Valley View Chapel April 3, 2011 Three Days that Changed the World, Part 2 John 19:1-16. Introduction

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1 1 Valley View Chapel April 3, 2011 Three Days that Changed the World, Part 2 John 19:1-16 Introduction In his book The Murder of Jesus, John MacArthur described Pontius Pilate s state of mind in John 19:1-16, Pilate had reached the end of his rope. He had no desire to participate in the conspiracy against Jesus, but the Jewish leaders had left him with little choice.he was giving them what they wanted, but he wanted to make it clear that he was not doing it willingly. The Roman governor knew that Jesus was innocent of the charges lodged against him by the Jewish religious leaders charges of treason and sedition against the emperor. Three times Pilate had announced to the assembled mob: I find no basis for a charge against him. The word translated by the NIV as charge means cause or reason for accusation. The New King James Version translation of John 18:38 is emphatic in its declaration of Jesus innocence: I find no fault in him at all. There was no evidence against the accused. Jesus himself gave no indication that he was interested in leading a political revolution. It was an open-and-shut case. Pilate should have released Jesus at once and been done with the whole business. But he didn t. Instead, he did the inexplicable. John 19:1 tells us that Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. Something doesn t make sense. Three times Pilate pronounced Jesus innocent of any crime. Yet he ordered that Jesus be flogged, a horrible form of punishment that inflicted great pain upon the victim. Eusebius, the fourth-century Bishop of Caesarea and a renowned historian, witnessed Christians who died from this inhumane practice. Moreover, even more inexplicable are the words of John 19:16, Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. The Roman philosopher Cicero called it the most cruel and horrifying death. The first century Roman senator and historian Tacitus branded it a despicable death. It was unthinkable that a Roman citizen should ever be put to death by crucifixion. It was a means of execution reserved for slaves and criminals. That is why Max Lucado said of Pilate s decision to crucify Jesus: It doesn t have a drop of logic or a thread of rationality. Why did Pilate convict and crucify an innocent man? Why did Pilate abandon what he knew was right and do what he knew was wrong? The more I thought about that troubling question, the more troubled I became!

2 2 The question hits close to home. Have I ever consciously and willfully decided to do what I knew was wrong? I think we all must plead guilty. But why? Why do we violate our conscience and deliberately do what we know is wrong? Probably for the same reasons that motivated Pilate. It s easier to give in than to resist Have you ever lost the battle of attrition to your kids and allowed them to stay up an extra half hour because of their incessant whining, arguing and complaining? Why didn t you stick to your principles? Let me guess. It was easier to give in than to prolong the fight. You ve had a long day. You re tired. You just want to be left in peace to read your book or watch your TV show. So you give in rather than resist in the interest of some short-term peace and quiet. Do you know that it s easier to give in to sin than to resist sin? Have you noticed that it s easier to get angry than to remain patient? That it s easier to hold a grudge against someone who wronged you than to forgive? That it s easier to have a second piece of banana cream pie than to refuse? Holiness is hard work! It s hard work to maintain our integrity and resist compromise with a world system that takes no account of righteousness. The easy road is usually preferable to the hard road. Let s think for a minute about Peter in the courtyard of the high priest on the night of Jesus arrest. All four gospels record Peter s three-fold denial of Jesus. Peter was a faithful disciple, one of Jesus inner circle. He had sat under his teaching; seen his compassion; and observed his miracles. Why did he consciously and deliberately do not once, not twice, but three times what he knew was shameful and wrong? The answer isn t difficult to determine. Because it was easier than standing up, showing his colors and being identified with Christ. James 4:7 exhorts us to Resist the devil. The word resist means to stand against or to oppose. It s the same word Peter used when he warned the recipients of his first letter: Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith. 1 Peter 5:8-9a (NIV) Resisting is hard. But failure to resist is even harder. The Lord has given us the warning to resist what can destroy us. And thankfully, he has also provided the indwelling Holy Spirit to enable us to resist sin and obey God s gracious laws. Take hold of John s encouraging words that the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 (NIV) It was the expedient thing to do

