July 20, 2025 • 28 mins
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Jesus stands before Pilate in a dramatic confrontation between worldly power and divine truth, culminating in the ultimate sacrifice that offers grace to all who will receive it.
• Archaeological evidence confirms these were real historical figures—Caiaphas's ossuary (bone box) and Pilate's stone inscription are both displayed in Israel Museum
• Jewish leaders took Jesus to Pilate because they lacked official authority to execute Him, yet God used this to fulfill prophecies about crucifixion
• When Jesus mentioned truth, Pilate asked "What is truth?" but walked away before hearing the answer
• Pilate attempted to release Jesus by offering to free either Him or Barabbas, a notorious rebel and murderer
• The crowd chose to release Barabbas instead of Jesus, creating a powerful picture of substitutionary atonement
• Like Barabbas, we all deserve death but Jesus takes our place, offering freedom we don't deserve
Let's not take God's grace lightly this week. Remember what Jesus has done for us, how good and gracious He's been to offer us freedom and life in Him—a gift we could never earn or deserve.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Well, mark 15, verse 1.
Time is going by in the accountthat we're reading here, mark's
account, but it's going byslowly.
But it's going by slowly.
We have seen Jesus the nightbefore celebrating the Passover
feast with his disciples.
(00:31):
We've seen him go to the gardento pray with his disciples and
we've seen him taken by a mob tothe chief priest's house where
a trial of sorts has gonethrough and Jesus has been tried
(00:52):
.
He's been beaten by this point,he's been mocked.
So, as the story goes on, asthe account goes on, we know
that he's already bloodied bythis, we know that he's already
bloodied by this, and chapter 15opens with him being taken to
Pilate.
It's the morning now, finally,and he is going to be tried by
(01:20):
the Roman governor, pilate.
We're going to read this inchapter 15.
But a couple of things I justwant to point out is something
that we don't often think about,but I think it's important Is
this we often call it the gospelstory.
Right, it's the gospel account.
A lot of times we see thepeople in this story, in this
(01:44):
account, as characters,characters like in a book.
It's kind of dangerous to seepeople in that light, the people
that we read about today Pilate, caiaphas, jesus.
They're not just characters ina story, they are actual flesh
and blood.
It's important every so oftento remind ourselves of that as
(02:07):
we look at it, and this is ahistorical account Just as real
as our very own, georgeWashington, abraham Lincoln,
just as real as you right, goahead, pinch yourself.
You're real, real.
We read of Caiaphas the highpriest, and I just want to point
out that when I went to Israeloh, 25 years ago, maybe it's
(02:37):
something like that we went tothe Israel Museum and if you go
to the archaeology wing of theIsrael Museum, you'll come
around the corner and there'sthis box, 15 inches by 30 inches
.
It's known as an ossuary.
A bone box is what it would be.
The bones of people were put inthat box, and this box that
you'll find in the Israel Museum, it has the word on there
(03:01):
Joseph, son of Caiaphas.
On there, joseph, son ofCaiaphas.
We believe that it is thisCaiaphas that's being mentioned
on that box family name and so,in reality, perhaps this
Caiaphas, his bones in that boxthat they found, a real person.
(03:23):
We're going to consider Pilatefor most of our time today,
pontius Pilate, in that samemuseum, the Israel Museum.
You come around another cornerand you'll see a stone, and on
that stone is written in Latinthese words, in English English
to the divine Augustus theTiberius, pontius Pilate,
(03:48):
prefect of Judea, made anddedicated and likely.
This was set in front of abuilding that Pontius Pilate had
built in honor of CaesarTiberius, and so I want you to
see that was found in 1961, bythe way.
I want you to see that theseare real people, real people
(04:11):
that lived, and it's not just astory, this is the truth.
It's important, I think, toremember that and sometimes
bring that up.
Now, as we look at this, let'sdive into chapter 15, new
chapter, verse 1.
Immediately in the morning, thechief priests held a
(04:35):
consultation with the elders andscribes and the whole council,
and they bound Jesus and led himaway and delivered him to
Pilate.
Then Pilate asked him are youthe king of the Jews?
He answered and said to him itis as you say.
And the chief priests accusedhim of many things, but he
(04:57):
answered nothing.
Then Pilate asked him againsaying do you answer nothing?
Again saying do you answernothing?
See how many things theytestify against you.
But Jesus still answerednothing.
So Pilate marveled.
So here we are in Mark, chapter15.
It's just a short littleaccount of Jesus here standing
(05:18):
in front of Pilate.
Now, if you look at the otherthree gospels Matthew, mark,
luke and John all four of themyou'll get a little more
complete story, a little morecomplete account.
Let's turn over to John,chapter 18.
John, chapter 18, verse 28.
(05:53):
We get the same idea here.
Then they led Jesus fromCaiaphas to the Praetorium, and
it was early morning.
But they themselves did not gointo the praetorium, lest they
should be defiled but that theymight eat the Passover.
