Jesus Before Pilate
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Two weeks ago we saw Jesus face a trial, if you can even call it that, by the Jewish authorities. There they mistreated his and condemned him as deserving death. They do not have the power to kill him though so he must go before the Roman authorities. Last week we had an aside, as all of this was happening one of the top apostles was outside denying Jesus. This led us to reflect on when we sometimes do not claim Christ. Tonight though we will see Jesus go before Pilate and then even before the people and there is a more widespread denial of him. They are no longer shouting Hosanna.
Though the Jewish authorities did not have the power to carry out their sentence upon Jesus, Pilate here does. This is the final decision for what will become of the life of Jesus.
Lets now turn to our passage and read Mark 15.1-15.
And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” And the chief priests accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
This section begins as soon as it was morning which is considered the third hour of the day. Here the chief priest held a short more formal trial over Jesus then took him to Pilate. For a perspective of time, by the sixth hour Jesus is on the cross. Once delivered over Pilate begins to ask his questions and Jesus gives one short response and then silence. Pilate is amazed by this and you can tell that he thinks Jesus is innocent.
Since he thinks it is clear that he is innocent he does what he customarily does at the feast and offers to release a prisoner. He offers up Barabbas or Jesus. A murder or a innocent man. He is sure what they will pick, release Jesus and kill Barabbas. They do the exact opposite though, they cry out to have Barabbas released and to crucify Jesus. Free the man that deserves death and kill the innocent instead. This shows exactly what Jesus is doing though through it all, this is a perfect picture of the substitutionary sacrifice and atonement of Christ.
Through all of this Pilate could have freed them both or killed them both. He doesn’t though, he wants to satisfy the crowd and desired peace over justice.
In these two scenes we see that everyone has turned on Jesus and that now he will be crucified. The decree has been made by the man with the authority necessary. It will not be long either, this story starts on the third hour and by the sixth hour he is on the cross and by the ninth hour he is dead.
Through all of this evil though we are given a picture of what Jesus is doing. We see the beauty of the sacrifice that he is making.
Let’s pray then begin to dive into this final condemnation of Jesus.
Jesus and Pilate
Jesus and Pilate
And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” And the chief priests accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Jesus is delivered over to the Roman authority Pilate who was only in town because of the feast, he wanted to keep the peace while it went on. He is told that Jesus is saying he is king. This is kind of true but is a twist. Pilate could care less about a messiah, but a king was something that was a big deal for him. He doesn’t think he is guilty though but he still questions him.
Jesus going before Pilate is the completion of what Jesus said a while back in Mark 10.33
saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles.
This delivery over to the Gentiles, non-Jews, had to be done for Jesus to die the death that he did. Crucifixion was a Roman way of killing people, not a Jewish way. Because of this we see that Jesus died for all people, it was not just the Jews that killed him but the gentiles as well. Nobody is left without guilt towards the death of Jesus.
Jesus and the people
Jesus and the people
Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
Pilate decides that he will offer Jesus as an option for his customary release of a prisoner. He gives the people two options, Jesus the innocent or Barabbas the murder. The people pick Barabbas to be released then shout to crucify Jesus. This is a shock because just a few days before they were shouting praises.
This is a sad story but it illustrates to us the greatness of what is going on. I want to focus in on this for a bit. The illustration has a big name but a simple meaning, it is substitutionary atonement. All this means is Christ atoned for our sins as a substitute for us, put another way he took the punishment that we deserve. Because of our sin we deserve death, Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Barabbas deserved death for what he had done, instead of that though Christ died. We are like Barabbas, we deserve death, but Jesus has taken our place. We are so far in sin that we continue to choose wrong, yet he still died for us.
Because of our sin we could never pay the debt we owe. Think about this, in the Old Testament their sacrifices had to be perfect and without blemish. Our sin makes us imperfect so the only way is through a substitute. It says in 2 Corinthians 5.21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
God allowed Jesus, the perfect man to take the punishment for our sin so that we might be declared righteous. So that we could be in right standing before God. It even talks about how this has to happen in the Old Testament where it says in Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
One objection to needing Christ to die in our place is people saying that they can go to heaven if their good will only outweigh their bad. I want to address this objection on two fronts.
First, there is no hope of you good outweighing your bad. Jesus says in John 8:34 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” If we are slaves to sin then there is no hope of not sinning, we are in fact it’s slaves. It says in other places that we were born in sin and we walk all of our days as enemies of God. If we are enemies of God we are not doing things that please him, we are doing quite the opposite! Our hearts are deceitful above all else and we are totally set on sin. There is no hope of our good outweighing our bad.
Second, even if our good could outweigh our bad it would not be enough. God is described in the Bible as holy, holy, holy. He is completely perfect in everything. Even one sin stains us and keeps us from his presence. Look in Genesis at the fall, the moment that they became separated from God was because of one sin. Even one sin makes us guilty. There is no hope outside of Christ taking the punishment for you.
For us to be saved Christ has to die in our place. Just like he took the place of Barabbas here, he has to take our place too.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus is on his way to the cross. He has been condemned to death by the Jewish authorities, he has been abandoned and denied by his disciples, and now he has been condemned by the Roman authorities. It is on the cross though that he will die in our place, the death that we deserve. This is why forgiveness is possible. To accept it all you have to do is put your faith in Jesus and turn from your sins.
Christ’s sacrifice was enough for your forgiveness if you will accept that forgiveness.
For those of you who have put your faith in Jesus then never forget the payment that he made for you even though you don’t deserve it. Now go out and share the forgiveness that is available to those who were once like you, who were once dead in their trespasses and sins so that if they will accept that forgiveness then they too might be made alive in Christ.