Obstructed Vision, Part 2

which will really just give us
a launch point, especially this morning. I had hoped to make
the bulletin a tool for you this morning. The bulletin will be
little more than a bookmarker for you with the passage that
I’ve included. It’s a little incomplete. And
so if you would just tuck that into Luke chapter 22 slash 23
and we are going to move around quite a bit this morning, Lord
willing, as we press further into this lengthy section on
the initial passion of the Lord Jesus. Isaiah 53 has set the
tone for us in weeks past, most notably verse three, which says
that we did not esteem him. What that alludes to is that
we, as humanity, did not look upon Christ and see him for who
he was. And we began last week with a
consideration of faulty estimations of our Lord Jesus Christ. the
fact that there was nothing in Christ that was incomplete. He
was a perfect, sinless Savior, but that our view of Him was
obstructed and it was obstructed in various ways. There were different
reasons why people could not or would not see the Lord Jesus
for who He was. We began last week But I want
to jump back and consider again this passage in its very lengthy
entirety. And we begin with that in chapter
22, verse 63. Chapter 22, verse 63. Now the men who were holding
Jesus in custody were mocking Him and beating Him, and they
blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, prophesy, who is
the one who hit you? And they were saying many other
things against him, blaspheming. When it was day, the council
of the elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes,
and they led him away to their council chamber, saying, if you
are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, if I tell
you, you will not believe. And if I ask a question, you
will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man
will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. And they
all said, Are you the son of God then? And he said to them,
Yes, I am. Then they said, What further
need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves
from his own mouth. Chapter 23, verse one, Then the
whole body of them got up. and brought him out from before
Pilate. And they began to accuse him,
saying, We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to
pay taxes to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a
king. So Pilate asked him, saying,
Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered and said, It
is as you say. Then Pilate said to the chief
priests and crowds, I find no guilt in this man. But they kept
on insisting, saying, he stirs up the people, teaching all over
Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this place. When
Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when
he learned that he had he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent
him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time.
Now, Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus, for he had wanted
to see him for a long time because he had been hearing about him
and was hoping to see some sign performed by him. And he questioned
him at some length, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests
and the scribes were standing there accusing him vehemently. And Herod, with his soldiers,
after treating him with contempt and mocking him, dressed him
in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. Now, Herod and
Pilate became friends with one another that very day, for before
they had been enemies with each other. Pilate summoned the chief
priests and the rulers and the people and said to them, you
brought this man to me as one who incites people to rebellion
and behold, Having examined him before you, I found no guilt
in this man regarding these charges which you make against him. No,
nor has Herod. For he sent him back to us and
behold, nothing deserving death has been done by him. Therefore,
I will punish him and release him.” Now, he was obliged to
release to them at the feast one prisoner. But they cried out. altogether
saying, away with this man and release for us Barabbas. He was
one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made
in the city and for murder. Pilate, wanting to release Jesus,
addressed them again. But they kept on calling out
saying, crucify, crucify him. And he said to them a third time,
why? What evil has this man done?
