Sermon 3-11-18 John 18:28-40
Have you ever been in a position where you were being set up by someone or some group, where corrupt, dishonest people were trying to punish you for something that you didn’t do because they were afraid that you were taking over something that they had cheated or lied for and were unwilling to give up? I think that at one time or another, all of us have. This is the situation in which Jesus found himself.
Last week, we talked together about how Jesus was arrested and Peter denied knowing or following him and how we do that sometimes.
After his arrest, Jesus is taken to Annas, the high priest and father in law of Caiaphas. Another religious official and high priest, he had bought comfort, ease, prestige and power in exchange for kickbacks and a promise of close cooperation with the country’s masters. His family had bribed their way into power and they were not going to lose all they had amassed. They were jealous of Jesus and his rising popularity. They were insanely threatened by his growing power.
One of the businesses Annas owned was the right to sell sacrificial animals in the temple which people would use to make their sacrifice to God. These were the sellers that Jesus had run out of the temple because they were not really there to serve people but to cheat and extort them.
Every animal that was brought for sacrifice had to be inspected to make sure that it was without spot or blemish. People would bring perfect animals but somehow, a tiny flaw would be found. What were they to do? Fortunately, someone there would sell them a previously approved animal, which just happened to be the animal that someone else had brought that had a flaw, but now did not. This business amassed Annas and his family a fortune. Jesus had attacked this system, saying that they were a mockery to the worship of God. Jesus hit him in his wallet and Annas wanted to be the first to gloat over the capture, and the potential defeat of this Galilean.
The Jews said that what Jesus was saying was blasphemy, hoping that it would not be ignored. In the end the Jewish leaders charged Jesus with political insurrection.
During that night, Jesus spent a lot of time with Pilate who had come to the top of Roman civil service. Pilate was clearly not impressed by the original charge brought before him and was inclined to dismiss it as baseless, and only one more of the endless squabbles forever boiling up among the hard headed and impossible people whom he had been sent to govern.
Pilate had the lurking suspicion that God was at work in Jesus but he did not have the courage to defy people to acknowledge God at work in their lives. Pilate was caught between a rock and a hard place. He was being set up. The religious leaders were cheating people and were unwilling to share their power and popularity. Hatred had consumed them and they lied and bent rules to keep what they had achieved and gained.
I find it amusing how Pilate and the others broke their own religious laws. Legally, a prisoner could not be asked any questions that by answering, they would admit any guilt. Jesus knew this and kept telling them to stop asking him questions and to get their evidence in the proper and legal way from witnesses. They could examine witnesses if they had any, but they should not have badgered Jesus. Jesus was condemned before he was tried, because when a person is engaged on an evil way, his or her only desire is to eliminate anyone who opposes them.
Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. If it was, his followers would have fought Pilate’s troops. Jesus made it clear that his kingdom was not based on force and arms, but that it was a kingdom in the hearts of people. Jesus was the sovereign, not of a certain parcel of land or a particular race of people, but of truth in the heart of all humanity.
Jesus was submitting to the will of His father, not as one who blithely follows a fated course but as an agent who is actively choosing to follow this difficult path. Jesus said that he had the power to lay down his life and the power to take it up again. He was choosing a difficult role, but one that would change eternity for all humans living, and yet to be born.
When the Romans first came to Israel, there was a bloody rebellion, because the Jews insisted that God alone was their king and to him only would they pay tribute. When the Jewish leaders cried out, “we have no king but Caesar”, it was a complete reversal. They were prepared to abandon every principle they had in order to eliminate Jesus. This shows the degree of their hatred of Jesus and what they were willing to say and do to have him eliminated.
Palestine was a province bristling with problems, and that required a firm hand and a strong and wise governor. Pilate had promoted a huge aqueduct project funded through high taxes and the people resented it. He responded by mingling his soldiers in plain clothes with concealed weapons among a large crowd. At a signal, the soldiers attacked the mob and many Jews were clubbed or stabbed to death.
The Romans believed that their emperor was a god. The Jews were enraged with the name of this strange god inscribed and displayed for reverence in their holy temple. The people, even Pilate’s advisors, thought that this was over the top, but Pilate did nothing to calm the people. So the religious leaders reported him to the emperor who ordered Pilate to remove the signs.
