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we in Mark chapter 15 this morning and the passage that we're looking at uh what I've chosen is fairly lengthy and lengthy and um I guess what I can say is
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it didn't seem that it needed to be divided and also because of what I've
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come to understand or at least this is my thoughts about who Pontius pilot was and that his influence did not end at verse
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15 but continued on to verse 20 when the soldiers are torturing Jesus going to begin reading from verse 1 down to verse 20 of chapter
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15 and early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole Council immediately held a consultation and binding Jesus they led
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him away and delivered him to up to pilate and pil pilot questioned him are you the king of the Jews and answering he said to him it is as you say and the
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chief priest began to accuse him harshly and pilate was questioning him again saying do you make no answer see how many charges they bring against you but
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Jesus made no further answer so that pilate was pilate was amazed now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom
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they requested and the man named barabus had been imprisoned with the insurrectionist who had committed murder in the in the Insurrection and the multitude went up
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and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them and pilate answered them saying do you want me to release for you the king
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of the Jews for he was aware that the chief priests had delivered him up because of envy but the chief priest stirred up the multitude to ask him to release barabus for them instead and
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answering again pilate was saying to them then what shall I do with him whom you call the king of the Jews and they shouted back crucify him but pilate was
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saying to them why what evil has he done but they shouted all the more crucify him and wishing to satisfy the multitude pilate released barabus for them and
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after having Jesus scourged he delivered him to be crucified and the soldiers took him away into the palace that is the pratorum and they called together
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the whole Roman cohort and they dressed him up in purple and weaving after weaving a crown of thorns they put it on him and they began to Acclaim him hail
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King of the Jews and they kept beating his head with a reed and spitting at him and kneeling and bowing before him and after they had mocked him they took took the purple off him and put his
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garments on him and they led him out to crucify him let us
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pray father we have sung several hymns this morning this morning of that attitude of panting after you and giving you our all and realizing
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that we're the whole whole realm of Earth ours as a present it would be a present far too small I pray father that you would hear that prayer that we sing and
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that you would cause this to be a reality among your people that we would pant after you that we would seek after you that we would learn from you and
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that you would be our all we ask that you would help us this morning as we hear your word and we ask that your Holy Spirit would be powerful to our very
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souls in Christ's name we pray amen the prophecy that Jesus gave his disciples of himself in
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Mark chapter 10 has come true when Jesus and his disciples had left Galilee and come down along the
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Jordan and then crossed into to Jericho Mark 10 tells us that they they started up to Jerusalem this was when Jesus kind
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of they physically and and mentally spiritually they all made a turn toward Jerusalem and it says that
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the disciples were amazed and those who followed were fearful they they didn't want him to go they they just sense something about his face about the way he had
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he had spoken to them the way that he was walking and I think ahead of them he had made that turn toward this day that we read
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about Mark chapter 10 Mark writes behold we are uh Jesus saying we are going up to Jerusalem and the son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the
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scribes and they will condemn him to death that's Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin and then he adds and they will hand him over to the
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Gentiles that's pilate that's the Roman that's the that's the procurator in Judea at this
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time but it highlights for us both then and here in Mark chapter uh 15:1 and in the early morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and
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the whole Council the chief priests are the principal actors to this point they they are the leaders of this gang that
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has made this mock trial with Caiaphas and decided what the verdict is and it's interesting it says and immediately they held a
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held a consultation with the elders and scribes probably the meeting before this was illegal and probably this consultation
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is illegal as well because the Jewish law said they had to wait at least a day before acting on the verdict from the
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first meeting and that idea at least in The New American Standard the word consultation I I think again in the Greek is it's probably not a consultation they probably didn't sit
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down and say okay remember this is what we were doing and what do you think this is a is a resolution I don't think they consulted with the elders in Des cribed I think
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they told they told them we have decided the death verdict on this on this guy and this is the for form formal confirmation of that death penalty from
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the session that we just came from and now we're going to hand him over to the Roman authorities and their intention was not to ask pilate to have
