WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS?
John 19:1-16
1) The soldiers mocked him (2-3). To mock means to ‘imitate in contempt’ or ‘ridicule’ or ‘scorn’. The specific word mocked is used in Matthew’s gospel. Matt. 27:28-30, “They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.” These soldiers thought it was funny to make fun of Jesus. They considered it a joke to humiliate him. They took advantage of Jesus’ meekness by driving thorns into his head and slapping his face and striking him in the head with the staff. What does this show regarding Jesus’ control? In the blink of an eye he could’ve squashed them all like a bug but instead he took it all; with dignity. Isa. 50:6, “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” The irony is that their mockery was the truth-Jesus was king. And those who mocked him would one day stand before him and see that he is the King of kings; then they would be sorry. Gal. 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” The Psalms declare that the arrogant and the fools mock God. People still mock God. They don’t take him or his commands seriously. They reduce him to a mere man, they defy him; they shake their fist at him daring him to do something. And although God may not strike them dead on the spot for doing so, they aren’t getting away with it either. Prov. 14:9, “Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright.” In their foolish sinfulness people make a mockery of the sacrifice of Christ for their sin because they don’t think they’re doing anything wrong. Jesus made amends for the sin of mankind and instead of it being honored by all of mankind many choose to mock him for it. What will we do with Jesus’ sacrifice?
2) Pilate didn’t want to deal with him (4-16). (4) If Pilate found no basis for a charge against him then why did he turn Jesus over to have him flogged (1)? Luke 23:16 says that Pilate’s plan was to punish Jesus then release him. (5) “Here is the man” As if to say, “There, see how beaten up he is? Isn’t that good enough for you?” Pilate thought the Jews would see his tortured body and be satisfied with that and then have pity on him and drop the whole matter of crucifixion. However, the Jews were relentless in their pursuit of death for Jesus (6). We can’t negotiate with those who are bent on evil. We can’t compromise on Jesus to try to appease non-Christians; it won’t work. “You take him and crucify him”. Pilate didn’t want to deal with Jesus. He tried to pass him back off to the Jews. “You’re the ones who want to kill him so badly, go and do it yourself”. But that wasn’t going to work. (7-9) “He was even more afraid”. He was already afraid of what these angry Jews would do if he let Jesus go. Now, upon learning what specifically the Jews were charging him with and that it was the worst crime imaginable to a Jew, Pilate became even more afraid. He may also have been afraid of who he was really dealing with. Pilate believed in polytheism (the belief in multiple gods). He believed that the offspring of such gods were able to visit mortals. Pilate wondered if Jesus could be such with the claim that he was the Son of God and with Jesus telling him earlier that his kingdom was not of this world. So, Pilate asks Jesus, “Where are you from”. He didn’t mean from what land, Pilate knew the region where Jesus was from, he meant from what otherworldly place. Jesus didn’t answer him. Perhaps because Jesus already told him his kingdom was not of this world. Pilate was wavering back and forth. He was asking for more information; more evidence. Perhaps Jesus didn’t give him an answer because earlier he gave Pilate the opportunity to know the truth and Pilate scoffed, turned and walked away; thus indicating that Pilate wasn’t really interested in knowing the truth. People today go back and forth. They show some desire for a while but then they stop. They come to church for a while then they vanish for a while, then you see them come back again. They want more information; they want more convincing evidence. Perhaps they will get more if they’re really looking for the truth. If not, Jesus will be silent. Some people don’t need more information, they don’t need more evidence because they’ve been given enough; they just need to believe what they’ve already been shown. (10-11) “I have the power”. Here’s Pilate, who was afraid that Jesus might be the son of a god yet now he, a mortal, arrogantly tries to tell this Son of God that he has more power than he does. Jesus is like, ‘you have no power over me. I will be crucified of my own willingness; not yours. God has all the power; and he allowed you to have what you now have’. “Guilty of a greater sin”. Not sure who is meant here. Some suggest Caiaphas, others Judas while still others signify the Jews. In any event, why they were classified as having committed a greater sin was because they knew more about Jesus then Pilate did. Whether it’s Caiaphas, Judas or the religious leaders they all were fellow Jews who knew more about Jesus yet still wanted him dead as opposed to than Pilate, a foreigner, who didn’t really know Jesus and didn’t want him dead but would later condemn him to death because of his fears. Everyone has to decide what they are going to do with Jesus. However, those who continue to reject him despite knowing more about Jesus, having experienced more opportunities of Jesus trying to get through to them, will be held to a greater accountability. The more we know, the more we experience the less excuses we will have as to why we continued to reject him. (12-15) Pilate was now in a dilemma-if Jesus was the son of a god and he handed Jesus over to be killed he was going to anger the gods. But if he let Jesus go he would incite the Jews to rioting and they would get word to Caesar that he let a known threat to the Roman establishment go free; which would seal his fate for sure. We will face those dilemmas too. We know the right thing to do but in so doing we might upset certain people. We may not want to deal with it but we know we have to. Pilate was also probably remembering what his wife had said to him earlier Matt. 27:19, “While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” What would Pilate do? He believed Jesus was innocent yet he wasn’t willing to deal with the fallout if he acted on his conscience and ruled in Jesus’ favor. Although Pilate really didn’t want to condemn him, he caved in to the pressure (“no friend of Caesar’s”). He found no fault in him yet would not let him go (16). Matt. 27:24-26, “When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.” Pilate tried to get himself off the hook but in the end it was still him that gave the order to crucify, even if he himself didn’t want to do it. People today want to avoid dealing with the difficult question regarding what they will do in response to the invitation to salvation. They try to wash their hands of it, they want to claim innocence but they can’t. Pilate didn’t want to deal with Jesus but in the end he had to; he made the decision to hand him over to be crucified. Pilate chose to be a friend to Caesar rather than be a friend to Jesus. He feared man more than God. Ironically, in the end, what he feared and wanted to hold onto he lost anyway a short time later. The Jewish historian, Josephus, states that Pilate lost the position he tried so desperately to retain. In 36 AD Pilate was called to Rome to answer complaints brought against him and his governorship ended. What did Pilate’s compromise buy him? A few short years of luxury. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Pilate didn’t want to deal with Jesus but he had to-so do we.
