I am next going to the Gospel of John so that we can gain both a broader understanding of Pilate’s role in this drama and also to introduce the soldiers. Other gospels mention soldiers but only John and Luke integrate Pilate’s troops into the events that revolve around Pilate.

The first part of the data from that analysis is listed in the table below. As per my established pattern I begin this encounter at 0,0. In the brief exchange described in verses 28 through 31A Pilate keeps this discussion under control and keeps striving to bring it back to tranquility.

Pilate continues to do what he can to keep this drama under control in verses 31B through 35. In Mark’s gospel Pilate seems to be trying to placate the crowd. In Matthew’s gospel Pilate seems to be trying to educate Jesus. Here in John’s gospel we see that Pilate used conflict to pull away from the alignment that Jesus was leading him towards.

Book	Ch	Vs	Actor	Vert	Horz	Dissonance	Love
John	18	*	Start	0	0	Assumed start place
John	18	28	Narrator	1	1	Conspire	Conspire
John	18	29	Pilate	1	0		Inquire
John	18	30	Crowd	0	1	Refuse	Refuse
John	18	31A	Pilate	0	0		Gift
John	18	31B	Crowd	1	1	Conspire	Conspire
John	18	32	Narrator	2	1	Explanation
John	18	33	Pilate	2	0		Inquire
John	18	34	Jesus	2	-1		Acquiesce
John	18	35	Pilate	1	0	Refuse	Refuse
John	18	*	Pilate	1	0	Pilate uses conflict
John	18	36	Jesus	2	-1	Unexpected answer	Acquiesce
John	18	37A	Pilate	2	0		Challenge
John	18	37B	Jesus	3	-1	"You say so"	"You say so"
John	18	38A	Pilate	2	0	Contempt	Contempt
John	18	38B	Pilate	1	0	Deny
John	18	39	Pilate	0	-1	Obligation	Obligation
John	18	40	Crowd	1	0	Refuse	Refuse
John	19	1	Pilate	1	1		Suffer
John	19	*	Pilate	1	1	Pilate accepts mild chaos

The next several verses show the complexity of the negotiation between Jesus and Pilate. Jesus continues to increase the dissonance and moves toward alignment or transformation. Pilate keeps trying to get back to tranquility. The crowd pushes toward conflict or chaos. In verse 19:1 Pilate sends Jesus away to be flogged. Pilate decided to try compromise. Compromise is somewhere between tranquility, transformation, conflict and chaos. Pilot accepted this compromise and the narrator tells us nothing about what Pilate did during the flogging. Did Pilate enter into conflict along with the soldiers? Did Pilate withdraw into chaos? Or did Pilate go back into his chambers and try to restore his personal tranquility? We do not know. And since John does not tell us anything then we cannot use any of that speculation in this study.

In the next verses the soldiers alter the ecology of this situation to suit their preference for conflict.

Pilate and Jesus then bring the situation back to tranquility.

In 19:12 John tells us that Pilate was transformed and now sought to release Jesus.

Then in 19:13 we see that Pilate has been transformed again and now accepts his role as judge. Perhaps he was trying to get this back to tranquility. The level of dissonance was too high and if we can stay emotionally neutral while paying attention to a high level of dissonance then we are likely to change.

Book	Ch	Vs	Actor	Vert	Horz	Dissonance	Love
John	19	2	Soldiers	1	2		Challenge
John	19	3	Soldiers	0	3	Contempt	Contempt
John	19	*	Soldiers	0	3	Soldiers understand conflict
John	19	4	Pilate	-1	2	Concede	Concede
John	19	5A	Jesus	0	1	No response	Acquiesce
John	19	5B	Pilate	0	0		Gift
John	19	6A	Crowd	1	1	Conspire	Conspire
John	19	6B	Pilate	0	0	Concede	Concede
John	19	7	Crowd	1	1	Conspire	Conspire
John	19	8	Narrator	1	1
John	19	9A	Pilate	1	0		Inquire
John	19	9B	Jesus	2	0	No response
John	19	10	Pilate	3	1	Confused	Confused
John	19	11	Jesus	4	0	Redeem	Redeem
John	19	12A	Narrator	5	0	Explanation
John	19	*	Narrator	5	0	Pilate was transformed
John	19	12B	Crowd	4	1	Refuse	Refuse
John	19	13	Pilate	3	0	Concede	Concede
John	19	*	Pilate	3	0	Pilate was transformed
John	19	14	Pilate	2	0	Deny
John	19	15A	Crowd	1	1	Refuse	Refuse
John	19	15B	Pilate	0	0	Ignorance	Ignorance
John	19	15C	Crowd	1	-1	Agreement	Agreement
John	19	16	Narrator	2	-2	Redeem	Redeem
John	19	*	Narrator	2	-2	Alignment

In verses 14 and 15 Pilate continues to negotiate and finally gets back to tranquility. I did not plot that as a separate diagram, however, because there is no stopping here. The momentum of the process has now brought all parties into alignment. The chorus of repetitions and affirmations in verse 15 demonstrate the alignment of Pilate and the crowd. The narrator joins with this alignment in verse 16. And implicitly, Jesus is fully aligned as the verdict is one he had already predicted and accepted elsewhere in these four gospels.

Is this technique making sense to you? What I do is make a table of verses and verse fragments. I read that verse fragment and decide who seems to be the “actor” in that text. Then I use the word matrix and I search for matching concepts in that text. I list at most one core term for dissonance or distracters and at most one core term for love or antagonism. If there are multiple concepts expressed in that text fragment, then I break that fragment into two smaller fragments.

I then score each concept for dissonance. I give the text fragment a plus one on the dissonance scale if the concept expresses alignment, dissonance or chaos. I give it a minus one on the dissonance scale if the concept expresses closure, distraction or suppression.

Similarly I score the concept of love versus antagonism. A concept gets a plus one score if it expresses chaos, antagonism or suppression. A concept gets a minus one score if it expresses alignment, love or closure. Note that I imply here that we remain in closure when we suppress information but can only remain in alignment when we cherish information.

The vertical and horizontal location of the text fragment is then calculated by adding the previous location coordinates with the score values on dissonance and love. Those results are displayed in a table.

Next I plot the dance steps on a simple line diagram. The complexity of those steps indicates the intentionality of each actor. The crowd persistently pushes towards compromise or chaos. Jesus pushes upward and to the left towards transformation or alignment. And Pilate takes the relationship from where ever it is and tries to bring it back to tranquility.

Does this make sense? Can you verify my scoring values? Can you see these patterns? Do you notice the consistency shown in these first three gospels? In each of these first three gospels we wander a bit until one or more transformations occur. We wander a bit as each actor negotiates for the resolution they prefer. Eventually we reach alignment on the decision to crucify Jesus. Does this technique allow you to see the intentionality each actor had in the efforts to influence the decision?

The next step in this exercise is to go through this same process with Luke’s gospel and then compare the results we find in that analysis with the patterns found so far. Thank you for your patience. I hope this technique is becoming clear to you.