in school, he served in his limited capacity in his nation’s defence as a Combat Engineer. He is thankful he saw no combat and didn’t do much engineering, since he spent most of his stint as an instructor.He obtained a B.A. Honours in History from the National University of Singapore in 1989. After he left, the university started to gain international recognition for excellence.Leveraging on his complete lack of media experience, his first job was with the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, as a feature writer. The broadcaster has undergone some corporate changes since and is now known as Mediacorp. In more recent years, Ronald has gone back as a writer / director for documentaries, and as an actor for some of the docudramas and for various corporate shoots. He plans on continuing to do both until they cease to be fun. He’s done some work for other broadcasters as well and considers Singapore 1942 (check out IMDB) to be his best work. So far.His next port of call was in exhibit development with the Singapore Discovery Centre, where he took charge of among other things, the centre’s interactive multimedia kiosks – in the days when the word ‘multimedia’ was still new, and he himself had just started using Windows 3.1. After leaving, he was contracted to research and script new exhibits and attractions. It was during his period that he started freelance writing for various publications. He plans on continuing to be an occasional journalist so long as it is fun.In 1996, he decided to enter the glamorous world of public relations and joined Ogilvy Public Relations. Leveraging on his complete lack of a tech background, he nonetheless found himself in charge of various technology accounts, some for MNCs which no longer exist (no coincidence).2000 was the Year of the Dragon and it seemed as good a time as any to try to build a company. He was drawn into a dotcom, The Internet CallCentre, which with uncanny timing, was officially launched a week before NASDAQ tanked and the dotcom bubble burst. It was fun yet stressful while it lasted. He eventually walked away wiser but poorer.After a short stint with property giant, Suntec City Development, in searching for a new port of call, fate linked him to a biotech company, CordLife. As before, leveraging on his complete lack of a biology background, he became the company PR guy, aiding in their expansion and Australian listing.Briefly joining a renewable energy company after, again as the PR guy, when his father passed away, it seemed, at the age of 44, a good time to take stock, realize that there is more to life, that his financial planner has done a great job, and it was time to retire. One, however, retires from formal work, and never from life itself. Lots to do and see still. Like doing some charity work for old soldiers. Like spending way too much time playing a Facebook game or on Civilization. Like being an evil slumlord. But that’s another story ....Ronald is unmarried, his former wife deciding to give him his freedom early for good behavior during that little dotcom bust. He has no children that he knows of; just a dog that acts like one. He is perversely proud of having probably the strangest eyesight in the country.1,001 Things You Didn’t Know Happened in April (2014) is his first book, and The Trial of Pontius Pilate (2015) is his second. He hopes you have enjoyed them.

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The Trial of Pontius Pilate

Ronald Hee

Copyright © 2015 by Ronald Hee

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 9781311618085

All rights reserved worldwide. Reproduction, distribution, or transmission of any part of this publication in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any electronic or mechanical methods without the permission of the author, is illegal and punishable by law, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Trademarked names appear throughout this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, names are used in an editorial fashion, with no intention of infringement of the respective owner’s trademark.

The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

The information in this book is distributed on an as is basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

No humans, animals or trees were deliberately harmed in the production of this book. Apologies to any human, animal or tree that may have been accidentally harmed.

This book is available in various ebook formats on Amazon, Apple iStore, Barnes & Noble, Diesel, Kobo, Smashwords and other ebookstores. A print version may also be found on Amazon.

Cover image: This Man! by Andrey N. Mironov. This is about the only painting I can find of both the victim and the accused, and only the two. And the accused is not scowling. Mr. Mironov has kindly made this image royalty free. Gratitude, honored Mironov! Cover designed by Adeline Hee. Gratitude, honored Adi!

In the weeks following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Pontius Pilate was never put on trial for ordering His execution. He was later recalled to Rome in 36 AD, for reasons which remain uncertain; it could have been because of a massacre of Samaritans, or given how long he had served as Prefect of Judaea, he might have just retired with full honors. He died a year later at, I estimate, the age of 56.

It is my hope that this book will serve to shed light on the truth of Christ’s Resurrection from a rather different angle, and of the man that ordered his execution. In particular, for 2,000 years, Pilate has been unable to speak of his most famous decision. He’s never had his … day in court. Perhaps he does now.

Contents

Dedication

Dramatis Personae

The Court

The Centurion

The Decanus

The Medicus

The Challenge

The Victim

The Accused

The Verdict

Afterword

Character Notes

Glossary

Play Production Notes

About the Author

Dedication

After months of research, I wrote bits of dialogue here and there, based on what I had researched. When I got down to actually writing this book, the bulk of it wrote itself in just a week. There then followed months of tweaking, adding, deleting, amending, and the valued input of several people, before I felt it was polished enough to present to you. Thank you for reading this book! Especially if you’ve bought it! This book is dedicated firstly, to you.

Many thanks to those who read the early drafts and gave of their valued time and comments: Charles, Donald, Irene, Laurence, Leslie, Samantha, Shu Ching, Vivien, and Winnie. Naturally, any errors that have slipped through their eagle eyes, are mine. It’s interesting how different eyes spot different things; if you yourself spot anything amiss, please let me know. Naturally as well, the opinions expressed in this book are mine, not theirs. They just had to put up with it.

Also putting up with my shenanigans are my brother, Richard, his wife, Winnie, and their children, Oliver and Adeline. They are looking forward to the theatrical version of this book ….

Lastly, many thanks to the pastors, helpers and members of St Andrew’s Cathedral and the Anglican community in Singapore. I dedicate all proceeds from the sale of this book until 31st December 2015, to the building of the new church in Jurong, in the western part of Singapore. The harvest is plentiful; here stands one more worker.

Ronald Hee

1st November 2015

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Dramatis Personae

Centurion of the Praetorium: Cornelius Lucius Vorenus

Court Centurion: Titus Pullo

Crucifixion Decanus: Cassius Longinus

Defendant: Pontius Pilate

Defense: Marcus Tullius Proculus

Judge: Lucius Aelius Lamia

Medicus of the 10th Legion: Pedanius Dioscorides

Prosecutor: Masurius Sabinus

Victim: Jesus of Nazareth

The Court

Honored Titus Pullo, Centurion of the Court for the province of Judaea, flicked an imagined speck of dust from his immaculate armor, its plates shining like mirrors. He surveyed the courtroom one last time. Everything appeared as it should be.

The scribe, defense and prosecution lawyers were at their seats, the murmuring audience was at the rear, his contubernium of select legionaries were at their posts, warily eyeing the crowd; two on each side, two beside the judge’s seat, and two in the rear, all alert for any disturbance. Each had of course paid Pullo to be selected for this prestigious yet cushy duty, as was his due. Quite apart from the chance of being noticed and one’s career advanced, this duty was certainly better than the boredom of guarding temples or the discomfort and danger of hunting down rebels in the desert.

Lastly, the accused stood in the dock in the centre of the court room. As Pullo looked on the accused, he reflected that it was not every day that this court saw someone so august. He had