The Passion Week of Christ: A Study from the Book of Mark
Week 8: The Servant Suffers - He Is Condemned
Mark 15:1-20
I. Introduction
A. A Southern Baptist pastor was walking down the street when he came upon a group of about 12 boys, all of them between 10 & 12 years of age. The group had surrounded a dog. Concerned they were hurting the dog, he went over and asked "What are you doing with that dog?" One of the boys replied, "This dog is just an old stray. We all want him, but only one of us can take him home. So we've decided that whichever one of us can tell the biggest lie will get to keep the dog." Of course, the pastor was appalled. "You boys shouldn't be having a contest telling lies!" he exclaimed. He then launched into a ten minute sermon against lying, beginning, "Don't you boys know it's a sin to lie," and ending with, "Why, when I was your age, I never told a lie." There was dead silence for about a minute. Just as the pastor was beginning to think he'd gotten through to them, the smallest boy gave a deep sigh and said, "All right, give him the dog."
B. We live in a society in which, even amongst God's people, truth is not valued. In fact, one could say that it is on trial. When asked "Is there absolute truth," defined as "truth that is true across all times and cultures for all people," 62% of American adults, and 72% of those 18-25yo, say there is NO SUCH thing! Yet, this is true even in Christian circles...70% of Evangelicals affirm absolute truth; yet only 42% of born again Christians and 25% of non-born again Christians affirm absolute truth. Many in our society today continue to struggle with the same question Pontius Pilate did 2000 yrs ago.
C. On April 7, 30 AD, as Jesus stood befor him, Pontius Pilate asked perhaps one of the greatest questions in the history of man "What is truth?" As Pilate would soon discover, truth was standing right in front of his own eyes! After examining Jesus thoroughly and hearing the evidence, 12x Pilate of his own accord identified Jesus as truth - "I find no grounds for charging this man," "Clearly, he has done nothing wrong." Yet, in the end, he condemned Jesus, truth, to die a death accursed by God, hung on a tree. Pilate literally killed Truth. And his actions that Good Friday continue to serve as a stark warning to our country, our churches and our own individual lives today, Sunday March 23rd, 2014, when once again truth stands on trial.
II. Scripture Reading & Prayer
A. Stand with me to honor the reading of God's Word. Read Mark 15:1-20.
B. Pray - Father, truth once again is on trial in our world. Unlike Pilate, help us to stand firm in our convictions of absolute truth as embodied in Your Son and as revealed in Your Word.
III. Context, Context, Context
A. There was no love loss between Pilate and the Jewish people. In fact, they had great disdain for each other, thanks largely to the fact that Pilate was extremely offensive, cruel and corrupt and deliberately annoyed the Jews. One incident helps set the background: Philo describes an incident in which Pilate was chastened by Emperor Tiberius after antagonizing the Jews by setting up gold-coated shields in Herod's Palace in Jerusalem. The shields were to honor Tiberius. Yet, Philo writes that the shields were set up "not so much to honour Tiberius as to annoy the multitude." The Jews protested at first to Pilate, and then, when he declined to remove them, by writing to Tiberius. Philo reports that upon reading the letters, Tiberius "wrote to Pilate with a host of reproaches and rebukes for his audacious violation of precedent and bade him at once take down the shields and have them transferred from the capital to Caesarea." Philo further writes that Pilate feared a delegation that the Jews might send to Tiberius protesting the gold-coated shields, because "if they actually sent an embassy they would also expose the rest of his conduct as governor by stating in full the briberies, the insults, the robberies, the outrages and wanton injuries, the executions without trial constantly repeated, the ceaseless and supremely grievous cruelty."
B. In summary, we have in Pilate a cruel and corrupt man who deliberately annoyed the Jews almost for sport, and in the Jews we have a crowd who was more than willing to tattle tale on his misconduct to the Emperor in hopes Pilate would be deposed from his post as Governor of Judea. History tells us he ultimately was after repeated accusations.
IV. Pilate Condemns Truth: His Court (Read and explain Mark 15:1)
A. Recall from last week who we said was in power, Rome. As such, the Sanhedrin had full power over religious matters, but it had none to inflict the death penalty. Thus, they had 2 tasks before them. #1 They had to formulate a legal charge adequate to justify the death penalty. #2 They had to produce some political charge adequate in Roman eyes for death.
