Amen. People of God, we turn now to Mark, Chapter 15. Very much, very much the climax chapter. Mark, Chapter 15. We read verses 1 through 15. and Lord willing the next couple weeks also the crucifixion, the death of Jesus Christ. All of scripture is inspired by God, is God's word, is holy, is that which we must hold in reverence, is that which is true. But we don't read every single chapter exactly the same way, right? We don't read Psalm 88 and the deaths of of Haman crying out the same way that we read from, say, the return of the exiles and the glory of building up the temple. There are different chapters which we don't necessarily read in the same way, with the same tone, we might say. It's been said that when we turn to Mark chapter 15, we have before us a passage which is to be read with peculiar reverence. And so we turn to this chapter, Jesus delivered, Jesus mocked, Jesus hung on the cross, Jesus put to death. And we begin with Jesus' trial before Pilate, Mark chapter 15 verses 1 through 15. And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, you have said so. And the chief priests accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further answer. So that Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast, he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them saying, do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews? For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, then what shall I do with the man you call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, crucify him. And Jesus said to them, why? What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more. crucify him. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. So far the reading of God's Holy Word. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans chapter 1 says that God has sufficiently revealed himself to all men, but that the sinful nature of man, despite knowing God exists, despite God having given enough evidence, suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. So when someone says, and I've heard more than one Famous or not so famous YouTube atheists say things like this. So when someone says, I want to know God, but I just don't see how he could exist. I want to know God, I just don't see any evidence that he is real. There are at least two biblical reasons not to believe such a person. First, Romans 1, which says that there is sufficient revelation for all, but that truth is suppressed in unrighteousness. And second, more personally, Mark chapter 15, where we see that when Jesus did walk upon this earth, when Jesus was right before the eyes of man, God upon earth, Jesus who walked in perfect love, Jesus who walked without sin, what did the world say? The world said, crucify him. Jesus came in love but was not loved in return. Jesus was the innocent one who was condemned. Jesus came in love, but the world did not love Jesus. So we'll consider surprised Pilate, scheming priests and screaming people. So first, surprised Pilate, or you can put this in quotes, and we'll have this for each point. I just don't want to be bothered with this today. Surprised Pilate. That's very much the sense we get from Mark chapter 15 and in this case for this trial Mark very much gives the least amount of detail. Luke gives more, Matthew gives more, John gives more. What's the attitude we get from Pontius Pilate? I just don't want to be bothered with this today. All these charges, again, Mark doesn't detail the charges, but we see in verse four, have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you. Luke does detail some of those for us. Luke details that they came and They began to accuse him, saying, we found this man misleading our nation, forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. We see that they had to bring Jesus here. Because why? Because they desired to put Jesus to death. We saw that last week. And this is the only way they can do that. While the Sanhedrin, while the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, they have a certain amount of authority. There are certain things which they are allowed to carry out themselves when it comes to justice. They can't put anyone to death. And this was Rome's normal practice. They guarded capital punishment for themselves. They were the only ones that could put someone to death. And so something which which requires death in the eyes of the Jews, well, they can't just take care of this themselves. They have to go to the Roman authorities, who many of them dislike. And so they bring Jesus here, and they make all these accusations. And the overarching attitude we get from Pilate is, wow, I just don't want to be bothered with this today. What a mess. He doesn't want a riot. He doesn't want trouble. He knows Jesus is innocent. So in a sense, he doesn't want to put Jesus to death. But all those other things are going to override that, aren't they? He's more concerned with avoiding the riot. He's more concerned with appeasing the people than he is with keeping an innocent man from being put to death. He does ask some direct questions. We get very much the summary answer at the end of verse 2, you have said so. John chapter 18 tells us that Jesus gave a somewhat lengthy answer to this question. In John chapter 18, where over the course of a handful of verses, Jesus had said this, so Pilate, beginning at verse 33 of John chapter 18, so Pilate enters headquarters and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered, do you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered him. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world. And Pilate said to him, so you are a king. And Jesus answered, you say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." In short, Pilate knew, Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent. And we see that throughout the four gospel accounts, we see that in in the cries of the crowd, which is our third point, but we see clearly, Pilate says, verse 14, what evil has he done? He knows this man is innocent. But he just doesn't want to be bothered with this today. He doesn't want to really deal with what's before him. It's the early morning, He wasn't expecting this mess. Now, other Gospels make it clear he did know who Jesus was somewhat. Herod knew who Jesus was. Herod longed to see Jesus. And when Jesus came before Herod, which I believe is recorded in the parallel in Matthew, Herod had a desire to see Jesus do a sign. And so Herod is asking if Jesus will perform some miracle. Jesus will only answer the direct questions. In Mark, that means only answering the direct question of Caiaphas at