Good Friday

In an age when many are confused about who they are, John gives us a compelling portrait of who God is. And it is a bit of confusing picture if you look at simply the events of John 18-19. Here hangs the Son of God upon a cross, having suffered and died a horrific death that truly most of us here today cannot imagine.

The songwriter, Isaac Watts gives us a compelling lyric during this time:

When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.

But why does the Prince of Glory die? Why does the blood of Christ represent both sorrow and love mingled down? Why does that thorn comprise so rich a crown? And what compels one to say that this picture demands our very lives and soul?

There is an intersection of heaven and earth that takes place at the cross. It is very similar to that notion that the baby Jesus of Christmas is both God and human. Here at the cross, if this man is not what that Roman centurion declared Him to be…”Surely this was the Son of God”, well, this whole story and this whole picture is meaningless. The divine nature of this man is the only explanation of why He suffered so.

Yes, there are two thieves on either side of Him, but remember- Pilate declared that he found no guilt in this man. No guilt. When the Jewish leaders approached Pilate they had no story line except that they would never waste his time unless this man had done “something” wrong. These two thieves were guilty of something- but both Pilate and the narrative of John agree, Jesus was innocent. For an innocent man to die, especially in this way, there was something unique… something extraordinary occurring that we must see.

When you approach the question of why Jesus ws crucified, there are several things to consider

First, was it the Jews or the Romans that crucified jesus? Roman execution of choice was crucifixion. Jewish execution would have favored an old fashoined stoning. Most likely the Jews were not able to carry out capital punishment under Roman rule.

Most likely, this is not an either or answer. It is most probable that both Jewish and Roman leaders helped get Jesus crucified.

it is certain that Pontius Pilate gave the orders to crucify jesus, and that his soldiers carried that out. At the same time, Jesus wasa probably most offensive to the Jews than the Romans

Most likely

Jesus was seen as rebelling against the Roman Government. He was crucified as “king of the Jews”, that is what was placed on the sign above his head.

He was crucified between two “robbers”, a roman term for an insurrectionist.( Remember, Barabbas was released in his place.”

The charge in Luke’s gospel is that he was subverting the nation

Luke 23:2 ESV

And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”

Luke 23:5 ESV

But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.”

Problem is, Jesus affirmed love for enemies, kindness to others, he told his disciples not to fight when he was arrested, he even encouraged the paying of taxes to Caesar. He looked nothing like an insurrectionist!

Additionally, after his execution, his followers weren’t rounded up and destroyed- they were allowed to form a small faith commuity in jerusalem!

He was no insurrectionist.

Pilate was actually caught between a rock and a hard place. He didn’t want to draw the attention of Rome, and he didn’t want to antagonie the Jews and cause them to draw the attention of Rome.

Most likely, Jesus executed Jesus for the following reasons.

It kept the Jewish leaders content instead of heading to Rome

It put away jesus in case he was planning to be a king, of sorts.

It sent a message to other would be “king” wanna-be’s.

For the Jews, Jesus just was a problem for two great institutions. The Law, and the temple. He was challenging the authroity and validity of both- thereby posing a threat to the rule of the Jewish religious leaders.

Jesus claimed authority over the law… and the Sabbath… He treated them both as secondary to human needs and accused the Pharisees of making their human traditions higher than the commands of God. He called them prideful, hypocrites, greedy, and telling the people not to act like they did! He had no friends among the religious elite of his day.

There are many things that put Jesus on the cross, but why is He there in the gospel of John?

Basically, the only one who could put him there was Pilate. And it is Pilate who loaded the question to jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” in John 18.33.

If Jesus had answered this in the affirmative, Pilate could sweep him out of the way. But Jesus didn’t affirm this.

Jesus said his kingdom was not of this world. pilate latched onto this, and said, “So, you are a king?” Jesus response, “You say that I am.” But for this purpose I came into the world. In other words, I’m not saying that and the reason I’m here before you is because I am supposed to be here before you. Get on with it.

Pilate returns to the crowd and tells them he finds no guilt in this man. But, they had a tradition that once a year he would release a prisoner to them. So, he asked, should I release the King of the Jews? They cried out, No, crucify Him.

The soldiers plced a robe on him and a crown of thorns ahead and paraded him around while they smacked his head into the thorns. In the original language text, the tenses of the verb reveals that they did this repeatedly… again and again.

And then Pilate says something amazing. He brought Jesus out to the crowd in the robe and the crown and declared, “Behold , the man”

I want to stop right there. Behold the man!

Was Pilate looking for sympathy for Jesus? Probably not. But he certainly was reinforcing the innocense f Jesus. Twice he told the crowd he was innocent. Could it be that in this simple phrase, “Behold, the man”, that Pilate was asking the crowd if enough was enough?

He was not an insurrectionist, he was not a threat, he was not revolutionary bent on overthrowing Caesar- he was just a man. And was not enough enough?

The answer is no- it was not enough.

The crowd cried out, “Crucify him” For them it was not enough.

But the sin of humanity- even the sin that was taking place in this very story- was crying out that it was not enough.

Jesus had to die.

As much as Jesus said to John the Baptist at his baptism, “Suffer it to be so now to fulfil all righteousness”, Jesus had to die in this situation, again, to fulfil all righteousness.

Behold, the man.

At the very crux of this story is a very important truth. Jesus, is no king at all, but in this very moment he is seemingly nothing more than you or I… behold the man.

Hindenburg

If you want to get the full understanding of this phrase, “Behold, the man,” you have to go back to 1937. Yes, 1937. There was an event called the Hindenburg.

Herbert Morrison was announcing the arrival of the Hindenburg on American soil when it erupted in flames. If you remember that old black and white reel, Morrison is in horror, and finally he says, “Oh, the humanity!” It was an expression of awe and of how bad the situation really was.

Pilate’s “behold the man” is on that level for me. Pilate is saying, isn’t this enough for an innocent man? But it wasn’t. Crucify Him!

John’s gospel begins in a curious way. John wrote in the street language of his day- koinonia greek; Nothing for the elites, the most common of his day could understand the way John wrote. and look at how it begins:

John 1:1–14 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

You see, John’s entire gospel has been telling us all along that Jesus- the son of God- was a man. He became flesh and dwelt among us.

John the baptist said, “

John 1:30 ESV

This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’

John the Baptist didn’t say, here’s God. He said there’s a man.

Repeatedly John refers to Jesus as not the “son of god”, but rather the “son of man”. 13 times John tells us that this is the “son of man”.

“Behold the man” is to say that this is as human as its going to get.

This king of the Jews, crowned with thorns, this innocent king, the truest man that ever lived and yet was accused of blasphemy- here’s that man.

Look at this man, and you’ll see your living, loving, bruised and bleeding God.

Yes Jesus looked just like us. Suffering, hurting, betrayed, bleeding, and dying. That’s what humanity looks like.

If you had lived in Jerusalem during this period you would have seen plenty of images. Of Caesar. You would have been reminded often… in statues and in coins.. in official documents from Rome… of who was king. His image would have been everywhere.

Pilate’s message, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the eyes of John, is that this is what humanity looks like. And it’s going to get worse.

Interestingly, Genesis tells us that we were made in the image of God. We’ve got God’s thumbprint on our very being. but sin, sin has destroyed that resemblance. What was meant to show all of creation that we were “very good” was destroyed in the fall.

Generally speaking, if you look at humanity- we look little like God intended.

And because we couldn’t appropriately bear the image of God, God chose to bear the image of man.

When our humanity was being as unhuman as it could possibly to be, God chose to show us what He looks like.