I have found in him no guilt demanding death. Therefore, I
will punish him and release him.” But they were insistent and with
loud voices asking that he be crucified and their voices began
to prevail. And Pilate pronounced sentence
that their demand be granted. And he released the man they
were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection
and murder. But he delivered Jesus to their
will. As I said, we began last week
looking at the various way that humanity rejected Christ. We began with the first last
week that obstructed vision. That is a clear view of the Savior
was clouded, first of all, by ridicule and false accusation. And this on the part of the religious
elite, the chief priests, the elders, the scribes, those who
should have known better the students of the law of God, ridiculed
Jesus. falsely accused him, accused
him of blasphemy and other such things, and ultimately delivered
him over to heathen authorities for them to punish. Look, if you would, I want to
pick up in verse 63 of Luke 22. where it records the men who
were holding Jesus in custody. And by this point, we know that
it was not the Roman soldiers, but the temple guards. Jews. Alleged lovers of God who were
holding Jesus’ custody for the chief priests. And even they
were abusing Him. They were mocking Him and beating
Him. As I said, To me personally,
this stands second only to the crucifixion in the way of indignities
done to Christ. We saw that they put a hood over
Jesus’ head and would strike Him and ask Him to prophesy who
it was that struck Him. Just unthinkable cruelty. Jesus stands His ground. and essentially takes their abuse
and their ridicule, their false accusations. The point that we
considered last week is that many throughout history on down
to our day, when they hear of Christ, when they consider Christ,
they respond with ridicule and ultimately false accusation. They hate God. Because he is
so contrary to the sin in their lives and they to stand their
ground. We considered a second. Obstructed
view, not only is a clear view of the Savior obstructed by ridicule
and false accusation. But it was obstructed by opportunistic
evasion. Those that take the easy way
out. the backyard, if you will. And that’s what we gathered from
our first view of Pilate. Pilate tried to get out of this.
Pilate tried to get out of seeing Christ for who he was. Pilate
tried to get out of even considering, objectively speaking, the allegations
that were brought before him. The allegations were trumped
up charges. They weren’t legitimate, not
from the start. If you recall, the Jews proposed that Jesus
was guilty of blasphemy. But when they come before Pilate,
blasphemy isn’t even mentioned. What they bring is all kinds
of nonsensical political charges. Look at verse two of chapter
23. They began to accuse him, saying,
we found this man, first of all, misleading our nation. and forbidding to pay taxes to
Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ the King. At their official indictment
of the Lord Jesus, their big issue with Jesus was blasphemy.
And that will come up again, finally. They will finally have
to own up to why they really came before Pilate. But for now,
they’ll try these false charges if they can. The first step is
one of treason. Essentially saying that he was
misleading their nation, the Hebrew nation. Now, that isn’t
a big charge to Pilate, but if he is leading an insurrection,
that insurrection will likely grow. And whereas Jesus would
take the Hebrews astray, ultimately that would affect Pilate. But
it didn’t stick as we saw. The second charge was completely
false as we considered it. The Jews knew it. But they had
to try with everything in them to get one of these charges to
resonate with Pilate. The third charge that they brought
up, which they thought was a sure thing with Pilate, was to say
that Jesus was a king. And they’ll come back to that
argument again. They’ll come back and use that against Pilate.
who up to this point is trying to be at least to a degree objective
and fair and reasonable. Pilate is trying at least initially
to render true justice. And what they’re trying to do
is to spoil the water. To get Pilate to be biased against
Christ on false accusations. Pilate doesn’t buy it. But what Pilate does is just
on a par with cowardice. Instead of really dealing with
Jesus for who Jesus was, instead of hearing out these charges
and really interacting with what Christ did answer him, Pilate
takes the easy way out. Hearing of Galilee, Pilate punts. Pilate says, you know what? If
I can get out of this by whatever means possible, I will. And he
sends Jesus to Pilate. He tried. That ultimately will
not work. But this is the nature of who
we’re dealing with is a coward, really. And instead of looking
at Christ, as I said, objectively, he simply does away with them. And that’s how most people deal
with Christ, isn’t it? Most of the people that you mentioned
him to, they don’t immediately attack him. They don’t bring
up all kinds of false accusations. They don’t necessarily hate him.
They’re just indifferent. They just don’t want to hear
it. And you try to bring it up. You try to discuss spiritual
things with them. You try to share with him even
your testimony. You try to tell them about the
nature of this Savior that you’ve come to love. And they are masters
at turning the conversation. They are masters of evading that
delicate subject. They’ll even use the rule that
we’re not supposed to talk about religion and politics and those
kinds of things. Those are personal and private.