Pilate didn’t want to rule against Jesus and tried to put the responsibility on someone else. Unsuccessful, he sought a compromise. In his mind, a scourging might satisfy the religious leaders, or at least blunt the edge of Jewish hostility. This is where a person is beaten with a whip containing multiple strands of leather that had many pieces of sharp rock and steel embedded in the leather. When hit with this sort of whip, the flesh would be torn from your back. He tried to appeal to emotion and pity by bringing out the bloody, beaten Jesus.
“Look at this poor, bruised, bleeding creature. Can you possibly wish to hound a creature like this to an utterly unnecessary death”, Pilate asked with a dawning wonder and an admiration that would not be repressed?
Jesus tried to explain this new concept of “kingdom” and people’s loyalty. This kingdom was in their hearts and heads, not about power and might. Jesus demonstrated submission to God’s plan and purpose. We do this as we celebrate and observe the ways and times that Jesus is at work in our lives.
These verses show how strangely the minds of people can work. Here are men set upon causing the death of a fellow mortal, so determined on it that nothing but their immediate execution would satisfy them. Their hearts were ablaze with the roaring prairie fire of party spirit and an undisguised hatred willing to go to any length, yet these same men were so scrupulous not to violate the ceremonial regulations and so careful not to pollute themselves by entering the gentile portion of the temple that night, standing at, but not crossing the threshold as they clamored and shouted their bloodthirsty demands. Compliance with religious laws was stressed but not compassion for someone beaten almost to death.
There is nothing in the world which warps a person’s judgment as hatred does. Consumed by hatred, we can neither think straight, nor listen without distortion. Hatred is so terrible a thing in part because it takes a person’s senses away. The hatred of the Jews made them lose all sense of proportion as they twisted the truth to get their way. They cared only about themselves. They thought they were in charge of the world. Do you know anyone like that?
The Jews blackmailed Pilate into crucifying Jesus. They knew that Pilate’s record was not real good with his superiors and that if they didn’t get their way they would report him to the emperor again and he would be dismissed. His previous mistakes had made it impossible for him to defy the Jews and to keep his post. Pilate wanted to do the right thing but he didn't have the courage to defy the Jews and do it. He was caught in the mesh of his own past and so Pilate crucified Jesus in order to keep his job.
When a person faces Jesus, it is not Jesus who is on the trial, but us. Pilate may have treated many Jewish things with arrogant contempt, but he did not treat Jesus that way. It was Jesus that was in charge and Pilate who was bewildered and floundered in a situation which he did not understand.
How about us? Are we willing to change if we see God doing something new in our lives, even if it costs us something in terms of our time or our resources, or we have to admit that we were wrong and that God knew better than us? When we see God at work in our lives do we let everyone know about it, or is it a secret we keep to ourselves?
I’m using some terms a bit differently today. Near-sighted means you can’t see far away and far- sighted doesn’t see things close by clearly. I want to use them like short-term—not looking far way and long-term, planning far into the future. Sometimes we think only short-term. We are “short sighted”. We care only about immediate gratification, not considering what consequences we might someday face.
What about our business practices or the way that we treat other people in our lives. Are we always honest and fair, or do we do whatever will get us the best return on our investment? Are we short sighted or far sight? So we think about short term or long term gratification?
Do we lie about others to get them in trouble so we can advance in people’s sight? Do we twist the truth so they will look foolish and dishonest? Will we do anything we can to break those that oppose us and whom we are afraid might take something that we have?
What does God have to do for us to follow God’s plan and purpose for our lives? Do we willingly, joyfully seek God’s way, or do we kick and scream like a child until we realize that God is going to nudge us until we decide to live within God’s desire for our lives.
Do we find ourselves filled with hatred against someone or something? They hurt us or took something from us and we will get them back, no matter how long it takes us or what we have to do. We won’t listen to them or even talk to them, let alone treat them as a person of worth.
Pilate understood who and what Jesus was and knew what he had to do in response to that, but he was afraid of losing what was most important to him. When push came to shove, what about us, are we going to be loyal to God, or our own needs and concerns? This is something that we need to settle in our hearts and minds, especially during this time coming up to the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection and victory over death.
Following Jesus is a balance between finding joy and peace in the moment as well as living for the future, knowing that what we believe and do matters for all eternity. Amen.