Pilate then went out to themand said what accusation do you
(06:15):
bring against this man?
They answered and said to himif he were not an evildoer, we
would not have delivered him upto you, doer, we would not have
delivered him up to you.
And Pilate said to them youtake him and judge him according
to your law.
Therefore, the Jews said to himit's not lawful for us to put
anyone to death that the sayingmight be fulfilled, what she
(06:36):
spoke, signifying what death hewould die.
So here we see Jesus taken infront of Pilate.
Pilate says what has he done?
The chief priests and thereligious leaders say well, we
didn't bring him to you fornothing.
He obviously did something.
Luke 23, you don't have to turnthere, but they spell it out at
(07:01):
this point to Pilate and theylet him know that this Jesus has
been perverting the nation,he's corrupting our people, he's
forbidding us to pay taxes toCaesar.
We know that's not true and heclaims to be a king.
So Pilate then does his owninterrogation and realizes that
(07:25):
it's a setup.
Mark 15, verse 10, we rememberhe said he realized it was for
envy that they brought.
Now we come to Luke 23, wherePilate finds out that Jesus is
from Galilee.
He sends him to Herod and onlyLuke tells us about this account
as Jesus stands in front ofHerod.
Herod's excited to see himMaybe he'll do some trick in
(07:47):
front of me.
And Jesus doesn't open hismouth.
Herod rather quickly beats him,mocks him, puts a robe on his
back and sends him back toPilate.
Back at Pilate's place, pilateis desiring to release him and
(08:08):
Matthew says tells us thatPilate's wife comes to him and
she's had a dream about Jesusand she tells her husband have
nothing to do with this.
Just, man, I've been tormentedin the night.
You need to release him.
So this is what's on Pilate'smind and Pilate, as the story
(08:31):
goes on, scourges Jesus we readin the Gospels he takes him and
he whips him with this whip.
You know the scourge, the Romanscourger, the cat of nine tails
.
It had metal, glass bone on theends of it and they would whip
the accused up to 40 times.
40 times he'd stop at 39,really, because 40 times was
(08:54):
known to basically kill justabout anyone and they would whip
them to try to get answers fromhim.
To try to get answers from him.
Pilate does this, wanting torelease him.
John 19, verse five.
We see, as this has alreadygone down, jesus is bloodied and
beaten.
He's scourged.
Pilate brings him out In 19,verse five, and he says behold
(09:23):
the man.
So we can picture this as it'sgone on, a lot more information
than what Mark has given us.
But Jesus has really beenthrough it.
He's bloody, to the point whereIsaiah tells us that he didn't
even look like a man anymore.
We couldn't even see that hewas human.
So beat up and bloody, and sothis is the process that goes
(09:48):
down.
A little more details, try topick it out there.
But let's turn back to Mark 15and play the ball where it lies,
so to speak.
Jesus before Pilate.
The chief priests want him dead.
So why did the chief priestseven bring Jesus to Pilate?
(10:12):
It's an important question toask.
Because the chief priests hadthe ability to kill people,
right.
Mob violence was in their reach.
John chapter 8.
John, chapter 8, they bring awoman caught in the act of
adultery and they all startpicking up stones Do you
(10:33):
remember the story?
And they're ready to throw themat this woman and kill her,
execute her.
The Jews could do that.
Jesus saved her, by the way butthe Jews could do that.
In Acts, chapter eight, we seeStephen the first is actually
(10:54):
Acts seven.
We see Stephen, the firstChristian martyr.
And the Jews didn't have anyproblem picking up stones and
throwing them at people untilthey were dead.
That's the way they did it.
But they come to Pilate and hesays you take care of it.
And they say, no, we don't havethe right to execute people.
(11:18):
And that was true.
They officially didn't have theright to execute people.
Rome had said you know what?
The Jews are unpredictable.
They like to kill people for noreason.
Here they mob and all thesethings.
We're going to take away yourability to execute people,
capital punishment, and they dida few years before this.
So Rome, officially, was theonly one to have the power to
(11:43):
execute people.
And yet, well, look at John, 18, verse 32.
I know I'm having you flip backand forth, I just want to hit
these things.
18, verse 32.
This is where verse 31, wherePilate says you take them and do
(12:08):
according to your law.
Therefore, the Jews said to himit's not lawful for us to put
anyone to death, that the sayingof Jesus might be fulfilled,
which he spoke, signifying whatkind of death he should die.
So Jesus had said that the Sonof man would be lifted up.
And so, picturing the crosslifted up, not thrown to the
(12:33):
ground as the Jews would, asthey would stone people.
But even more than that, andcome back even more than that,
psalm 22 is an amazing psalm ofthis very time in human history.
Psalm 22,.
Go back and read it.
It starts with the words my God, my God, why have you forsaken
(12:54):
me?
And Jesus spoke those words onthe cross, as if to point to
Psalm 22.
Well, what else is in Psalm 22is really fascinating.
It shows there that his clotheswould be divided.
They would cast lots for hisclothing.