3) The Jews rejected him (6-7, 12, 15). Time after time Pilate gives the Jews a chance to change their hearts toward Jesus. (5) “Here is the man”. Behold the man who means you no harm yet you want to harm him. Behold the man who loves you yet you hate him. Pilate wanted to set him free and he tried to get the Jews to let Jesus go but they refused. (6). In Matt. 27 it says that the chief priests had persuaded the crowd to join with them. The crowd was shouting, “Crucify” when just days prior they were shouting “Hosanna”. They turned on Jesus. Sure, the religious leaders stirred them up but they were still the ones who turned their back on the one they praised just days earlier. But before you criticize them for their fickleness we need to understand that we do the same thing. We praise him today but tomorrow we turn our back on him when we’re in our sin or when we keep silent about him or when we’re prideful thinking we can do it ourselves. Time after time God gives people chances to change their hearts toward him. Some people are like the Jews who refused to give up their hatred. Others allow their hearts to soften and are drawn to Christ. Pilate tried to reason with the Jews. He tried to show them that Jesus wasn’t who they thought he was. We try to reason with people today. We try to convince them of their improper view of God. We try to convince them that God does love them, he does care about them; he hasn’t abandoned them. But, because of something that happened in their lives like a loved one that died too early or a bad experience in another church or an abuse that happened to them they dismiss the notion of there being a loving God that cares about them. (12) “You are no friend of Caesar”. The Jews stated that if Pilate let him go he was no friend of Caesar. Ironically the Jews were no friend of Caesar’s either. They despised people like Matthew who collected taxes for Caesar. They challenged Jesus with the question, ‘is it right to pay taxes to Caesar’ hoping to trap him. They held no friendship with Caesar yet they were ready to use it as leverage against Pilate. (15) “Shall I crucify your king”? Pilate gives them one last chance to see the gravity of what they were doing. “This is the one who claims he is the Son of God. You Jews have been waiting for your Messiah, what if Jesus is the One? You’d be asking me to put your Messiah to death. Do you realize what will happen to you if you put God’s Son to death? Think about how serious this is”. “We have no king but Caesar”. I’ll bet this floored Pilate. He thought he had laid his trump card and the Jews came back with a statement of loyalty to a Roman king. And here they claim no king but Caesar when really they held no loyalty to him except when it would work in their favor to put to death the real king. They rejected King Jesus in favor of a pagan king. They crucified the Holy One and accepted Barabbas the murderer in his place. This reveals the depth of their hatred and depravity. Really this wasn’t about blasphemy; that was just a convenient charge to bring Jesus to Pilate. This whole incident was going on because Jesus went after Jews time and again about their own sinfulness and instead of humbly accepting Jesus’ input they despised him for it. Their pride caused them to hate Jesus and send him to the cross. In our pride and sinfulness we will always reject Jesus. We too have to choose between two kings-Jesus-the king of kings, or Satan-a murderer from the beginning. People don’t think that if they reject Jesus they’re choosing Satan but that’s exactly what they’re doing. There are only two kings, there are only two masters. We are devoted to one or the other. To reject Jesus is to embrace Satan. What will we do with Jesus?
4) What will we do with him? Most people have some opinion about Jesus-good bad or indifferent. Sometimes people make the mistake of just blindly going with what their family or friends think about him. When Pilate asked Jesus if he was king of the Jews Jesus responded with “Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about me?” We need to draw our own conclusions about who Jesus is based on what we know or experience rather than going on someone else’s opinion. Matt. 16:13-17, “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” Jesus was rejected, hated, mocked, betrayed, abused and killed. He went through all this for us. What will we do with that? The reality is we have to do something. There is no neutral ground when it comes to Jesus. Everyone is doing something with Jesus right now. John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” “Stands condemned already”. There’s no putting it off thinking we’re okay until we decide what we’re going to do with Jesus. As the line in the song goes, ‘If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice’. Even for those of us who are Christians we still need to decide what we’re going to do with Jesus. Are we going to lean on him when we’re weak? Are we going to trust in him when we’re unsure? Are we going to run to him when we’re afraid? Are we going to turn back to him when we’ve strayed? Are we going to submit to him? Are we going to serve him? Are we going to love him? What are you going to do with Jesus?
