396 THoMAS ToPS In a third interpretation, Pilate and the Jews are engaged in a power struggle. Initially Pilate has the upper hand and is characterized as ag- gressive. John 19,4-8 is then regarded as the turning point at which the upper hand in this struggle shifts from Pilate to “the Jews”. After this, Pilate is characterized as reluctant. In this interpretation both Pilate and the Jews are the driving forces behind Jesus’ crucifixion. This is the interpretation defended by R.A. Piper. As has been demonstrated by D.F. Tolmie in his recent character study of the Johannine Pilate in 2013, the main question that has prompted different answers in secondary literature is the following: “Is he [Pilate, T.T.] primarily a weak and indecisive character forced by ‘the Jews’ to do something he does not want to do? or is he actually a shrewd figure, thinking only of his own political self-interest, manip- ulating ‘the Jews’?” 1 This question is central to our discussion of the interpretation possibilities that the Johannine Pilate offers. In what fol- lows, we will mainly focus on three parts of the text, but such a division is surely artificial, because every characterization of Pilate is interre- lated with an interpretation of all his acts and words. These parts are 18,33-38, 18,39 – 19,6 and 19,7-16. We will finish with a discussion of 18,38a to make the transition to the second part of this article. As stated earlier, we will not summarize all the possible interpretations of Pilate’s actions and words one by one, but we will pay attention to the narrative gaps that determine each interpretation of these actions and words 2. In this way we will become more aware of the hermeneutical choices and the concepts that guide each characterization of Pilate. As such, we will become more aware of our role as interpreter in the in- terpretation of John’s story world. 1. John 18,33-38 At the beginning of the first hearing of Jesus by Pilate (18,33-38a) there is already a narrative gap: Eivsh/lqen ou=n pa,lin eivj to. praitw,rion o` Pila/toj kai. evfw,nhsen to.n VIhsou/n kai. ei=pen auvtw/|\ su. ei= o` basileu.j tw/n VIoudai,wnÈ (18,33). Pilate’s question to Jesus about whether he is the king of the Jews is rather unexpected, because in 18,30 the Jews 1 D.F. TolMIe, “Pontius Pilate: Failing in More Ways Than one”, Character Studies in the Fourth Gospel. Narrative Approaches to Seventy Figures in John (eds. R. ZIMMeRMANN et al.) (WUNT 314; Tübingen 2013) 578-597, here 581. 2 For the importance of these narrative gaps for the act of interpretation, see W. ISeR, “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach”, New Literary History 3 (1972) 279-299, here 285.