It says that people wouldsurround him and say he believed
(13:17):
in God.
Let God save him.
But in Psalm 22, verse 16, nowlisten.
Psalm 22, verse 16 says fordogs have surrounded me, the
congregation of the wicked hasenclosed me.
They pierced my hands and myfeet.
Now, david had no idea whatthis meant when he wrote it.
(13:38):
He was just having a rough day.
But he says very specificallythere they pierced my hands and
my feet.
Jesus mentioning at the crossmy God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?
Points to this they pierced myhands and my feet, a reference
to crucifixion.
150 years before it was eveninvented.
(13:58):
It was known, god knew and hepredicted that Jesus would have
his hands and his feet pierced.
So the only ones to do that wasRome.
Now we look at the motivationof the chief priests and their
thing is they don't want thepeople to think that it was them
that did it.
(14:18):
They don't want the people torevolt because a lot of people
revered Jesus.
So they want to push it offearly morning to the Romans.
But here we see it was all partof the plan, right, that his
hands and his feet were pierced,and these things he did to
fulfill what was spoken.
So Jesus stands in front ofPilate.
(14:44):
But the other thing you reallysee as we look at this is that
Pilate is standing before Jesus.
Pilate needed to stand beforeJesus.
When you look at history,josephus and some of the
histories there references alittle bit about Pilate.
Pilate was ruthless and brutal,but he was not a very good
(15:08):
leader.
Early in his career, about 10years, he served here in Israel.
Early in his, he came into thetemple with big banners with
Caesar's face on it.
Why, I don't know, but itstarted a riot and the people
came and said you've got to getthese idols out of here.
Pilate said you know what?
(15:29):
I'm going to keep these idolsand if you don't leave right now
, I'm going to kill all y'all.
Big threat from Pilate.
Well, the people said I guessyou're going to have to kill us.
And Pilate said all right, I'lltake the banners down.
And so he was not well liked.
Sometimes he was threatening,sometimes he was a pushover.
(15:50):
Another time he needed money tobuild an aqueduct in the city
of Jerusalem and he took it fromthe temple tithes and offerings
.
They didn't like that.
Luke tells us that Pilatemingled some Galileans' blood
with their sacrifices, and hedid that From time to time he
(16:13):
would slaughter people and othertimes he was a pushover.
Pilate was not well liked andeventually ended up being
replaced by Caesar.
In fact, caesar was so mad athim that he said I want to take
every reference of Pilate's nameand get rid of it.
And so signs that had Pilate'sname on it, plaques that had
(16:36):
Pilate's name on it, plaquesthat had Pilate's name on it,
torn down, every reference toPilate was torn down, and one of
them was actually placed inthat amphitheater that was found
in 1961, for our sake, thatmentioned Pilate.
It was used as a stair in thatamphitheater because Caesar
hated Pilate.
So this guy had some issuesright.
(17:00):
And here he stands in front ofJesus and Jesus is going to
speak to him.
This is, god's grace, right.
Let's turn to John 18 again.
Back and forth, back and forth,john 18, verse 33.
(17:21):
Then Pilate entered thepraetorium again, called Jesus
and said to him Are you the kingof the Jews?
Jesus answered him.
Are you speaking for yourselfabout this or did others tell
this?
Concerning me?
Pilate answered and said Am I aJew?
Your own nation and chiefpriests have delivered you to me
(17:42):
.
What have you done?
Jesus answered my kingdom isnot of this world.
If my kingdom were of thisworld, my servants would fight
so that I should not bedelivered to the Jews.
But now my kingdom is not fromhere.
Pilate therefore said to himare you a king?
Then Jesus answered you say,rightly, that I am a king.
(18:05):
For this cause I was born andfor this cause I have come into
the world that I should bearwitness to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truthhears my voice.
Pilate said to him what istruth?
(18:28):
So here's just a little snippetof this encounter.
And Jesus has close contactwith Pilate and Jesus has close
contact with Pilate.
Verse 38, though I think wasreally the question of Pilate's
life, as he looked around at theworld around him and where he
was and what he was doing.
(18:48):
Verse 38, pilate asked thequestion to Jesus what is truth?
And couldn't you just kind ofhear it in his voice?
He's a little cynical.
I think you know what is truth,but imagine this Pilate had the
opportunity to hear from Jesusabout this.
(19:11):
What would Jesus tell him?
I am the way, the truth and thelife.
God's word is truth.
You know all sorts of things.
You shall know the truth, andthe truth will make you free.
And there Pilate throws it out.
What is truth?
But look at the sad result here.
(19:32):
Notice verse 38.
When he had said this, he wentout again.
I really picture this.
He's asking a question, it's agood question, but he's not
sticking around for the answer.
Does he really want the answer?
I don't know.
Did he want to hear what Jesushad to say about truth?
It's just kind of a rhetoricalquestion here.
(19:55):
And yet we look at Pilate'slife and it's just unfortunate.
It's a waste.
And yet God gave him thischance here.
