Accused and Condemned

In June 2020, at the age of 73, he was released after his conviction was vacated because his trial lawyer was denied key evidence that points to his innocence.

He spent more than 47 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, longer than any other American exoneree.

The only witness who directly connected Mazza to the murder was Robert Anderson, an acquaintance in whose apartment the body was found, who drove the victim’s stolen car for days after the killing, who gave items of the victim’s property to others—but who testified that Mazza alone was the killer.

25000 years lost

The nearly 2800 exonerations recorded in the National Registry of Exonerations represents over 25000 years served by innocent people, just in the US.

We celebrate when injustice is corrected. Yet we also mourn the great injustice that robbed these 2800 people of good years of life with their family and friends.

That sense of injustice is a native and natural part of our humanity.

We all have an internal, born-in sense of justice that shapes how we view right from wrong and how we understand and dole out judgement and punishment.

This sense of justice is marred and corrupted by sin, but it still exists in us all.

As Matthew recounts the events of Jesus’s trial, he intentionally highlights the injustice of it.

Though it would have been clear to the Jewish audience Matthew would have been writing too.

The miscarriages of justice that stain each step and each person is clear even to our consciences 2000 years later.

It is easy to read this account and think “wow, those were some angry, mean, and hateful people that killed Jesus. Glad I am not them.”

But the reality is, we are not so different...

Like last week as we looked at how we ARE like Judas, today I want to look at how we ARE those who sent Jesus to the cross, IN OUR PLACE.

There are 4 people exposed in the trial of Jesus that represent us and show us 4 ways people today respond to Jesus.

read matt 26:57-68

We are...

1) The THREATENED Sanhedrin.

After Jesus is arrested in the garden, He is immediately brought to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish body charged with keeping law and order in the Jewish community.

It was made up of 70 men (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes) and the high priest.

It was the middle of the night, which went against Jewish Law which required trials to happen in the daytime.

They were pushing the trial through in order to limit disagreement and prevent the crowd who had been following Jesus to interfere.

The Sanhedrin were not supposed to be the one’s making the accusations, but only listen and dishing out judgement.

But they were the one’s accusing, finding and presenting witnesses, and making the judgement.

The injustice of the trial points to the desire in the Sanhedrin to get rid of Jesus as fast as they possibly could.

They hated Him, were threaten by Him, and feared Him for who He was and what He said.

Why were they threatened by Jesus?

Because He exposed them for who they really were.

There religion was a man-made attempt to prove themselves worthy.

But Jesus exposed their hypocrisy and threatened their superiority and power over others.

In Matt 23 Jesus calls them out for who they really were.

They would have to admit they were in the same boat as every one else.

There righteousness was based on how much better they looked than everyone else.

Jesus threatened that.

Because He scared them.

They were in control of their own lives and respect, even feared, by those around them.

Jesus pointed out that even their rigid laws were meant to lump heavy burdens on others, while they didn’t even do what they were saying themselves.

But accepting Jesus would have forced them to submit and give over authority in their own lives and in the lives of others.

To admit they were needy sinners just like those they taught and judged.

Jesus threatened their authority over their own lives, their autonomy.

He threatened their authority over others.

Like the Sanhedrin, we base our goodness or badness on how well we stack up against others.

Jesus threatens that measuring stick.

Like the Sanhedrin, we like to believe we are in control of our own lives.

We don’t mind giving Jesus SOME say, but not the whole thing.

He threatens our ability to be the Lord of our own life.

read matt 27:1-2, 11-26

2) The DISTRACTED Pilate.

The next person Jesus had to face was the Roman Governor Pilate.

He was the one placed in charge of the Judea by Caesar the Emperor of Rome.

He was a powerful man, but was also deeply unpopular to most in Judea because of some bad decisions he had made as governor.

So as Jesus is brought to him and he begins to question Him, Pilate has to weigh out 2 potential options for what to do with Jesus.

He has heard the charges, met and questioned Jesus, but doesn’t find Him to be a threat, nor does he find Him to be guilty of any of the accusations being made.

So he could let Jesus off, declare Him innocent and free Him, but he would risk a total upheaval from the Jewish people who brought Jesus.

Riots and outrage that the Emperor would soon hear about and Pilate would be stripped of his position.

On the other hand, he could do what the Jews are calling for, declare Him guilty and begin the process of punishment and execution.

Sure he believes Jesus is innocent and this whole things is fabricated by the Jewish leaders,

But he will get to keep his office, his power, and his fame and fortune.

He comes up with a middle option.

It was customary to release 1 prisoner to the crowd at the Passover Festival of their choosing.

Their options would be the notorious Barabbas (a robber, murderer, and insurrectionist) or Jesus, surely they would choose Jesus to let free.

When the plan backfires and the people choose Barabbas, Pilate has no choice but to fulfill the wishes of the crowd, that is if he wants to keep his job.

But in one last effort to make him look less like the bad guy, Pilate symbolically washes his hands and declares himself innocent of Jesus’s death.

