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Grace, mercy, and peace from God, our Father and His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The drama that is before us this evening is a debate which can be described as a formal discussion on a particular topic in a public assembly for all to hear the opposing arguments as they are presented. The focus of this particular debate was, who is Jesus and what has he done? Some would call this exchange of words the sentencing phase of the previous trials that now are before the high court. Who has the authority to agree or the authority to disagree? Agree with the lower courts, should Jesus be put to death or not, based on the evidence that is presented.
It seems like everybody in this drama involved has a designated plan as they gather outside the Praetorium. This facility we see is King Herod’s design and desire to pacify both Rome and the Jews as he is rebuilding and expanding the temple complex in Jerusalem. The Praetorium is a building that contains a courtyard, meeting rooms, a judgment hall, Pilate’s living quarters, and a barrack for a large number of Roman soldiers. This structure is built right into the outer walls of the temple complex. In other words, Rome will always have an eye inside Israel’s most important site where large numbers of Jews periodically will gather together.
Bound as a criminal en route to Pilate, Jesus had just experienced two quick trials in the darkness of the early morning. The first was before Annas, who was once the high priest. Even though he was removed, he still remained one of the nation’s most influential people within all of the Jewish circles. Secondly, he was tried before Caiaphas, the present high priest and the son-in-law of Annas. Jesus’s crime was that when he was asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” he affirmed it by saying, “You rightly say that I am.” Blasphemy, they cried out, blasphemy. The overwhelming majority voiced that he should be condemned to death.
Now Pilate comes out to the crowd as both sides begin with generalities. “What accusations do you bring against this man?” Pilate asked. Their response was, “He’s an evildoer,” but don’t cut Pilate short in his understanding of this situation. He’s the overseer of a country on behalf of Rome, and he is in charge to know everything about everyone in order to protect Rome’s assets and to maintain peace. He has the resources and the history to prove it. Scripture doesn’t tell us, but he probably had spies all over Israel, so he knew all about this man called Jesus and his behaviors.
So with his declaration, “Judge him according to your law,” he was attempting to brush off the Jewish leaders, but they weren’t going to go away that easy. Because their response was, “We can’t put him to death. You have to do it according to your law.” Then they began to fill the air with all sorts of lies, except one. “He claimed to be the Christ and King.” Did you notice how many times in the reading you have heard the words “this man, king,” in truth?
Now at the next level, there’s this exchange between Pilate and Jesus. It came down to Pilate asking the same question twice. “Are you a king?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.” He also said, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born and for this cause I came into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth, and everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”
This time, the chief priests and the crowd, as Pilate stands before them, he’s firm this time when he says, “I find no fault in this man.” The leaders then elevated their own rhetoric. “He stirs up the people,” and it was a truth. Yes, he stirs them up with his teaching, his preaching, his miracles, and they were being drawn unto him, and he was impacting their lives. Even after shipping Jesus off to Herod, he believed he resolved his problem until he saw Jesus being escorted back to him with no charges from Herod.
Pilate tried reasoning. “I have examined him. I have found no fault in this man, but for you, I will beat him.” Pilate tried manipulation in fulfilling the custom of releasing one prisoner on Passover for the Jews each year. He would put the extreme opposite from this innocent man: an insurrectionist called Barabbas. He knew that the crowd would not like him. Because of the murderous zeal of people like him, Rome would usually retaliate by killing a lot of innocent people. For sure, the crowd would pick to release this man called Jesus who advocates for peace and seeks love.
But it backfired on him. When the options were presented, he hears, “Away with this man and release to us Barabbas.” Pilate told them that he was going to release Jesus anyway. But without any rebuttal, the crowd shouted, “Crucify him, crucify him.” “Why? What evil has he done?” Pilate demanded. “I find no reason for death in him. I will therefore have him beaten and then let him go.” The crowd also responded with their own demand that Jesus be crucified. With all the noise, Pilate retreated back inside, and he handed Jesus over to the Roman soldiers to have their way with him. Pilate thought he could pacify them, those priests, those scribes in the crowd.
So Pilate goes out again to the crowd, saying, “Behold, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no fault in him.” There he was, wearing a crown of thorns, draped in a purple robe, and badly beaten. He probably waved his hand toward Jesus as he was pointing to him and said, “Behold the man.” In other words, look at him. Look at him. You think Rome should be afraid of him? You think you should be concerned about him and his claim about being king over you? This man Jesus is nothing. Nothing at all.
Leave him alone. The response that Jesus heard with his own ears: “Crucify him, crucify him.” His own did not know him. In this debate, neither side truly cared about the truth. Jesus had left the evidence over the last three years all across Israel. There were witnesses everywhere. People sat at His feet to hear Him teach about the things of God. People heard Him preach about God’s love and God’s plan to usher in salvation. There were countless people along the highways and the byways of Israel that had been healed by Jesus. Sicknesses and diseases had been removed from their bodies. Their deformities had been made right. A large crowd along the seashore witnessed fishermen at his command, against all odds and the knowledge of their trade, pull their nets full of fish, enough to fill two boats.