Opportunistic evasion, that’s how some people miss. a clear
view of the Savior. But there’s a third, and it’s
here this morning that we start fresh. We were introduced to Herod last
week. As soon as Pilate heard that
Jesus was from that area, that was his attempt to shovel the
case off of his plate. And it’s in verse 8 that we pick
up our third cause of obstructed vision. The clear view of the
Savior is clouded not only by ridicule and false accusation,
by opportunistic evasion, but third, by playful teasing. Playful
teasing. And this is the most absurd to
date. The people would tease and ridicule
and make fun of Jesus. Make fun of the manger. Make
fun of the virgin birth. Make fun of the so-called old
God-man. Yeah. Make fun of his suffering. Make fun of the fact that he
died on our behalf. There are many. And you know
them. You’ve interacted with people
like this. There are many who resort to playful teasing in
order to throw up the cloud so that they don’t have to consider
who the Lord Jesus really is. That’s where Herod was. Herod
never really entertained who Jesus really was. Look at verse
8 of chapter 23. Now, Herod was very glad when
he saw Jesus. This is almost absurd and so
icky sweet. For he had wanted to see Him
for a long time. Because he had been hearing about
Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him. You might
remember that Herod was no friend to Christ. He was certainly no
friend to John the Baptist, as we’ll see. And so when it says
that Herod had longed to see Jesus, it was more out of novelty
and amusement rather than out of a sincere, genuine desire
to see and feast upon Christ face to face and learn of Him
and learn about Him. That’s not Herod’s motive. When Herod’s father died, the
so-called Herod the Great, remember him? The killer of innocent children
at Christ’s birth. When Herod’s father died, Herod Antipas, this Herod, had
been made the leader of Galilee and Perea. A little bit later,
while visiting, you might recall his half-brother, Herod Philip.
He fell in love with Philip’s wife. Herodias. Those two eloped
eventually, and John the Baptist, when he heard of it, completely
rebuked the union. That’s what got John the Baptist
in so much hot water with Herodias. Instead of repenting, though. He imprisoned John. And at the
occasion of his birthday celebration, Antipas foolishly promised to
give the daughter of Herodias whatever she might ask. Simply
because he was so taken with her dancing in front of him. Her mother, Herodias, the adulteress,
whispered in her daughter’s ear that what she really wanted was
John the Baptist’s head on a plate. And that’s exactly what she got.
Luke nine records it. Herod, the teacher, heard of
all that was happening and he was greatly perplexed because
it was said by some that John had risen from the dead. Now,
speaking of Christ and that by some Elijah had appeared and
by others that one of the prophets of old had risen again. Herod
said, I myself had John beheaded. But who is this man about whom
I hear such things? And he kept trying to see him. He was interested in Jesus because
he had a guilty conscience. And he didn’t want to assuage
that conscience. He wanted to find out who it
was that was bigger than John that he might do him in as well.
One person painted the picture with these Excellent words. He said Herod was very glad when
he saw Jesus. These words are remarkable. Herod
was a sensual, worldly man, the murderer of John the Baptist,
a man living in foul adultery with his brother’s wife. Such
a man, we might have supposed, would have had no desire to see
Christ. But Herod had an uneasy conscience.
The blood of God’s murdered saints, no doubt, rose before his eyes
and destroyed his peace. The fame of our Lord’s preaching
and miracles had penetrated even into his court. It was said that
another witness against sin had risen up who was even more faithful
and bold than John the Baptist. And these rumors made Herod restless
and uncomfortable. And he questioned Jesus at some
length, Luke goes on to say, and Jesus answered him nothing.
