00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Mark chapter 15, beginning with verse one. Immediately in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and they bound Jesus, led him away, and delivered him to Pilate. Then Pilate asked him, are you the king of the Jews? He answered and said to him, it is as you say. And the chief priests accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. Then Pilate asked him again, saying, do you answer nothing? See how many things they testify against you. But Jesus still answered nothing. So that Pilate marveled. Now at the feast, he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas who was chained with his fellow rebels. They had committed murder in the rebellion. Then the multitude crying aloud began to ask him to do justice he had always done for them. But Pilate answered them saying, do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. Pilate answered and said to them again, what then do you want me to do with him whom you call the king of the Jews? So they cried out again, crucify him. Then Pilate said to them, why, what evil has he done? But they cried out all the more, crucify him. So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them and he delivered Jesus after he had scourged him. to be crucified. Amen. We'll end our reading in Mark 15, 15. Let's once again ask for God's help in prayer. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we pray that as we come to such a solemn portion of your word where we see the sufferings of our Savior carried on in injustice, in physical violence, in rejection and hatred by leaders, in the preferring of a criminal to the Christ on the part of the multitude. We pray that you would help us to enter into this, Lord. May it not be just a sad story, but may it be a part of the gospel. May it be an annunciation of the good news that brings salvation to your people. Help us, Lord, to see it in that light, to receive it in that spirit, and to respond as we should. In Jesus' name, amen. When it says in the first verse of our scripture reading that the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, of course, that is what they have been doing. They've been holding an investigative hearing to figure out what are the charges that we can bring against Jesus of Nazareth when we come to Pilate. And now very early in the morning, they've settled on how they're going to proceed and they bring him to Pilate. Now it was the custom for Roman officials at that time to hear judicial cases first thing in the morning. So we shouldn't think that they're getting Pilate out of bed earlier than would normally have been the case. They come, they're the first item on the agenda, so to speak, but this would have been typical for Pilate to hear cases early in the morning. And now that they've decided the charges against Jesus, they bind him. They do the Roman equivalent of putting him in handcuffs. I don't think there was really any need for that. It was to humiliate him. It was to make clear that he's the accused, was to give the appearance that he's in the wrong before they get any further with that. And our passage for today really falls into two parts. There's pilot speaking to Jesus, and there's Pilate interacting with the crowds. And speaking to Jesus, he asks him two questions, and speaking to the crowd, he asks three questions. So that's really going to structure our approach to our passage this morning. They've brought Jesus to Pilate. And they've obviously told Pilate enough that Pilate asks him, are you the king of the Jews? Now this is a title that will be very prominent in chapter 15, but that has not really been used much before. You remember that the Lord Jesus refers to himself as the son of man. You might remember that he's been asked in chapter 14 if he is the Christ, the son of the blessed. So where is this language of the king of the Jews coming from? Well, I believe that the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, they are translating things into language that, on the one hand, Pilate might be expected to understand, On the other hand, they're putting it in terms where they're making Jesus out to be a political rebel. Not too long ago, one of the Herod family had requested to be called King of the Jews and had promptly been exiled to Gaul for the temerity of asking for that title. This was a title that is fraught with overtones of dissatisfaction with Rome. We don't want a Roman prefect, we don't want a Roman governor, we want a king. So they're presenting the Lord Jesus as a rival to Pilate and to the whole system that he represents. So Pilate asks him to Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? Now we've noticed a pattern before and we'll notice it again. Jesus is not answering the questions that are directed to him. in this whole proceeding except the questions that relate to his identity. They were accusing him of many things, they were asking him of many things when he was before the Sanhedrin, and he didn't answer. He only answered when the high priest said, are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? When it had to do with his identity, then he answered the question. Well here, Pilate asks him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus says, it is as you say, or so you say, or you said it. There are different ways that you could translate that. He's not saying no, I'm not, but it's not a resounding yes. Why does the Lord