WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.679 Okay, so we're going to be looking at John chapter 18 and chapter 19 tonight. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:17.519 And as you know, we're going through this series, Encounters with Jesus. 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:25.519 And we've looked at Zacchaeus, Nicodemus, the two daughters, Legion, and last time we 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:30.839 looked at Lazarus, and there's a common thread in all of those stories, which is 00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:36.799 that there's a happy ending. And so it's almost like every encounter with 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:43.320 Jesus that we've had before, the story is look how good, look what good things can 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:48.719 come when people come face to face with Jesus. And unfortunately that common 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:52.439 thread ends tonight because this is the story of Jesus's interaction with Pilate. 00:00:52.439 --> 00:01:00.079 And as you know, that interaction does not end well and Pilate is maybe the last 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:05.359 lengthy conversation that Jesus has with someone and it ends with Pilate 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:11.000 sending Jesus to the cross to be crucified. And so we're going to look at 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:14.039 this interaction of Pilate and Jesus and we're going to look at it in the Gospel 00:01:14.039 --> 00:01:17.120 of John because that's the longest account that we have, so you get the most 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:22.400 texture for what happens between Jesus and Pilate. And I'm going to read this 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:28.640 passage. This is from chapter 18 verses 33 and we're going to read all the way to 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:35.920 chapter 19 verse 16. And there's two different moments where Jesus talks 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:39.520 with Pilate here and then there's kind of an interlude where other really 00:01:39.520 --> 00:01:43.800 significant things happen. And I'm going to read the whole thing for context, but 00:01:43.800 --> 00:01:47.920 just know that as we come to this passage what has just happened is Jesus has 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:54.040 been arrested. The Jews have taken him to Pilate and just before this passage 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:58.799 they have asked Pilate to put Jesus to death and then this is where we pick up 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:09.319 the story. So chapter 18 verse 33. So Pilate entered his headquarters again 00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:15.920 and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, do 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:20.839 you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me? And Pilate 00:02:20.839 --> 00:02:25.159 answered, am I a Jew, your own nation, and the chief priests have delivered you 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:31.239 over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this 00:02:31.239 --> 00:02:35.639 world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that 00:02:35.639 --> 00:02:40.919 I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. 00:02:40.919 --> 00:02:46.839 Then Pilate said to him, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say that I am a 00:02:46.839 --> 00:02:51.279 king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the 00:02:51.279 --> 00:02:56.279 world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to 00:02:56.279 --> 00:03:03.479 my voice. Pilate said to him, what is truth? After he had said this he went 00:03:03.479 --> 00:03:08.039 back outside to the Jews and told them I find no guilt in him, but you have a 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:12.239 custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to 00:03:12.239 --> 00:03:17.479 release to you the king of the Jews? They cried out again, not this man but 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:23.639 Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him and the 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:28.139 soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed 00:03:28.139 --> 00:03:32.879 him in a purple robe. They came up to him saying, hail king of the Jews and 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:38.319 struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, see I am 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:43.759 bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him. So Jesus 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:48.079 came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe and Pilate said to them, 00:03:48.079 --> 00:03:54.079 behold the man. When the chief priests and the officers saw him they cried out, 00:03:54.079 --> 00:04:00.199 crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and crucify 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:06.000 him for I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered him, we have a law and according 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:11.919 to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God. When 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:17.240 Pilate heard this statement he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:23.120 again and said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. So 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:28.480 Pilate said to him, you will not speak to me. Do you not know that I have authority 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:34.360 to release you and authority to crucify you? Jesus answered him, you would have 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:39.920 no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:44.640 who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. From then on Pilate sought 00:04:44.640 --> 00:04:49.600 to release him but the Jews cried out, if you release this man you are not Caesar's 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:54.920 friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. So when Pilate heard 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:58.960 these words he brought Jesus out, sat down on the judgment seat at a place 00:04:58.960 --> 00:05:03.840 called the stone pavement and in Aramaic, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of 00:05:03.840 --> 00:05:08.720 preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:14.480 behold your king. They cried out away with him, away with him, crucify him. 