Jesus before Pilate John 19:1-16
I saw some interesting tombstone inscriptions.
• The first one was from a place called Tombstone Arizona. It says, “Here lies Lester Moore; four slugs from a .44, no Les, no more.”
• Here’s one from Lincoln, Maine that says, “Sacred to the memory of Jared Bates who died August the 6th 1800. His widow aged 24, lives at 7 Elm Street, has every qualification for a good wife and yearns to be comforted.”
• Here’s one from a place called Skaneateles, N.Y. “Underneath this pile of stones lies all that’s left of Sally Jones. Her name was Briggs, it was not Jones, but Jones was used to rhyme with stones.”
• And then finally here’s one from Springdale, Ohio. And it says, “Here lies Jane Smith, wife of Thomas Smith, marble cutter. This monument was erected by her husband as a tribute to her memory and a specimen of his work. Monuments of the same style 350 dollars.” When I read that, I thought, now here’s a guy who is really committed to his work.
The fear of death is a universal phenomenon because no matter where you go in the world, you’ll always find people who are afraid of dying. The reason for this fear is obvious and it’s because death is the greatest mystery in life. And since death is considered to be the biggest "unknown" of all, many people, including some Christians, find the very thought of death terrifying. The problem that all of us face is that none of us know how long we’ll live and how we’ll actually die and so we wonder, what will it feel like? What will be waiting for us as we reach the other side? Will there be any such thing as problems in the afterlife? I mean, since none of us have ever died before, we really don’t know what to expect.
And as they say, death, like taxes, is unavoidable. It doesn’t matter how rich, powerful, or influential you are because death is no respecter of persons. I think of people like J. Paul Getty or Howard Hughes who were worth billions of dollars and yet neither one of them could buy five more minutes of time.
One of the reasons people fear death is that we have to face it alone. I mean, even if you are surrounded by hundreds of people when you die and they all love you and think of you as the greatest person on the planet as soon as you die you’re on the other side all by yourself. And if the thought of dying is frightful then the very idea of standing before God Himself can be downright terrifying; and so it should be if the one who is dying doesn’t know the Lord.
It’s been said that there are two things that a man cannot view with a steady gaze – one is the sun, the other is death because every time we think about death we flinch.
There are some people who deal with the issue of death by becoming obsessed with the subject while others simply try to ignore it all together. And since there are plenty of distractions in life then ignoring death can be easy. The only time some people have to think about death is when they become seriously ill, when someone close to them dies, or there is a major crisis in life like the collapse of the World Trade Center. It was interesting to read that right after this attack there was a large number of people searching the Internet looking for websites that dealt with death.
There are three main fears a person needs to address about death and they are, the fear of death itself which is as some say the great unknown, then there is the fear of facing death all by yourself and then there’s the fear of standing before God. Although making peace with God eliminates the fear of meeting God, it doesn’t eliminate the mystery of death because the experience of death can be different for every one. I like how Woody Allen put it when he said, “It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” The fear comes from the fact that no one knows the specifics of how they’ll die or when they’ll die or what comes afterward.
And yet, we who know the Lord can have confidence knowing that everything will be alright because we know that the God who cares for us will work out all of the details. And as people who’ve trusted Jesus to save us the Bible says He’s coming back to take us home and we all know there’s no greater sense of comfort than being home and especially when your home is in heaven.
Natives in South America place arrows around the sick person to ward off the “Grim Reaper” and we think that’s weird but when one of our loved ones die we like to dress them up and the way they look gives the impression they’re just sleeping. And I’m sure some of these natives would think we’re just as weird as we think they are. But, it just goes to show that everyone does what they have to do to handle that which is too hard to handle.
There is a list of the most common causes of death that people fear the most and yet these things are also the least likely to happen to them. For instance the number one thing that most people fear is dying is in an airplane crash. Thirty million Americans describe themselves as anxious flyers but what their really afraid of is crashing. And yet, the actual risk of anyone being killed in an airplane crash works out to once in every 19,000 years. I remember taking my mother to the airport one time and I said, “I want to get you some of this flight insurance. It’s only two dollars.” And she said, “Save your money, that’s just a waste.” But, I said, “I don’t know, I’m feeling kind of lucky.”
The number two fear is shark attacks and especially after the movie Jaws came out, many people were afraid of going for a swim for fear of being killed by a shark. And yet, only 38 people died in the United States from shark attacks between 1580 and 2003. I mean, that gives you the impression that it’s really rare and yet there was a girl who lost her leg by a shark attack when she was surfing and she became a media star.
