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"The
Unjust Trial Of Jesus" • 3.8.20 • Calvary
Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- The usually quiet and still Garden of
Gethsemane was abuzz with activity on the night that Jesus was betrayed. Over
six hundred people crowded into the area to arrest a single man.
- Except for a momentary disruption in which
every single aggressor was laid flat on their back, the night went without much
incident. Jesus was led peacefully to the Jewish High Priest.
- When He was unable to find any substantial
charge, He was led to Caiaphas, which is where we pick up the narrative,
beginning in verse 28.
Text
• John 18:28,29 : "Then they led
Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they
themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that
they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out to them and said, 'What
accusation do you bring against this Man?'" : John doesn't describe what
took place at the home of Caiaphas. There are two possible reasons for this.
- John was the last gospel account to be
written. The other gospels were widely circulated and well known by this time.
He may have thought it redundant to add any further insight.
- It may also be that his source, presuming it
wasn't him, had access to Anna's home but didn't have access to Caiaphas' home.
In either case, we are grateful to have the other gospels.
- Matthew
and Mark treat the two meetings as
if they were one in their accounts. (Matthew
26:57-68, Mark 15:55-65) Luke alone follows the order that John lays out. (Luke 22:63-71)
- What took place in the middle of the night
was a complete miscarriage of justice, beginning with the fact that the trial
took place under the cover of darkness!
-
Jewish law demanded that trials take place between the morning and the
evening meal, out under the sun, in full view of the public. Additionally,
trials were never to be held on feast days.
- Remember that this very night was the night
before Passover, one of the most sacred gatherings of Israel in their religious
calendar year.
- A further legal travesty involved the fact
that the Sanhedrin was supposed to be an impartial body gathered only to HEAR
charges, never to BRING them against a person!
- When you read the other accounts, you'll note
that there wasn't even a single duo of witnesses that could be brought together
to justify the Sanhedrin's actions!
- The most basic tenet of Jewish law was that
accusation be made by two or more witnesses!
- When Jesus wouldn't answer their fabricated
charges, He was brutally beaten and when the Sanhedrin called for His
execution, a unanimous vote legally required, was nowhere to be found!
- It would be very difficult to find a trial on
earth that matched this one for injustice.
- Every rule that the Sanhedrin had to
adjudicate matters in Israel, was thoroughly disregarded and the only innocent
man in history, had His case trampled under their administration.
- Jesus was mistreated, beaten and bullied
until He spoke the truth to Annas. He was the Son of God! This led to the
single charge of blasphemy.
- In the case of another man, it would have
been blasphemy to claim intimate relationship to God. In the case of Jesus, it
was just the truth! Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God!
- If you have ever experienced injustice and
believe that nobody can relate, consider the night that Jesus had prior to
being crucified! Nobody stood up for His rights! Nobody protected Him!
- Blasphemy carried with it the penalty of
death for the Jews, and herein lies the problem: The Jews could not carry out
the death penalty because they were under Roman rule!
- Rome didn't allow any nation that it occupied
to exert rule over executions. There were no exceptions, which put the
Sanhedrin into a very uncomfortable position.
- It is Friday morning, Passover at sunrise and
Jesus is being led to the Roman Praetorium, or "Judgment Hall."
- This was a local Roman outpost called the
"Antonia Fortress," built on the North East side of the city of
Jerusalem. It overlooked the Temple Mount and Pool of Bethesda.
- Their thought in building there was simple:
If there was going to be trouble, it would likely begin in that area. Now
trouble was coming to it's doors.
- The Jews hated the Romans, but not enough to
keep themselves from the procurator's office on this Passover morning. Having
to be there on such a wonderful holiday must have galled them!
- Ironically, they are willing to deliver one
of their own countrymen, to ignore all Jewish law in calling for His execution,
but they won't defile themselves by entering into Pilate's court!
- Their hypocrisy knew no limits and it won't
be the last time we are amazed at their blindness! Prayerfully, the Lord will
also alight us toward any of our own bits of hypocrisy as we view theirs.
- The religious leaders want to eat the
Passover and deliver the very Lamb that the feast prefigured to be crucified!
"Just don't ask us to dirty ourselves in your Gentile judgment hall!"
- Pilate recognizes their sensitivities and
comes out to them, knowing that he is giving into their hypocrisy. What he
doesn't know is the accusation that justified bringing this man to him!
- He can smell the injustice, but he is in a
compromised position himself! He's already offended the Jews on multiple
occasions according to secular historians.