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a trial a trial because if you read this there was no trial um I hate it when the Bibles put those little headings that are not part
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of scripture this was not a trial this was a demand they were demanding pilate to ratify the verdict
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and carry it out have Jesus put to death but they took what had been the
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ecclesiastical verdict remember under Caiaphas what was the charge this man claims to be the Messiah the
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Messiah the Christ but they had to spin it for pilate to make it a political verdict in Luke 23 we we read where they
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said the charge is this man claims to be the Christ the Christ and then they add a king and that would be what pilate would
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catch hold of and that's what they hoped pilate would do that he would Envision that this man claims to be a king an
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insurrectionist that is going to start a revolution and he is going to be against
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the Roman government and their demand was that pilate quickly Stamp It Out by putting Jesus to
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death Mark doesn't tell us who Pontius Pilate was he just assumed that the readers would know uh I had to look some
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things up and I'll give you a few of these without boring you most of History does not regard pilot as being a really
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good man but he was the fifth governor in Judea under Roman Emperor Tiberius his dates of being in this position ad
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26 to 26 to 36 and the this Regional governorship that he had or procurator ship was
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multifaceted he was an officer that managed the finances he got to collect taxes but he also supervised the military which is why when he was
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in uh Jerusalem and Herod was not he got to stay in the palace but he in if the King was there
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then he stayed in the barracks in Antonia which was in the north part of Jerusalem but he was also the Chief Justice in town and he was also head of
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the civil the civil service and as most of History writes infinite writes infinite infamously he was trying to maintain Law
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and Order among the Jews who despised the Roman the Roman government but pilate was told this this man has claimed to be the Christ the
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Messiah a king and Pilate kind of did backwards the way a trial would go he didn't ask for
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the witnesses to come forward he just asked went straight to the question and I believe that the way that we read it if we look at the other gospels he took
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him aside him aside privately and asked that Jesus be be be brought to him privately so that he can question him
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and his question was who was this man that they're bringing to me who was this Jesus really was he really going to fight was he a real threat to the Roman
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government and pilate may have and again as I read it and have studied this he may have done a double take when he actually saw actually saw Jesus and his thought was
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is this guy a threat the question here that he asks as it comes out in The New American Standard are you the king of the Jews
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but from what my study tells me it was with sarcasm and perhaps contempt when he looked at Jesus he said so are you
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really the king of the Jews you uh a poor peasant an itinerate preacher that I've heard of Are You The
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insight into our reading here of what pilate does and does and why are you the king of the Jews I think this was the only question
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that it was necessary for Jesus to answer again the Greek is is difficult for for me to understand it's either as The New American Standard has it his
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answer it is as you say that sounds like a definite a definite yes but it also could be read this way the assertion is yours I neither affirm
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nor deny nor deny it and the question well which is it and the commentators disagree but I tend to follow what Frederick goday wrote he
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says there is a distinction to be made here not of the thought of pilate but of that of that of Jesus in the political sense of the term King of the Jews the only one that was
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known to pilate Jesus might reject this title but in a religious sense which every believing Jew gave to it and in which he which was equivalent to Messiah
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Jesus must accept it whatever the consequences of this vowel might be remember Jesus was was not going to capitulate Jesus we we see here it's the
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only question that he answered that when when after this many brought other accusations to him he he didn't answer it all and pilate was trying to get him
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to defend yourself man listen to what they're saying saying about you and he made no
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answer pilate I think it's sure to say he's never seen a prisoner like this before he doesn't see Jesus as a political Pretender but I think he does see a
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remarkable man here's a man willing to suffer unjustly at the hands of this mob and these Chief priests but he's
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suffering with suffering with patience and he's suffering I think he saw a Majesty that was foreign to pilate
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when it says pilate was amazed it's the same word that was used in Mark chapter 10 when the disciples saw Jesus face as he turned and the scripture says and
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made his face like Flint heading to Jerusalem that's the word used here for pilate pilate came face to face with
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Jesus and he saw something there not just the fact that he thinks that he is innocent that he thinks that he is a
