Sermon 4: CSI Calvary: Who Killed Jesus?
Series: 82 Hours: Countdown to the Resurrection
Chuck Sligh
Preaching April 14, 2019
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Also, an 11-second mpg of the Who’s CSI theme song is available if you want to use it for the intro as referenced below.
TEXT: Mark 15:22-39 – “And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. 23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not. 24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. 25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. 26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. 28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. 29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, 30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross. 31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. 32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. 33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. 36 And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. 37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. 39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.” [OPEN IN PRAYER.]
INTRODUCTION
OPEN IMMEDIATELY with the theme song of the TV show, CSI. [Play only 0:06 through 0:17 of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqz1zQsiScY. I have an 11 second mpg of just that part of the recording (the “Who are you. Who, who, who, who” two times) available upon request.]
Just so you know, that wasn’t a goof-up by the sound tech! That was the theme music from the hit TV show CSI. Many of you probably watched CSI until it was cancelled in 2015 after 15 seasons, or one of its two spin-offs: CSI Miami and CSI New York, also cancelled.
Does anybody know what “CSI” stands for? [GET AUDIENCE ANSWERS.] That’s right: It stands for “Crime Scene Investigation.” We’re in an Easter series titled “82 Hours: Walking with Jesus to the Resurrection.”
Today, one week before Easter, I’d like to examine Christ’s death as a crime scene. The theme music for CSI is from The Who’s 1978 number 2 hit “Who Are You?” which is appropriate since the job of crime scene investigators is to discover “Who Are You,”—that is, they’re asking the question of WHO committed the crime they’re investigating.
So, we’re going to be crime scene investigators as we seek to discover who killed Jesus. Hence, the title of my sermon: “CSI: Jerusalem”—in this case “CSI” standing for “Cross Scene Investigators.” (Ain’t I clever?)
Crime scene investigators have a variety of investigative tools at their disposal, perhaps the most prominent of which is fingerprinting. First used in 1910 to identify and convict murderer Thomas Jennings who had left his fingerprint on a railing with still drying paint, fingerprinting has become so prevalent in modern day crime fighting that it has even found its way into everyday speech. For instance, someone might say “you’ve got your fingerprints all over that project.”
In law enforcement, if someone’s fingerprints are found at the scene of the crime, police will detain them as persons of interest or suspects, a polite way of saying they think they did it! When it comes to the death of Christ on the cross, there are several “suspects.”
Let’s go to our crime lab (the Bible) and investigate them this morning.
I. OUR FIRST SUSPECTS ARE THE JEWISH RELIGIOUS LEADERS.
Matthew 26:3-4 tells us, “Then the chief priests assembled together, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4 And consulted that they might take Jesus by stealth, and kill him.”
Their decision was deliberate and premeditated. The crime was carried out by small group of religious leaders who acted like a religious Mafia. Bible scholars tell us that Caiaphas was the Jewish High Priest when Jesus was crucified, but he was actually just a puppet of his father-in-law, Annas. Caiaphas was the godfather, so to speak, and Annas was the son-in-law learning the ropes in the organization.
Investigators look for three “indicators of suspicion”: motive, means and opportunity. The Jewish Mafia had all three:
1. What was their MOTIVE?
This rabbi named Jesus was threatening their power, influence and position. Jesus had openly called them out for their sins: calling them serpents, a brood of vipers, a generation of vipers, blind guides leading the blind, whitewashed tombs who appeared righteous on the outside, but on the inside, they were full of hypocrisy and iniquity. They claimed to be, and acted as if, they were holy, but Jesus asked “How will you escape the damnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:33)
Jesus’ accusations were accurate, and resonated with the people, but as you can imagine, this didn’t go down too well with the Religious Mafia. Like most mobs, anyone who threatened their turf had to be taken out. So, they certainly had a MOTIVE!
2. Did they have MEANS?
They could have stoned Jesus earlier in His ministry, but the Jewish crowds were split—some loved Jesus and some hated Him. Mobs do their dirty work in the dark, and that time was not the right time. So, they figured out how to get someone else to do it. Their best strategy was to have the Romans execute Jesus. That gave them MEANS.
3. All they needed now was OPPORTUNITY.
Right then—during the Passover festival—was the perfect opportunity! The Roman governor was in town. The Romans could rule with an iron hand, but they weren’t dumb. They knew that an unhappy populace was a dangerous populace. When it suited their purposes, they often appeased local leaders. With the right conditions at their disposal, these crafty religious Mafioso were able to finesse the mighty Roman Empire into doing their bidding.