- For example, in a politically tone deaf
maneuver, he ordered Roman shields and flags into Jerusalem proper for display,
an especially galling action seeing that they displayed pagan symbols!
- Josephus writes of an incident involving
Pilate's redirection of the temple's treasury money to help pay for the
recently completed Roman aqueduct.
- When a mob protested the action, Pilate's
soldiers beat many in the mob to death with clubs! It's possible that this was
what Luke referred to in Luke 13:1.
- Pilate's tenure in Judea was already on thin
ice! There are already complaints being lodged about him from the Jews in the
Emperor's office!
- By the time that the religious leaders bring
Jesus to Pilate, Luke informs us that there is already a mob accompanying them.
(Luke 23:1) He doesn't need any more
trouble!
- Pilate is in an eternally bad
"no-win" situation and the religious leaders know it! Their answer to
his question tells him who is in control. Verse 30.
• John
18:30-32 : "They answered and said to him, 'If He were not an evildoer, we
would not have delivered Him up to you.' Then Pilate said to them, 'You take
Him and judge Him according to your law.' Therefore the Jews said to him, 'It
is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,' that the saying of Jesus might be
fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die." : The religious leaders can't answer Pilate's question. "We
wouldn't waste your time Pilate if He weren't an evildoer!"
-
They act insulted by his very rational question. All they have to do is
annunciate what kind of evildoer He is. What evil action has He done?
-
Whatever He was guilty of, Pilate lets them know that he is not interested in
their law.
-
He is a Roman Procurator, there to enforce Roman law and unless this man had
done something against that Roman law, he makes it clear, that they can take
care of it themselves.
-
Whatever their law prescribed, short of execution, was well within their means
to dispense.
-
Think about the religious leader's voices when they reply to him. Perhaps
Pilate has turned from them when he hears them speak in their sinister tone. "It's
no lawful for to put anyone to death!"
-
They aren't looking for justice. This isn't an inquiry. Their minds are
determined. They just need Pilate to finish the job!
-
The only kind of death that Pilate employed in an execution was crucifixion,
the exact type of death that Jesus and the scriptures predicted that He would
die by!
-
Jesus had predicted this, if you'd like cryptically, every time He mentioned
being "lifted up." This was a polite euphemism for crucifixion in
their society.
-
He predicted this explicitly among His disciples, the most recent being
recorded as they entered Jerusalem for this final visit! (Luke 18:31-34) That had been the third time He told them.
-
When it came to scripture, you can visit Psalm
22, Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 12:10. The Bible authors
wrote of the Messiah's crucifixion thousands of years before it was invented!
-
God chose for Jesus to be sacrificed when the worst death was the capital
punishment. V.33.
•
John 18:33-35 : "Then Pilate entered the Praetorium
again, called Jesus, and said to Him, 'Are You the King of the Jews?' Jesus answered him, 'Are you speaking for yourself about this, or
did others tell you this concerning Me?' Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew? Your
own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?'" : We aren't told how long Pilate indulged the religious leaders
privately. They were not far away and were in fact yelling at Jesus while
Pilate interrogated Him!
-
"Tell him about being the King of the Jews! I'm sure Pilate would be
interested in hearing about your Kingdom!"
-
According to Luke 23:2, they are
already accusing Him of sedition and claimed that He forbade Israel to pay
their taxes to Caesar. "He says of Himself that He is a King!"
-
I can imagine a certain amount of amusement in Pilate's question. According to
the language, it would be best to hear Pilate say, "YOU. Are You the King
of the Jews?"
-
Pilate is already looking at a man that has been beaten, spit upon and humiliated.
Jesus asks him if this is an honest question.
-
The NIV translates the thought, "Is that your own idea or did others talk
to you about me?"
-
He is the religious leader's puppet, parroting ideas that were fed to him,
working off of information that he neither knew or had interest in. Pilate's
response makes this clear. He's not a Jew.
-
Why would he be interested in Jewish affairs and Jewish Messiahs. Pilate is a
man dedicated to the ethics of Rome. He is loyal to her and could care less
about who Jesus claimed to be.
-
He believes that Jesus doesn't understand that he is not the one that He needs
to convince. His own leaders brought Him there! What Kingly things had He done
to provoke them? Verse 36.
•
John 18:36 : "Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom
were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered
to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.'" : The real offense that the religious leaders could not tolerate
is found in this first phrase.
-
The Kingdom that Christ is the King of is that which is not of this world.
Christ's Kingdom does not emanate out from the world. It cannot be traced to
principles found in this world.