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principled man but I think he also saw that Jesus was in his estimation powerless and impotent
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even as he suffered but pilate has to navigate doesn't he he's got to navigate this this angry mob which is coming and the Sanhedrin and the chief priests and the
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elders and scribes given their passion and given their insistence and demands he must keep them
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satisfied cuz he wants to preserve and yet sadly what he sees and what he realizes about this man this remarkable
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man standing in front of him this man Jesus who refuses to answer the many false charges because they're irrelevant at this point they're
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irrelevant Slanders and he is in his silence he's Majestic and Noble and I think displaying true power even when
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pilate sees pilate sees this pilate is a coward and he never persues what is on his conscience that
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this man is no ordinary prisoner there's no history that I could find um and let the commentaries
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commentators do some digging for me no history in the Jewish literature concerning this tradition of freeing a prisoner at the
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Passover there are many on both sides who say well maybe this was just Pilot's way of you know trying to get along good with the Jews so every Passover he would
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ask them whom should I release from you but the request does not come from the chief priests the request comes from
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the people from the Jewish people themselves and pilate is under obligation however this tradition
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started he's under obligation to name the options and so he names barabus the worst criminal apparently
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now in custody in Jerusalem and Jesus the one they call the king of the Jews and I believe that his thinking
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is they're not going to vote for this notorious criminal when they see Jesus standing here as I have just seen him
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this innocent man this this peasant this man is somehow they've conjured up that he is a
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the name barabus is simply son of ABA the son of the father I don't know whether his mom and dad just couldn't think of a name or what but it's it's like he's he's the son of the
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father and yet they choose barabus they choose to release
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I think the people truly as we see in Mark they liked Jesus miracles they like to see the signs they were like Herod which one of the other gospels tells us that pilate
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sent Jesus to Herod and what did Herod expect he wanted to see some magic he wanted to see Jesus do a miracle I believe these people truly
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like those signs and I think they liked his Prophet likee teaching in the gospels we read about that where the crowd is amazed at his teaching one like
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the prophets but they also wanted Jesus to be what barabus was a leader of an Insurrection against
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Rome they wanted him to call on Jew Jews to come out of the woodwork come out from under this suppression show the Romans that we don't need them
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here the here the expectation I believe was they wanted a military leader they wanted a conqueror they wanted a warrior they wanted a kingly
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king and so pilate asks with a with a tone of of mocking I believe okay you want Barabas but what do I do with the one you call King of of the Jews he was
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aware of the Envy of the Jewish leaders as Mark writes for us he he thought the people would vote for
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Jesus but the high priests were on their game they game they incited the multitude they began to stir them up and they dominated this situation they controlled the Sanhedrin
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and I believe that their influence on the crowd turned them against Jesus AB Bruce writes they accuse Jesus
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to pilate of political ambition and they recommend barabus to the people for the same reason they reject this true son of the
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father for the desperate criminal the robber the robber the murderer but barabus did embody the ideas and desires of freedom of
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Deliverance even if it had to be by sword so what chance was there of meekness of
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of suffering of desire to understand the character and work of God
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the people were insensible to the truth of scripture concerning God and his sovereignty they were totally blind to the light of God's protection for his
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people and totally ungrateful for the gifts that he had bestowed on them as a
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nation and pilate pilate who held the power to release Jesus attempts to shift the blame to the Jews again displaying his cowardice and dereliction of Duty in an attempt to
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save his own conscience he thinks he's giving the Jews an obvious and Easy Choice this poor innocent man versus this desperate
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criminal surely they will not decide to release this criminal and they will not condemn Jesus will they
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as author Richard lensy writes pilate did not act the judge did not determine the case render the verdict or enforce it in the end the life of one poor itinerate
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preacher Jew was exchanged for satisfying the crowd for one more day
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soldiers that pilate called out from the cohort we don't know how many there could have been as many as 200 something like that did the soldiers decide to mock Jesus on their own was that their
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game or is it possible that pilate ordered it some say it was pilate's idea to gain a favorable sentiment toward Jesus by the
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Jews if they saw how innocent he was and how he before his captors and his torturers was dumb surely they would
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him the scourging and the mocking I think was pilot stage pilot stage play with Jesus to show what kind of King he was