B. Having illegally convened at night, the Sanhedrin, as soon as it was morning, now formally convenes to pronounce sentence on Jesus. Luke 22:66-71 records this consultation. Of course, we know this was nothing more than a formality as Jesus' guilt in their eyes had been established back in Mark 3:6. Their opportunity to destroy Him now lay at hand. And so they:
Bound Jesus - Knowing what we know about Jesus, this along with His arrest in the Garden seems overkill (cf. Mark 14:48-49). Subconsciously, it shows their fear of Jesus. Many were afraid He was a magician or sorcerer and that His power was in His hands. App. Is Jesus free to have reign over our lives or have we too bound Him, limited Him, restricted Him?
Led Him away - Roman governors held court early in the AM before the heat of the day set in and so this would likely have been around 6am. Mark 15:25 tells us it was the third hour (9 am) when they crucified him.
Delivered Him over to Pilate - Pilate normally resided in Caesara, but he was temporarily in Jerusalem "to keep the peace" due to the millions of pilgrims that would have been in the city for Passover. He likely stayed in the military HQs, which was the fortress Antionia, next to the temple. Thus, this is where they would have brought Jesus. Yet they themselves would not have entered the Roman HQs. Why? By law, to enter the home of a Gentile would render them ceremonially unclean. In light of the approaching Passover, they wouldn't have sufficient time to purify themselves. Well did Jesus say of these men - read Matthew 23:25-28. Don't we do the same brothers & sisters - give degrees to sin and consider ours the lesser or least, spend more time cleaning the outside of our cups than first cleaning the inside?
V. Pilate Condemns Truth: His Cross-Examination (Read & explain Mark 15:2-5)
A. John's Gospel records that the Jewish leaders demanded that Pilate simply agree to the death sentence they had already pronounced. But, Pilate refused...if for no other reason than to annoy the Sanhedrin. And so Pilate begins a cross-examination of our Lord, asking him several questions. Mark in typical fashion gives us a very condensed version.
B. First, Pilate asks Jesus Are YOU the King of the Jews? You is emphatic and sarcastic. Mark tells us that the chief priests in fact accused him {Jesus} of many things. Luke 23:2 records these for us: subverting our nation, opposing paying taxes, saying He is Messiah, King. The only one Pilate took seriously and had any interest in was that of King. This directly challenged Caesar's rule as in Rome "everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar." And so he asks Jesus, are you a King? App. Have you questioned Jesus' identity?
C. And Jesus answers You have said so, literally "You say that I am" - either a Hebraic idiom of affirmation or a cryptic way of answering, implying "You say so, but I am a different kind of king." John expands on this discussion in 18:33-38, most notably verse 36. Discuss 1st century understanding vs. Jesus' understanding. Yes, Jesus was and is a King...in fact He is the King of Kings. But in His first coming He was not destined to be a politcally and militarily conquering King...even His own disciples misunderstood this truth. But Pilate seems to understand Jesus is no political or military revolutionary hell bent on overthrowing Rome. For he says "I find no grounds for charging this man."
D. And yet the Sanhedrin keeps the pressure up. Accused is in the imperfect tense meaning they repeatedly accused Him. Squeaky wheels get the grease! And so Pilate asks Jesus Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. #1 Pilate's cross examination of Jesus leaves him amazed. The Greek = "astonished out of one's senses; awestruck." He was no doubt used to prisoners standing before him and vehemently denying the charges they faced. Faced with the same, Jesus is silent. Which left Pilate awestruck. From 12yo in the Temple to His thirties during His ministry to 2000 years after His death, Jesus continues to have that same effect. #2 Why was Jesus silent? In fulfillment of prophecy (cf. Isaiah 53:7). But also in fulfillment of His attributes as God. He has no need to respond to, to answer, lies but He MUST respond affirmatively to questions that are true. And so we see Jesus silent at questions that are lies, and talking when questions are true.
