Mark 15 1-15
Pilate’s Court: A Place for a Substitute
Text: Mark 15:1-15
Dear Christian Friends,
Someone once asked a pastor if he could summarize the whole Bible in one word. He said: “I believe so. The word would be substitute.” That word, that concept, looms large before us today as we visit another of the places of the passion, the courtroom of Pontius Pilate: a place for a substitute.
1. The crowd chose Barabbas as a substitute for Jesus
It was early Friday morning. The Jewish leaders had condemned Jesus in their own court, the place of an unjust verdict, declaring the Innocent One to be guilty. They had dragged him through the streets to Pilate’s fortress, banged on the door, roused the governor, and demanded a death sentence.
Pilate could have called a halt to these proceedings right then and there. He could have said, “Get out of here!” But he had plenty of political savvy and knew that “it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him” (vs. 10). So to gain their favor, he said, “I’ll check this Jesus out.” After questioning Jesus, he was convinced that this preacher from Galilee was not a political activist. He was not a criminal. He was not a rebel. So Pilate had a problem on his hands. How could he appease the crowd and still preserve some semblance of justice and order?
His first move was to confront the people with the truth. “I find no basis for a charge against this man” (Lk 23:4). But the crowd would not stand for that. Next, the governor tried to pass the buck. King Herod was in town. Maybe he could find a solution. But that didn’t work either. Herod had to agree. Jesus was innocent. “Now what?” Pilate thought. “Maybe if I have Jesus whipped, they will see his bloodied body, have a little pity, and be satisfied.” But the leaders and people still weren’t appeased. They still called for Jesus’ death.
Pilate had one last move. “It was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with other terrorists who had committed murder in an uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. ‘Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate”? Pilate thought that the crowd would certainly pick Jesus over the murderer Barabbas. Pilate didn’t bargain on their hatred against Jesus running so deep and flowing so fast and furious. “The chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead” (vs. 11). The crowd chose Barabbas as a substitute for Jesus. Some choice!
“Bad choice,” you say. “How could the crowd be so evil, so stupid, so insensitive? They should have chosen Jesus.”
And so should we, but we don’t always. A woman says: “No one else understands how terrible my marriage has been. My husband gets so wrapped up in his work. He comes home exhausted and never has any time to listen to me. Then I met this wonderful, gentle man at work. All he did was offer to listen. We just went to lunch a few times. I didn’t expect to fall in love with him. What else could I do?” That woman was choosing Barabbas instead of Jesus.
“I know its illegal, but no one will know about it and it will save our family money. That’s a good thing isn’t it? That person is choosing Barabbas instead of Jesus.
“You think Mark is weird? You should hear what Bill did. I’ll call you after work and tell you all about it.” That person is choosing Barabbas instead of Jesus.
We could go on and on. Sometimes we are so arrogant that we think that we above the crowd in Jerusalem who called for Barabbas instead of Jesus? My friends, this is Lent, and Lent is a tough season for you and me. It’s tough because we are put in a position from which we can’t escape. Sin is serious business, sad, dangerous, and damnable. You’re in it, and so am I. This Lenten season we are visiting “Places of the Passion,” and we have just entered the place for a substitute. It’s a place we’re not too thrilled about because, whether we want to admit it or not, every time we sin, we are choosing to substitute Barabbas for Jesus and sending the Son of God to His death.
2. God gave Jesus as a substitute for us
Every year the key feature of our Lenten worship is to walk with our Lord Jesus to the cross. The primary way we do that is through the reading of the passion history and by giving certain portions of the passion history closer examination, explanation, and application through Lenten sermons. I don’t know about you, but each time I hear the passion history, I find myself identifying with some of the characters—Peter who denied his Lord; John Mark who dropped his robe when Jesus was arrested and ran away; the women weeping at the foot of the cross. But there are some characters we shy away from. We think, “No way am I like Judas, Herod, or Pilate!” Then the preacher starts the inevitable application, reminding us of our sins, and, sure enough, we have to swallow hard and admit that inside our very own hearts is a Christ-betraying Judas, a miracle-mocking Herod, and a truth-ignoring Pilate. But there’s one character we just can’t be—the murderer Barabbas.
But wait! You know what’s coming, don’t you? Listen to Scripture, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him” (1 Jn 3:15). If someone videotaped your entire life and captured your every move and mood, do you think the tape would show any inappropriate anger—like when you gave the teacher a dirty look for making you do all that memory work, or when the state trooper wouldn’t accept your perfectly logical explanation for being in a hurry and handed you a ticket, or when your friend said something nasty and hurt your feelings? Don’t try to hide it. You can’t hide from God any more than Adam and Eve could in the garden. Not only are we all little Judases, Herods, and Pontius Pilates. We are also like Barabbas, waiting on death row for a sure and certain sentence of condemnation to be carried out.
But God takes us to this “Place of the Passion,” to see our substitute. Pilate asked the crowd, “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?’ ‘Crucify him!’ they shouted. What crime has he committed?’ asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’ Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified” (vv. 12-15). Jesus went to the cross as a substitute for Barabbas. Jesus went to the cross to be our substitute.
So complete is that substitution that a few folks are shocked when asked the question, “Has God ever cursed you?” People are willing to admit that being cursed or damned by God is what they deserved, but they have to think twice to realize that God has indeed cursed and damned every one of us. He damned us to hell when he cursed his Son. That’s how full and complete Jesus’ substitution is. God condemned his beloved Son and, in doing so, condemned us. God now considers Jesus’ suffering to be ours, Jesus’ pain to be ours, Jesus’ death to be ours. Yes, because of our sin, you and I are like Barabbas. But because Jesus became our substitute, we are free to go on living while Jesus dies in our place.
Listen to the scriptures: “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa 53:4,5). Amen.