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unusual the mocking was cruel because as one author wrote of the sheer brutality and Savage Delight in torturing they bring out the purple robe and and the Greek the Greek is not
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Sherwin Williams it the word purple can be anywhere from Rose plum up to dark Deep Purple it was probably a Scarlet
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robe as one of the other gospel writers says and it was probably worn and soiled and an ugly looking robe but what was it
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meant to to be what is the robe for a king it's that stately attire as he's going to court he is dressed with that robe that indicates
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this is the king and they bring out the crown of thorns a crown was that which was to demonstrate power and dignity of
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royalty and theirs was bristling with sharp Thorns that as they drew it down over his scalp Drew streams of
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blood and the scepter made of Reed what was the scepter but a symbol of the authority of of the king and how did they use that scepter
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they apparently put it in his hand but as he stood there they ripped it out of his hands and began striking him on the head perhaps driving the crown of thorns
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deeper into his scalp and then we see them with Fain obeisance bowing down in a claim as one
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would for a king but here with cutting sarcasm and humiliation to his soul the mocking was
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cruel but it was also unusual and not in the way that you might think cruel and unusual punishment apparently scourging was part of Roman
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crucifixion that that would happen first with the whip with the bone tied to the end and slapping him in the back with two on one on each side slapping
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him with the whip on his naked back but I say the mocking was unusual in this case because it was
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unexpected because it highlights a shift in our thinking in in God's thinking in God's Sovereign plan for salvation a
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shift in thinking of the forgiveness of sins Jewish literature again as I can understand it does not suggest that the
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Messiah would die for the sins of the nation again many were thinking of that military King that he's going to come and power and majesty and glory and
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might when Israel was enslaved and suffering under the Pharaohs of Egypt God delivered them with an Exodus an exodus to
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safety it had no regard for sins but NT Wright writes this when Israel was enslaved and
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suffering under Roman governors a new Exodus was Exodus was required but this new Exodus will have to do something extra something the
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first one had not it will have to deal with the sins because of which the Jewish people are
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suffering Alexander McLaren adds for Christ's kingship is founded in suffering wielded with gentleness this Redemptive suffering as some calls it
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was not something that God's people would pass would pass through to be delivered but something that would cause the Deliverance to come
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about that is the difference here one man would die for the people one suffering servant as we see in Isaiah
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one suffering servant would bear the sins of many and in Isaiah 53 we read and he will divide the plundering plunder with the strong because he
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poured out his life unto death there's a new Exodus here this suffering that I believe pilate brought upon him for his own gains and
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for his own thoughts I think we can interpret that it actually put on
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display an unconscious prophecy of who Christ was the was the robe Psalm 93 tells us the Lord has
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assumed his kingship he is clothed with Majesty the Lord has clothed and encircled himself with strength he is clothed as a king and the
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crown the writer to the Hebrews writes but we do see him who was made a little lower than the Angels namely Jesus because of his suffering death crowned
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with Glory and Honor so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone and and the scepter is foretold in Psalm 45 your throne oh God is
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forever and ever the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of
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justice and then we know that great day will come that Paul writes of in Philippians 2 and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient
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to the point of death even death on a cross for this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that the name of
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Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
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to the king all glorious we give all praise all honor all glory father the
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suffering humiliation just tears and the blood mingled and flowing down this down this Jesus gave
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Jesus gave himself that we might live not just to Deliver Us from Evil but to forgive our sins to cause us
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to live in righteousness so father this day we we Rejoice even as we we cringe at the reading and meditation on these awful
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things we know that it was your plan your Plan of Redemption for us and we mark at it and like the
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disciples and even like pilate as we come face to face with Jesus we are amazed we thank you for these
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views of our Lord Jesus Christ in Jesus name we pray amen would you please rise for the
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benediction from Jude now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy to the only God our savior
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through Jesus Christ Our Lord be glory Majesty dominion and Authority before all time and now and forever amen