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:20.520 Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, we 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:28.439 have no king but Caesar. So they delivered him over to them to be crucified. 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:35.680 This is God's word. So that's Pilate's interaction with Jesus and we've spent 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:40.599 20 centuries trying to figure out who Pilate was. Was he a coward or a thief 00:05:40.599 --> 00:05:47.599 or a monster? And really the only thing that we can truly agree on, and even 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:52.120 whether you're a Christian or not, is that what Pilate did in this scene was 00:05:52.120 --> 00:05:59.439 wrong because three times in this scene Pilate looks at the crowds and says, I 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:04.760 find no guilt in this man. And even so he still decides to send Jesus to the cross. 00:06:04.760 --> 00:06:12.520 So he knows he's doing wrong and he does it anyway. And when we read this story 00:06:12.520 --> 00:06:15.680 and when you read it in the context of the whole crucifixion, this is a tragedy, 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:20.720 right? And more than anything, this is a tragedy about our Lord Jesus. You know, 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:28.160 we look at this and we lament because we say they crucified our Lord. But there's 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:33.079 another tragedy here as well, which is that this is a tragedy for Pilate. 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:39.319 Pilate is a man whose world in its own way falls apart in this scene. And that's 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:42.560 what I want to talk about tonight because this is about Jesus's interaction 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:49.519 with Pilate. And I want to look at why Pilate's story is a tragedy and I want 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:55.360 to offer two reasons tonight. First, that he couldn't see the truth and second, 00:06:55.360 --> 00:07:02.639 that he didn't know the truth's power. So just let me just review the facts of 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:05.840 the early case because this is a trial after all, right? And it's helpful to 00:07:05.840 --> 00:07:09.720 know what exactly is going on and it's easy to get lost in this. But when the 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:16.200 Jews bring Jesus to Pilate, their accusation against him and the reason 00:07:16.200 --> 00:07:21.200 that Pilate puts him on trial is this question, is he really a king? Because if 00:07:21.200 --> 00:07:25.760 Jesus really says that he is a king, then that means that he's a threat to the 00:07:25.760 --> 00:07:30.800 Roman Empire. And that is why Pilate would have caused to crucify him. That 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:35.840 would be a legitimate case against Jesus. And so what happens is right when Pilate 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:40.159 gets Jesus, that's his first question, is are you a king? Are you the king of the 00:07:40.159 --> 00:07:46.159 Jews? And Jesus' answer is, he says, do you say this of your own accord? But then 00:07:46.159 --> 00:07:52.639 he goes on to say, Jesus goes on to say, my kingdom is not of this world. If it 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:56.279 were of this world, my servants would have been fighting. And this is a really 00:07:56.279 --> 00:08:01.759 interesting answer because on the one hand, if Jesus is affirming the fact 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:07.800 that he's a king, because he has a kingdom. But he's also telling Pilate, you have no 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:15.199 reason to fear me in the sense of I'm not starting a, not a resurrection, but a 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:21.920 revolution. Yeah. So he's saying, yes, I'm a king, but I'm not guilty in the sense 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:27.480 that you would accuse me, which is I'm not trying to overthrow Caesar. So he 00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:32.159 says yes and no. And then he goes on to explain, he says, you say that I'm a king. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:36.360 For this purpose, I was born him. For this purpose, I've come into the world to 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:40.879 bear witness to the truth. And then he says, everyone who is of the truth 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:47.320 listens to my voice. And then Pilate gives one of his famous sayings, and he has 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:51.519 so many famous sayings. Doesn't he? I wash my hands of this. But here he says, 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:58.840 what is truth? And most people agree that the fact that he immediately goes 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:02.120 somewhere else shows that he's not waiting around to find out what Jesus 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:06.199 has answered to that question is. And that what Pilate is doing here is he's 00:09:06.199 --> 00:09:13.240 being sarcastic, or he's being disdainful, because Jesus has just said, if, what 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:17.879 did he say? Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. So he's, it's almost 00:09:17.879 --> 00:09:22.840 like Pilate is saying, he feels offended. Like, I'm not of the truth because I don't 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:29.720 listen to your voice. And I found this quote by an old Anglican minister named 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:33.480 JC Ryle that I thought was really powerful. And he talks about what it means, 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:37.200 what is Pilate saying when he says what is truth? And this is the way that JC Ryle 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:44.600 described it. He says, these words, these sarcastic and cynical words sound like 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:49.879 the language of one who has heard from his earliest youth so many barren 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:55.399 speculations about truth, quote unquote, among Roman and Greek philosophers that 00:09:55.399 --> 00:10:02.159 now he doubts its very existence. So even though Pilate is being sarcastic and 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:07.840 maybe disdainful, most people agree that underneath that, what you see is this 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:13.240 man who, he's not a relativist, he's not saying all truth is good and so we 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:17.080 should pursue all truth. He's a man who's saying, we can't know the truth. He's 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:22.360 given up on the search for truth. He's a cynic. And what he's making here is not 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.919 a philosophical point. He's saying, why would you come to me speaking about 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:32.720 truth? Who can even know what truth is anymore? And you might call him a 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:36.639 pragmatist. And he certainly tries to be pragmatic throughout the rest of the 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:43.600 story, but what he's not definitively is a seeker. And I think when we asked 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:48.279 that, when I said here at the beginning, the tragedy of Pilate is that he couldn't 00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:53.399 see the truth. I think one reason why Pilate couldn't see the truth is that 00:10:53.399 --> 00:10:58.319 he was not looking for the truth. So here's a man who had given up, not just 00:10:58.319 --> 00:11:02.279 about Christianity, but who had given up on the possibility of finding a true 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:09.519 truth in this world. And that's a tragedy when you get to a point in your 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:14.199 life and you say, you know, you've heard so many people claiming truth in this 00:11:14.199 --> 00:11:17.839 world and you finally get so cynical about it all that you say, I'm not even 00:11:17.839 --> 00:11:22.679 gonna look anymore. And one of the takeaways that I find from this passage 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:27.720 is what we hope as we talk about sharing the gospel with our neighbors, what we 00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:34.399 hope is that our neighbors will be seeking the truth. And so that one thing 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:37.759 that we can pray for the people that we know and love who don't know the gospel 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:42.000 is that even if they don't know the gospel, that they would come to a place 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:47.100 in their lives where they want to know truth and they're seeking for answers 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:51.800 to the reason life is the way that it is. And if they get to that place, then we 00:11:51.800 --> 00:11:55.759 can welcome them and we can say, if you're looking for the truth, we have a 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:03.559 few suggestions. But as it is, Pilate is in a tragic state where he's not even 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:07.639 looking for truth anymore. And because of that, he can't see the truth that's 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:14.120 standing right in front of him. And you know, there's that famous line and we 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:20.399 say it here quite a bit, Matthew 11, 28 to 30. Jesus says, come to me, all who are 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:25.080 weary and burdened and I will give you rest. And what we have is this confidence 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:30.480 that we can tell people, if you're looking for the truth, Jesus is there 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:34.480 ready to meet you to tell you what that truth is and offer it to you. So what we 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:40.160 have is hope. So that's what truth is for Pilate, is that which cannot be known 00:12:40.160 --> 00:12:44.600 and that which I will not search for. But it also raises another question which I 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:49.120 think is really interesting about this passage, which is, what is Jesus' view of 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:54.879 truth here? And when you read the Gospel of John, what you find is John is 00:12:54.879 --> 00:13:00.480 if I can use the word, he's obsessed with truth. Like the word truth or true 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:06.159 happens in the New Testament around 160 times and more than half of those times 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:10.679 is in the Gospel of John. So it's really significant what's happening in this 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:16.279 passage because John has been talking in his whole gospel about what is truth. 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:22.000 And what you find is that John, when John talks about truth and when John 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:27.399 describes Jesus talking about truth, truth has two different meanings that 00:13:27.399 --> 00:13:32.879 overlap. Truth can mean on the one hand that which 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:38.080 accords with facts. So I could say, you know, myrtle is wearing a blue sweater 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:45.639 and what I have said is truth. So I have truth in one sense. But John oftentimes 00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:50.639 talks about a different kind of truth that contains that, but it's even so much 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:55.199 more because when John talks about truth, what he means is the ultimate 00:13:55.199 --> 00:14:02.080 divine reality. So to put it another way, whenever Jesus talks about truth in the 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:08.360 Gospel of John, he's not just talking about what is factual. He's saying there 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:14.399 is a reality out there that we have to understand to understand the Gospel. And 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:22.199 that's why in verse 18, chapter 18 verse 37, Jesus can say here, you say that I'm 00:14:22.199 --> 00:14:24.919 a king for this purpose I was born and for this purpose I've come into the 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:29.519 world to bear witness to the truth. And then he says, everyone who is of the 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:34.799 truth listens to my voice. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. If 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:38.679 the truth there was just a set of factual statements, that wouldn't make a lot of 00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:42.799 sense. Like everyone who is of a set of factual statements listens to my voice. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:49.439 What Jesus is saying is truth is the divine reality. And it's almost the same 00:14:49.439 --> 00:14:54.199 this when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus and he was talking about the need to be 00:14:54.199 --> 00:15:00.319 born again to see the kingdom. Being of the truth is almost synonymous with 00:15:00.319 --> 00:15:05.079 being born in the kingdom. You have access where you can see a reality that 00:15:05.079 --> 00:15:11.439 you didn't know existed before, but that is the truest reality that there is. And 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.920 there's all kinds of actual facts that are involved with that. Like there is a 00:15:14.920 --> 00:15:21.160 God that he has sent his son to teach us about himself, that his son is the king 00:15:21.160 --> 00:15:30.360 of the kingdom and that it is the truest divine reality. And let me just make 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:35.480 this a little practical. I don't want to lose you here. The question about truth 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:40.600 here is do you see it? And it's a question that's not just for a pilot and 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:45.480 we're not just standing here to mock Pontius Pilate, but I think most of us 00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:50.920 here are committed to saying that we have found truth in Jesus Christ. And that 00:15:50.920 --> 00:15:56.480 means it's not just a question of do we accept the facts of the gospel. It's do 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:02.040 we see that in our reality? There was a minister named Francis Schaefer who is a 00:16:02.040 --> 00:16:06.759 famous apologist and he told a story one time where he was flying over the 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:12.319 Atlantic in a propeller plane with two propellers on the right, two on the left, 00:16:12.319 --> 00:16:16.159 and he was sitting next to the window on the right wing and both of the 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:21.919 propellers just stopped and the plane started to go down and they were bracing 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:26.559 for impact. And I guess it was happening slow enough that they were reporting it 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:32.679 on the national news in America as the plane was going down. And what Francis 00:16:32.679 --> 00:16:36.039 Schaefer did in that moment was he just started to pray and he said, God please 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:40.599 help us through this. And he later found out that his family was praying as well. 00:16:40.599 --> 00:16:48.360 And he says that he could see the water. That's how close they got to the water. 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:53.079 And then the propellers started to spin and they got lift again. And when the 00:16:53.079 --> 00:17:00.519 plane landed he said he went and talked to the pilot and the pilot said, you know, 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:05.839 it's anomalous that those things stopped, but it's impossible that they started 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:11.000 spinning again. And Francis Schaefer looked at him and he said, I think I know 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:16.879 what happened. You know, he said I was praying to God that those propellers would 00:17:16.879 --> 00:17:20.959 start spinning again, that we would be saved, and the propeller started spinning 00:17:20.959 --> 00:17:27.039 again. And he said that the pilot looked at him like he was a fool and just, you 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:30.039 know, had just had a blank stare and just walked away that it just made no sense to 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:35.359 him whatsoever. But what Francis was saying was that's the difference between 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:40.839 someone who can only see the material world and someone who appreciates that 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:45.000 there is something more to this life than what we can see with our eyes. And so 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.159 one of the questions we have to ask ourselves is, do I live like all there 00:17:49.159 --> 00:17:55.240 is, is a material world? Or for one example, you know, when I bow my head and 00:17:55.240 --> 00:18:01.359 pray, do I believe that can actually affect the world around us? And pilot 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:05.240 could not imagine a world like that, but Jesus could. And that's what we have in 00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:10.160 Jesus is the truth, not just a set of facts, but a new way of understanding our 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:17.359 reality. Okay, so part of pilot's problem is he couldn't see the truth, even when 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:20.920 it was standing right in front of him. And the second problem is this, and I'll 00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:28.599 be brief, that he didn't know truth's power. And to understand this theme in the 00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:31.240 scene, you have to understand a little bit of some of the ways that John 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:35.359 