VI. Pilate Condemns Truth: His Conviction (Luke 23)
A. It's at this point that we must use the other Gospels to fill in some holes and give us further context. Luke's perhaps captures it best. Imagine Pilate in a gigantic Jewish Pressure Cooker: 1) 23:4-5 = no grounds - 12x in the Gospels Pilate proclaims Jesus' innocence, kept insisting - apply strength in a focused, persistent way; so he tries to shirk responsibility and sends Jesus to Herod who promptly sends Him back, 2) 23:14-16 = no grounds...neither has Herod, clearly He has done nothing to deserve death; now he appeals to the sympathy card by whipping Jesus & his ace in the hole, the custom of release.
Are we convicted that Jesus & the Word of God are truth - virgin birth, resurrect?
VII. Pilate Condemns Truth: His Custom (Read & explain Mark 15:6-9)
A. Pilate had apparently instituted a custom of releasing one prisoner of the Jewish people's choice, At the feast meaning during the Passover. He likely did so as a means of winning favor with the masses...hush money, as we would say to keep them quiet ...job security to keep him out of trouble with the Emperor. Now, he undoubtedly sees it as the way out of his growing dilemma. Yet, the Jews he so hated had their own aces in the hole - Barabbas, the crowd.
B. This Passover, among the rebels in prison was a notorious criminal called Barabbas. John 18:40 says he was a robber, here we read he also had committed murder in the insurrection. He may have belonged to one of the rural guerilla bands that victimized the wealthy upper class of Israel as well as the Romans and were therefore popular with the common people.
C. And so with Barabbas safely behind bars, and out of sight, out of mind and when the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them, Pilate never suspects his custom will now backfire. Surely, cool heads and sanity will prevail and the people will allow him to release Jesus. And so, read v. 9. Pilate genuinely wishes to escape this difficult predicament but he just can't resist sticking the knife in the Jews and twisting it. He taunts them with an accusation of kingship. The result? The leaders & crowd's animosity and bitterness towards Jesus only escalates! Isn't it ironic that a man as cruel as Pilate, appeals to pity, and expects it from the very people HE has beaten, robbed, defiled and murdered? In what ways do we do the same - rob God, defile others by gossip, judgment, mistreatment and then expect pity/mercy on the Day of Judgment? If we expect love & mercy on the Day of Judgment then we best mete it out in this life! (cf. James 2:13)
VIII. Pilate Condemns Truth: His Comprehension (Read & explain Mark 15:10)
A. Pilate realized that the Jewish authorities had not handed Jesus over to him out of loyalty to Rome. He saw through their deceit to the underlying reason - their jealousy over Jesus' popularity with the people. What he failed to see were their theological and political motives - the threat he posed to their positions, power and cash-cows by his authoritative ministry. You know that is still a very real temptation today - to be threatened by other's ministries, especially the success of? And certainly as we're about to see, what Pilate failed at most miserably was to stand up for his convictions, to stand up for Truth!
IX. Pilate Condemns Truth: His Compromise (Read & explain Mark 15:11-15)
A. The pressure in that gigantic Jewish Pressure Cooker in the words of Emeril Lagasse just got kicked up a notch! Remember the 2 aces in the hole that I said the Jews had? Now at the opportune time they use them. Read v. 11. This word stirred up in the Greek means just that - "to shake up, stir up, excite." The chief priests stir the crowd into a frenzy to release Barabbas instead of Pilate's choice, Jesus. The man the crowd wanted released was the very type of person they were accusing Jesus of being. What irony! Pilate is not easily dissuaded though. Read v. 12. John 19:15 ironically records this mob of Jews hollering back "We have no king but Caesar." And so they holler out Crucify him. Why crucify? Beheading = Roman death for a citizen; crucify = slave or foreigner; stoning = normal form of Jewish death sentence. God in His Providence = the Cross! Besides Roman association of shame and slave's death was the deeper Hebrew meaning - read Galatians 3:13.
B. Pilate continues to argue with the crowd and to attempt to gain their sympathy for Jesus so that he may release Him - Why what evil has he done? But the crowd will have nothing of it. Mark says they shouted all the more, "Crucify him." All the more in Greek = "more earnestly, more exceedingly." Luke 23:23-24 (MSG) says "But they kept at it, a shouting mob, demanding that he be crucified. And finally they shouted him down. Pilate caved in and gave them what they wanted." Pilate instead of standing for the truth, caves in to the crowd. Pilate ends up compromising his conviction to satisfy the crowd, to stop a riot, to silence the pleas for Jesus' death and to affirm his loyalty to the emperor. In the end, for Pilate civil order and his own backside were more important than justice, more important than truth. The Jewish leaders had successfully intimidated him. He had been accused of many things to the authorities in Syria and Rome. He couldn't afford more charges which the Sanhedrin knew and so they used it, played it as their royal flush! The result? Whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Good Friday became his curse.