Now we won't go back to John,let's head back to Mark and
finish up our time here.
(20:15):
Pilate's ready to release Jesusand, as you put it all together
, he's scheming to try to getthis to work.
Verse six we read, though atthe feast he was accustomed to
releasing a prisoner to them,whomever they requested.
So Pilate here, I think, has anidea.
(20:37):
Oh, it's Passover, independenceDay for the Jews.
He had a tradition of releasingone prisoner to them as a you
know, good faith here, releasinga prisoner, someone who's
captive, and Pilate has thisidea, I know.
Let's release Barabbas.
(20:58):
His name means son of thefather, interesting name, but as
you put it all together, youfind out that he's one bad
hombre, right To use someterminology, some Spanish, there
In Mark it says that he led arebellion in verse seven there
(21:20):
and that he was a murderer.
John tells us that he was arobber.
Certainly Pilate thought if Itry to release a murderer and a
robber to them, they'll commonsense, a human being will say we
don't want a murderer androbber released, they'll choose
(21:41):
Jesus.
Well, never underestimate thetwisted values of people.
That's exactly who they wantedthe murderer and the robber
released to them.
And Pilate presents these two,jesus or Barabbas and the people
are influenced by the priest toask for Barabbas.
That's what we read Now.
(22:05):
We're shocked as the peoplechoose Barabbas, but we see how
it all goes down.
I want to switch point of view.
One more time here today.
What about Barabbas?
Right?
More time here today.
What about Barabbas?
He's jailed there nearby he'sbeing held, and Rome didn't
(22:26):
waste time on executing people.
He was likely going to beexecuted that day with other
people that had been in therebellion, who had robbed.
Perhaps he was meant to be thatcenter person on the cross
between two thieves, and therehe is waiting for his time to
(22:47):
come.
Now picture this as we go out,as we go on here, the multitude
crying aloud verse eight beganto ask him to do as he had
always done.
Pilate answered do you want meto release to you the king of
the Jews?
For he knew the chief priesthad handed him over because of
(23:08):
envy.
The chief priest stirred up thecrowd.
They should rather releaseBarabbas to them.
Pilate answered and said tothem again what do you want me
to do Now?
Listen to this in verse 13.
So they cried out again crucifyhim.
And Pilate said to him why?
What evil has he done?
(23:29):
They cried out all the morecrucify him.
So Pilate, wanting to gratifythe crowd, released Barabbas to
them and he delivered Jesusafter he had scourged him to be
crucified.
Picture it this crowd, crazycrowd.
Who do you want me to releaseto you?
(23:50):
Give us Barabbas.
What do you want me to do withthis Jesus?
Crucify him.
Crucify him.
Insane.
But picture from Barabbas'spoint of view, locked up nearby
there in the prison.
He can't hear Pilate, probably,but he can hear the crazy crowd
(24:16):
.
Give us Barabbas.
Barabbas, crucify him.
Crucify him and he's.
You know he's having issues atthis point.
There's a panic attack, I'mimagining, as Barabbas knows
it's coming, it's coming,they're going to tear me apart.
(24:37):
Knows it's coming, it's coming,they're going to tear me apart.
And then the door opens oh,this is it, this is it.
And they take him and they leadhim out and they let him go.
What in the world just happened?
I was dead, I was so dead, andyet now I'm free.
(24:59):
Why am I free?
Well, they chose Jesus instead.
Now I don't know.
Lots of movies have been made.
What happened with Barabbas?
I don't know.
Did he go outside the city,there and see those men being
crucified?
Did he see his fellow rebelsthere, the fellow robbers,
(25:20):
perhaps on the crosses next toJesus?
Did he go?
That's where I belong.
I don't know.
Was his life changed?
No idea, no idea what happenedto him.
Only stories can tell right.
But we've got to look at justthe grace of God, because it is
a good picture for us.
That was each one of us.
(25:41):
All have sinned.
We come back to it.
All have sinned and fall shortof the glory of God.
Romans 6.23,.
The wages of sin is death forevery one of us.
It's what we deserve, no matterif we think we're good people
or not good people.
We all deserve death and it wascalling out for us.
(26:02):
And yet Jesus took our placeand I don't understand how he
could not be changed.
But we all have a choice whatto do with that forgiveness,
what to do with that grace.
But here we see all along theway God's grace in this
situation.
God's grace talking to ahardened guy like Pilate what is
(26:25):
truth and then walks away.
God's grace freeing Barabbas,giving him a second chance,
really dying for him in hisplace on that cross.
Grace that he has for us thathe died in his place on that
cross.
Grace that he has for us thathe died in our place on that
cross.
God, we don't want to just readit and go off to the rest of our
(26:51):
week, god, we really want tounderstand what you've done for
us.
God, I love my friends and butyet I look at us and I know
we're all lost without you.
What we would have been withoutyou?
Where we would have been?
It would have been hell withoutyou.
(27:13):
And yet, god, you loved us andyou took the time to converse
with each one of us.