So…it’s an open and shut case, right?—The Jewish leaders killed Jesus. Case solved, right?—Not so fast. Yes, they were part of it, but were there other coconspirators or accomplices? There were indeed others who left their fingerprints at the scene of the crime.
II. FOR INSTANCE, MANY OF THE JEWS IN JERUSALEM ARE LIKELY SUSPECTS.
Please turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 3, where Luke tells us that a crowd of Jews had gathered at the Temple and witnessed Peter and John heal a lame man. After Jesus’ resurrection, in Acts 3 Peter said: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and him denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and desired a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and YOU KILLED THE AUTHOR OF LIFE, whom God raised from the dead, which you are witnesses of.” (Acts 3:13) [NOTE: Research: talking to LEADERS or people?]
“YOU killed the author of life” he proclaims to this Jewish crowd in verse 15. Peter wasn’t talking to the priests and Pharisees here; He was talking to ordinary Jews outside the Temple who had been part of crowd asking Pilate to crucify Jesus.
In a criminal investigation, accomplices, accessories, coconspirators, and aiders and abettors are just as culpable in a crime as the perpetrators. On the day of Christ’s crucifixion, when Pilot offered to release Jesus, many Jews in Jerusalem cried out repeatedly, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” They were as guilty as their leaders for the shameful murder of Jesus Christ!
Now we must be careful here, because this fact has been used to justify centuries of anti-Semitism and persecution of Jews, all too often at the hand of a corrupted church. The early church had no animus against the Jews! Only centuries later, along with a multitude of other false doctrines and evil practices that crept into the Romanized church, did what was called the “Church” began to teach the idea of collective guilt of all Jewish people for the death of Jesus.
But that is a terrible assumption and has no scriptural merit, nor is it even logical. Jesus Himself was a Jew; multitudes of Jews followed Jesus; His twelve disciples were Jewish, as were practically ALL His followers; the first church was almost exclusively Jewish, so much so that God allowed a persecution of the Christians in Jerusalem so that the Gospel would leave the city walls of Jerusalem to go into surrounding regions; Paul, the first missionary to the Gentiles, was a Jew; all the writers of the New Testament, and for that matter, the Old Testament, were Jewish; and the Bible says that the Jews were God’s chosen people.
The Bible never implies anywhere that whole Jewish race carries collective guilt for Jesus’ death; only those Jews in Jerusalem who went along with the religious. So, our list of suspects and accomplices has grown: First, an evil and determined band of religious ringleaders were guilty, as were some Jewish accomplices.
III. THE EXECUTIONERS—THE HITMEN IF YOU WILL—WERE THE ROMANS.
Pilate knew that Jesus was not guilty of any real crime. He knew that Jesus was the scapegoat of the religious leaders whom he recognized to be just as corrupt and ruthless a politician as he. In order to satisfy them to accomplish his own ends of pacifying the people and keeping them under control, he washed his hands of the whole affair and handed Jesus over to the soldiers for torture, mocking and crucifixion.
Pilate and his Roman soldiers bear as much responsibility as the Jews. The Romans were cruel and heartless. Their depravity is on full display during the whole ordeal Jesus endured on the way to and during His crucifixion—their mocking, their brutality, their scourging, the crushing of the crown of thorns into Jesus’ brow, the mock worship of Him in the purple robe, the nailing of the spikes into His hands and feet.
In all this, never is there even a HINT of mercy, compassion or pity evident. Why would they?—They were trained to be cruel, ruthless, vicious in the extreme, coldblooded; and by the time they completed their military training, wonton brutality and cruelty degraded, coarsened and debased them to the point that they could torture and kill without even a hint of remorse or humanity.
There is no doubt that the Romans were the actual killers of Jesus. My reference to them as “hitmen” is apt. A hitman kills on behalf of someone else. They killed Jesus on behalf of the religious Mafia and many Jews in Jerusalem.
But look!—There are some other fingerprints at the scene of a crime.
IV. WHOSE ARE THEY?—THEY’RE YOURS AND MINE; ALL OF US, EVERYONE’S.
In legal terms, there are two kinds of accessories: an accessory before the fact and an accessory after the fact. All those before Christ are accessories before the fact and all those since Christ are accessories after the fact.
How do I know that?—Isaiah 53:5-6 says, “But he was wounded for OUR transgressions, he was bruised for OUR iniquities: the chastisement of OUR peace was upon him; and with his stripes WE are healed. 6 All WE like sheep have gone astray; WE have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of US ALL.”
Brethren, Jesus died for US: All of us. All of mankind. All sinners.
Illus. – Mel Gibson directed the powerful movie, The Passion of Christ, in 2004. – I certainly disapprove of a lot of things Mel Gibson has said and done, but when asked in an interview “Who killed Christ?” he was right on target when he said: “We are all culpable for the death of Christ. My sins, your sins, put him on that cross.”