-
It exists apart from and currently, side by side with the world system of
belief. The two Kingdoms are on parralel tracks and there is never
intersection.
-
This is what ultimately frustrated the religious leaders, who had amassed
fortunes in this world, using the guise of religion, operating under the name
of God's Kingdom.
-
Annas boasted annual salary equivalent to $3 million dollars today running the
"Bazaar!"
-
Running up the prices of sacrificial animals and keeping charge of the exchange
rates for temple shekels pays a man a pretty penny! And all of the Sanhedrin
were complicit in their rulings.
-
Forasmuch as the people that they served suffered oppression, most of the
religious leaders could not relate! Their money gave them power, not to help,
but to intimidate and influence.
-
We have noted in the past that they were not above excommunicating and shaming
those that believed in Jesus.
-
We can only imagine what other vices gripped the religious leaders of Israel,
whose idea of a Kingdom was one that competed with and rivaled that of the
world.
-
It was a substitute Kingdom, based upon the exact same principles that the
world used, only with a different name and supposedly, for a different purpose.
-
This is why these men were so skewed in their understanding of their own God.
They had become tainted by the world's thinking and could no longer distinquish
between godly and worldly!
-
If you are tempted to think that the Kingdom of God is merely an addition or
completion of your worldly agenda, you will be just as confused and confusing
to the world!
-
Repeat this information to yourself: The Kingdom of God does not coexist with,
cooperate with or come from this world!
-
There are different goals, methods, desires and ends which someone dedicated to
worldly philosophy will never understand! What did Pilate think of a Kingdom?
He thought of power and force.
-
If Jesus were a King, where were His servants? Where was the show of strength?
This is the natural worldly conclusion and Jesus shuts it down.
-
If His Kingdom were of this world, Pilate would already be destroyed by the
myriad of angels that looked on, waiting to be called upon!
-
Jesus would never have had to submit to the Jews, much less, to this ignorant
man that believed himself to be in judgment over the Son of God and indeed the
King of Kings!
-
With pity in his voice, Jesus tells Pilate, "No, My Kingdom is not from
here." He has no chance of understanding the words of Jesus. Verse 37.
•
John 18:37,38 : "Pilate therefore said to Him, 'Are
You a king then?' Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born,
and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness
to the truth. Everyone who is of the
truth hears My voice.' Pilate said to Him, 'What is truth?'
And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, 'I
find no fault in Him at all." : Pilate
is straining to get to the bottom of this. He doesn't understand and he doesn't
want to understand! He wants this done and Jesus out of his hair!
-
I can almost hear his voice exasperated by what is an extreme lack of criminal
activity. "So, you maintain that you are a King?" Can you see him
writing this down? "Man thinks Himself a King."
-
At least Pilate is on the right track! Jesus tells him that he has answered
rightly, despite his cynicism and skepticism. Interestingly, consider the
implications here.
-
There are many who are willing to tag Jesus as King, supposing that He cannot
be because He doesn't act according to the way Kings on this planet act.
-
They dismiss Him out of hand as a King, but if they do not order their lives by
His rule, they miss everything, just as Pilate does here.
-
Jesus is the King of Kings. This demands our obedience and the ordering of our
life under this sweeping truth! If our lips claim this, but our lives betray
it, we are as foolish as Pilate!
-
Nevertheless, Jesus explains the nature of His advent to him. Listen to His
words: "For this reason I was born. For this cause I have come into the
world!"
-
Jesus is telling Pilate that He existed before His birth! He is telling Him
that this is why He has come into the Earth. This was His purpose!
-
He is God's King who bears witness of the truth! He has come to testify of the
truth. What is He referring to? The truth that governs reality.
-
God is sovereign over human affairs and He has the right to raise His King to
prominence and demand that all obey His law.
-
Those that hear or respond to the truth now are those that hear His voice! We
recognize what Jesus says is true, not because we are blind adherants or dull
incompetant people.
-
We hear His voice through His word because His Spirit is within us witnessing
of it's reliability! As we examine His claims against any critical criteria, we
find ourselves assured of truth!
-
Not everyone hears His voice! There are very intelligent people on this planet
that are not given the ability to recognize the veracity of His claims, and
they therefore, reject them!
-
Jesus is the King of all. Some will be His grateful brothers and sisters,
adopted by the Father and brought into fellowship by the Spirit. That is what a
Christian is!
-
A non-Christian will still live under the reign of Christ, whether they want to
or not, and having rejected the light that they have been given, will be
consigned to regret their decision for eternity!