Have you ever been in a position where you were being set up by someone or some group, where corrupt, dishonest people were trying to punish you for something that you didn’t do because they were afraid that you were taking over something that they had cheated or lied for and were unwilling to give up? I think that at one time or another, all of us have. This is the situation in which Jesus found himself.
Last week, we talked together about how Jesus was arrested and Peter denied knowing or following him and how we do that sometimes.
After his arrest, Jesus is taken to Annas, the high priest and father in law of Caiaphas. Another religious official and high priest, he had bought comfort, ease, prestige and power in exchange for kickbacks and a promise of close cooperation with the country’s masters. His family had bribed their way into power and they were not going to lose all they had amassed. They were jealous of Jesus and his rising popularity. They were insanely threatened by his growing power.
One of the businesses Annas owned was the right to sell sacrificial animals in the temple which people would use to make their sacrifice to God. These were the sellers that Jesus had run out of the temple because they were not really there to serve people but to cheat and extort them.
Every animal that was brought for sacrifice had to be inspected to make sure that it was without spot or blemish. People would bring perfect animals but somehow, a tiny flaw would be found. What were they to do? Fortunately, someone there would sell them a previously approved animal, which just happened to be the animal that someone else had brought that had a flaw, but now did not. This business amassed Annas and his family a fortune. Jesus had attacked this system, saying that they were a mockery to the worship of God. Jesus hit him in his wallet and Annas wanted to be the first to gloat over the capture, and the potential defeat of this Galilean.
The Jews said that what Jesus was saying was blasphemy, hoping that it would not be ignored. In the end the Jewish leaders charged Jesus with political insurrection.
During that night, Jesus spent a lot of time with Pilate who had come to the top of Roman civil service. Pilate was clearly not impressed by the original charge brought before him and was inclined to dismiss it as baseless, and only one more of the endless squabbles forever boiling up among the hard headed and impossible people whom he had been sent to govern.
Pilate had the lurking suspicion that God was at work in Jesus but he did not have the courage to defy people to acknowledge God at work in their lives. Pilate was caught between a rock and a hard place. He was being set up. The religious leaders were cheating people and were unwilling to share their power and popularity. Hatred had consumed them and they lied and bent rules to keep what they had achieved and gained.
I find it amusing how Pilate and the others broke their own religious laws. Legally, a prisoner could not be asked any questions that by answering, they would admit any guilt. Jesus knew this and kept telling them to stop asking him questions and to get their evidence in the proper and legal way from witnesses. They could examine witnesses if they had any, but they should not have badgered Jesus. Jesus was condemned before he was tried, because when a person is engaged on an evil way, his or her only desire is to eliminate anyone who opposes them.
Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. If it was, his followers would have fought Pilate’s troops. Jesus made it clear that his kingdom was not based on force and arms, but that it was a kingdom in the hearts of people. Jesus was the sovereign, not of a certain parcel of land or a particular race of people, but of truth in the heart of all humanity.
Jesus was submitting to the will of His father, not as one who blithely follows a fated course but as an agent who is actively choosing to follow this difficult path. Jesus said that he had the power to lay down his life and the power to take it up again. He was choosing a difficult role, but one that would change eternity for all humans living, and yet to be born.
When the Romans first came to Israel, there was a bloody rebellion, because the Jews insisted that God alone was their king and to him only would they pay tribute. When the Jewish leaders cried out, “we have no king but Caesar”, it was a complete reversal. They were prepared to abandon every principle they had in order to eliminate Jesus. This shows the degree of their hatred of Jesus and what they were willing to say and do to have him eliminated.
Palestine was a province bristling with problems, and that required a firm hand and a strong and wise governor. Pilate had promoted a huge aqueduct project funded through high taxes and the people resented it. He responded by mingling his soldiers in plain clothes with concealed weapons among a large crowd. At a signal, the soldiers attacked the mob and many Jews were clubbed or stabbed to death.
The Romans believed that their emperor was a god. The Jews were enraged with the name of this strange god inscribed and displayed for reverence in their holy temple. The people, even Pilate’s advisors, thought that this was over the top, but Pilate did nothing to calm the people. So the religious leaders reported him to the emperor who ordered Pilate to remove the signs.
