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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple
robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, bless all of us with your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach
well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.
Tonight in
our sermon we read about Pontius Pilate and his final dealings with the crowd
before Jesus was lead off to be crucified. Last week, we read about where Jesus
was scourged, and crowned with thorns, clothed with a purple robe, given a reed
as a sceptre and mocked and spat upon.
This week, we
read mostly about Pontius Pilate, walking back and forth inside and outside his
headquarters, speaking to the crowd and to Jesus, before he finally gives up
and hands Jesus over to be crucified.
Our reading
tonight is broken up into three parts:
I.
Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd, and
testifies to his innocence.
II.
Pilate goes back inside with Jesus and
asks him where he is from.
III.
Pilate takes Jesus outside again,
trying to release him, but to no effect.
So let’s come
to our first part, where:
I.
Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd, and
testifies to his innocence.
We read in
John 19:4, where Pilate says to the crowd: See, I am bringing him out to you that
you may know that I find no guilt in him.
Last week, we
read about the terrible suffering that Jesus endured. In fact, his scourging
and mocking is right at the centre of the creeds, where we say: He suffered
under Pontius Pilate. We read so clearly now, that even though Pontius
Pilate had had him whipped in one of the most horrendous punishments known to
humanity, he still comes out afterwards and says: I find no guilt in him.
So why did he
have him flogged? Well, it was all politics: it was simply to appease the
crowd. And Pilate had thought that maybe if he had Jesus flogged, that the
crowd would have a sense of shame about it, and they would feel sorry for Jesus
and agree to release him.
So Pilate
says: See,
I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him. We read: So Jesus came out,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold
the man!”
What a mess
Jesus must have looked, after all that he gone through just then. Compare that
wonderful time before the fall into sin, when God created woman and brought her
to the man. We read: Then the man said: This at last is bone of my bones and
flesh of my flesh. What an
amazing thing it was for the first man to see for the first time the first
woman!
Now
everything is reversed. This time God, through Pilate, presents his own Son to
the crowd. The Jews were God’s chosen people, his bride. And now Jesus, their
bridegroom is presented to them. Behold, the man! And yes, they might even see quite clearly and
openly that he is flesh of their flesh and bone of their bones. And yet,
instead of receiving him with love and affection and devotion, as the first man
received the first woman, they receive him with burning hatred, with not a drop
of sympathy at all. We read: When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried
out, “Crucify him, crucify him!”
These words
of Pilate — Behold, the man! — also remind us of what St Paul says in comparing
Adam and Christ. He says: The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second
man is from heaven. He also says:
For as
by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For
as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall be made alive. There is this comparison between
Adam and Jesus. Adam sinned, Jesus dies for sin. Adam started off perfect and
pure and strong and healthy and even immortal, and then ended up completely
wretched because he chose sin. But then Jesus comes along, and he is true God,
and he then becomes completely wretched and poor and hungry just like us when
he becomes a man, not because he is a sinner, not because he chose to sin. But
he chose to bear our sin, and to carry it. And now Pilate shows us what it
looks like for a man to bear our sin: Behold, the man!
It will also
be a wonderful thing when we appear before God’s throne, full of sin. There is
nothing in us that is worthy of God accepting us or welcoming us into heaven.
But we can say: Behold, the man! Don’t look at me and my sin, but look to Jesus and
his atonement for sin. Look to Jesus and his purity. This is the man who has
died for you and made himself your brother and your Saviour. Pilate says: Behold, the man! John the Baptist said: Behold, the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world.
When the
people called for his crucifixion again, we read that Pilate said: Take him
yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. Pilate here is almost throwing in
the towel, so to speak. He is fed up with it all. He says to them that he finds no guilt in
him. But on the
other hand, he puts out a challenge to them: Take him yourselves and crucify him. It’s almost to say: I can’t come
up with a reason to crucify him. So if you want to crucify him, you better have
a good reason. I’ve exhausted the Roman law, so if you have a good reason to
crucify him, I want to hear it.
So what do
they say? They say: We have a law, and according to that law he ought to that
law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God. Now the Jews had the law in the
Ten Commandments about taking the Lord’s name in vain. And also we read the law
in Leviticus: Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put
to death. Now the Jews
here thought that because Jesus had said that he was the Son of God, that he
was blaspheming
the name of the LORD. But he
would be blaspheming the Lord’s name if such a thing were not true. For
example, if you or I said that we were to Son of God, it would be blasphemy,
because it’s not true. But Jesus had not only testified with his mouth that he
was the Son of God, but also through his works, and his wonderful healing and
comforting miracles. It was true.
But there was
a lie in what they said. Jesus had not made himself the Son of God. God himself
had declared from heaven that he was His Son, at his baptism, and also at his
transfiguration.
But this
thing stabs Pontius Pilate in his conscience. You see, in Ancient Roman
religion, the gods were super-human beings, as they often are in many pagan
religions. And Roman people were open to the possibility of one of the gods
coming down in human form. Caesar Augustus had actually called himself amongst
other things Filius Dei, the son of a god. What the Jews said to Pilate
here would have really made him tremble. I know that he is innocent, but the Son
of God, you say? And so we read: When Pilate heard this statement, he
was even more afraid.
