CSI Theme song "Who Are You" normally on the show "who are You" refers to the perpetrator, but sometimes it refers to the victim, this morning as we look at our Scripture text the crime has not yet occured--Jesus is about to be unjustly killed, but the question "who are you seems to be on evewryone’s minds.
Because this question is still vitally important for us today I’d like to look at the various answers that the people in the story considered, Just like those other Crime Scene Investigators, it’s a quest for the truth--as Jesus Himself said in verse 37 He came to testify to the truth. If you haven’t yet discovered the truth I hope that our journey this morning will reveal to you the truth that will change your life.
Transition: .Let’s begin with the Roman official Pilate. To him it seems that Jesus is nothing more than a...
Curiosity
18:33-35 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
34"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"
35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
Jesus has been brought to Pilate because the religious leaders want to have him executed before he can upset the delicate balance in their relationship with the Romans. They can’t execute him themselves because the Status of Forces agreement prohibits it.
Pilate begins with that leading question, "Are you the king of the Jews" Jesus doesn’t bite. "Are you really wanting to know? Is that your own question or one that you were given to ask?"
Pilate decides that there’s no reason to execute Jesus, but because the crowd is so insistent He relents and lets them have what the want. Not real big on justice, just keeping the peace. Jesus didn’t really matter to him more than just a passing curiosity.
Many people today have a similar way of dealing with Jesus. He’s an interesting character to study but that’s about it. As an army chaplain I can’t begin to tell you the number of people I’ve spoken with or counseled who have said "Oh yes, I’ve read the Bible" or "Yeah, I’ve read the Bible and studied Christianity and Buddhism and Islam, I think all the religions have somethng to offer" People who are content to look at Jesus as a curiosity, but like Pilate when the critical question of "What are you going to do with Jesus?" is raised they cop out.
The second answer to the question of Jesus’ identity is seen in the first few verses of chapter 19. The Roman soldiers who take custody of Jesus see him as a...
Comedy
19:
1-3 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.
I imagine that people who had the job description that these Roman soldiers did probably became pretty callused. Here they’ve been handed a man, a peasant, aleady bound, already roughly treated by the Jewish leaders, clearly a humble man and they’re told that he’s here because he claimed to be a king. Here’s an opportunity for entertainment. They make him a crown of thorns to wear, and outfit him with a royal robe as they mock him over and over.
And still today there are those who mock him. Who use his name to curse, who laugh at holy things and chuckle to think anyone could believe that a carpenter could be a king--more than a king, a God, who could pay the price for sin and offer eternal life.
It’s easier to join in the laughter and drown out the nagging voice of guilt and conviction for our sins, but the laughter is desperate laughter because each human soul understands without being told that there’s a price to be paid for sin, and when the story of Jesus is told, the story of the one who died for our sins and rose again to offer new life to those who trust in Him, something within even the most calloused heart begins to stir, something that can be quieted only by surrender or by laughing it away.
The third answer to the question about Jesus identity is the one that the people of Jerusalem had hoped would be true, they wanted Jesus to be a...
Conqueror
18:38b-40 [Pilate] went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. 39But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ’the king of the Jews’?"
40They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.
This week as I have been reflecting on this morning’s message I have been struck by some startling parallels between the story of Jesus’ last week and the images playing out on my TV. About a week ago I watched as crowds welcomed a man and danced around him in jubilation, hailing him as a great leader. A few days ago in the same city the statues of that same man were torn down and the people of the city spewed hatred at every symbol of his reign. Clearly Saddam is not Jesus, but then as now, what a difference a week makes. On Sunday the people of Jerusalem cheered Jesus as he rode into town on a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy. The people knew this prophecy and I believe they fully expected Jesus to be the promised deliverer, but the deliverance they wanted was deliverance from Roman oppression.
They were ready for the battle to start, they were looking for a "shock and awe" campaign. And they got one--but not exactly the one they were hoping for, he began by throwing the businessmen out of the temple, and then raised a stir by saying he would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days. But there was no military move, well now that’s not exactly true. There was one, just not one by Jesus, it was led by a guy named Barabbas. Given the choice between the Prince of Peace and the leader of a failed coop, the people of Jerusalem chose the one who fought the Romans.
Many people today aren’t much different--Oh they want a God they can pray to, they’ll even pray in Jesus name, but their primary interest is not in making him the Lord and savior of their life, but in asking him to take care of some business in the here and now--they’re asking him to conquer their financial problems, their relationship problems, their health problems, and when Jesus doesn’t come through according to their plans and on their schedule they’re shouting for Barabbas. They’re out seeking other modes of problem solving.
Like the people of Jerusalem often we don’t have the patience to accept Jesus on His own terms. You see he had come as a conqueror--to liberate them from the cruelest bondage of all--the bondage to sin and it’s penalty death.
It’s not that Jesus doesn’t care about the other issues of our life, but His priority is that we accept the salvation that he offers by trusting in what he did to pay the price for our sins. When we’ve done that then he shares these other burdens with us, often lifting them completely from our shoulders, but if we see him first and foremost as the santa clause for solving our problems we miss him fo who He is. And there’s that question again: Who is He? The final answer is the one given by Jesus Himself...
Christ
36-37Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."37"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
Christ is simply the New Testament word that means "Messiah." He is the promised coming king. But he’s a king of a different sort than many expected. He explains to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world, I’m the king of another place, I was born for this reason--I came to this world from my kingdom to let people know the truth, so if you want to know the truth, you’d better listen to me."
So what is this truth that’s so important that He came from heaven to share it? That we are all dying in our sins separate from God, that God wants to set us free from our sins and that He has made a way through the cross of Jesus Christ.
The truth is that Jesus died on that cross not for what he had done, but for the sins of you and me, and in dying he’s made it possible for us to be restored to fellowship with God, if we accept his payment on our behalf.
The truth is that death could not hold him in the grave and he rose again that first easter to purchase a place in heaven for us.
In the book "Knowing Christ," Craig Glickman writes "When Abraham Lincoln’s body was brought from Washington to Illinois, it passed through Albany and it was carried through the street. They say a black woman stood upon the curb and lifted her little son as far as she could reach above the heads of the crowd and was heard to say to him, "Take a long look, honey. He died for you". So, if I could, I would lift up your spirit to see the cross of Jesus. Take a long look, He died for you." (Craig Glickman, Knowing Christ, p. 89.)
Take a look at the crime scene, if you want to know who committed the crime you’ll need to look in the mirror. But there is no victim here, there is only a willing sacrifice. He is the Christ, the promised king who died to set you free.