You've given us and offered usthis wonderful gift of salvation
.
Nothing that we can earn,nothing we can do to deserve it.
But, god, you offer us ourfreedom and a life in you.
(27:33):
God, I pray that we wouldn'ttake that lightly this week.
It would be on our heart allweek long what you've done for
us, how good you've been to us,how gracious you've been.
God, I just pray you would workthese things into our heart by
your spirit.
We would know your just amazinglove, your amazing grace.
(27:54):
God, thank you again for thistime.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Well, mark 15, verse 1.
Time is going by in the accountthat we're reading here, mark's
account, but it's going byslowly.
But it's going by slowly.
We have seen Jesus the nightbefore celebrating the Passover
feast with his disciples.
(00:31):
We've seen him go to the gardento pray with his disciples and
we've seen him taken by a mob tothe chief priest's house where
a trial of sorts has gonethrough and Jesus has been tried
(00:52):
.
He's been beaten by this point,he's been mocked.
So, as the story goes on, asthe account goes on, we know
that he's already bloodied bythis, we know that he's already
bloodied by this, and chapter 15opens with him being taken to
Pilate.
It's the morning now, finally,and he is going to be tried by
(01:20):
the Roman governor, pilate.
We're going to read this inchapter 15.
But a couple of things I justwant to point out is something
that we don't often think about,but I think it's important Is
this we often call it the gospelstory.
Right, it's the gospel account.
A lot of times we see thepeople in this story, in this
(01:44):
account, as characters,characters like in a book.
It's kind of dangerous to seepeople in that light, the people
that we read about today Pilate, caiaphas, jesus.
They're not just characters ina story, they are actual flesh
and blood.
It's important every so oftento remind ourselves of that as
(02:07):
we look at it, and this is ahistorical account Just as real
as our very own, georgeWashington, abraham Lincoln,
just as real as you right, goahead, pinch yourself.
You're real, real.
We read of Caiaphas the highpriest, and I just want to point
out that when I went to Israeloh, 25 years ago, maybe it's
(02:37):
something like that we went tothe Israel Museum and if you go
to the archaeology wing of theIsrael Museum, you'll come
around the corner and there'sthis box, 15 inches by 30 inches
.
It's known as an ossuary.
A bone box is what it would be.
The bones of people were put inthat box, and this box that
you'll find in the Israel Museum, it has the word on there
(03:01):
Joseph, son of Caiaphas.
On there, joseph, son ofCaiaphas.
We believe that it is thisCaiaphas that's being mentioned
on that box family name and so,in reality, perhaps this
Caiaphas, his bones in that boxthat they found, a real person.
(03:23):
We're going to consider Pilatefor most of our time today,
pontius Pilate, in that samemuseum, the Israel Museum.
You come around another cornerand you'll see a stone, and on
that stone is written in Latinthese words, in English English
to the divine Augustus theTiberius, pontius Pilate,
(03:48):
prefect of Judea, made anddedicated and likely.
This was set in front of abuilding that Pontius Pilate had
built in honor of CaesarTiberius, and so I want you to
see that was found in 1961, bythe way.
I want you to see that theseare real people, real people
(04:11):
that lived, and it's not just astory, this is the truth.
It's important, I think, toremember that and sometimes
bring that up.
Now, as we look at this, let'sdive into chapter 15, new
chapter, verse 1.
Immediately in the morning, thechief priests held a
(04:35):
consultation with the elders andscribes and the whole council,
and they bound Jesus and led himaway and delivered him to
Pilate.
Then Pilate asked him are youthe king of the Jews?
He answered and said to him itis as you say.
And the chief priests accusedhim of many things, but he
(04:57):
answered nothing.
Then Pilate asked him againsaying do you answer nothing?
Again saying do you answernothing?
See how many things theytestify against you.
But Jesus still answerednothing.
So Pilate marveled.
So here we are in Mark, chapter15.
It's just a short littleaccount of Jesus here standing
(05:18):
in front of Pilate.
Now, if you look at the otherthree gospels Matthew, mark,
luke and John all four of themyou'll get a little more
complete story, a little morecomplete account.
Let's turn over to John,chapter 18.
John, chapter 18, verse 28.
(05:53):
We get the same idea here.
Then they led Jesus fromCaiaphas to the Praetorium, and
it was early morning.
But they themselves did not gointo the praetorium, lest they
should be defiled but that theymight eat the Passover.
Pilate then went out to themand said what accusation do you
(06:15):
bring against this man?
They answered and said to himif he were not an evildoer, we
would not have delivered him upto you, doer, we would not have
delivered him up to you.
And Pilate said to them youtake him and judge him according
to your law.
Therefore, the Jews said to himit's not lawful for us to put
anyone to death that the sayingmight be fulfilled, what she
(06:36):
spoke, signifying what death hewould die.
So here we see Jesus taken infront of Pilate.
Pilate says what has he done?
The chief priests and thereligious leaders say well, we
didn't bring him to you fornothing.