He didn’t consider that Herod even deserved an answer. And
that was Jesus prerogative. to stand silent before Herod
was, in essence, asking for an immediate death sentence. But
Jesus boldly stood before him as a worthless ruler, a killer
of the innocents. But it also fulfilled Scripture,
Isaiah 53, he was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open
his mouth. There were some questions to
which Jesus would respond, but not to this man, not to Herod. And it goes on that Jesus didn’t
need to even open his mouth to have the case built against him
because the chief priest in verse 10 and the scribes were standing
there and they begin to throw up all of these charges. They
were absolutely fixed on bringing these charges before Herod. And
Herod with his soldiers ultimately finds him innocent. Because in verse 11, it says,
after treating him with contempt and mocking him, dressed him
in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. In other words,
he’s innocent, even though we will abuse him in process. In
treating Jesus with these kinds of indignities, Herod presents
him not as a criminal, But just some worthless Jew that he could
abuse out of hand and send back to another authority. He viewed
Jesus with contempt. He hated Jesus. And in sending
Jesus back to Pilate, Herod effectively acquits Jesus now a second time. Jesus was guilty of any of the
things that the Jews proposed, he would have immediately been
dispatched. And then it records Luke’s gospel
only records this unbelievable statement. Now, Herod and Pilate
became friends with one another that very day. And it’s just another in a long line
of sickening thoughts in this passion account. It has been
said that nothing unites enemies like a common enemy. But to think
in the case of Pilate and Herod that Jesus was the common enemy,
that they hated him so much that their view of the Savior was
so obscured and so utterly clouded by their own foolishness, that
Jesus became the common enemy that would unite these two heathen
rulers. Unthinkable. It is a friendship
that was forged, if you think about it, at the sake of the
unconscionable abuse that Jesus received. There are many people
in our own day that resort to this playful teasing, this jesting,
this abuse of Christ in their minds, treating him as if he
were a fictional character, treating those who believe in him as they
are just so many buffoons, And it didn’t start in our day.
It continues to our day, but it started right here. It started
right here with Herod, playfully teasing, toying with Christ. And missing the very nature of
the Savior who stood before him. But there’s a fourth. There’s
a fourth cause of obstructed vision The clear view of the
Savior is clouded not only by ridicule and false accusation,
opportunistic evasion, playful teasing, but the fourth, and
we come back to Pilate again, the fourth is unprincipled cowardice. If you would look at Luke 13,
and this is the portion of the Scriptures where I will refer
at some length and repeatedly to both John’s Gospel, John 19,
And also to Matthew’s gospel, Matthew chapter 27. But let’s
start in Luke, at least for a moment. Where it records that Pilate
summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people. This
is now Pilate’s formal and it should be his final pronouncement
on the matter. Look, I called him innocent.
Herod called him innocent. He’s innocent. It should have
been a very short meeting. Note also that he calls together
all the people. The crowds. I believe Herod was hoping to
gain some rather pilot here was hoping to gain some balance in
bringing in in pardon me, some balance to what the lopsided
and out of control hatred of the religious elite. He was hoping
to bring in some some of Jesus friends. He was hoping to bring
in some who were objective. One painted the picture this
way now was the golden opportunity which Pilate should have seized
in order to do what he knew was right. But men live under the
coercion of their own past acts, and Pilate, by his cruelty and
greed, had so bitterly offended the Jews that he dared not do
anything more to provoke the accusations hanging over his
head. That he was no friend to Caesar,
as we’ll see in a moment. In other words, what unfolds
from this point forward is pure political maneuvering. Unprincipled
cowardice. Look at verse 14. And he said
to them, you brought this man to me as one who incites the
people to rebellion and before behold, having examined him before
you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges
which you make against him. It’s interesting to note here,
you don’t really pick it up in the English text, but the I here
is emphatic. In other words, it’s as if Pilate
says what you accuse him of, I find to be without merit. Look at verse 15. No, nor has
Herod, for he sent him back to us. In other words, Pilate interprets
for us this data that by sending him back to Pilate, Herod essentially
exonerated him, acquitted him of all charges. And behold, nothing
deserving death has been done by him. Pilate had done everything in
his power already to get rid of the case. First, he tried
to give it back to the Jews. Then he tried to shovel it off
to Herod. It’s not that he had some love
of the Jews. It’s not that he felt like he
owed them anything. In fact, he probably hated doing
him any kind of favor. But deep down in his heart, he
was afraid of them. He feared what they might say
about him. They might use their own political
influence to hurt him. He didn’t want to lose his precious
office. That’s what it comes down to.