The third greatest fear is being murdered. According to the World Health Organization there is one person is murdered about every 60 seconds worldwide, and in 2000, an estimated 520,000 people were murdered in the world and although this sounds like an awful lot but in the year 2000, there were over 6 million people who died of cancer. So, you’re chances of dying of cancer are 12 times greater than being murdered and do you know what the strange thing is, cancer doesn’t even make the list. Although we all know someone if not many that have died from cancer we don’t even consider that to be a risk.
And then the fourth greatest fear is falling to your death. In 2001, more than 11,600 people over the aged of 65 died from falling and that’s a real concern but that’s not the type of fall this study is talking about here but this is the kind of fall that happens when an adult falls from a great height. It’s not a rational act but it’s a fear.
And then fifth, there is the fear of being killed in a terrorist attacks. With the bombings and terrorist attacks in the news there are many who are conscious of them but the real odds of dying this way are 9.3 million to 1, which means you all have a better chance of dying in an avalanche and we know there aren’t too many in Sackville.
And then sixth, there are the natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, floods, storms, heat and cold and people see them as a threat hanging over their heads that could happen at any time but your real lifetime chance of dying from a natural force like one of these is one in 3,357.
So, all of these fears are irrational in the sense that the chances are very slim of any of them actually happening to anyone here and yet these are the things that people fear.
And the interesting thing is to look at the most common causes of death other than old age and to see that there is actually something you can do about it. And this list comes from the Journal of the American Medical Association which was published in 2000. First, they said that tobacco kills 435,000 people a year throughout the world. And second, this is followed by poor diet and a lack of exercise which results in 400,000 deaths a year. And then third, alcohol consumption causes 85,000 deaths. Then fourth, motor vehicle crashes result in 43,000 deaths a year. And then fifth there are accidents involving firearms that result in 29,000 deaths a year. And sixth, there are sexual behaviors that lead to aids and other diseases and they result in 20,000 deaths a year. And then seventh, there is the use of illicit drugs and their use results in about 17,000 deaths a year. And when you look at tobacco, laziness, alcohol, car crashes, guns, sexual behaviors and illegal drugs no one is afraid of these but these are the very things that many people die from.
We all know we’re going to die but we don’t need to get all bent out of shape by things that aren’t going to happen and we certainly don’t want to involve ourselves in any behavior that’s going to hurry the process along.
I like how one old lady said, “My eyesight isn’t what it used to be and my legs are a bit shaky at the best of times. My attention span wanders and I forget where I’m at and what I’m doing. I’m always tired and I fall asleep quite easily and I even forget where I’m heading but I thank God I’m still able to drive.
And here we’re looking at the death of Jesus and the strange thing is the Jews were afraid of Jesus, Pilate was afraid of the Jews and Jesus is the one facing death and He’s not afraid of anything or anybody.
There were three stages to Jesus’ trial before the Jews. First, He was brought before Annas where He was interrogated informally and Annas tried to get information that would prove Jesus was an enemy of the state and this would show the Romans that He was anti-Roman and worthy of death but as I said last week Jesus not only didn’t co-operate with Annas but He demonstrated very clearly that Annas was an incompetent ruler.
And then second, He was taken before Caiaphas and whatever members of the Sanhedrin he could assemble at that hour of the night and there Jesus confessed that He was Christ and that He’d be coming back in glory. And in response to that they declared Him guilty of blasphemy and worthy of death.
And then stage three of the Jewish trial took place early the following morning when the leadership of the Jews condemned Him to death.
Then there were three stages of the Roman trial and the first was His appearance before Pilate then the appearance before Herod and then His second appearance before Pilate.
And as I finished last week I said Pilate began his assessment of Jesus by saying, "I don’t know what the accusation is" and then he ended by telling the religious leaders, "There’s no fault in this Man." And all the way through the trial he kept trying to get himself out of the situation because he knew that Jesus was an innocent man and in the end he told them that he didn’t want the blood of this just man on his hands. And by the time we come to the end of these various trials what we see is the magnificence of Jesus and the Godless rebellion of the religious leaders and the cowardice of Pilate.
Now, as the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate early in the morning, the temple police would have handed Jesus over to Pilate’s guards and He would have been kept in Pilate’s official residence which was known as the praetorian. And in the passage which begins in chapter 18:28 and goes all the way to 19:16 Pilate actually goes back and forth from the inside of the praetorian to the outside where all the Jewish leadership are gathered with many of their followers. And it’s interesting to watch him because he’s supposed to be like the Prime Minister and he’s acting like some kind of labor conciliator.
