While at Good Friday service today with my mother, it occurred to me during the Gospel reading of The Passion (for non-Christians, that would be pretty much the story that's seen in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ), that if Pilate really was sincere about believing Jesus and wanting to release him, perhaps the best thing to do would be not dressing Jesus up in purple robes, putting a crown (of thorns, yes, but a crown nonetheless) on His head, and then proclaiming to the very people who headed Him over to Pilate because they were incensed at His claims to be the Son of God, "Shall I release your king?"

Rather incendiary and most definitely not reconciliatory.