Once again,
Pontius’ Pilate’s grand plan to free Jesus through arousing sympathy for Jesus
had backfired on him, he comes out in confidence, and he ends up in fear.
This brings
us to the second part of our reading where:
II.
Pilate goes back inside his
headquarters to speak to Jesus.
We read: Pilate entered his
headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him
no answer.
Now Pilate is
not asking him, “Where are you from?” just like we might say that to someone in
the church narthex to someone, talking about what city or town they come from.
Pilate already knows that: he knows that he is from Galilee. That’s why he had
him sent off to King Herod. He is asking him something much deeper. And yet: Jesus gave him no
answer.
This is like
a young couple, who are in love, and thinking about getting married. They say
to each other: I love you. And when they say this, they take a risk, and also
commit themselves to each other. When Jesus says to Peter: Who do you say
that I am? He says: You are the
Christ, the Son of the Living God. Peter knew where Jesus was from. He made a
confession of faith.
But imagine the
young couple, and one of them said, “Do you love me?” This question is not a
commitment, but doubts whether they really do, and they want the other person
to commit first. If you put yourself on the line first, then I’ll follow, but I
won’t take the risk, and take the lead. This question could also carry
underneath it a rebuke, as if to say: “Do you love me? You sure don’t act like
it!”
And so,
Pilate says to Jesus, “Where are you from?” He won’t make a confession of
faith. He says to the crowd that he is innocent, but he won’t commit himself to
Jesus. Jesus has already said enough to create faith in him. He had already
said: My
kingdom is not of this world. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose
I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Jesus already told Pilate that he
came into the world from outside of it, from eternity, from the bosom of the
Father. And so in answer to his question, Jesus remains silent.
This makes
Pilate angry. He says: You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have
authority to release you and authority to crucify you? Pilate threatens Jesus here. It’s
as if he says: Hey, speak to me, or I’ll crucify you just for that! This would
be as if a world leader said to another world leader: Reply to my emails, or
I’ll launch a nuclear bomb! Everyone knows just how silly this is. So Jesus
does open his mouth, and doesn’t give his answer, but says: You would have no
authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he
who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.
Jesus says
something here about authority. We live in a society that doesn’t respect
people in authority. Many students in schools don’t respect their teachers,
citizens don’t often respect their politicians and leaders very highly, and we
could give other examples. But God has actually created authority, and he has
given it to the world as his blessing and as his gift. Now, there are plenty of
people who abuse their authority, but the abuse of authority doesn’t make authority
in and of itself a bad thing.
So God has
created authority in the home, in marriage and in the family. He also has
created authority in the church. And he also has created authority in the civil
realm, in society, with leaders, police, armed forces, and so on.
It’s a
wonderful privilege that God gives to us to pray for those who are under our
authority, and to pray for those people who are in authority over us. St Paul
writes in 1 Timothy: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high
positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in
every way. Also, we read
in Romans 13: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been
instituted by God. St Peter also
writes in his first letter: Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,
whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to
punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. Pontius Pilate is a governor, just
like Peter mentions here in his letter.
Have a think
about our leaders, and world leaders. We might imagine some leaders that we
like, and some we don’t like. For example, there’s the prime-minister of
Australia, Malcolm Turnbull. Or the South Australian premier, Jay Wetherill. Or
there’s our local members of parliament. Or then there’s the Queen, who is also
the Queen of the Commonwealth of Australia. Whether we personally like these
people or not, the fact is they have their authority from God, and God has
placed them there.
There is
great wisdom is knowing what authority we have, and then to use it.
And so here
we have Pontius Pilate, who is threatening to crucify Jesus for not opening his
mouth. And Jesus says to him: You would have no authority over me at all unless it had
been given to you from above. This means that when Pilate finally does give Jesus
over to be crucified, it is God who has allowed it to happen. But also, if
Pilate misuses his authority by sentencing an innocent man to death, it is a
great sin. And Jesus says this to him: Therefore he who delivered me over to
you has the greater sin. Jesus says: If you crucify me, it will be a sin, and even a great sin.
But those who have given me over to you, to manipulate you, and to use you, and
to get what they want by pressing in on you, they have committed a greater sin.
They are using God-given authority not to promote what is right and good, but
in order to suit their own ends.
This now
brings us to the third part of our reading tonight, where:
III.
Pilate brings Jesus outside again, and tries to release him,
but to no avail.
We read: 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.” This
time, these words are addressed to Pilate. In effect, the Jews here are threatening
Pilate, as if to say, If you don’t do what we want, we’ll put in a bad report
about you to Caesar, and he won’t like that, will he, Mr Pilate? Pilate is now
put in a difficult place. The crowd remind Pilate that he is not simply a man
in authority over them, but he is a man under the authority of Caesar. What
will Caesar think, they say, if you don’t put a rival king to death?