We are Pilate

Pilate knows Jesus is innocent, but he is unwilling to act on it because other things are more important to him.

Pilate represents the person who knows the truth about Jesus but is just too distracted with other things right now to really take this question seriously.

He represents the person who is too distracted with other things to really consider Jesus!

“This is something I’ll think about when I’m older,” they tell themselves.

When I’m an adult; when my career has been settled; When we have kids.

For right now, the fun you’re having, having a good time with your friends, establishing yourself in your career, or whatever—those are just too consuming to give much thought to Jesus.

It isn’t that you don’t believe, or don’t care, it’s just that other things are more important right now than the whole “faith and Jesus” thing.

This is such a huge thing for young adults fresh out of high school or college, who don’t have families yet, and who are living on their own, making their own decisions.

But it is also true for many of us a different stages of life.

Once my kids get through sports.

Once we get to a certain income level, savings level, or position at work.

It is true of us who show up most Sundays, putting our time in at church, and yet the faith we profess to believe and the God we profess to love and serve really doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference in the decisions we make day to day.

We are Pilate in that we let other things (good things) distract us from THE thing, THE ONE who is more important than any other.

Think about it, 100 years from now, the only thing that will seem significant is where you stand in relation to Jesus Christ.

3) The MOCKING Herod. (Luke 23:6-11)

Luke 23:6–11 CSB

When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean. Finding that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days. Herod was very glad to see Jesus; for a long time he had wanted to see him because he had heard about him and was hoping to see some miracle performed by him. So he kept asking him questions, but Jesus did not answer him. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt, mocked him, dressed him in bright clothing, and sent him back to Pilate.

Matthew doesn’t record Jesus’s meeting with Herod Antipas, likely because Luke was more concerned with the political climate surrounding Jesus than Matthew or the other Gospel writers.

But we find our 3rd person exposed by the trial of Jesus in this passage.

Herod was the “king” over Galilee, yet was under Roman authority. As such though, he had jurisdiction over Jesus, who from Galilee.

Herod was also more informed in Jewish customs and laws, so Pilate sent Jesus to him as he was also in Jerusalem at the time.

He was happy to meet Jesus, because he had heard about Him and was interested to see example of the miracles he had heard about.

But with every question he asked, there was no response from Jesus.

Herod wasn’t really interested in knowing Jesus, he just wanted to see what He could do.

He had no desire to defend Jesus, to find out who He really was, or to follow Him.

He wanted to use Him, to see if what was being said about Him was true and then see what he could get Him to do.

We are Herod.

When Herod doesn’t get what he wants, he, and those with him, begin to mock Jesus.

They laugh at the though of Him being anything special.

They dress him up in royal robes only to belittle Him as weak and worthless.

You might think, “I would never do that.” but what will you say when the thing you desire more than anything from the Lord is taken from you?

We mock Jesus when we use Him to feel better about ourselves.

Or we use Him as a good luck charm, like a rabbits foot.

We mock Him when we read and listen to the Words He spoke and yet do not let those words guide our lives.

We mock Him when we refuse to stand up for what is good, righteous, and just in order to prevent ourselves from being mocked and scorned in the public square.

We are Herod, we are just a little quieter about it.

4) The SPARED Barabbas.

The last person exposed in this passage really didn’t have a lot of control over his part of the story.

Barabbas was a known criminal, who had been fairly accused, tried, convicted, and condemned for his crimes.

Barabbas woke up Friday morning expecting to hung on a cross for crimes he knows he committed, likely between 2 other criminals that very well could have been his accomplices in his crimes.

And yet, by Friday afternoon, Barabbas is free and this strange man named Jesus is hanging on the cross meant for him.

Barabbas really is the first person that could “Jesus died IN MY PLACE.”

He took on HIS accusation, HIS sentence, and HIS punishment.

You know, what is most curious to me about Barabbas’s story is that we never find out how he responded.

We don’t know if he ever turned to Jesus and said, “Thank you so much! I owe you everything!”

And that’s because his story is told to us as a question.

What will we do?

Will we fall on our knees in worship and gratefulness, or pass on casually, ignoring the one who died in our place?

Response

You notice something about Jesus throughout this whole trial, He doesn’t say much.

He doesn’t try to defend Himself or correct the false accusations.

But WHY!?!

Jesus knew that this trial was necessary.

That even though He was not guilty, that the just thing was for Him to be freed and acquitted of all the accusations.

He knew that the accusations He was receiving and the condemnation He was given, and the punishment He would be necessary for those He foreknew, those who believe, those who receive Him as Lord to receive the great gift of salvation.

There was no other way.

He was betrayed, abandoned, accused and condemned FOR US, IN OUR PLACE.

Maybe you’ve never really understood or been ready to receive him.

Maybe you see yourself in one of these characters the threatened , the distracted, the mocking, or the spared, and you see now who Jesus is.

I want to give you a chance to receive him.

maybe you have lost the awe of what it means to be the one who was spared.

Let it sink in fresh this morning, Jesus was condemned IN YOUR PLACE.

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