First, we see in verses 29-32 where he’s outside trying to understand the charges against Jesus and he tries to brush it all off by telling the Jews to take care of the situation themselves but they said they weren’t willing or able to deal with it because what they were looking for was the death penalty.
And then Pilate began by asking them in verse 29, “What accusation bring ye against this man?" And his question was in line with Roman law which required three things; first, there had to be a specific charge, second, the accusers had to be brought before the accused, and then third, the accused had the right to answer for himself and so Pilate was simply doing the right thing by demanding to know why they had brought Jesus before him.
And that’s the first fair question in the trial of Jesus because at least somebody wanted to know what it was He was accused of doing. So, in asking this he’s saying, what’s the accusation, if we’re going to have a trial here then we should at least know what exactly it is that we trying Him for? And this question really blew a hole in their plans because they weren’t even thinking about a trial, all they wanted was an execution.
And then in verse 31 it says, “Then said Pilate unto him, take ye Him and judge Him according to your own law. The Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death.” And here it seems as though Pilate had given the Jews the temporary right to kill Jesus because he basically said, go and do what you want to do. And they said in response, we can’t do that, it’s against the law. And the hypocrisy of their saying this was that they already tried to stone Jesus on several occasions and yet here they weren’t willing to kill Him. And the question is, why not? And the answer is in verse 32 that says, “In order that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke signifying what death He should die.”
They didn’t want to try Him because they knew they didn’t have a single accusation that would ever stand up in a Roman court. So when he asks, what crime has He committed, verse 30 says, “They answered and said unto him, if He were not an evil doer would we not have delivered Him up unto thee?” And what they were saying was, why you don’t think we’d bring someone here who wasn’t a horrible criminal, do you? And they didn’t even answer his question because what they were saying was, are you questioning our motives? Which tells us, that they had nothing to charge Him with.
This proves one thing and that was the perfection of Jesus. They had looked everywhere and they had examined everything He said and did to try to find something wrong and they came up with nothing. I mean, don’t forget that these men were in the front row every time Jesus spoke and they witnessed every miracle He performed. So, they were in a tough spot because they knew they didn’t have a charge that would hold any weight in a Roman court. They’re own charge was blasphemy but the Romans weren’t going to execute anybody who claimed to be God. And so, in essence, they said, we’re good people and He’s a malefactor which means an evil doer and as far as they were concerned that ought to be enough for Pilate.
So, they were saying, we’re the judges, we’re the highest court of Israel and we’ve made the decision and now all we want you to do is kill Him. And here we can see that they hoped that Pilate would just take their word He was guilty and they expected this because he was the one who provided the soldiers the night before.
And so, what they did was to act like they were insulted that he would even believe that they would have arrested an innocent man. Luke 23:2 adds, “And they began to accuse Him. We found this fellow perverting the nations. Forbidding to give tribute to Caesar and saying that He Himself is Christ the King.” And what they were trying to do was to make Jesus look like He was some kind of revolutionary who was going to lead a rebellion and crown Himself king.
And then second, in verses 33-38 he leaves the Jews and goes back inside and asks Jesus, “Art thou the King of the Jews?" And here we see another example of gross injustice because Roman law required that the accused and the accusers be brought face to face and that the accused should have the opportunity of answering to the charges that his accusers were bringing against him but here Pilate ignored the law in the same way that Annas and Caiaphas had done.
And when he questions Jesus about the nature of His kingship he resorts to sarcasm when he asks the question, “What is truth?” And even though he asked this question, he really didn’t want to know what it was or even do it, if it was going to be an inconvenience to him. That was over 2000 years ago. And what’s really changed? If anything, people are even more confused and disillusioned with the basic questions of life because they’re no longer asking, ‘What is truth?’ but the big question today is, ‘Does it even matter?’
And yet, Pilate must have wondered, who was this strange character who attracted the multitudes, but was so hated by their leaders? Who is this man who has power to heal the sick and yet He doesn’t even own a home? Who is this person was able to raise the dead and yet stands here tied up, waiting to die?
And when he asked Jesus, “Art thou the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?" And here I think Jesus was speaking to his conscience because He was asking him if he wanted to do the right thing or was he just going to be the tool in the hands of the Jews.
And then third, in verses 38-40 Pilate leaves Jesus there and goes back outside and he declares Jesus to be not guilty and then he tries to end all this by doing what he did every year and offered to release a prisoner at the Passover. And here I think Pilate was trying to worm out of the situation by offering them a choice between Jesus and Barabass and it all goes back to a custom that the Romans had with the people. It may have begun before Pilate was the governor, that every year at Passover they would release from the jails of the Romans one of the prisoners who was a Jewish criminal who had been taken by Rome.
