MARK 15: 1-15
Jesus before Pilate
15 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate.
‘You have said so,’ Jesus replied.
3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, ‘Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.’
5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 ‘Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to get Pilate to release Barabbas instead.
12 ‘What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked them.
13 ‘Crucify him!’ they shouted.
14 ‘Why? What crime has he committed?’ asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
Hello Church, thank you for joining me today to reflect on our final passion account as we explore Jesus before Pilate in the moments that led up to His crucifixion.
I don’t know about you but often when I read this passage what springs to mind is the countless sermons I have heard about us being Barabbas and Jesus dying in our place, the innocent in place of the guilty. Don’t get me wrong, I love this message and it is deeply insightful to our Father’s love for us!
But I wonder if today I could offer a new challenge, a new thought, a new way of responding to this passage? I recently heard a sermon by R C Sproul that discussed the moment Pilate gave the choice to the crowds, Jesus or Barabbas? If we look at this account moments before this event, in the Gospel of John (John 18:28-40), Jesus tells Pilate, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me”, Pilate responds to Jesus “What is truth?”.
I wonder if for one moment this judge was faced with the sobering question, “What is truth?”, when the very Son of God was stood in front of him, I wonder what he thought, if he thought, how he thought. I wonder Pilate wondered what the truth was as he offered Barabbas or Jesus to the crowds, if he pondered his actions as they shouted for Barabbas? I wonder what truth was confronting him as he asked what the crowds wanted to do with the ‘King of the Jews’?
And yet with the truth, the very Son incarnate standing before them they shouted, ‘crucify him!’ and even the louder “crucify him!”. They didn’t want the heavenly Son, they wanted a Jesus they could live with, a Jesus who wouldn’t make them feel guilty, a Jesus of this world in whom they could continue with the way they lived. They wanted a truth that didn’t mean sacrifice or change.
And so, I ask you, “What is the truth?”, do you make Jesus a person you can simply live with, with whom we don’t have to change or sacrifice or devote ourselves too? Can you live with THE living truth, Jesus Christ? Because sometimes the truth is hard, sometimes it is ugly, sometimes it confronts that twisted part of our fallen human nature and brings light to the spaces that need to be transformed more into the likeness of Jesus.
This Easter as we remember what Jesus did on the cross, how he died in our place, I ask you to reflect on what kind of Jesus you believe in, what does his sacrifice mean to you? How does this change the way you live? Don’t satisfy the crowds but stand firm in the faith and boldly profess the truth, Jesus Christ, Son of God.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)