Sermon Tone Analysis
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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
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!
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