He obviously did something.
Luke 23, you don't have to turnthere, but they spell it out at
(07:01):
this point to Pilate and theylet him know that this Jesus has
been perverting the nation,he's corrupting our people, he's
forbidding us to pay taxes toCaesar.
We know that's not true and heclaims to be a king.
So Pilate then does his owninterrogation and realizes that
(07:25):
it's a setup.
Mark 15, verse 10, we rememberhe said he realized it was for
envy that they brought.
Now we come to Luke 23, wherePilate finds out that Jesus is
from Galilee.
He sends him to Herod and onlyLuke tells us about this account
as Jesus stands in front ofHerod.
Herod's excited to see himMaybe he'll do some trick in
(07:47):
front of me.
And Jesus doesn't open hismouth.
Herod rather quickly beats him,mocks him, puts a robe on his
back and sends him back toPilate.
Back at Pilate's place, pilateis desiring to release him and
(08:08):
Matthew says tells us thatPilate's wife comes to him and
she's had a dream about Jesusand she tells her husband have
nothing to do with this.
Just, man, I've been tormentedin the night.
You need to release him.
So this is what's on Pilate'smind and Pilate, as the story
(08:31):
goes on, scourges Jesus we readin the Gospels he takes him and
he whips him with this whip.
You know the scourge, the Romanscourger, the cat of nine tails
.
It had metal, glass bone on theends of it and they would whip
the accused up to 40 times.
40 times he'd stop at 39,really, because 40 times was
(08:54):
known to basically kill justabout anyone and they would whip
them to try to get answers fromhim.
To try to get answers from him.
Pilate does this, wanting torelease him.
John 19, verse five.
We see, as this has alreadygone down, jesus is bloodied and
beaten.
He's scourged.
Pilate brings him out In 19,verse five, and he says behold
(09:23):
the man.
So we can picture this as it'sgone on, a lot more information
than what Mark has given us.
But Jesus has really beenthrough it.
He's bloody, to the point whereIsaiah tells us that he didn't
even look like a man anymore.
We couldn't even see that hewas human.
So beat up and bloody, and sothis is the process that goes
(09:48):
down.
A little more details, try topick it out there.
But let's turn back to Mark 15and play the ball where it lies,
so to speak.
Jesus before Pilate.
The chief priests want him dead.
So why did the chief priestseven bring Jesus to Pilate?
(10:12):
It's an important question toask.
Because the chief priests hadthe ability to kill people,
right.
Mob violence was in their reach.
John chapter 8.
John, chapter 8, they bring awoman caught in the act of
adultery and they all startpicking up stones Do you
(10:33):
remember the story?
And they're ready to throw themat this woman and kill her,
execute her.
The Jews could do that.
Jesus saved her, by the way butthe Jews could do that.
In Acts, chapter eight, we seeStephen the first is actually
(10:54):
Acts seven.
We see Stephen, the firstChristian martyr.
And the Jews didn't have anyproblem picking up stones and
throwing them at people untilthey were dead.
That's the way they did it.
But they come to Pilate and hesays you take care of it.
And they say, no, we don't havethe right to execute people.
(11:18):
And that was true.
They officially didn't have theright to execute people.
Rome had said you know what?
The Jews are unpredictable.
They like to kill people for noreason.
Here they mob and all thesethings.
We're going to take away yourability to execute people,
capital punishment, and they dida few years before this.
So Rome, officially, was theonly one to have the power to
(11:43):
execute people.
And yet, well, look at John, 18, verse 32.
I know I'm having you flip backand forth, I just want to hit
these things.
18, verse 32.
This is where verse 31, wherePilate says you take them and do
(12:08):
according to your law.
Therefore, the Jews said to himit's not lawful for us to put
anyone to death, that the sayingof Jesus might be fulfilled,
which he spoke, signifying whatkind of death he should die.
So Jesus had said that the Sonof man would be lifted up.
And so, picturing the crosslifted up, not thrown to the
(12:33):
ground as the Jews would, asthey would stone people.
But even more than that, andcome back even more than that,
psalm 22 is an amazing psalm ofthis very time in human history.
Psalm 22,.
Go back and read it.
It starts with the words my God, my God, why have you forsaken
(12:54):
me?
And Jesus spoke those words onthe cross, as if to point to
Psalm 22.
Well, what else is in Psalm 22is really fascinating.
It shows there that his clotheswould be divided.
They would cast lots for hisclothing.
It says that people wouldsurround him and say he believed
(13:17):
in God.
Let God save him.
But in Psalm 22, verse 16, nowlisten.
Psalm 22, verse 16 says fordogs have surrounded me, the
congregation of the wicked hasenclosed me.
They pierced my hands and myfeet.
Now, david had no idea whatthis meant when he wrote it.
(13:38):
He was just having a rough day.
But he says very specificallythere they pierced my hands and
my feet.
Jesus mentioning at the crossmy God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?
