Jesus Before Pilate Series

Title: Jesus Before Pilate

Text: John 18:28-40

This morning, we’re going to be looking at John chapter 18, verses 28 through 40. And I want you to keep in mind what I mentioned to you last Sunday – how a lot of what we’ll be seeing in this narrative of Jesus on trial, sounds very similar to the same junk we hear today in our modern day news reports.

Corrupt and wicked leaders are not new. And that goes for political leaders as well as religious leaders. When a person, or group of people stand to either gain or lose a lot of money through corruption, fraud, deceit and deception – this is the kind of thing you’ll see happen, over, and over, and over again.

Like Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

So let’s look at our text together, and we pray that the Lord will bless us and equip us through the preaching of His Word.

(READ TEXT)

Now before we get too far into the lesson here, there’s some confusion about verse 28… We read that and we go… “Wait a second? Didn’t Jesus and the Disciples already eat the Passover?”

Well, you’ve got to understand that Passover wasn’t just celebrated in one night. Exodus 12:18 tells us that Passover was to be celebrated from the 14th day of the month to the 21st day of the month… that would be according to the Jewish calendar, not ours. And when the Jewish people celebrate Passover, they follow the Seder – the order – there’s a particular way you go about doing it.

Everyone would sit around the table – they would eat specific foods, there were four cups of wine that were drank at different times during the meal, they would sing, and pray, and retell the Exodus story, as well as incorporate some other teachings. And that is done the first night of Passover (some families also do it the second night, but some don’t).

There would be specific types of food, the lamb which was the Pascal Lamb which represents the sacrifice. An egg, bitter herbs, haroset (an apple, nut and wine mixture… kind of like applesauce), and Karpas (which is usually parsley). There would be three pieces of matzah, which is a type of unleavened bread that they would use to dip and sop up the food. So, that’s the meal Jesus and the disciples ate, but there are others throughout the week that people will gather for.

But John doesn’t focus on that, so I’m not going to focus on it any more than I already have.

Now what we’re seeing take place here is what John already told us way back in chapter 1. John 1:9-13, Speaking of Jesus John writes- He was “the true Light, which give slight to everyone, and He came into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Now you go back to our text there in chapter 18, and that’s exactly what you see. The world rejects Jesus! And again, understand the kind of evil, wicked, conspiracy that has taken place. The Jews hate the Romans, especially the religious leaders – they despised Rome, and were always pointing to the evils of Rome, and stirring the people up against them. And the Roman’s aren’t really too fond of the Jews. The Romans saw them as troublemakers, and instigators, and rabble rousers. They were always demanding things from Rome, but at the same time, they were always plotting how to get free from them. They were just a constant thorn in the side of Rome.

But here they are together – conspiring against Jesus!

And I say this all the time, but I can’t stress it enough. The world is at enmity with God. The person without Christ in their heart, has a deep seated hatred for God. They may never verbalize that. They may not act on it… but the person without Christ doesn’t love God. They either want to make Him submit to their whims, wills, and desires, and make Him give them everything they want in this life. Or they want to be totally free from Him.

They refuse to acknowledge Him, they do not retain Him in their knowledge. They live as if He wasn’t real… and what’s crazy is that God in one very real sense gives them a taste of what they want.