402 THoMAS ToPS and ineffectual” 19. Bond presupposes here that the Jews would never release Jesus, because they handed him over for execution earlier in the story in 18,28-29. At the same time, she presupposes that the chief priests would always have used the opportunity to release a political activist, a lh|sth,j. Therefore, Bond considers Pilate’s proposal not as a serious attempt to release Jesus, but as a way for Pilate to mock Jewish “nationalistic hopes” and “messianic aspirations” 20. By contrast, de Boer sticks to his characterization of Pilate as re- luctant, interpreting Pilate’s proposal in 18,39 as a sincere attempt to release Jesus. Pilate is rather unwilling to convict someone he considers not-guilty. Instead, Pilate is sincerely in search of a way to release Jesus. De Boer interprets 19,1-3 in this regard as again such an attempt to release Jesus. 19,4 confirms this according to de Boer 21. The line of thought that de Boer unfolds here is that it is clear to Pilate that Jesus has done something wrong in the eyes of the Jews, although there are no juridical grounds for Jesus’ alleged wrongdoing. Pilate scourges and ridicules Jesus in 19,1-3 with the intention of tempering the anger of the Jews, so that he can free Jesus afterwards. John 19,6 proves that his intent was unsuccessful. Tuckett, however, not unexpectedly conceives ivdou. o` a;nqrwpoj in 19,5 as a mockery, but at the same time he also perceives Johannine irony in it. Following naturally from this frame of interpretation, Tuck- ett interprets 19,6 as a “mocking jest”. Pilate knows very well that the Jews are not allowed to execute anyone, and so Tuckett interprets Pi- late’s words la,bete auvto.n u`mei/j kai. staurw,sate as a way of mocking the Jews. Regardless of “the historical realities of Jewish powers of ex- ecution at this period of history”, we can conclude from “John’s story world”, which in the eyes of Tuckett deserves our primary attention, “that the Jews are not allowed to execute anyone, as the Jews have al- ready told this to him [Pilate, T.T.] in 18,31” 22. De Boer responds to this by claiming that “a Johannine reader would probably assume that the Jewish authorities could kill someone with the Roman governor’s approval and indulgence” 23. With this claim de Boer points out that e;xestin in 18,31 might perhaps only refer to the Jewish law. Consequently, the Jews could execute someone, if 19 BoND, Pontius Pilate, 181. 20 BoND, Pontius Pilate, 181-182. 21 De BoeR, “Narrative Function”, 143. 22 TUCkeTT, “Pilate”, 136-137. 23 De BoeR, “Narrative Function”, 144 n. 13.