Journey to the Cross wk 4
Notes
Transcript
Jesus on Trial - Mark 15:1-20.
Jesus on Trial - Mark 15:1-20.
This morning is our fourth week in this series on A Journey to the Cross, as we look at the events that Jesus goes through.
Week one we looked at the Garden and how Jesus prayed not My will but Your will be done.
Week two we looked at Jesus’ Accusers and the false accusations that were brought before Him.
Last week we looked at Peter’s denial of Jesus but also how Jesus restored him back into a right relationship.
This morning we are going to be looking at Jesus on Trial, continuing in the Gospel of Mark.
This morning we will be looking at chapter 15 of Mark and the first twenty verses.
Mark’s account focuses on Jesus being tried by Pilate, but we will also look briefly at Matthew and John’s accounts also.
In this text, Jesus goes in front of Pilate to be tried, but Pilate interacts with the crowd, and then turns Jesus over to the Roman Soldiers.
We will look at our first section of verses first.
Mark 15:1-7.
Pray
Pray
I. Before Pilate
I. Before Pilate
In verse one we are told that this is happening early in the morning.
According to commentators this was probably around 5 to 6 am, after the Jewish counsel had determined that Jesus was guilty.
The Jewish officials want a death sentence for Jesus, but the Jew’s were not permitted to put anyone to death.
31 So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,”
But Pilate knew that the Jew’s had brought Jesus and charges against Him out of their own selfish means.
18 For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over.
Pilate begins to question Jesus, and as with the Jewish council Jesus for the most part remains quite.
Pilate asks are you the king of the Jew’s and Jesus responds with “It is as you say.”
As Pilate continues to question Jesus and Jesus does not answer anything else, Pilate then asks, “Do you not answer?”
Another words Pilate was asking do you not have a defense for yourself.
Pilate not wanting anything to do with sentencing Jesus, tries to push Him back off on the Jews.
23 And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.”
Pilate even tries to release Barabbas to the people, who was a known criminal and as we are told in Acts 3:14 a murder.
14 “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
Pilate was not getting any where with trying to release Jesus.
In John’s account we see why Pilate was so set on releasing Jesus, as John tells us that Pilate finds no guilt in Jesus.
38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”
And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.
4 Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.”
6 So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.”
That is three times that Pilate states the He does not find any guilt in Jesus.
Pilate tries everything he can think of but the Jews continue to cry out crucify Him.
12 As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”
The Jews tell Pilate if he releases Jesus then you are no friend of Caesar who is the king.
II. The Crowd.
II. The Crowd.
Mark 15:8-14.
Pilate not getting any where with the Jewish officials, turns to the crowd.
But what Pilate did not realize was that the Jewish officials were influencing the crowd.
As Pilate asks the crowd, do you want me to release the King of the Jews, the crowd began to cry out, crucify Him.
The crowd rather have Barabbas and as we seen in Acts, Barabbas was a murderer.
Pilate then asks them what am I to do with Him who you call the King of the Jews.
As the crowd continuously cried out to crucify Jesus, Pilate was out of options and in fear of a riot.
He asks the crowd, with the Jewish officials, why what evil has He done?
As we seen in John’s account, Pilate did not find any guilt in Jesus, and he preferred to release Jesus.
The crowd shouted crucify Him.
III. The Soldiers
III. The Soldiers
Mark 15:15-20.
Trying to satisfy the crowd, Pilate then releases the murderer Barabbas.
He then has Jesus taken and scourged.
Scourging is the practice of whipping a person with a special whip that has spike, thorns, and other kinds of hooks attached to the end of the whip.
This scourging took place to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 53:5
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
Pilate wanting nothing to do with the sentencing or death of Jesus turns Him over to the Roman Soldiers.
Now Pilate was the Roman governor of the area, but he did not want anything to do with the miss treatment or crucifixion of Jesus.
Now the soldiers on the other hand, had no problem miss treating Jesus.
After they nearly beat Him to death with the scourging, they took and made fun of Him.
They took Jesus into the palace and a group of Roman soldiers put a purple robe on Him to mock Him.
The purple robe is their way of mocking Jesus because He had been called the King of the Jews.
As purple is significant to royal positions.
They then taking it further placed a crown of thorns on His head.
This crown was not necessarily to inflict pain, even though with thorns it surely did inflict pain, but the crown was meant for mockery, and not just against Jesus but the Roman soldiers mocking the Jews.
The crown of thorns was in mockery of a royal crown, as Jesus had been called the King of the Jews.
The soldiers continue to mock Jesus and begin to beat Him in the head with a reed, stick or the Message Bible calls it a club.
They spit on Him and mocking Him they kneel and bow before Him as if they were bowing before their earthly king.
After all the mocking they take the purple rob off Him and lead Him out to be crucified.
As we are faced with persecution in life, we must remember what Jesus said in John 15:19-20
19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.