Does that sound familiar? Up to this point, he had been
willing almost fixed upon doing what was right. But now that
he feels his position is threatened. He begins to succumb. And he
says in verse 16, therefore, I will punish him and release
him. Did you hear that? He found him
innocent. Herod found him innocent. Upon
reviewing all that data, he essentially says it again, that he’s innocent.
And yet he says here in verse 16, therefore, I will punish
him. For what? It’s right here where Pilate
begins to falter. Until now, he’s only nominally
guilty, guilty of knowing not better who Jesus was. guilty
of certainly being a heathen, certainly of being godless, of
not being a lover of God, a convert. But he was guilty of not knowing
who Christ was, what he taught, guilty of ultimately collaboration
to murder, but not yet. And yet from this point forward,
Pilate begins to be complicitous in this whole event. It already
acquitted Jesus, pronounced him innocent, but to subject this
innocent man to any further mistreatment, not the least of which was these
severe beatings, which we’ll look at in more detail in a moment,
just in order to ingratiate himself to the Jews that he hated. Was not only illegal from a Roman
point of view, it was downright immoral and sinful. J.C. Ryle characterized it in
these terms. He said the pitiable and miserable
character of Pilate begins to come into clear light at this
point. We see him as a man utterly destitute
of moral courage, knowing what was right and just in the case
before him, and yet afraid to act, knowing that Jesus was innocent,
yet not daring to upset the Jews by acquitting him, knowing that
he was doing wrong, yet afraid to do right. How many in our
own day? How many in our own day lack
the principles to do what’s right? And so Pilate gives an inch,
but an inch will never do. They want a mile and they refuse
to be placated. They want Jesus crucified and
nothing less. And at this point, Pilate has
tried multiple approaches. Let’s review them. Multiple approaches
of getting rid of this unwanted case. He tried to return Jesus
to the Sanhedrin. They wouldn’t take it. He tried
to shovel the case over to Herod. He wouldn’t take it. He tries
this compromise. Look, I’ll just beat this guy
to a pulp. Send him out with some mockery
and that will do. That will appease the Jews. And he finds himself now desperately
between a rock and a hard place. Now, Luke and verse 17. Has a
bracketed verse, it’s bracketed in your Bibles more than like
more than likely, and that’s because the verse isn’t in most
of the best manuscripts, someone, some transcribers somewhere along
the line probably either added this verse intentionally or more
likely imported it into the text out of a marginal note unintentionally. But the note and the best explanation
for this verse are found in John’s gospel. But look at verse 17
before we go. Now, he was obliged to release
to them at the feast one prisoner, as I said, this was a marginal
note, probably imported into Luke’s gospel. But for a fuller
treatment of that, look at John chapter 18, verse 39, John 18,
39. And we’ll be out of Luke for
some time, so don’t cramp your finger by keeping it there in
Luke. In John 18, 39. John just records it outright,
but you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you wish that I release you
the king of the Jews? We don’t know almost we know
almost nothing about this so-called custom, except what the Gospels
record. It wasn’t even anything that
the Jews and all their historical writings had a very explicit
record of. We do know that in Rome, sometimes
at feasts and festivals, The Romans would release prisoners
almost out of born out of the excitement and the emotion of
the celebrating of the festivals. And it would fit with the way
that Rome ran their their occupations, they would try to to appease
those that they were over. But we almost know nothing about
this, but it’s a fascinating thing. That he has the opportunity
to release. And it doesn’t mean release so
that then the Jews could do their own harm on Jesus or whoever
Pilate releases. Release means release. Acquit,
exonerate of all charges and release him to go and to be free.
