John 18

Read 28-38

So we got through the upper room discource, now, as we go on, we come to the last few chapters which talks about the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.

We are introduced here to Pontious Pilate who was instrumental in the crucifixion of Jesus.

In John he is only mentioned as Pilate, in other places in the bible he is Pontious Pilate

He is also mentioned in outside sources, Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, Tacitus, but despite him being mentioned in the bible and historians, skeptics questioned if he existed and they chalked his stories up to being make believe.

They believed this because there was 0 archaelogical evidence to support his existence, until 1961, in 1961 in Caesarea in Israel a stone was discovered know as the Pilate Stele or stone, it says “Of Tiberius Pontious Pilate Prefect of Judea” in english, the stone was written in Latin.

This was the first evidence of his existence even though the bible had mentioned him for centuries.

What do we know about Pilate?

He became govenor of Judea or Prefect

He became prefect which is the middle of Israel, including Jeruselum.

He was appointed in AD 26, he had a reputation of being very blood thirsty, especially when it came to the Jews.

Jesus even references it in Luke 13, he says there was a group of jews worshipping at the temple mount and Pilate slaughtered them, and Jesus makes a reference to it.

Ceasar had warned pilate “stop being so cruel”, so basically they told him if you continue doing this, you will be brought to rome and stripped of your title.

Back to the text

So now we see Pilate acting as a judge for Jesus, hes about ready to make determination to if Jesus had broke roman law.

Under Jewish law the jews claimed basphamy and they wanted him killed, however, 2 or 3 years before this, Rome had stripped the Jews of their right to enforce capital punishment, so they could not kill him, they would have stoned him to death, but they couldnt do it because they had no right.

So they had to trump up a charge that would be worthy of death under Roman law, so the charge they trump up is Sedition, that Jesus is claiming to be a king and there is only one king, Caesar. In John’s gospel, Jesus says “If i am lifted up from the earth all men will be drawn unto me”, so Jesus knew his death would be under Roman law, not Jewish law. Also, how funny that the people who hate rome are now acting like they are offended that Jesus called himself king and offended Ceasar.

So think about Pilate, he has a voice in one ear of Ceasar saying “Stop killing Jews”, then in the other ear the mob saying “kill him, kill him”, and if he had a third ear, the voice is his wife. Who is whispering to him, John doesn't record it, but matthew does. Which is why it is so good to have all 4 gospels. Matthew mentions that Pilates wife has a dream about the innocence of Jesus. Matthew 27:19 “Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.””. So God gave her a dream about Jesus, so she goes to Pilate and says “hey do not kill him, hes innocent, hes just”.

There is really 2 aspects to this story, the crucifixion of Christ was God’s plan to save the world. God is good at chess and he is using Pilate as a pawn. Peter, when he preaches in Acts 2, he says this Acts 2:23 “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”. Isaiah said 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.”. So this has been God’s plan for a long time, Isaiah was 700 years before Christ. Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” Isaiah 53:8 “By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?” Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” This was God’s will, from the beginning of the world. God knew it would happen this way. There was a divine purpose at work, God used a man to advance his purposes, unknowingly to the man,

Pilate was forced to make this discision due to a weakness he had, Pilate had a weakness for what other people thought and it moved Pilate off center from what he knew was right.

This is where the other side of the story comes in, in the opening verses, Pilate interviews JEsus and investigates the charges and rules there is not reason to put him to death. John 18:38 “Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.”.

Luke tells us at this point, Pilate then says on a legal technicallity “hey Jesus isnt really from my district, so we should sent him up to Herod”, Jesus is sent up to Herod, Herod wants a miracle, Jesus doesnt do a miracle, so herod sends him back, so now pilate is like dang it now i do have to do this.

So, in order to please everyone, Ceasar, his wife, the crowd, he says “okay, I will have Jesus whipped 1” from his life”

John 19:1–5 “Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 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.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!””

Jesus is standing before him beaten and bloody and he says “just so yall know, I find no fault in this man”

John 19:6 “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.””

So now, for the third time, he says there is no fault in this man, so why did he crucify him? He gave in to the loudest voices, he appeased the mob, he feared man more than he did God, John 19:12 “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.””

So now he is fearing man, he is scared of Ceasar and he wants to please these people.

John 19:13–16 “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. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 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.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus,”

So now the Jews are really doubling down, we have no king, but Ceasar.

Pilate was controlled by fear of man and deisre to please people.

It was more important for him to please people than to do the right thing.

Every single one of us wants to be liked, now, obviously God nudged Pilate to do what he done, but God done that through things Pilate already struggled with, like with Judas, God accomplishes his purpose by capitalizing on a weakness that was already there. Judas betrayed Jesus for money, for 30 pieces of silver, greed. In John 12, John tells us that Judas was already a thief way before he took the silver, he tells us about him stealing from the money box.

God used a thief to do a thiefs work with Judas, Pilate was the same, he wasnt an innocent pawn, he was a guilty pawn, he had an appetite for slaughtering people he didnt like and appeasing people he did like, so God said “I will use him to do my bidding”.

Now obviously we are supposed to care about and please people. We talked about that a few weeks ago, we should serve, we should love others, but there is a difference in that and bowing down to people.

The fear of man will cause you NOT to do things you SHOULD

Being a people please will cause you TO DO things you SHOULDNT

the question you should as is “What does God think of this?” because we have one audience to please and fear and it is God.

If you seek to please God, he will take care of everyone else because you fear him more than man.

Fear is not an unhealthy “God is going to punish me” fear, its that hes so holy and pure, I want my life to honor him in public and private.

John Witherspoon who signed the declaration of Independence said “it is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of man”

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” The bible warns us not to conform to the patterns of the world

Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”

The mob in this story and every mob like this, they are loud, annoying, and if they cant get you to join them, they wear you down until you do.

two things.

Stop making decisions based on who you fear or who you want to like you.

Start making decisions based on fearing God and pleasing him.

Social media is the worst about this, how many likes did i get? how many comments? especially in the younger generation.

Who cares how much people like or dont like you, if God is pleased, he will take care of everyone else. Galatians 1:10 “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

All of this took a major toll on Pilate, 4 years after he ordered Jesus crucified, Ceasar called him to Rome then banished him to France, then 6 years after, Pilate committed suicide. It is a rough thing to fear man and be a people please, it violates our conscience