Illus. – The Dutch artist, Rembrandt, was not only a great artist, he was also a deeply devoted Christian in Protestant Netherlands. His painting, The Raising of the Cross, was powerful in its detail. Looking at the painting, your eyes are immediately drawn to Jesus on the cross. In the background is the crowd gathered at the foot of the Cross where you can see the attitudes and actions of the people who are there. But there’s someone who figures very conspicuously in the painting. It’s Rembrandt himself, in his iconic blue artist’s hat, with the lighting clearly on him, with both arms around the cross, helping to pull the cross up. Rembrandt was declaring that he realized HE had helped crucify Jesus! HIS fingerprints were on the cross.
Illus. – There’s an old spiritual still sometimes sung at Easter that asks, “Were you there when the crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh-oh-oh-oh…Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” Yes, you were there, and I was there. We were in the heart and the mind of Jesus as He died for our sins.
The great British pastor and theologian, John Stott wrote: “Before we can begin to see the cross as something done FOR us…we have to see it as something done BY us. Indeed, only the man who is prepared to own his share in the GUILT of the cross…may he claim his share in its GRACE.” [From The Cross of Christ, page unknown. Capitalization for emphasis mine.]
If we’re honest with ourselves, along with Rembrandt, you and I are at the foot of the cross helping to crucify Jesus! We’re accomplices in His torture and murder and suffering. Our fingerprints are all over the cross with every sin we ever committed.
V. BUT WAIT, THERE’S ANOTHER SUSPECT—THE MASTERMIND BEHIND IT ALL!
It’s true that the religious leaders, many of the Jews in Jerusalem, Pilate and His Roman henchmen and our own selves ALL share guilt in the death of Jesus. But it really wasn’t their decision—nor was it ours—to put Jesus on the cross. Ultimately it was GOD’S decision!
In Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, he says this in Acts 2:23 tells us “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel [which means “predetermined plan”] and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.”
Jesus came for the express purpose of dying for us. His death had been planned by God long before the Jews or Romans, or you or I, or even Adam and Eve ever existed. The legal term for a plan made in advance to commit a crime is called a “conspiracy.” This plan of God was a “Divine Conspiracy,” you might say, but God’s complicity in it was not a crime because God Himself—in the form of God the Son—gave Himself willingly to carry out this plan to bring salvation to mankind.
But why? As we discussed before, one thing crime scene investigators look for is a motive. Do you know what God’s motive was in accomplishing the death of Jesus?
Jesus explained it very simply in John 3: 16: “For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever might believe in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.”
Paul puts it this way in Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus died to give us everlasting life because He loves us! Not because we deserve it—we DON’T!; but because of His great love for us.
And it was all conceived and planned before the foundation of the earth. And as soon as Adam and Eve sinned, God gave the very first promise of the coming Savior in Genesis 3:15. This promise were followed by one promise or prophecy after another in every part of the Old Testament of this coming Savior, this sin-bearer, called Messiah. GOD, in His infinite wisdom, planned the crucifixion of Jesus and devised a strategy to take evil decisions of men and use them to fulfill His great purpose. What an AWESOME divine conspiracy! What an AWESOME GOD!!!
CONCLUSION
What does all this have to do with us? There are some implications of these truths to our lives.
First, we must admit that we are personally complicit of the death of Christ.
The truth of the matter is that our fingerprints are all over the cross. Anyone who does not accept God’s remedy for sin will stand before Him at the Great White Throne Judgment and be cast into the lake of fire. Sin is so repugnant to God that He will not accept anyone who has not had his sin taken away.
Second, you must take the remedy God offers for your sin.
That remedy is Christ who offers His free gift of salvation, provided to you because of His death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins in our place. To receive this free gift, come to Jesus; put your faith in His promise to save you.
Finally, if you’ve already taken that step of faith into the God’s kingdom, maybe you need to bow your head in thanks and worship for His great love for you.
Though Christ’s death was premeditated by God’s eternal plan, there’s no doubt it was also a crime of passion. The crime was ours; the passion was God’s. You sinned, and He loved you anyway—enough to send His Son to pay the penalty for your sin. He loved us so much that if you or I had been the only people on earth… Jesus would still have been sent to die for us. THAT’S a God worthy of worship and service.
Who killed Jesus? I think we know, but we’re going to have to close the investigation. Why?—There never was a body available for an autopsy! As the old Easter hymn proclaims,
Low in the grave he lay, Jesus, my Savior!
Waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord!
Up from the grave He arose,
with a mighty triumph o’er His foes;
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
and He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
