Pilate was powerful and strong-minded, but he was also weak and afraid.  He feared for his job, his reputation and his life.  His weakest point was fear of punishment by Caesar.  The religious people took full advantage of that, especially when they heard that Jesus had told Pilate that He was the King of the Jews (John 18:37).  They certainly did not want Him as their King; however, to claim to be a king, on Caesar’s territory, was treason – an offence punishable by death.

And yet Pilate was uneasy.  He knew that Jesus was innocent; even his wife told him about a dream she had about Jesus … Pilate must not have anything to do with him or there would be great trouble (Matthew 27:19).  Increasingly agitated inside himself and frustrated by the religionists' pressure to have Him killed, Pilate tried to get them to accept His release.  However, the charge of treason would be acceptable in Rome.  
 
What a good solution.  It would be legal with the Roman authorities and would achieve the religious leaders’ objective of getting rid of Jesus.  Then they would retain their unquestioned religious power and the Romans would feel that they had been cooperative in exposing treason.  But they had forgotten that God was the King of Israel, and that their plotting had exposed them as being faithless and ruthless (Romans 1:31-32). Pilate’s morally weak character and their spiritually weak characters found a meeting place in the death of Jesus and blinded their eyes to the long term consequences.
 
However strong we may be, physically or mentally, we all have weak places where evil desires can lurk.  Then, when the opportunity comes, thoughts can turn into action, and Satan’s temptation is effective in bringing destruction (James 1:14-15).  The wise person will not boast of strength but instead will identify the weak areas which are most at risk of being targeted by temptation.  Failure to recognise weakness or to prevent it being exploited is so unwise.