X. Pilate Condemns Truth: His Curse (Read & explain Mark 15:15-20)
A. Recall in Matt. 27:19, that Pilate's wife tells Pilate "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream." It's been said that what she heard over and over was "Suffered under Pontius Pilate." For nearly 2000 years, followers of Christ the world over have recited the Apostles Creed and that Jesus "suffered under Pontius Pilate."
B. And suffer He did. First, he was scourged - we will discuss this more next week, suffice it for now that this alone had killed many a man previously. Next, he was delivered to be crucifed. As part of that, He was led away inside the palace at the hands of Roman soldiers who hated the Jews and so took their animosity out on Jesus in a mock coronation. Look at what Mark writes: 1) called together the whole battalion - 600 men! 2) clothed him in a purple cloak - purple = color traditionally worn by royalty...Matt. says scarlet robe of Roman officer, originally would have been scarlet but in time faded to shade of purple. 3) twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him - physically painful, also in mockery of a royal crown. 4) began to salute him, Hail, King of Jews - this was a parody of that given to Caesar. 5) striking his head with a reed - probably first put in Jesus' hand as a mock scepter, then used as a device of physical torture. 6) spitting on him - a cultural sign of contempt or mimicking a kiss (I.e. a type of salute). 7) kneeling down in homage - more mocking of His kingship. One day soon, they will do it not out of mockery but out of true worship (cf. Phil. 2:10). 8) stripped him of the purple cloak - this would tear open wounds he had sustained from the whipping and flogging. 5 & 7 are imperfect tenses, meaning this they did over and over and over. Like a cat finally tired of playing with a mouse, they led him out to crucify him.
XI. Application & Conclusion
A. Jesus in John 14:6 said, "I am THE way, THE truth, THE life." Thus Jesus IS Truth. On April 7, 30 AD Pontius Pilate, failing to stand on his conviction that Jesus was innocent and instead succumbing to the pressures around him, literally killed Truth, as embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, and suffered terrible consequences as a result. Today, March 23, 2014, we have done the same in our country, our churches and our lives - refused to stand for truth. Truth as embodied in Jesus Christ and as revealed in God's Word, the Bible, is not just on trial in our society but has been condemned non-existent, sentenced to death and it's doing just that. In our country - homosexuality, abortion, "religious tolerance" (Baboo's comment), Hollywood for the Holy Word (DaVinci Code - "almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false"). In our churches - 7441 Protestant pastors polled (1987) 51% Methodists, 35% Presbyterians, 33% Baptists = don't believe in resurrection; 87% Methodists, 82% Presbyterians, 67% Baptists = NO, Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God; 1999 survey = 65% of evangelical teens say no way to determine which religion is true; 1/44 BHBA churches = Teen Bible Drill; SBC baptisms declined 6 out of last 10 years to lowest # since 1948 ("loss of evangelistic zeal," churches = country clubs for saints with "me first" rather than "others first" attitude). In our own lives - stats bear out we look the same as the world, Barna = "we think and behave no differently from anyone else." In many ways, in our country, our churches and our own lives as Paul writes in Romans 1:25 we have "exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator."
B. As a consequence, we like Pilate are now reaping what we sow. Show Paul Harvey 1965 You Tube video. Brothers and Sisters this MUST stop! The devil, the father of lies, is having a field day, by destroying truth in our country, our churches and our lives. Galatians 6:7 is clear - we reap what we sow. 1965 - 2014 has proved it! What will the next 50 years hold? God help us if it's not spent standing firm in our convictions of absolute truth as embodied in Jesus Christ and as revealed in God's Word. It's time we take a stand for the truth!!!
XII. Invitation and Benediction
A. Romans 3:23 - all sinned, Romans 6:23a - wages of sin, Romans 5:8 - while we were sinners, Romans 6:23b - free gift of God is eternal life. Romans 10:9,10 - confess Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart God rai sed Him from the dead you WILL be saved.