Pilate didn’t want to rule against Jesus and tried to put the responsibility on someone else. Unsuccessful, he sought a compromise. In his mind, a scourging might satisfy the religious leaders, or at least blunt the edge of Jewish hostility. This is where a person is beaten with a whip containing multiple strands of leather that had many pieces of sharp rock and steel embedded in the leather. When hit with this sort of whip, the flesh would be torn from your back. He tried to appeal to emotion and pity by bringing out the bloody, beaten Jesus.
“Look at this poor, bruised, bleeding creature. Can you possibly wish to hound a creature like this to an utterly unnecessary death”, Pilate asked with a dawning wonder and an admiration that would not be repressed?
Jesus tried to explain this new concept of “kingdom” and people’s loyalty. This kingdom was in their hearts and heads, not about power and might. Jesus demonstrated submission to God’s plan and purpose. We do this as we celebrate and observe the ways and times that Jesus is at work in our lives.
These verses show how strangely the minds of people can work. Here are men set upon causing the death of a fellow mortal, so determined on it that nothing but their immediate execution would satisfy them. Their hearts were ablaze with the roaring prairie fire of party spirit and an undisguised hatred willing to go to any length, yet these same men were so scrupulous not to violate the ceremonial regulations and so careful not to pollute themselves by entering the gentile portion of the temple that night, standing at, but not crossing the threshold as they clamored and shouted their bloodthirsty demands. Compliance with religious laws was stressed but not compassion for someone beaten almost to death.
There is nothing in the world which warps a person’s judgment as hatred does. Consumed by hatred, we can neither think straight, nor listen without distortion. Hatred is so terrible a thing in part because it takes a person’s senses away. The hatred of the Jews made them lose all sense of proportion as they twisted the truth to get their way. They cared only about themselves. They thought they were in charge of the world. Do you know anyone like that?
The Jews blackmailed Pilate into crucifying Jesus. They knew that Pilate’s record was not real good with his superiors and that if they didn’t get their way they would report him to the emperor again and he would be dismissed. His previous mistakes had made it impossible for him to defy the Jews and to keep his post. Pilate wanted to do the right thing but he didn't have the courage to defy the Jews and do it. He was caught in the mesh of his own past and so Pilate crucified Jesus in order to keep his job.
When a person faces Jesus, it is not Jesus who is on the trial, but us. Pilate may have treated many Jewish things with arrogant contempt, but he did not treat Jesus that way. It was Jesus that was in charge and Pilate who was bewildered and floundered in a situation which he did not understand.
How about us? Are we willing to change if we see God doing something new in our lives, even if it costs us something in terms of our time or our resources, or we have to admit that we were wrong and that God knew better than us? When we see God at work in our lives do we let everyone know about it, or is it a secret we keep to ourselves?
I’m using some terms a bit differently today. Near-sighted means you can’t see far away and far- sighted doesn’t see things close by clearly. I want to use them like short-term—not looking far way and long-term, planning far into the future. Sometimes we think only short-term. We are “short sighted”. We care only about immediate gratification, not considering what consequences we might someday face.
What about our business practices or the way that we treat other people in our lives. Are we always honest and fair, or do we do whatever will get us the best return on our investment? Are we short sighted or far sight? So we think about short term or long term gratification?
Do we lie about others to get them in trouble so we can advance in people’s sight? Do we twist the truth so they will look foolish and dishonest? Will we do anything we can to break those that oppose us and whom we are afraid might take something that we have?
What does God have to do for us to follow God’s plan and purpose for our lives? Do we willingly, joyfully seek God’s way, or do we kick and scream like a child until we realize that God is going to nudge us until we decide to live within God’s desire for our lives.
Do we find ourselves filled with hatred against someone or something? They hurt us or took something from us and we will get them back, no matter how long it takes us or what we have to do. We won’t listen to them or even talk to them, let alone treat them as a person of worth.
Pilate understood who and what Jesus was and knew what he had to do in response to that, but he was afraid of losing what was most important to him. When push came to shove, what about us, are we going to be loyal to God, or our own needs and concerns? This is something that we need to settle in our hearts and minds, especially during this time coming up to the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection and victory over death.
Following Jesus is a balance between finding joy and peace in the moment as well as living for the future, knowing that what we believe and do matters for all eternity. Amen.
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