the end of 14 and this direct question of Pilate here. When we think about what Jesus did answer and what Jesus did not answer during this time, leading up to his condemnation. First Timothy and Hebrews actually help us to see that. First Timothy 6 verse 13 says this, when we think about what Jesus did answer and what Jesus did not answer. First Timothy 6 verse 13 says this, I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession. When asked direct questions about who he was, what did Jesus do? He gave a good testimony. He gave the good confession. He said who he was, and he said it clearly. But for most of this time, For the majority of the accusations and railings and cries about prophesy this or do this miracle or show that you really are powerful or whatever it was, Jesus stood silent. He only rarely opened his mouth to give testimony to direct questions. No Hebrews 12 details to us why he was silent. silent considering him who endured Hebrews 12 verse 3 who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted all the insults all the hostility Jesus stands silent Jesus will only answer the direct questions. Do you remember the first Adam? He was guilty, but full of excuses, wasn't he? Now we have a new Adam, a new covenant head, a new one who can stand for all of humanity and stand rightly. And rather than giving excuses when he was guilty, this Adam will bear through the useless and contradictory accusations and hostility without opening his mouth. And certainly there's an overriding irony to this all if we think back to last week. Remember that the high priests, they say, you cannot be the Messiah. And so when Jesus says, I am the Messiah, I am the anointed one, they say that it's blasphemy. Well, why? Because they had this idea of Messiah that the Messiah had to be this this marching ruler king, right? And so the same chief priests and elders who have just condemned in the Jewish court Jesus for not being a military enough Messiah, now in order to fulfill their purposes, they flip the script and when standing before Pilate say, look, he's an insurrectionist. He is our king. He is going to try to rebel against you. They have just totally twisted everything. They will say one thing to condemn him of blasphemy, according to Levitical laws, but now standing before Pilate, they will say another. in order to make the Roman official condemn him to death. But Pilate just can't be bothered with it. Oh, this man is interesting, but I am too invested in the things of this world, too invested in my position, my Sunday, my week, my time. I can't be bothered with this Jesus. Even though Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, even though Pilate knew that there was with false ideas at work. Right? Verse 10, he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priest had done this. He could see what's going on, but he can't be bothered with it. You know, we're coming to the chief priest, we're coming to the crowd, We'll think about the kinds of things that they are saying through their actions and their words. But Pilate is kind of the relatable, worldly, wavering man, isn't he? Because who doesn't say, I can't be bothered with this today? Who doesn't say something like that? Pilate says this to Jesus himself. He's more concerned with getting on with his day without a riot on his front door. Now, parallels, and even in Mark this is hinted, but there's more detail in the parallels. So now we transition to point two. The parallels make it It looked like Pilate is now going to try to take advantage of the fact that you can release one prisoner on the feast days. And now verse 6 speaks about this. During the time of the feast, it was the custom that you would release one prisoner. So it's Passover time. time of festival, we Romans will give you Jews your festival celebrations and we'll release a prisoner during this time for you. Those Romans that are concerned with keeping their rule but making sure their people were happy at the same time. So we'll throw them enough bones so that the people are happy. And let's get this picture that Pilate is thinking, well, OK, I won't just let Jesus go, but maybe we can make sure that Jesus is the one who's released, right? So I'll take advantage of the fact that I get to release one prisoner, and I'll try to have it be Jesus. And so I'll say to the crowd, to the crowd, you know, but why? What evil has he done? And Pilate can see he hasn't done any evil. Can the people see that he hasn't done any evil? Surely they'll want Jesus to be released, right? But the priests are having none of this. The priests who have captured Jesus in the night, the priests who have carried out their trial in the darkness at the end of chapter 14, the priests who were eager to bring false witnesses, they've covered They've covered all the exits. And so even though there were certainly crowds within Jerusalem, which would have been in favor of Jesus, right? Think of how Jesus was greeted, the triumphal entry, the singing of the crowds. Well, they can make sure that they've got the crowd that they want here. So they've done all this under the cover of darkness. One of the reasons why is because, well, now they can have a crowd that they can manipulate. And who do they have? Well, there were those who were, the transition from verse seven into verse eight is implying that there were those who were concerned about Barabbas there. Right there, we have words about Barabbas, about one of the prisoners who's there in verse seven, and then verse eight says, and this is when the crowd came up and they began to ask Pilate as they usually did. And so the chief priests, they're gonna take advantage of the fact that there's this one guy, this Barabbas, this murderer, who the people like. And they perhaps even intentionally done this, again, at night into the early morning, perhaps making sure that there's not too many Galileans here. They are very much scheming priests. They have worked out every detail. They have covered all the exits. We're gonna make sure Jesus is not the one released And so what do they do in verse 11? They stirred up the crowd to have Barabbas released instead. What is the quote that we could put here next to point two? Well, when we think about the context of all Mark and all of what Jesus has done and said to the chief priests. It's envy, as Pilate rightly perceives in verse 10, and it's this kind of attitude, I don't want to hear what I don't want to hear. Right? They're envious of Jesus. They don't want to hear his calls for reform. They don't want him cleansing the temple. They don't want him teaching