This was a concession on the part of Rome to the people because the other gospel writers tell us that the people had the right to choose who it was that they wanted released. And so Pilate begins to think, it’s Passover time and they get to choose whoever they want released and I’ll offer them Jesus who was a religious teacher or Barabbas who was the scum of the earth. And let’s face it, nobody would want Barabbas. I mean, he wasn’t some kind of a petty criminal but he was notorious. The Bible says he was a notable person and the other gospels tell us that he was an insurrectionist or a political leader. They also refer to him as a murderer and here it says in verse 40, that Barabbas was a robber, the Greek word is bandit.
Barabbas is an important individual because he exemplifies the depravity or the utter sinfulness of man. And what we have here is Jesus who is the best in the universe and Barabbas who was the worse of humanity and the question is, which one would they choose? And the answer is simple, they’d pick the worst.
Well, Pilate was dumbfounded and in Matthew 27, it says “Pilate looked at the people and said, what then shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” And the Bible says they screamed in frenzy Crucify...crucify... crucify.
And then fourth, in chapter 19:1-3 Pilate sees that he’s getting no where and he goes back inside and orders that Jesus be scourged and scourging was a painful form of torture that was done with a whip made with leather thongs that had pieces of glass and metal in them and after that we’re told the soldiers mocked Him.
In verses 4-7 it says, “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.”
Here, he goes back outside to show them how bad Jesus had been beaten and humiliated, thinking that he could somehow satisfy the hatred of the religious crowd only to find that they wouldn’t be happy until He was dead.
But if he could find no fault in Him then what was he doing ripping His flesh off His back? What was he doing mocking Him? If he finds no fault with Him then why does he all this? I think he was trying to make them happy by disfiguring Jesus and if they can see how horrible He looks, maybe they’ll think, well that’s enough.
And then he was faced with another problem because he doesn’t know what to do with Jesus. He can’t just hand Him back to them or they’re going to complain to the emperor that he’s not doing his job. And he tries to figure out how to get rid of Jesus and the first thing he thinks of is to send Him down the road to Herod. And in Luke 23 we find the second phase of the trial which John skips but Luke picks up on and he says that since Jesus is from the Galilee region and Herod is the authority there and since he happens to be in Jerusalem Pilate decides to pass the buck to Herod. And Herod looks at Jesus a while, his soldiers mock Him, beat Him a little bit and then Herod says take Him back to Pilate and Pilate has Him again.
You see Pilate has to face what we all face, and that’s the question, what are you going to do with Jesus. Pilate tried every single thing he could to get rid of Jesus and he couldn’t do it because God forced him to decide what he’d do with him. And so He does to every man.
In verse 5 Pilate saith unto them, Behold, the man!” He was saying, He’s no threat to anybody. Look at Him, He’s just a man, He’s not a threat to you or to me or to anybody else. He stands there covered with gashing wounds, blood streaking down His face in streams from the crown of thorns on His head and He nothing to be afraid of. Pilate was saying, He’s nothing more than a helpless, powerless and a weakling. And this was Pilate’s effort to get off the hook. He figures that seeing Jesus in this condition that’ll be enough. I don’t think he thought these people were blood thirsty people and how wrong he was.
And then fifth, in verses 8-11 Pilate goes back inside and he appears to be more afraid than ever and he tries to impress Jesus by telling Him that he’s all powerful even though it’s obvious that the Jews were the ones who were in charge and Jesus told him that the only power he has came from above.
And then sixth, in verses 12-16 Pilate goes out to the Jews in one final attempt to release Jesus and hears them say that as far as they’re concerned that Caesar is their king and he gives in because he’s afraid if he defends Jesus any further that his own life would be endangered.
And so Pilate tried to reason with this crowd but soon found out that he was wasting his time. He might have thought that Jesus had done something wrong in the beginning but now he realized that He was innocent. And so as he goes out to face the crowd they wouldn’t listen but said, “If you release Jesus, then that proves that you’re no friend of Caesar” and what they’re saying is, when Caesar hears about you turning Jesus free and He claimed to be a king then you’re really going to be in trouble.
And Pilate’s really has two options on his hands. Now he’s a man of some justice. He’s not an average person but he’s a pretty sharp guy or he wouldn’t be placed in such a position by Rome. And to his benefit we should say that he had a sense of justice. They brought him an innocent man and he was faced with two options. On one hand the man was innocent and he should let Him go. And that would be the right thing to do. But on the other hand, if I let Him go, I’ll have a Jewish revolution, and when word gets back to Caesar and I’ll get either removed or my head cut off because Tiberius doesn’t tolerate fools. And so, Pilate had the option of doing what was right and losing his job and maybe his head or doing what was wrong and crucifying his own soul. So of the two choices it was save your soul or save your neck.
