Behold Your King!
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Jesus has come to reveal the truth.
37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”…
Jesus is on trial, but when the Jews press charges they are opening themselves and Pilate to investigation as well. Jesus exposes the truth of their desires and their inept authority.
Jesus Exposes the Jews
Jesus Exposes the Jews
38 … After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
Pilate follows the custom of releasing a prisoner every Passover
He’s hoping to get Jesus released and be done with everything
But the Jews want Barabbas
In doing so they are revealing the kind of king they hoped for
Barabbas was more then a robber
Greek lestes - a violent revolutionary
7 And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.
18 But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”— 19 a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.
His names means ‘son of the father’ (Bar-abba)
Which son of the father, which king, do you claim as your own?
They want the violent revolutionary. They want what Jesus is not
Jesus is just some loser in their eyes
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”
Despite Pilate trying to get Jesus released, he’s still not nice
Decides to rough him up to please the crowd
He’s flogged, with something that looks like this
Producing something like this
The Roman soldiers turn it all into a game
The crown of thorns parodies the laurel wreath Caesar would wear
The purple robe would have reopened the wounds
It’s all one big insult to the Jews
Behold the man!
Not a king, not a Messiah - just some guy
Some guy that we’ve just beaten to a bloody pulp
This is the man you’re afraid of?
Pilate has to wonder: Why were they so desperate to get rid of such a weak and pathetic man?
Jesus Exposes Pilate
Jesus Exposes Pilate
6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid.
This is the second time Pilate has said there is no guilt
So why doesn’t he release Jesus?
I thought Rome was the big bad all powerful guy?
The Jews threaten him
You aren’t upholding our law
Pilate had received complaints before - and he wasn’t popular in Rome or Jerusalem
To help encourage him, the Jews translate their charge of blasphemy into something that Rome understands
He has made himself into the Son of God
To the Jews that was religious blasphemy - he was no child of God!
To the Roman ear, that was treason - Caesar was the Son of the gods
In verse 12 they’ll spell it out even simpler - Jesus is making himself a king!
9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” 12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
Jesus isn’t helping Pilate out of this one
You’ve already come to the correct verdict - but will you uphold it?
Pilate is like a child - I have the power!
The only power you have is from above
The only power you have is to follow the crowd
Pilate has to choose his king now
A friend of Caesar is a technical term of people close to the emperor
Pilate was only connected to Caesar through a notable man named Sejanus who Pilate had just recently executed - along with many of his associates
Tiberius Caesar was known to be paranoid - and now Pilate is wanting to set a rival king free?
The Truth of Jesus
The Truth of Jesus
13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
Behold your king!
It’s meant as an insult
You pathetic people are worthy of this pathetic excuse of a king!
You’re afraid of nothing but a man, beaten, bloody, bruised, and alone
Pilate says it to mock the Jews. John reports it to inform us of the truth: This is our king
He doesn’t look like any other king
He takes the symbols and reverses them
The symbolism of the trial
That thorn of crows is Jesus bearing the curse of sin for our sake
He’s being crucified on the sixth day when man was created - and he is the man! The Image of God! The Word of God in flesh!
This is the king - everything that we were supposed to be
And they want nothing to do with him
This is a repeat event - when the Jews chose a king over their God
We want to be just like everybody else!
Jesus reveals that despite all of the religious trappings, these Jews are just like everybody else
And the truth is that we don’t want anything to do with him either
We would rather have a king that kills our enemies - not tell us to love them
We would rather serve under a paranoid psychopath - as long as we get a cushy position in life in exchange
We would rather have a king that doesn't expose us as the sinners we are, and what that sin deserves
Here’s another truth for us:
Jesus isn’t just reminding us of our guilt
He’s taking it away from us
He’s taking our sentence of death on himself
We’re reminded about the truth of God’s love for us - who sends his son to die willingly on the cross for you
Conclusion
Conclusion
Every Sunday we behold our king
His broken body in the bread
His spiled blood in the fruit of the vine
This is what we were made to be
It’s what we become through taking the body and the blood
We were made to glorify our God through obedience
Remember your king as we eat and drink