And he has the opportunity to release one prisoner to them
at the Passover. It was a favor that they did.
And Pilate suggested it would be Jesus, the king of the Jews.
But he calls him the king of the Jews, I believe, to provoke
them, just to irritate them. And it hits its mark, doesn’t
it? It does stir their hearts, not to a compassion for Christ. And for this, I want to take
you to Matthew’s gospel. We’ll be back in John. So if
you can tuck something there, tuck something there in 19. Go to Matthew chapter 27. In Matthew chapter 27, we pick up
in verse 17. Where Matthew records, so when
the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, who do you
want me to release for you? Barabbas or Jesus who is called
the Christ? Messiah. For he knew that because
of envy they had handed him over. Pilate saw here another opportunity
to get out of this deal. Here are all these people because
of the feast. All these crowds gathering. And Pilate says, you know what?
I’m going to use this as an opportunity to get out of this once and for
all. Because Pilate knew their hearts.
He knew it wasn’t because of their concern for Rome and concern
for him and his office. It had nothing to do with any
of that. Matthew is the only one that records this. Look at
verse 18 for he knew that it was because of envy that they
had handed him over. He knew their hearts. He knew
he knew exactly what was going on. And the envy born out of what
Christ was enjoying that particular week in the midst of Jerusalem,
the popularity that was swelling about him. Pilate knew what this
was all about. Pilate was no dummy. Look at
verse 19, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife
sent him a message. Have nothing to do with that
righteous man, for last night I suffered greatly in a dream
because of him. And this lady must have thought
this was urgent. Very urgent, because to interrupt
a ruler while he was on the throne in the midst of judgment was
you would be guilty of death in most cases. But she was not
so much concerned for Jesus as she was for her husband. She
didn’t want him in jeopardy. She wanted him to get out of
this predicament. And she says, be careful what
you’re dealing with here. Which only added to Pilate’s
fear of the whole matter. Look at verse 20. But the chief
priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas
and to put Jesus to death. And you can almost see how it
goes. You know, you’re in this crowd and people start chanting
Barabbas, Barabbas, whatever. And the governor ultimately sends
to them, which of these two do you want me to release to you?
And they say Barabbas. That was the clear message that
Pilate gains. And if I could just read you
one verse from Luke’s Gospel to spare you from going all the
way back there, one verse. In verse 18, they cried out together,
everybody together in unison. I get it that it was chanting
of this man’s name. The murderer. Away with this
man and released for his Barabbas was the message that he got.
Luke records that it was a man who had been charged with insurrection
and murder. And that was no light charge
to throw out. And again, John provides us the
greatest amount of detail here. And at this point, if you would
go back to John’s Gospel, 19.1 is where we’ll pick up. John
19, verse 1. And in 19.1, it’s recorded that
Pilate then took Jesus and scourged him. Scourging was part of the
process of crucifixion, but this isn’t necessarily the sentence
to that end. It is a severe beating. Perhaps
Pilate was beginning to tire of this whole thing, and so he
ratchets it up, his behavior towards Jesus, and he increases
the intensity of the beating. This scourging, as you probably
already know, was a brutal affair. It was inflicted by a whip. At
the end of which these series of leather straps was tied pieces
of bone or metal or even glass so that it would tear at the
flesh. The prisoner was stripped to the waist, tied down and whipped
and beaten. It was a punishment, one said,
that was so painful and violent that the sufferer sometimes died
under it. Verse two of John’s Gospel says
the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns on top of all
this. They twisted a crown of thorns
and put it on his head and put a purple robe on him, and they
began to come up to him and say, Hail, King of the Jews, and to
give him slaps in the face. When it says they began to come
up to him, I get the picture here based on the Just the precision
of the Greek that was almost a line. They had to line up and
wait their turn to do Jesus these indignities and to come up and
to give him feigned worship as a king. It’s likely here that
Pilate is the one that called for this mockery of Jesus. He
had come back mocked by Herod. Pilate wanted to play it up.