And then Pilate brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat called Gabbatha, to render his verdict and he said to the Jews, “Look, here is your king!”? And their response was predictable as they shouted out, “Away with him! Crucify him!” And then Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your king?” And in response to his question, they said, “We have no king except Caesar!”
And by that statement these Jews made one final act of rebellion against God, and they did away with any hope for a Messiah when they placed their faith in Caesar, rather than in Jesus.
They Barabbas for Jesus and what a horrible bargain that was. And just like anyone who rejects Jesus Christ today, there is no other way for any of them to be saved and that leaves them lost and condemned to hell for all of eternity.
Someone said, “Pilate condemned Him, the crowd accused Him, Herod mocked Him, Judas betrayed Him, Peter denied Him and now, the question is, what will you do with Him. What ever you do, don’t ignore Him because ignoring someone is the greatest insult you can perform. Ignoring someone is saying, you aren’t worth thinking about. And there are many who won’t think about God now but they’ll have to face Him in eternity and then it’ll be too late to do anything about it.
There are two great disappointments that can happen to anyone. One is to want something so bad and never get it and the other is to finally get what you want only to find out that it wasn’t worth getting in the first place. And that’s why it’s important to want the right things in life.
What this portion of scripture shows us, are people who would claim they believed the word of God because it was such a part of their lifestyle. I told you before that the average Pharisee had memorized 165 chapters of the Old Testament. These people would never miss a service for any reason. They might take a holiday but wherever they went they always found a place to worship. They tithed to the point that they would not only tithe on any salary they earned but Jesus said they’d go as far as dividing the parsley in their window boxes with a pair of tweezers to make sure that they gave God everything that was coming to Him. And they were people of prayer. I mean, they’d not only go to the temple to pray but they’d pray right on the street corners where everyone could see them. Jesus described them as people who would wash the outside of a dish while ignoring the inside and He said the problem was they were only concerned with what others could see and they couldn’t care less what God saw. He also said these people would be involved in evangelistic efforts to the point where they’d travel over land and sea to make someone a disciple and they’d become twice the disciple of hell that any of them were.
The fact is, everything they did was all done for the wrong reasons and none of it was ever rewarded or recognized by God. Now, let me ask you a few questions. How does your life compare to the Pharisees? So, how good of a believer are you? Do you study or even memorize the scripture? Are you faithful in your attendance because you want to hear and learn the word of God? Do you tithe on everything God blesses you with and are careful to never short change God? Do you know what it means to pray for others or is your prayer life constricted to thanking God for your food? And finally, are you involved in evangelistic efforts of any kind?
These Jews were religious to the core but they were full of hatred. And that seems like a contradiction in itself because we would wonder how someone could profess to have a relationship with the God of love and hate everyone who doesn’t agree with them. But then again what about us? We are known as evangelical Baptists and that’s not a denominational title but a description of who we are. By being called Baptists we are telling the world that we believe in the act of baptism as an identification with Jesus Christ’s death burial and resurrection and the evangelical part means we believe in evangelizing or preaching the gospel to the unsaved. So, how are we doing? Are we individually living up to our name?
There are three points in the indictment against this crowd. First, they were concentrating on ceremonial purity by staying outside of Pilates home while demanding death to the One who was a threat to both their positions and their income. They’re like the guy who was serving time in a federal prison for murder and he refused to sing in the prison choir because he said he was a member of a denomination that never used any instruments with their singing. Second, their claim to be concerned for their nation was contradicted by the demand that a prisoner be released who was a known thief. And then third, they actually renounced any faith they had in God when they pledged allegiance to Caesar. And this is really strange because they were being very careful to keep themselves pure for the Passover which was the celebration of the deliverance from Egypt while they were pledging allegiance to Rome.
The way Pilate is described in the gospel of John is so realistic that we can understand the pressures that he’s under. On one hand, he’s got this crowd of Jews who want him to do something he knows is wrong while on the other he’s got Jesus who he sees as a victim of their prejudice, their hatred and their devotion to the business of religion. And on top of all of this he’s got the emperor of Rome looking over his shoulder and telling him to do what’s right but don’t allow things to get out of control and cause a lot of problems. So, I think Pilate would like to do the right thing but he’s not willing to put himself in the place of suffering for doing it.
And whether we like it or not, we all find ourselves confronted with decisions where we have to decide whether we’ll live for ourselves or live for God. It may not be life or death but it’s surely decisions we have to make over the issue of right or wrong.