-
Pilate is just one of those people! Here he stands, just feet away from the
incarnate Son of God, and his follow up question is "What is truth?"
Pilate doesn't even know if he knows what truth is!
-
He knows what "truth" is. He's a judge! He can't NOT know what truth
is. Perhaps he means, "What is truth compared with reality!"
-
These men that brought Jesus to Him were not concerned with truth. Truth is not
playing a large part in what is happening here today! The truth is not getting
Jesus out of this mess!
-
Obviously, truth is a failure against power. Wrong! The truth is that God's
power is seen in His restraint and His willingness to forego His power and
rights in order to save His people from their sin!
-
That is the truth winning the day over power and when people fail to recognize
the King of Truth they will be as exasperated as Pilate is!
-
What he does know at this moment is that Jesus was not guilty of anything
worthy of death and he tells the Jewish leaders that.
-
He cannot find a single cause to keep Him, but he is stuck between knowing what
is right and doing what is right. He's trapped, so instead of bravely
committing to righteousness, he delays.
-
Somewhere along the way, Pilate had come to realize that Jesus was doing most
of His work in the Galilee region. This wasn't his jurisdiction!
-
It's at this point that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod. (Luke 23:8) Even Herod couldn't find a cause for death in Jesus! (Luke 23:15) There is no cause for
further action!
-
Pilate should declare a mistrial and free the Lord immediately. Instead, he'll
attempt one final ploy to get himself out of this. Verse 39.
•
John 18:39,40 : "But you have a custom that I should
release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to
you the King of the Jews?' Then they all cried again, saying, 'Not this Man, but Barabbas!'
Now Barabbas was a robber." : I'd
suggest that between verses 38 and 39, you have a very telling look on the
faces of the religious leaders. They are determined to rid the Earth of Jesus!
-
Pilate knows that they will not be satisfied. They will either continue to
petition him or they will pursue higher authority, using their influence to
bring the procurator down a notch along the way.
-
This is why Pilate makes this suggestion regarding the release of a Jewish
prisoner at Passover. Pardoning prisoners was a useful tool to the Romans
especially at feasts.
-
Pardons from parting Presidents are often the price of political office. Pilate
was no different.
-
These governors could show magnanimity and leave the crowd buzzing, believing
that they had at least gotten something from the dreaded Romans. It was a token
act.
-
When Pilate put this to the crowd, their response was to free Barabbas rather
than Jesus. The language indicates that they repeatedly asked for Barabbas over
Jesus!
-
Matthew 27:20 tells us that they
were egged on by the religious leaders to call for this!
-
Barabbas comes out of nowhere in the narrative, but was scheduled to be
crucified that day. John calls Him a "robber." The word refers to
stealing by use of force and violence.
-
Matthew tells us that he was a "notorious" prisoner. (Matthew 27:16) Mark 15:17 tells us that he was chained with his fellow gang
members, having committed murder in a rebellion.
-
The three crosses that were about to be used on Golgotha were being prepared
for Barabbas and his co-conspiritors! Additionally, there is one further item
of note.
-
At least one Greek text notes that Barabbas was a surname. In a textual note in
Matthew 27:16, his full name is
used: "Jesus Barabbas!" Jesus, son of the Father!
-
This was the best that Pilate could do! This was the prisoner that the Jews
could not have wanted freed! He had it figured out. They have to choose Jesus
over this man didn't they?
-
To his horror, they called repeatedly for the man that he could not find
innocence in and the man that he could find no guilt in was doomed!
Conclusion
- As we close this section, it's worthy to
consider the men that stand before us as timeless examples, whose records are
are preserved as our warnings.
- We dare not appropriate the Kingdom of God
and serve it with the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, ignoring the gnat and
swallowing the camel!
- Let us beware of conveniently ignoring the
principles of God's Kingdom when it suits our worldly benefit! God's Kingdom is
not of this world!
- Neither should we allow our cowardice to keep
us from acknowledging God's King! Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent and he
probably had an idea that He knew the truth.
- He dismissed, then delayed, then attempted to
distract. He saved his skin but lost his soul!
- And then there is Barabbas. Here is a man
that perfectly fits each of us! He is profoundly guilty, amazingly unrepentant
and deserving of punishment.
- Does he sound familiar? Barabbas was the
first man to have his place taken by the One Man who was profoundly innocent,
thoroughly righteous and deserving of glory!
- When He has taken your place, He takes your
death and gives you His life! That is the gospel and the power of the Kingdom
of Truth!
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