Points to this they pierced myhands and my feet, a reference
to crucifixion.
150 years before it was eveninvented.
(13:58):
It was known, god knew and hepredicted that Jesus would have
his hands and his feet pierced.
So the only ones to do that wasRome.
Now we look at the motivationof the chief priests and their
thing is they don't want thepeople to think that it was them
that did it.
(14:18):
They don't want the people torevolt because a lot of people
revered Jesus.
So they want to push it offearly morning to the Romans.
But here we see it was all partof the plan, right, that his
hands and his feet were pierced,and these things he did to
fulfill what was spoken.
So Jesus stands in front ofPilate.
(14:44):
But the other thing you reallysee as we look at this is that
Pilate is standing before Jesus.
Pilate needed to stand beforeJesus.
When you look at history,josephus and some of the
histories there references alittle bit about Pilate.
Pilate was ruthless and brutal,but he was not a very good
(15:08):
leader.
Early in his career, about 10years, he served here in Israel.
Early in his, he came into thetemple with big banners with
Caesar's face on it.
Why, I don't know, but itstarted a riot and the people
came and said you've got to getthese idols out of here.
Pilate said you know what?
(15:29):
I'm going to keep these idolsand if you don't leave right now
, I'm going to kill all y'all.
Big threat from Pilate.
Well, the people said I guessyou're going to have to kill us.
And Pilate said all right, I'lltake the banners down.
And so he was not well liked.
Sometimes he was threatening,sometimes he was a pushover.
(15:50):
Another time he needed money tobuild an aqueduct in the city
of Jerusalem and he took it fromthe temple tithes and offerings
.
They didn't like that.
Luke tells us that Pilatemingled some Galileans' blood
with their sacrifices, and hedid that From time to time he
(16:13):
would slaughter people and othertimes he was a pushover.
Pilate was not well liked andeventually ended up being
replaced by Caesar.
In fact, caesar was so mad athim that he said I want to take
every reference of Pilate's nameand get rid of it.
And so signs that had Pilate'sname on it, plaques that had
(16:36):
Pilate's name on it, plaquesthat had Pilate's name on it,
torn down, every reference toPilate was torn down, and one of
them was actually placed inthat amphitheater that was found
in 1961, for our sake, thatmentioned Pilate.
It was used as a stair in thatamphitheater because Caesar
hated Pilate.
So this guy had some issuesright.
(17:00):
And here he stands in front ofJesus and Jesus is going to
speak to him.
This is, god's grace, right.
Let's turn to John 18 again.
Back and forth, back and forth,john 18, verse 33.
(17:21):
Then Pilate entered thepraetorium again, called Jesus
and said to him Are you the kingof the Jews?
Jesus answered him.
Are you speaking for yourselfabout this or did others tell
this?
Concerning me?
Pilate answered and said Am I aJew?
Your own nation and chiefpriests have delivered you to me
(17:42):
.
What have you done?
Jesus answered my kingdom isnot of this world.
If my kingdom were of thisworld, my servants would fight
so that I should not bedelivered to the Jews.
But now my kingdom is not fromhere.
Pilate therefore said to himare you a king?
Then Jesus answered you say,rightly, that I am a king.
(18:05):
For this cause I was born andfor this cause I have come into
the world that I should bearwitness to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truthhears my voice.
Pilate said to him what istruth?
(18:28):
So here's just a little snippetof this encounter.
And Jesus has close contactwith Pilate and Jesus has close
contact with Pilate.
Verse 38, though I think wasreally the question of Pilate's
life, as he looked around at theworld around him and where he
was and what he was doing.
(18:48):
Verse 38, pilate asked thequestion to Jesus what is truth?
And couldn't you just kind ofhear it in his voice?
He's a little cynical.
I think you know what is truth,but imagine this Pilate had the
opportunity to hear from Jesusabout this.
(19:11):
What would Jesus tell him?
I am the way, the truth and thelife.
God's word is truth.
You know all sorts of things.
You shall know the truth, andthe truth will make you free.
And there Pilate throws it out.
What is truth?
But look at the sad result here.
(19:32):
Notice verse 38.
When he had said this, he wentout again.
I really picture this.
He's asking a question, it's agood question, but he's not
sticking around for the answer.
Does he really want the answer?
I don't know.
Did he want to hear what Jesushad to say about truth?
It's just kind of a rhetoricalquestion here.
(19:55):
And yet we look at Pilate'slife and it's just unfortunate.
It's a waste.
And yet God gave him thischance here.
Now we won't go back to John,let's head back to Mark and
finish up our time here.
(20:15):
Pilate's ready to release Jesusand, as you put it all together
, he's scheming to try to getthis to work.
Verse six we read, though atthe feast he was accustomed to
releasing a prisoner to them,whomever they requested.
So Pilate here, I think, has anidea.
(20:37):
Oh, it's Passover, independenceDay for the Jews.
He had a tradition of releasingone prisoner to them as a you
know, good faith here, releasinga prisoner, someone who's
captive, and Pilate has thisidea, I know.