But later, the soldiers will grab hold of this and they will
reinvigorate this activity before crucifying Christ. But this one
is Pilate’s. And it actually fits very nicely
with Pilate’s current plan. He will mock and mistreat this
prisoner and then release him, thinking that that’s enough and
that that will appease the Jews that look what I was able to
do to this prisoner, and yet it will get him out of Sentencing
Christ to death, judicial murder. Look at verse four. Pilate came
out again and said to them, behold, I’m bringing him out to you so
that you may know I find no guilt in him, even though he had beaten
him to a pulp. Jesus then came out wearing the
crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, behold,
the man. There are as many almost as many
different takes on what that little sentence means. Behold,
the man. Some thought it was a statement
of derision. Some thought that it was a statement
of pity. Look, this is no king. Some thought
that he’s the man. Well, they didn’t use that language
then at that point. I take it to mean that Pilate
came out and said, look, this is a king. Look at what we’ve
done to him. We’ve dressed him up. He looks
more like a clown. And about this point, he’s no
doubt bloodied. His face was probably swollen
from the beatings. The crown of thorns on his head
was producing its own flow of blood. And Pilate just simply
comes out and says this, this is a man, not a king. Pilate, Luke records, desired
to release Jesus. Wanting to release Jesus, he
addressed them again, but they kept on crying out, Crucify! Crucify! Verse 20 and 21. There seem to have been several
factors and forces at work at this point constantly urging
Pilate towards the verdict of not guilty. Pilate knew in his
heart And he desired to release Jesus. That’s what Luke records
again. There seems to at least initially
have been with Pilate a sense of justice, right and wrong.
Sometimes there seems to almost be a glimpse of pity or sympathy. He seems to have had more respect
in the end for Jesus as a person than his accusers. And yet there
are more of them than there are of Christ. And there is also, if you think
about it, not religious conviction, but what can only be described
as superstitious fear. Remember the dream that his wife
told him about it? And they begin to cry out, crucify,
crucify. Literally, it means they kept
shouting. And verse 22 of Luke’s Gospel
says when he he said to them the third time, why? What evil
has this man done? Pilot is exasperated. He doesn’t
grasp what they’re after. I have found in him no guilt
demanding death. Therefore, I will punish him
and release him. His previous declaration of innocence,
if you remember, was without exception. But due to his withering
strength, Pilate seems to admit here some guilt. He’s not guilty
of murder, which means that he is guilty of something. Still
not worth death. But he wouldn’t be here if he
was completely innocent. Pilate takes another giant step
away from justice and honesty and toward this politically motivated,
unprincipled injustice. Jesus, three times pronounced
innocent, deserved no punishment whatsoever. I get the sense here
that the crowd, the crowd here smells blood in the water. If
Pilate can be coerced into beating and mistreating an innocent man,
then it’s just a few incremental steps, isn’t it, to murder? John’s
Gospel picks it up here. In chapter 19, verse six, look
there. In 19, six, John records, so
when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried
out saying, crucify, crucify. Pilate said to them, take him
yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him. Another attempt to get out of
the inevitable, the Jews answered him, we have a law. As if it
was incumbent on Pilate’s part to to adhere to their laws. As
a heathen and a Roman, the Jews answered and said, we have a
law, and by that law, he ought to die because he made himself
out to be the son of God. This was their recurring critique
of Jesus. In John’s gospel, John 518. John
8.53, 10.33, ultimately all built upon Leviticus 24.16. The one who blasphemes the name
of the Lord shall surely be put to death. So they felt like they
had Jesus dead to right. Verse 8, Therefore, when Pilate
heard this statement, he was even more afraid. What if it
is? What if it is the offspring of a God? The message from his
wife, the very presence of Christ, the dignity that he must have
upheld to the very end. And now this claim that he was
somehow a God man. Look at verse nine. He entered the praetorium again,
probably his knees knocking together and said again to Jesus, where
are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer.