describes truth. And I want to read one verse that I'll read it and you'll know 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:39.920 the verse. But there's a there's a time when Jesus looks at the Jews who began 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:45.599 to follow him. And he says this about truth. He said this is in John 831. So 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:52.319 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide my word, you are truly 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:59.079 my disciples, and you will know the truth. And what the truth will set you 00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:07.199 free. So what Jesus is saying is once you come to grasp the truth, what you have 00:19:07.199 --> 00:19:11.919 is not just a set of facts, but something that can actually free you from a 00:19:11.919 --> 00:19:15.759 slavery that we all live in, which the which he goes on to describe in that 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:21.199 passage as slavery to sin. And this is a really interesting way of thinking about 00:19:21.199 --> 00:19:27.279 this scene with pilot, because what Jesus is saying is if you have the truth, you 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:32.079 have found freedom. And if you don't have the truth, you are living as a slave to 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:36.680 sin. And yet what is happening in this passage is Jesus here is a prisoner and 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:43.200 pilot is the free man judging Jesus. And yet as the passage moves on, the roles 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:47.399 reverse. And what it looks more like is Jesus is the one who's actually in 00:19:47.399 --> 00:19:51.839 control here, even though he's going to the cross. And pilot is the one who looks 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:56.879 desperate and who makes decisions that probably at the beginning of this night 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:02.840 he could not have imagined. And there's a few ways that pilot situation dissolves 00:20:02.840 --> 00:20:09.320 here. One is in verse seven where pilot says Jesus is innocent. I don't want to 00:20:09.320 --> 00:20:14.760 crucify him or he doesn't deserve to be crucified. And the Jews say, and this is 00:20:14.760 --> 00:20:19.280 not all Jews, but the Jews who are there to accuse him, the Jews say we have a law. 00:20:19.280 --> 00:20:23.200 And according to that law, he ought to die because he's made himself the Son of 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:28.559 God. And that's an interesting thing that they said there because that's not the 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:32.840 accusation they came in with. But when he finds him innocent of the first 00:20:32.840 --> 00:20:36.960 accusation, he said they say, well, you know, he also calls himself the Son of 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:43.080 God. And pilot's response is it says when pilot heard this, he was even more 00:20:43.080 --> 00:20:47.880 afraid. And most commentators say the reason he was afraid is because he 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:52.120 realized the Jews were not going to let this one go. And that even if he found him 00:20:52.119 --> 00:20:57.599 innocent of one crime, they wanted that man dead that day. So pilot becomes 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:02.079 afraid because he realizes this situation is not in his control. And he goes 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:07.359 back to Jesus. And then from pilot's perspective, things get even worse 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:11.039 because the prisoner is not responding to his questions. And he says to 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:15.839 Jesus, where are you from? And Jesus doesn't answer. And most commentators 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:20.959 think the reason he doesn't answer is because pilot has stepped into a 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:26.000 territory that is not his domain. You know, it was fair for him to ask, are you a 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:29.840 king? Are you a threat to the Roman Empire? But now he's asking questions that 00:21:29.840 --> 00:21:36.079 he has, Jesus has no obligation to answer. And then Jesus says this. So pilot 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:41.240 says, in frustration, I assume, pilot says, you will not speak to me. Do you not 00:21:41.240 --> 00:21:43.920 know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:50.400 crucify you? So he turns to the fear tactic. And Jesus says, you would have no 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:56.280 authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. And the way 00:21:56.280 --> 00:22:01.160 that one commentator describes that moment of what Jesus says there is, in 00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:08.360 this moment, Jesus lays bare the actual situation of the moment, which is to say 00:22:08.360 --> 00:22:12.800 Jesus is saying to pilot, you think you're in complete control, but you're not. 00:22:12.800 --> 00:22:18.800 And the irony is the man in the scene who is in chains is the one who actually 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:27.039 understands what's going on here. And pilot is the one that's afraid. And so 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:33.039 what you have here is this portrait of two different men. One is afraid and he 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:38.000 knows that he's losing his grasp. The other one, Jesus, has just been tortured 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:45.079 by the Romans and he knows that he's facing a cross. And yet even so, you 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:49.559 might be able to say he's afraid of facing the wrath of God in one sense, but 00:22:49.559 --> 00:22:55.599 he is not afraid of Pontius Pilate. And the reason is, which he explains in this 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:59.639 passage, he is aware that there's more going on here than what you can see with 00:22:59.639 --> 00:23:05.359 your eyes. And Jesus walks throughout his whole ministry knowing that even in the 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:09.439 worst