Jesus answer in this way? Well, I think the answer is simple. He is the King of the Jews. He is the King of Israel. He is God's chosen and anointed King. So saying no would not be true. But what does Pilate understand by the phrase? Well, he understands somebody who's hoping to lead a political revolution, somebody who's hoping to sit on a throne in Jerusalem and govern from there, and that is not the intention of the Lord Jesus. As he says to Pilate in the Gospel of John, my kingdom is not this world. He is a king, but not the kind of king that Pilate is thinking, not the kind of king that Pilate is used to. So he gives a response that is not negative because he can't deny it, but it's not exactly positive because that title is not communicating the right idea. It's a clear answer, but it's a clear answer that points to your understanding is not adequate. Pilate doesn't really follow up on that too much. I don't think Pilate is interested in all the particularities, but that was enough to proceed. Are you the king of the Jews? Yes. Well then, seeing that Pilate doesn't immediately have a conniption, the chief priests accused Jesus of many other things. To those other things, Jesus answered nothing. So Pilate backs up their questioning by saying, don't you answer anything? Aren't you gonna say something? Look how many things they're testifying against you. And even to that, Jesus answered nothing. So that made Pilate amazed. He marveled at that. He had to think about that. And presumably thinking about that, he realized that the chief priests had handed Jesus over because of envy, as the passage says a little bit later on. Now, just in passing, we should notice here the fact that somebody asks you a question doesn't mean you have to answer it. We've seen that before with the Lord Jesus when they asked him a manipulative question about whether the baptism of John was, or about who gave him authority to cleanse the temple, he answered with a condition. He said, well, you tell me from where John got his authority to baptize and I'll answer your question. but he didn't fall for their trap. He didn't feel obligated to answer just because someone asked. He was asked by leaders in the community, by officials of Israel, and he refused to answer. Here he's asked by the government and he does not answer. This is a biblical basis for what they tell you when they arrest you. You have the right to remain silent. Yes, you do. You do not have to answer questions. Now, there are many places, there are many situations, there are many times where it is best to answer questions. There are many times when an answer is called for. But there's a couple of interesting details that emerge from the example of the Lord Jesus. You know he's not going to do anything that is wrong. You know his example is not going to lead you astray. So it is accurate, it is biblical to say that we do not have to answer questions. That is embedded, it's recognized by our amended constitution, it's recognized by our Miranda rights, but that's not the source of your right to remain silent. Those rights aren't given to you or conceded to you. You have those rights and the constitution recognizes those. The Constitution is not the source of the rights. It's the recognition that you have those rights. The right to remain silent, the right not to incriminate yourself, is a natural right. It's a God-given right, not just a societal or a conventional right. Now that doesn't mean that it will always be recognized, but it does mean that it is there. You do not have to answer questions. If a journalist shouts a question at you, you don't have to say anything. If a policeman or some other law enforcement asks you a question, you can follow the example of the Lord Jesus. You don't have to say anything. Now you have a natural right to remain silent, but there are situations where you should speak up. And one of those situations is what we see in the example of the Lord Jesus. He's not answering these questions. He's not dignifying these proceedings by participating in them. They're illegitimate. They're trumped up charges by people without authority to do what they're doing. It's all being handled very improperly. but he does answer the questions about who he is. And I think we should pay attention to that part of the example as well. We might be asked about many things and choose to remain silent. Of course, sometimes you wanna consult with other people what's wisest, but the option to remain silent is there, that is legitimate. However, when it comes to being asked about Jesus, I don't think we should remain silent there. That is definitely a place to speak up. That's a moment to take the opportunity to say what we can about who Jesus is and what he means to us. We don't want to be like Peter, asked a question about his relationship with Jesus and backing out of it or denying Jesus. We want to follow the example of our Savior and recognize the truth on those occasions. Jesus admits who he is, but he doesn't say anything else. And Pilate marvels. Now, a crowd has gathered. and the crowd begins to clamor for Pilate to do as Pilate had done before. In light of the festival, in light of the fact that it was Passover, let a prisoner out. At the time, they had several people imprisoned, at least three others, and there was one named Barabbas, which is Aramaic for son of the father. Now, there had been some sort of a little insurrection, some sort of a