The death of Jesus: his trial (continued)

[0:00] That's where we're going to stop. On Good Friday we'll read on the next verses but that's where we stop at the moment.

[0:29] Sort of a slow motion of the first parts of it. Pilate has said there's no basis for a charge. There is no logical legal reason why Jesus should be punished.

[0:49] That's where we got to at the end of verse 40. And between verse 40 and chapter 19 verse 1 there is the word so. Which is not in the translation just as then.

[1:03] But there's a therefore in Greek. Which is a very strange word to put in isn't it? He is innocent.

[1:14] Therefore I'll have him flogged. That's what it says. There's no basis for a charge. Therefore so.

[1:25] Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And so do you remember this morning the narrative keeps going outside and inside.

[1:36] Inside the praetorium, the governor's palace and outside. So Pilate says there's no basis for a charge. And so he has Jesus flogged.

[1:48] And we have this remarkable, terrible scene. Of the soldiers twisting together a crown of thorns. And putting it on his head.

[2:01] And clothing him in a purple robe. And going up to him again and again and saying, Hail King of the Jews. And giving him blows in the face. It's got the verb to give in there.

[2:12] You think it might be giving something nice. Giving a blow. Giving a blow to the face. Just the irony of it. Kingship is on the agenda.

[2:26] So what do the soldiers do? They think, oh yeah, that's a good idea. We'll make him a crown. Make him a crown of these horrible, like barbed wire things. And we'll ram that down on his head.

[2:37] And we'll find him a purple robe from somewhere. Bung it on him. And then we'll bow down to him. And pretend to worship him.

[2:48] It's the cruelest scene, isn't it? And if you think that what we have here is the most advanced religion that there was in the world at that time.

[2:59] Because that's what Judaism was. Put it that way. The most advanced religion. And we have the most advanced pagan state. You know, the Roman state.

[3:11] The mighty empire. Pax Romana. All the great achievements of Rome. And these two combining together. And this is the result.

[3:22] And I was just saying to... Who was I talking to? Who's Argy's dad? What's his name? Mike. I was saying to Mike this morning. Isn't it amazing?

[3:34] It shows here the greatness of the love of Jesus Christ. And it also shows simultaneously the true colours of sin.

[3:49] If you give people that opportunity. Be they the most advanced religion. Or the most advanced civilisation.

[4:00] Or between the two. And this is what they do. This is what humanity is like. Vis-a-vis our maker. It's not an anti-Semitic thing. The Jews had a part of it.

[4:11] Which we're not going to deny. But the Gentiles had a part in it as well. We're all involved in this. It's a little bit like if you have a swab taken off your hand.

[4:23] And if you put it in a Petri dish and let it develop. You'll get all sorts of moulds and horrible things growing. And that was on your hand. Usually it doesn't get the chance to develop into that.

[4:35] But it's there all the time. And I think this is what it's saying about human sins. This is what the human heart is like. We're not very nice creatures. We need forgiveness.

[4:47] Given the opportunity. I mean which of us is going to say. That if we'd been there. We would have done it different. If we were Pilate. That we would not have done what he'd done.

[5:00] Or if we were those high priests. That we would have done it different. Yeah. It shows us human sin.

[5:12] And then you have all. Jesus is brought out to them. I'm bringing him out to you. To let you know I find no basis for a charge.

[5:24] And they bring out this figure. Beaten.

[5:35] Blood stained. Wearing a crown of thorns. And a kingly robe. Which presumably is from a charity shop or something. And there is this spectacle.

[5:47] Of battered humanity. And Pilate says. Behold the man. There he is. Behold the man. And I don't know what you think about that scene.

[6:07] Of Jesus. As he was there. With. The crown of thorns. And the purple robe.

[6:18] What do you see. The chief priests and the officials. They saw him.

[6:29] And they said. Crucify him. Just get rid of him. He's. We hate him. We don't want him. But I think.

[6:40] When we have. Been converted to Christ. We see something very different. We see somebody who's in that. Position. Not because he is.

[6:52] Wicked. Despicable. But we see somebody. I think it comes through the account here. Calm. Noble.

[7:04] Dignified. Actually in a sense. In control of events. Not phased. He's not.

[7:16] Shouting back at them. There's this enormous nobility to him. And I think. For a Christian. We see our king there. We see him.

[7:29] As a king. Doing this for us. Because that's what it took. For our salvation. And as we look at him.

[7:40] We're not saying. Get rid of him. We're saying. Lord. Thank you. I worship. This savior. And when Pilate says. Behold the man.

[7:51] I don't think. We say. Get rid of him. We say. Amen. Yes. We do. We see him. We see our savior. The Jews.

[8:02] More precise. The chief priests. And their officials. Say. Crucify. Crucify. And Pilate. Yet again.

[8:13] Does his ducking and diving. You do it. You take him. You crucify him. I find no basis for a charge. And it begins to get.

[8:27] Very very ironic. I'm not sure that I'm capable of drawing out the irony. But listen to this sentence. Verse 7. We have law. Doesn't even say we have a law.

[8:38] Just as we have law. And according to that law. He must. Die. Because. He made himself.

[8:50] The son of God. That's deeply ironic. We have law. We've got law. We have got. Stuff that you. Even you Romans don't have.

[9:01] We are so. Privileged. And enlightened. And spiritually. Streets above you guys.

[9:13] We have law. And this is what we understand by this law. That. This. Jesus. Must die. Because he made himself.

[9:26] Son of God. Well he didn't make himself. Son of God. He claimed to be son of God. He claimed to be son of God. Because he was the son of God. But somehow. Things have got so twisted up.

[9:37] They say. From our knowledge of the Bible. From our deep knowledge of the scriptures. We say. Get rid of him. And. Let's take it to that point.

[9:50] And. It tells us. That when. Pilate heard this. He was even more afraid. And. You get a sense of. The tension of this.

[10:00] You know. They're shouting at one another. Pilate is getting more and more. Stressed. About what this is all. Going to turn into. Because he's under orders.

[10:11] You know. If there's a riot. If. If. The whole place goes up in smoke. It's going to be his neck on the block. And he's getting more and more fearful. This is out of control.

[10:23] And. We'll take. The story. On. On Wednesday. Let's pray.