3 3 We don t hear the word expedient very much anymore but we should because it explains a lot of otherwise inexplicable human actions. The dictionary definition goes like this: conducive to advantage or interest, as opposed to what is right; a decision governed by self-interest. So the expedient thing is the right thing for me, but it s not necessarily the right thing. Pilate acted according to self-interest instead of according to what was the right thing to do. Why did he have Jesus flogged and then crucified? Because it was a savvy business decision. It was the professionally smart thing to do. Let me blunt: He crucified Jesus to keep his job. The late Scottish New Testament scholar William Barclay declared: It is clear why Pilate acted as he did. The Jews blackmailed him into crucifying Jesus. John 19:12 revealed their tactics: From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar. " (NIV) If Pilate released Jesus, the Jewish authorities would send word back to Pilate s boss, the Emperor Tiberius, that Pilate had released a convicted traitor and revolutionary against Rome. For Pilate, that might mean a demotion (or worse). Pilate got the job of governor of Judea in 26 A.D. through the help of a friend named Lucius Sejanus, who was a close friend of the emperor s. However, Sejanus had recently been executed for being part of a failed coup against the emperor. Pilate had no more friends in high places. He had to tread carefully and make sure that the boat wasn t rocked. So Pilate s decision wasn t nearly as difficult as it appeared. Once he ran out of options, he sacrificed whatever integrity he had left to keep the peace in Jerusalem and keep his job, and probably his life. Have we ever sacrificed something important to keep something that we hold dear, perhaps too dear? Have we ever sacrificed our character to keep a friendship? Have we ever sacrificed our conscience to keep a habit, an activity or an attitude that displeases God? Have we ever sacrificed our tithe to the work of God in order to keep our current standard of living or improve our standard of living? Have we ever sacrificed our commitment to our spouse or children to keep open the door of corporate advancement? Have we ever sacrificed our Christian testimony in order to keep our popularity with those who neither know nor honor the God we claim to worship, love, and serve? I m afraid that Pilate was neither the first nor the last person to compromise his character on the altar of expediency. He didn t believe in Jesus innocence firmly enough

4 4 Pilate believed the right things. It s possible to believe the right things and still stand condemned. Pilate believed that Jesus was an innocent man. He didn t believe that Jesus deserved to be flogged, much less crucified. The man who stood before him had done no wrong, committed no crime, and Pilate knew it. He believed Jesus was innocent. He just didn t believe it firmly enough. That s the third reason why he caved-in to the crowd. It is perilously possible to believe the right things. But if we don t believe the right things firmly enough, we too will cave in to the crowd. Probably most of us believe that lying is wrong. Most of us even believe that it s wrong to shade the truth a little so that the person we re talking to is misled. But have we ever shaded the truth to make us look better or to make our story more interesting? Most of us believe that Peter spoke for God when he wrote: Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 1 Peter 2:1 (NIV) Are there any hypocrites in the house? Has anyone ever said one thing and did the opposite? Anyone ever envied someone? Anyone ever slandered another person ever said something negative about someone that turned out to be false? Most if not all of believe that hypocrisy, envy, and slander are wrong. The trouble is that we don t always believe it firmly enough. I wonder how many of us believe that apart from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior that people everywhere will spend eternity in hell, separated forever from God? Most of us believe that. But I suspect that many of us don t believe it enough. Charlie Peace was an 19 th -century English burglar, murderer, and career criminal. He was even mentioned by name in the Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Illustrious Client. After decades of crime, he was condemned to death. Leonard Ravenhill in his book Why Revival Tarries recounted the last moments of Charlie Peace s life: He was taken on the death-walk. Before him went the prison chaplain, routinely and sleepily reading some Bible verses. Charlie Peace was shocked at the way the clergyman read so indifferently about hell. Did this preacher really believe that there was a place called hell where unbelievers would live forever with no hope of release? All this was too much for the condemned man. Sir said Charlie to the preacher, if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile, just to save one soul from a place like that! C.S. Lewis once said: The Gospel of Jesus Christ, if true, is of ultimate importance. If it is untrue, it is of no importance. What it cannot be is moderately important.

5 5 The innocence of Jesus Christ was moderately important to Pontius Pilate. And that s why he failed so catastrophically on that great and awful day. Conclusion Pilate stands for all of us who have ever done the easy wrong thing instead of the hard right thing; who have ever made a decision and acted in self-interest when self-interest wasn t what would please God; and who have ever believed something but not believed it firmly enough to do something about it. This is the season of the year when it is especially appropriate to examine our hearts and test our motives. May we learn our lesson well, even a lesson taught by the regrettable life of Pontius Pilate.