rebellion, which had been Suppressed, obviously. The ringleaders were in prison. And in the course of that insurrection, somebody had died. Barabbas and his fellows had committed murder. As the multitude gathers, as they cry out, Pilate goes out to them and he raises the question with the crowd, do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? He's got these other prisoners and he's got Jesus. And understanding that the Sanhedrin brought Jesus because of envy, they brought Jesus because they were resentful of his success and popularity, they were resentful of the fact that he had exposed them for the religious frauds and hypocrites that they were, they were hostile to Jesus. And that was the reason they brought him, not because Jesus had done anything that was really objectionable, not because Jesus had done anything that would expose him to punishment in a just world. So Pilate knew that. So he went out to the crowd to see, well, maybe they will ask. And I'll say to the Sanhedrin, you know, I'd like to do you guys a favor, but you see how the crowd is. I'll have to let Jesus go. Well, the chief priests were ready for that. They stirred up the crowd. Interestingly enough, that's the same word they used to accuse Jesus. They said that he was stirring up the people. They did what they accused him of, which often happens. If you're gonna make false accusations about somebody, the easiest false accusation to come up with is the thing you're aware you're doing. It's top of mind because you're engaged in it, so you blame somebody else for it. You just project onto them, and that's what they did. They stirred up the crowd as they accused Jesus of stirring up the crowd, and they stirred up the crowd to ask for Barabbas. Well, Pilate follows that up with another question. Well, then what do I do with Jesus? The stirred up crowd led no doubt by members of the Sanhedrin who were dispersed among them, stirring them up, cried out, crucify him. Pilate asks the question, why? What evil has he done? He doesn't get an answer, you notice. They don't specify anything. They just cry out louder, crucify him. So that's what happened. Well, what do we learn from that? Well, there's many things. You see the injustice that is prevalent in this world. On the one hand, here was a man who had committed murder. Here was a man who had rebelled against the government. If somebody deserved punishment, it was Barabbas. But who got released? Barabbas. And who got crucified? an innocent man. Now think for a moment about what that says about justice in this world. Pilate knew right from wrong, at least to some degree, Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent, and yet he went along with the mob. He was pressured by the multitude. He had authority. He could have released Jesus, but he didn't. We appeal to the powers that be. We bring our cases before authorities and we hope for justice. But how realistic is that hope in light of what we see in this passage? Could there be a greater miscarriage? Could justice be more stood on its head than it was in what happened here? But this is how human beings operate. The fact that somebody is a judge doesn't make them righteous. The fact that somebody knows what is right doesn't mean that they will give the proper verdict. Pilate knew they had committed him for envy, and yet he went along all the same. Don't set your hopes on justice in this world. Don't set your hope on the human systems coming to the right result. If they discover what ought to happen, that's no guarantee that they'll follow through and do it. It's one thing to know, it's another thing to carry out, as you see very clearly in the case of Pilate. Pilate asks the question, what evil has he done? and there is no answer. There's nothing that pertains to that question. It's just more shouts of crucify him. A lot of the time, And Christians struggle with this. They think, well, we won't be persecuted. We won't suffer. We haven't done anything wrong. Not that we're claiming to be sinlessly perfect, but that in terms of criminal acts, in terms of things that deserve government punishment, we've remained within the boundaries of the law. We haven't done anything we don't have a right to do. And it's very hard sometimes for people to wrap their mind around the reality that that doesn't matter. You can still be persecuted. You can still be legally harassed and politically persecuted even when you haven't done anything wrong. Could anybody be more innocent than Jesus? Could you be more innocent than Jesus? You know the answer to that. Did that stop him from being persecuted? You know the answer to that as well. There is a great deal of injustice in this world. You might think that in turning from the partisan, in turning from national rivalries, in appealing to the Roman Empire, where they don't care about stupid stuff like this, you would get a better shot at justice. But pressure could be brought to bear on Pilate, and Pilate was willing to gratify the crowd. And so Pilate knowingly makes a bad decision, and apparently it didn't bother him all that much. He's going to have Jesus beaten with whips when it says, scourged there, the ideas you had. These leather whips, often little pieces of stone or glass or bone, would be put into the top part of the whip, and then a strong soldier would take that whip and would whack your back with it. Well, the leather, of course, is already painful, but the little pieces of bone or