We read: 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. We can see here that this is
Pilate’s last opportunity. He is going to sit in his official judgment seat.
The judge is going to make his pronouncement. John also mentions the day and
the time. It is the Day of Preparation—the next day is going to be the Sabbath,
and time is running out. It is Friday at midday, and there are only so many
hours left in the day. Later on in the chapter, we read that the Jews didn’t
want to have bodies on the cross on the Sabbath, so they asked Pilate to break
their legs and get the job over and done with. But here we are told
specifically, that Pilate has ascended onto his judgment throne. As Peter says:
He is a governor sent by God to punish those who do evil and to praise those
who do good.
And so mindful of this holy calling and
duty that God has bestowed upon him, he says: Behold your King!
We read: 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!”
Just as they chose to have Barabbas
released—a murderer instead of their creator—so they also choose to have Caesar
as their king, the Roman Emperor, who has taxed and oppressed them, and call
for the death of the King of heaven, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords,
the King of David, the Lion from the Tribe of Judah, the Son of David and the
Son of God.
I once met on a train a young woman who
told me, “I used to study theology, but now I’m studying politics.” I spoke too
quickly—(it was a bit cheeky of me!)—and quipped back at her, “When you get rid
of theology, the only thing left is politics.” Now, we need theology, we need
God’s word—we need it for learning about our God and our salvation. But we also
need politics—we need politics to shape and form our society to run smoothly.
But you can’t exchange Jesus for Caesar. You can’t substitute God’s kingdom for
the earth. The devil showed to Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and said:
All this I will give you if you bow down and worship me. You can’t exchange
the joy and the bliss and the grandeur of heaven, for this world, these ashes,
this dust, this valley of the shadow of death. And yet, this is what the people
do here—and yet Jesus knows that he is winning for us an open door into heaven,
and he bows his head and submits to the corruption of their politics, and he
dies for it.
In Matthew’s Gospel we read: So when
Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather than a riot was beginning,
he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of
this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His
blood be on us and on our children!”
Pilate tries to excuse himself by
washing himself clean, in a little symbolic ritual, and declaring his
innocence. But he is saying: Jesus is innocent, and I want to share in that
innocence too. It’s you that are forcing me into this.
But then the Jews say something quite
tremendous. They say: His blood be on us and on our children! It’s as if
they are saying: “Don’t you worry, Pilate! You might have a bad conscience, but
we don’t. We know he’s guilty. His blood can be on us and even on our children,
but we know that we are right and that we have nothing to worry about. We know
that we are innocent, and we know that he is guilty.”
Nothing could be further from the
truth. They did not give him a fair trial. Pilate had tried to free Jesus, the
crowd had simply pushed and pushed until their voices prevailed.
In some sense, they call upon
themselves the guilt of Jesus’ death upon themselves, convinced that they are
right and Jesus is wrong. However, those of us who believe that they were wrong
and Jesus was right must really shudder at these words.
These words are very sensitive,
especially in the way that they have been used in history. Sometimes, different
people have developed a particular hatred for Jewish people, and this came to a
particular head, when Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist party
exterminated many, many Jews—together with many other unwanted people—in the
holocaust at the time of WWII. Hatred towards to Jews was justified because
they had called the guilt of Jesus’ death down upon them and upon their
children.
And yet, we who are Gentiles, have been
grafted in, through holy baptism, into God’s people. Both Jews and Gentiles are
called to be part of God’s church on earth. And of course, Jewish people are so
close to our faith, in that they have the Old Testament, and yet they are so
far away in that they reject the New Testament, and Jesus as their Messiah.
Jesus was a Jew, as were all the apostles, and all the writers of the bible. As
St Paul writes: But if some of the branches [that is, some Jews] were
broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, [that is, Gentiles]
were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the
olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is
not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you. The Jews
were originally God’s chosen people, and now we have been made God’s chosen
people together with them. Those Jews who reject Jesus as the Messiah are cut
off, and need to be called to repentance and faith just like the rest of us. As
long as Jews and Muslims in the Middle-East reject Jesus together they will
always be fighting. Jesus calls both Jews and Muslims to him, to his cross, to
his blood, to his peace which passes all understanding. Imagine what a joy it
would be for Jews and Arabs if they had one common Saviour, Jesus Christ,
having one common baptism, and could share in the Lord’s Supper together! This
is not to say that Jesus’ peace is simply a political thing—not at all.
However, Jesus says: Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things
will be added to you. What a wonderful joy it must have been for that
Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 to read prophet Isaiah—that prophet which he knew so
well—and then to realise that it was talking about Jesus!
It should be a great prayer for us
towards those of the Jewish race and of the Jewish faith that the blood of
Jesus may be upon them and upon their children, not as a curse,
but as a blessing. And this should also be our prayer about ourselves
and our children, just as Peter said on the day of Pentecost: Repent and be
baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is
for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the
Lord our God calls to himself.
Behold the man! Behold the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world!
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of
the world—have mercy on us! Amen.
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