So Pilate said to him, do you not speak to me? Do you not know
that I have authority to release you and I have authority to crucify
you? Jesus answered, you would have no authority over me. Unless
it had been given to you from above, for this reason, he who
delivered me to you has the greater sin. There’s room for you to
repent, Pilate. You sinned, but not like they
sinned. Jesus just basically says, look,
God is in charge of this whole thing. You have no power over
me. The power that you have has been
granted you from above, from God. Not even from Caesar himself. Verse 12, as a result of this,
Pilate made efforts to release him, but the Jews cried out,
saying, if you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. And with that, they got him. Everyone who makes himself out
to be a king opposes Caesar, and that is that’s the final
stroke. That’s all Pilate needed to hear.
To give in and to give over. They had given up on their religious
charges, hadn’t they? The charge of blasphemy. And
now they return to this very sensitive area and they begin
probing. In verse 13 of John’s Gospel
says that when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out,
sat down on the judgment seat of the place called the pavement
in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now, it was day it was the day
of preparation for the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.
And he said to the Jews, behold, your king. And I believe he did
it with the full intention of provoking them. And it worked. It was plain to Pilate that Jesus
was not a king in any way, shape or form. So he thought, and he
was simply using their own words to accuse. And so they cried
out, away with him, away with him. It worked. This is exactly
what Pilate had planned. Pilate said to them, shall I
crucify your king? He’s working the crowd. And the
chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar. One of the saddest statements
in all of Scripture. These are God’s people. These are the ones
that had God as their king. This was the these were the leaders,
rather the theocracy. Luke records that they were insistent
with loud voices that he be crucified and their voices began to prevail. Because of the consistent barrage
of the enemies of Christ, the chief priests, the elders, the
scribes, the crowd, it’s subtle and you don’t even have specific
details of what happens here. It just says their voices began
to prevail. I get it that it was that it
was not only a movement in the crowd and it began to pick up
momentum, but I think it began that argument began to prevail
in Pilate’s heart. He began to be swayed by it. Matthew tells us more about the
hypocrisy of that moment, but Luke is the one that wraps it
up in verse 24. Pilate pronounced sentence that
their demand be granted. He just gives in. All of a sudden,
after fighting it for so long, he just gives in and gives up
because there were no moorings, no principles, nothing on which
to stand. He just gives in. And he released
the man they were asking who had been thrown in prison for
insurrection and murder. And he delivered Jesus to their
will. And their will was death. Their
will was crucifixion. All the gospel writers, Matthew,
Mark, John, all identify the specifics of what Luke refers
to as their will. Pilate delivered up Jesus to
be crucified. Pilate couldn’t see Jesus for
who he was. If he had, he’d have fallen on
knees of repentance like most of you. You saw the Lord Jesus
for who he was. But in Pilate’s case, there was
an unprincipled cowardice. All he wanted to do was protect
his territory, his turf, his position, his office. And he did that for a season. A very short season, even if
it had been 70 years, if he had served another 70 years, what
is that in the face of eternity? And I ask you in closing, what
is your estimation of Christ? How do you see him? Do you see
him as the Savior who went to the cross on your behalf, who
suffered as an innocent Savior? Because if you don’t, your view
is obstructed either by the same foolish ridicule or the same
opportunistic evasion where you will not deal with the facts
of who Christ was. Playful teasing that just dismisses
him out of hand or the same unprincipled cowardice that ultimately sends
him to the cross. Do you see Christ for who he
is? Let’s examine our hearts. O merciful King, we humble ourselves
before You. And if we see You at all, it is only because of Your abundant
grace that open our blinded eyes so that we look up from our sin-sickened
lives and we see You, glorious Savior, the spotless Lamb given
up for us God grant us a clear view of Christ. It’s in Jesus’
name that we pray, Amen.