of circumstances, his Heavenly Father is with him. And I don't know if you 00:23:09.439 --> 00:23:12.559 remember two weeks ago when we looked at the story of Lazarus, there's that 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:18.919 beautiful line where Jesus looks up at heaven and he prays to God. And you remember 00:23:18.919 --> 00:23:24.519 what he says? He says, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you 00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:31.079 always hear me. So Jesus is never afraid of the man that's in front of him, 00:23:31.079 --> 00:23:35.480 partly because he always walks in this freedom of knowing that his Heavenly 00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:42.039 Father is always with him. And yet Pilate is terrified and insecure and out of 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:46.440 fear he's driven to do something that he hates. And you see this in the last 00:23:46.440 --> 00:23:52.079 section. It says Pilate sought to release in verse 12 from the very end, from then 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:57.839 on Pilate sought to release him. And the Jews, what did they say? If you release 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:04.720 this man, you are not Caesar's friend. So they're threatening Pilate like we will, 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:09.799 this is blackmail. If you don't send this man to the cross, we're gonna report you 00:24:09.799 --> 00:24:15.240 to Caesar for being unfaithful to the crown. And because of that Pilate sends, 00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:20.240 knowingly sends an innocent man to the cross, something that he, it says he did 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:26.720 not want to do. So in order to keep some level of security in his own life, Pilate 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:33.000 becomes the very things that he hates. So to take that back to what that verse 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:36.879 that I quoted at the beginning where Jesus says, you will know the truth and 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:43.320 the truth will set you free. In this passage, Jesus had, I mean I don't want to, 00:24:43.320 --> 00:24:48.120 I don't want to be flippant because this was an excruciating moment for him. But 00:24:48.120 --> 00:24:54.360 he had this anchor in his soul that saw what truth was and that God was there 00:24:54.360 --> 00:24:58.520 and that this was all a part of God's sovereign plan. And that kept him from 00:24:58.520 --> 00:25:03.520 being afraid of someone like Pilate. Pilate had none of that. And because of 00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:12.519 that he was a slave to the situation. And we have to remember that what we have in 00:25:12.519 --> 00:25:18.039 the truth here is not just knowledge. We don't put a sign outside of St. Columbus 00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:22.240 saying come here because we have all the answers. We have, we have the right 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:27.359 textbook. What we believe as Christians is that when you come face to face with 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:31.680 what truth actually is, it changes you and that you can find freedom and that 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:37.120 you don't have to live your life. Even when we face trials, we still can find 00:25:37.120 --> 00:25:42.680 freedom from being chained to the sin of this world. So the tragedy of Pilate 00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:48.039 was that because he could not see the truth, he missed out on the power of 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:55.080 truth. And in this short scene he becomes the very thing that he hates. And I'll 00:25:55.080 --> 00:26:01.440 just close with this. Jesus in this passage speaks about bearing witness to 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:06.360 the truth. But of course, John, Jesus gets way more audacious than that. And in 00:26:06.360 --> 00:26:13.920 John 14 he says, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. And this is a 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:20.120 sad passage and it doesn't end well, at least in this moment. But we can look at 00:26:20.120 --> 00:26:24.440 Pilate and we can say to ourselves and to the world, it doesn't have to end this 00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:31.960 way for us because what Jesus offers us is hope. And Jesus says in this passage, 00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:36.160 I came to bear witness to the truth. And that means that the truth is not 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:39.559 something hidden and far away and inaccessible, but it is something that 00:26:39.559 --> 00:26:45.680 if we cry out to God for, he will give us because he's not stingy. And if we can 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:49.720 find that truth, and if our neighbors can find that truth, the promise that we 00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:56.519 have is that we will be set free. So let me pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for 00:26:56.519 --> 00:27:03.039 your word. We thank you for the hope that we find in Jesus. And we pray that the 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:08.920 people that we know and love in this city would not turn away from Jesus. And we 00:27:08.920 --> 00:27:13.120 pray that you would give our neighbors and you would give us hearts that want to 00:27:13.120 --> 00:27:17.240 seek for the truth. And that those that we love, even if they don't know the 00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:22.799 truth, that they would find you as they seek for the answers to the reasons that 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:26.680 life is the way it is. And we pray that you would even help us to ask the right 00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:30.319 questions to our friends and our neighbors so that we would challenge them 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:34.640 and that we would help them to see that they don't have to give up on the search 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:38.880 for truth, but that we can find it in you. And we ask all this in your son's name. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:52.200 Amen.