whatever else are digging into your skin. And you're not hit once or twice, you're... struck with the whip over and over. And of course, the leather and the little pieces of bone or glass or stone, et cetera, are digging into your back, are ripping out chunks of flesh as the whip is drawn back and forth, back and forth. Pilate knowingly does that to an innocent man and also sends him away to be crucified. Wow. there's tremendous injustice. It makes sense that the Lord Jesus only answered questions concerning his identity in this context, doesn't it? But this tremendous, this horrifying injustice that serves as an indictment of human uprightness, of human justice, of human political and legal systems, this occasion that exposes the emptiness at our heart, the reality that unless God intervenes, even our best designs for systems can wind up with horribly unjust results where the innocent suffer. You have all of that indictment here, but we need to go a little bit deeper. From a human point of view, this is absolutely injustice. This is wrong. This is disgusting. The murderer goes free. and the innocent man is tortured and killed. It's shocking, it's horrifying, and it's not the only time it's happened. That's how the world goes a lot of times. But what is repulsively unjust served in God's purposes, under God's guidance, to accomplish something amazing. You see, in this passage, you have such a vivid portrayal of the gospel because we are all like Barabbas. Now, not to say that we've taken up arms against the government and killed somebody. We don't know who he killed, but somebody. Not to say that. but we are like Barabbas in that we are justly bound, awaiting punishment. We are sinners. We have not rebelled against some minor insignificant entity like the Roman Empire. We've rebelled against the God of heaven. We've rebelled against the God who created us. We have tried to cast off his yoke. We've violated his law. We have been indifferent. to his demands, to his requirements, to the claim he lays upon us. We have acted as though God did not matter. We have lived for ourselves instead of for the God who gave us being, who sustains and upholds us at every moment, who has poured out his goodness upon us. We're like Barabbas. But when you look at it from heaven's point of view, when you look at our lack of gratitude to God, we are worse than Barabbas. I understand he's in the same boat as we are vis-a-vis God, but we're talking about Barabbas vis-a-vis the Roman Empire. We're worse than that. And yet. an innocent person, the same innocent person, the Lord Jesus, suffers in our place. You see, there's an exchange here, isn't there? There's Barabbas who deserves punishment. There's Jesus about whom the very judge says, what evil has he done? And gets no answer. He's done nothing wrong. And yet they trade places. Jesus goes to be beaten. Jesus goes to be tortured. Jesus goes to be killed. And Barabbas walks free. He's not persecuted. He's not punished. From a human point of view, in terms of what should have happened, that's really horrifying. That's awful. That's not how things should go. But God did that to give to us a vivid picture of what happens with each one of us. We call upon the name of the Lord. We trust the Lord Jesus to be our savior, and he's borne our punishment, and we go free. Those who deserve only condemnation, only judgment, only destruction, we're set free. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We're liberated from the prison, not only of judgment, of condemnation, but we're liberated from the prison, from the chains of sin. And who steps into our place? Well, it is the Lord Jesus Himself. What He did in the political, in the legal sphere, For Barabbas, spiritually, is what he does for all of us. He takes our place. The punishment that we deserved falls upon him with his stripes, with the flesh carved out of his back by the Roman whip. We are healed. It's an image of substitution. It's an image of exchange. And if the Lord Jesus had not subjected himself to this indignity, to this suffering, to this injustice in human terms, none of us could have been saved. Our only hope is his vicarious or substitutionary suffering on our behalf. Doesn't that show you the wisdom of God through this horrible miscarriage of human justice? God's justice is upheld, sin is punished, and yet God's mercy is displayed. Those who deserved the punishment and those who could not have endured the punishment are set free because the Lord Jesus voluntarily, willingly, out of love, takes our place. Oh, we should learn from this passage. We should learn that it is okay to be silent. We have a natural right to remain silent in the face of hostile questioning. We should learn to speak up. We should learn to always acknowledge who Jesus is. We should learn not to look to this world for justice, but we should also learn to rejoice, to rest in our Savior, who took our place, who bore our sin, who set us free. Amen.
Questions and Choices
Series The Gospel According to Mark
The appalling human injustice of Pilate knowingly sentencing an innocent man to death in the place of a guilty one subserved God's great and just purpose of freeing us from our deserved condemnation through the substitution of Christ.
Sermon ID | 9323214243358 |
Duration | 28:15 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday - AM |
Bible Text | Mark 15:1-15 |
Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2025 SermonAudio.