in the temple as he has been doing from day to day. They don't want him to have his voice, which points out the hypocrisy of what they have been doing. They don't want to hear it. They don't want to be disrupted. They don't want to lose their places, at the feasts, and again, we're thinking about not just Mark 15 here, but we're thinking about the context of the Gospels, right? These are all phrases which you are perhaps familiar with. They don't want to hear Jesus call them whitewashed tombs, who look good on the outside, but inside are full of sin. They want none of it. And they do not want Jesus to have his position of the people wanting to hear him instead. No, no, no. They are envious and they do not want to hear. They do not want to hear what Jesus has to say. So they cover all the exits. They stir up the crowd and they make sure that Barabbas will be the one released. And crowds are fickle. Again, they chose the time. They've done this in the cover of darkness. It's not out of the question to say that they made sure there weren't too many Galileans here. But really, it's just a reminder that crowds are fickle. Jesus is true. Crowds are fickle. Maybe some of the people here were the same people who sang at the triumphal entry. just a short time earlier. We might remember Acts chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas going to Lystra, not the most well-known story of the New Testament. But in Acts chapter 14, they come into Lystra, Paul and Barnabas, they're celebrated like they're gods. And then, of course, they say, we're not gods. Don't bow down to us. Don't glorify us. And then a handful of verses later, the Jews come from Antioch and Iconium, and they persuade the crowds that they shouldn't like Paul and Barnabas. And then Paul is stoned and left for dead. That all happened in Lystra. That all happens between verse 11 and verse 19 of Acts chapter 14. Crowds are fickle. Crowds can be manipulated. Crowds can be picked. And scheming priests take advantage of all these things to make sure Jesus will not be the one released. It will instead be Barabbas. Just get this voice away from us. We do not want to hear what Jesus has to say We will do everything in our power to silence Jesus. They don't want to hear what they don't want to hear. What about the screaming people? What about the screaming people? If you put quotes next to this point, Screaming people say this, I want my savior to be what I think my hero should be. Right, because who is Barabbas? He's one who committed murder in the insurrection. He is a man of action, not just words. He's actually trying to get things done. Now, the Romans, Pilate's probably also thinking, well, I really don't want to let Barabbas go. Here's an insurrectionist. Matthew 27 describes him as a notorious prisoner. But he's a hero of the people, right? He's a man concerned with action. He's going to do what we want our hero to do. Now this Jesus character, he was interesting, he was preaching the temple, he said some really mind-blowing stuff, but that was just words. Barabbas acts. And you know what? I want my Savior to be what I think my hero should be. I want Barabbas, not Jesus. So they cry out for Barabbas. Pilate questions them many times. But what do they say? No, we want Barabbas. Kill Jesus. Crucify Jesus. Give him the death of a lowly criminal. The kind of death to which no Roman citizen is ever sentenced. The kind of death which is the most excruciating. Again, Pilate speaks again, he asks again, he reminds them, what evil has he done? But again, they shout out all the more, crucify him. Then Jesus is flogged, Jesus is scourged. The flogging itself, the leather whip with bits of broken bone on the end itself, something which could lead to death. Some prisoners did not survive the scourging. It's no surprise that Jesus cannot carry his own cross. People of the Church, young, old, how many times have you heard about the innocence and the love of Jesus? Do you embrace that truth more and more? And do you more and more understand the depth of the love of Jesus, growing in it year by year? Jesus was a willing Savior, even as the voice of the crowd cries out. And what are the kinds of things that we hear? They want their political leader. They want their Barabbas. They want a man who will actually accomplish what they need. They don't want sermons about right and wrong. They just want action. They don't want the one who speaks about our eternal souls and about eternal peace. They want someone who will fight for them now. They want a hero formed in their own image, not the salvation that God gives. They want to fight their own way. Oh, there are so many ways to deny Jesus. So many different words that can be used. So many different excuses. I don't want to be bothered with this today. I don't want to hear what I don't want to hear. I want my Savior to be what I think my hero should be. It is never God's fault when people deny God. Whether God be denied through inconsistent, wavering, plotting jealousy or blind anger, the evidence is sufficient. God is there. God is love. There is salvation for sinners who repent any way God is denied, any excuses that are made. They're all useless. So be not those who suppress the truth, who make these various excuses. Be not those who would say, crucify him. Be not like the more perhaps relatable pilot who just says, I don't want to be bothered with this. No. Turn your eyes to it. Turn your eyes to the sobering truth. Reflect upon it again and again. Turning from sin. Believing in the one who had no sin. Our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have turned to Isaiah 53 many times. Usually reading one or two or three verses. Sometimes from the beginning, sometimes from the middle, sometimes from the end. or coming to the point where we will be reading from Psalm 22 more instead of Isaiah 53. But let us read from Isaiah 53 at least one more time. Verses 6 through 9. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And we saw the many different ways that you can speak about your own way in Mark 15, don't we? Everyone to his own way. and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. Like the lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before it shears is silenced, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgment, He was taken away And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land and living, stricken for the transgression of my people, and they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Be those who would see the suffering submission of Jesus for what it is, the depths of His love. Amen.