Let's release Barabbas.
(20:58):
His name means son of thefather, interesting name, but as
you put it all together, youfind out that he's one bad
hombre, right To use someterminology, some Spanish, there
In Mark it says that he led arebellion in verse seven there
(21:20):
and that he was a murderer.
John tells us that he was arobber.
Certainly Pilate thought if Itry to release a murderer and a
robber to them, they'll commonsense, a human being will say we
don't want a murderer androbber released, they'll choose
(21:41):
Jesus.
Well, never underestimate thetwisted values of people.
That's exactly who they wantedthe murderer and the robber
released to them.
And Pilate presents these two,jesus or Barabbas and the people
are influenced by the priest toask for Barabbas.
That's what we read Now.
(22:05):
We're shocked as the peoplechoose Barabbas, but we see how
it all goes down.
I want to switch point of view.
One more time here today.
What about Barabbas?
Right?
More time here today.
What about Barabbas?
He's jailed there nearby he'sbeing held, and Rome didn't
(22:26):
waste time on executing people.
He was likely going to beexecuted that day with other
people that had been in therebellion, who had robbed.
Perhaps he was meant to be thatcenter person on the cross
between two thieves, and therehe is waiting for his time to
(22:47):
come.
Now picture this as we go out,as we go on here, the multitude
crying aloud verse eight beganto ask him to do as he had
always done.
Pilate answered do you want meto release to you the king of
the Jews?
For he knew the chief priesthad handed him over because of
(23:08):
envy.
The chief priest stirred up thecrowd.
They should rather releaseBarabbas to them.
Pilate answered and said tothem again what do you want me
to do Now?
Listen to this in verse 13.
So they cried out again crucifyhim.
And Pilate said to him why?
What evil has he done?
(23:29):
They cried out all the morecrucify him.
So Pilate, wanting to gratifythe crowd, released Barabbas to
them and he delivered Jesusafter he had scourged him to be
crucified.
Picture it this crowd, crazycrowd.
Who do you want me to releaseto you?
(23:50):
Give us Barabbas.
What do you want me to do withthis Jesus?
Crucify him.
Crucify him.
Insane.
But picture from Barabbas'spoint of view, locked up nearby
there in the prison.
He can't hear Pilate, probably,but he can hear the crazy crowd
(24:16):
.
Give us Barabbas.
Barabbas, crucify him.
Crucify him and he's.
You know he's having issues atthis point.
There's a panic attack, I'mimagining, as Barabbas knows
it's coming, it's coming,they're going to tear me apart.
(24:37):
Knows it's coming, it's coming,they're going to tear me apart.
And then the door opens oh,this is it, this is it.
And they take him and they leadhim out and they let him go.
What in the world just happened?
I was dead, I was so dead, andyet now I'm free.
(24:59):
Why am I free?
Well, they chose Jesus instead.
Now I don't know.
Lots of movies have been made.
What happened with Barabbas?
I don't know.
Did he go outside the city,there and see those men being
crucified?
Did he see his fellow rebelsthere, the fellow robbers,
(25:20):
perhaps on the crosses next toJesus?
Did he go?
That's where I belong.
I don't know.
Was his life changed?
No idea, no idea what happenedto him.
Only stories can tell right.
But we've got to look at justthe grace of God, because it is
a good picture for us.
That was each one of us.
(25:41):
All have sinned.
We come back to it.
All have sinned and fall shortof the glory of God.
Romans 6.23,.
The wages of sin is death forevery one of us.
It's what we deserve, no matterif we think we're good people
or not good people.
We all deserve death and it wascalling out for us.
(26:02):
And yet Jesus took our placeand I don't understand how he
could not be changed.
But we all have a choice whatto do with that forgiveness,
what to do with that grace.
But here we see all along theway God's grace in this
situation.
God's grace talking to ahardened guy like Pilate what is
(26:25):
truth and then walks away.
God's grace freeing Barabbas,giving him a second chance,
really dying for him in hisplace on that cross.
Grace that he has for us thathe died in his place on that
cross.
Grace that he has for us thathe died in our place on that
cross.
God, we don't want to just readit and go off to the rest of our
(26:51):
week, god, we really want tounderstand what you've done for
us.
God, I love my friends and butyet I look at us and I know
we're all lost without you.
What we would have been withoutyou?
Where we would have been?
It would have been hell withoutyou.
(27:13):
And yet, god, you loved us andyou took the time to converse
with each one of us.
You've given us and offered usthis wonderful gift of salvation
.
Nothing that we can earn,nothing we can do to deserve it.
But, god, you offer us ourfreedom and a life in you.
(27:33):
God, I pray that we wouldn'ttake that lightly this week.
It would be on our heart allweek long what you've done for
us, how good you've been to us,how gracious you've been.
God, I just pray you would workthese things into our heart by
your spirit.
We would know your just amazinglove, your amazing grace.
(27:54):
God, thank you again for thistime.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
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