His own hometown sat in the synagogue and heard him affirm, claim, according to the prophecy, that he is the promised Messiah. Demons had been possessing and tormenting people, and by his word, they were cast out. People were restored. Even death, even death, had no power against him and his word. Just a week earlier, across the Kidron Valley on the other side of the mountain, amidst the presence of a crowd accompanying Mary and Martha, Jesus spoke, “Lazarus, come out, come forth.” After three days without life in him, Lazarus walked out of the tomb alive. Evidence is everywhere.
The Jews had the holy scriptures that were given to them by God through his inspired writers. In them were all the prophecies that foretold of the coming Messiah and all the things that he would say and all the things that he would do. Did they review their list and did they put check marks to verify? Did Pilate recall all the things his spies had said about this man’s words and actions? He was different. He was not just a regular guy.
This debate was really not about who Jesus is or what Jesus has done. It was about self. It was about control. Pilate didn’t like the Jews and did not want them to have power over him, telling him what to do. Likewise, the Jews did not like Pilate and did not want him to have power over them and to tell them what to do.
The Jews did not like Jesus’ version of the kingship and his description of his kingdom because it did not match their version of the Messiah and their roles and their rules in his governance. So, for the sake of self-preservation and for their continued position of control, their plan was to kick it into high drive, overdrive, and to deal with the situation by having Jesus killed.
Pilate was no different. I have always wondered, did Pilate really care about Jesus, or was he just concerned about the reactions of the mass of people across Israel when this man of peace, who has done nothing but good, is crucified? Is Jesus just a disruptor in his life, a problem to him? He too was more concerned about self-preservation and control because Rome would not look favorably upon him if riots broke out across his region of authority. So he was trying to work his plan.
Is this not a temptation that we face each and every day? Are we blessed to have Jesus in our lives with all his benefits and blessings? The evidence is all around us as we look at God’s creation. The evidence has been revealed to us in God’s revealed word of truth through his providence. It has been passed down from generation to generation to us. We see where mankind has failed, and we see where this man Jesus in our readings this evening is faithful.
Then the pressure of our sinful flesh, with the sin-filled world’s enticements and the whispering of the devil in our ears, leads us to start to think and act, “It’s all about me. I’m in control. No one’s going to tell me what I can do and what I cannot do, even God in His Word.” And we find ourselves in the same ditch like the Jews with Pilate’s avoidance: “Crucify him. Crucify him.” Instead of releasing an innocent man, Pilate said, “You take him and you crucify him, for I find no fault in him.” In other words, your people can be mad at you and not at me for killing this man.
Pilate was constantly adjusting his plan in this debate. Then the Jews threw him a curveball by saying, “We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God.” So the issue is not about what Jesus has done, but it is about his state of being. Who is Jesus? So he brings Jesus back into the praetorium to question him, but Jesus gave him no answer. I can imagine that throughout this whole episode, Jesus was now on Pilate’s last nerve when he said, “Are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have the power to crucify you? I have the power to release you?”
Pilate was telling Jesus, “I myself have the sole authority in this situation. And I have all the power to determine your future.” This entire time of this debate, everyone had been working their plans, trying to outwit their opponents. But now Jesus sets Pilate straight in this matter when he says, “You could have no power at all against me unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin.” In other words, Pilate, you have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed, and all that you have heard about Jesus’ preaching and teaching and miracles is true.
Jesus was in harmony with his Father as they joined with the Holy Spirit to work out their plan. Ultimately, God has the power. He is the one in control. It is his plan to provide the way of salvation and that being the perfect sacrifice in place for the imperfect people. To pay the price for the sins of the world; the cost will be to give up his own life in their stead. Jesus knew where he would be spending most of this day: nailed to a cross. This was his plan, and it was to save you.
Out of options, Pilate goes out to the crowd to the judgment seat. “Behold your king.” Do you notice that Pilate rejects Jesus because he does not say, “Behold our king”? From a different perspective, the Jews also rejected Jesus as they cried out, “Away with him! Crucify him!” Like Pilate, their desire to separate themselves from Jesus was so great that when asked, “Shall I crucify your king?” their loyalty shifted to the one that they had hated and had hoped would one day throw off Caesar himself as their king, that self-declared God, a true blasphemer.
In all of this chaos and all of this rejection, Jesus stayed focused on the goal of his mission for coming into this world. He knew that at the end of the day, his lifeless body would be lying in a tomb, and it would be there for three days. Even though he was all-powerful, Jesus submitted to being that instrument through which sin, eternal death, and the power of the devil would be defeated once and for all, and he would win the forgiveness of sin, salvation, and eternal life, as well as the means to distribute these gifts in the waters of holy baptism. You have been washed. You have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and rescued from death and damnation and adopted into God’s family.
In the sacrament of the altar, you will receive Christ’s body and Christ’s blood for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith. By God’s grace, by God’s grace, you know who Jesus is and you know what he has done, what he is doing and what he will do for you. This Lenten season, we reflect on God’s love for us, and while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God. The peace which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.