Participants: Deyvy Rodriguez & Jon Paulien
Series Code: JBOTB
Program Code: JBOTB00025B
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00:01 And we are back.
00:02 So Pilate wants to please the Jews, 00:04 so he tries to, he tries the Barabbas experiment 00:07 and they don't accept it. 00:09 And now he scourges Jesus 00:12 and it seems that they don't accept that. 00:14 As a matter of fact it says here in verse 6 00:16 that they were not sympathetic 00:18 at all but rather they said, "Crucify Him, crucify." 00:21 So they really want Him dead, there are no other options. 00:26 But, Pilate is implacable. 00:27 In verse 7 he says, "I find no basis for your charge." 00:32 You see, there is no basis for this thing. 00:36 So it's very clear that Pilate is holding firm. 00:43 He does not believe that Jesus should be released. 00:46 The Jews are holding firm, the leadership 00:48 there because they want Him dead, 00:51 so they had an impasse and Pilate said a delicate point 00:55 here because of his vulnerable ability, 00:58 he needs to resolve the situation in someway 01:01 and that's why he is indecisive. 01:04 He knows what the right thing 01:06 to do is and yet he cant quite bring himself to do it. 01:08 So both of them find things aren't working. 01:12 And again that's clear in verse 6 and it says that 01:14 "Therefore, when the chief priests 01:16 and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, 01:18 'Crucify him, crucify Him.' 01:21 And Pilate said to them, 01:22 you take him, and crucify him. 01:24 I find no fault in Him." 01:26 You see, it's not working for either side. 01:30 The Pilate is not convincing the leadership 01:33 of that Jesus should be released even the sympathies, 01:38 you know, look at this poor guy. 01:40 What kind of threat is He? 01:42 Clearly, Jesus is not a threat to Rome. 01:44 But the Jews are not convincing Pilate that he is a threat. 01:48 He is innocent, he says, 01:50 "I find now basis for a charge against him." 01:52 So something has to change to get things off center 01:55 and that happens in verses 7 and 8. 01:58 The Jews answered him, 02:00 "We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, 02:04 because he made himself the Son of God. 02:07 Therefore When Pilate heard that saying, 02:09 he was more afraid." 02:12 There you see what happened, 02:14 they turned it, they came with a civil charge. 02:18 He's a threat to Caesar. 02:20 They now realize there is no way Pilate's 02:22 ever going to be convinced to that. 02:25 He sees that Jesus is not a political threat to Rome. 02:28 So now they turn the charge, 02:31 they turn it to a religious thing, 02:32 the very thing they were afraid to do at first, 02:34 they say no, this is really about our law. 02:36 According to our law, He needs to die. 02:39 Now Pilate has been wrong about the law 02:43 over and over again, the Jewish law. 02:45 He had misunderstood, he had not listened to them. 02:50 He had done things that unnecessarily offended 02:53 the people and the leadership, so he is afraid now. 02:58 Oh, oh, I'm fallen into one of these again. 03:03 Now, what was he afraid of because it says 03:05 here he was more afraid, that mean he was already afraid. 03:09 Another thing is, it doesn't seem that-- 03:11 correct me if I'm wrong, it doesn't seem 03:12 that the John inserts here the dream of his wife. 03:17 No, no, that's not here. 03:18 So do you think, does that say 03:20 that he was more afraid of the dream of his conviction 03:24 that indeed this was the Son of God 03:25 or what was he afraid of before? 03:27 I think his basic fear is related to all the mistakes 03:31 that he has made in the past in relation 03:33 at this particular group of leaders. 03:35 Anytime these leaders bring something to him, 03:39 it's a dicey thing for him. 03:41 It's a dangerous situation to be in. 03:44 So it's a vulnerable situation from the beginning 03:47 but he still wants to do the right thing. 03:49 Now, they realize the place to get Pilate 03:53 is on the religious grounds. 03:54 Because if he offends them religiously one more time, 03:58 Caesar might take his job away, so his job is at stake. 04:02 He is not really ultimately worried 04:05 about what happens to Jesus. 04:07 He wants to do the right thing because 04:09 that's what governors are supposed to do, 04:11 is what judges are supposed to do, 04:13 to judge the right thing. 04:15 But, he realizes that he can't release 04:17 Jesus and save himself, that's the problem. 04:21 He is stuck in this thing. 04:23 He wants to preserve his job but he can't save Jesus 04:28 and do that if it's a religious charge. 04:30 And so he is got to go back and find out something, 04:33 so he goes back to Jesus. 04:36 Verses 9 and 10. 04:38 "And went again into the Praetorium, 04:40 and said to Jesus, Where are you from? 04:43 But Jesus gave him no answer. 04:45 Then Pilate said to him, are you not speaking to me? 04:49 Do you not know that that I have the power 04:51 to crucify you and the power to release you?" 04:54 Okay, so you see now he's worried, 04:56 he wants to find out about this religious thing. 04:59 Who is this guy that they are so worried about Him? 05:03 Pilate just doesn't get it. 05:05 Why would Jesus be a threat to anyone, 05:07 but somehow he is a threat to these religious leaders, 05:11 so he is trying to figure out where are you from? 05:13 Why are they so scared of you? 05:15 Why is there such an issue? 05:17 And Jesus is not interested anymore in speaking with him 05:23 because he has already attempted to clarify that with Pilate 05:27 and Pilate is not listening, so Jesus doesn't respond 05:32 and Pilate says look you got to understand. 05:35 I can free you, I can crucify you. 05:38 I have all the power and then comes 05:40 one of the most amazing statements 05:43 that Jesus makes in verse 11. 05:45 Yeah. Before I read that I want to just comment that. 05:47 I find it interesting that before the people, 05:50 he does not show any type of authority. 05:52 But then he takes Jesus by himself and he seems to show 05:56 that authority, don't you know 05:57 that I have the power and authority to let you go, 06:00 but he doesn't show it before the people. 06:01 Jesus is frustrating him. 06:03 He wants Jesus to give him something 06:06 that he can go back to the religious leaders 06:08 and resolve the problem. 06:09 He knows Jesus is innocent. 06:11 He wants to free Him, but he needs something 06:13 from Jesus and Jesus isn't helping him. 06:15 Right. So, he says 06:18 that's what cause him to say, look I can crucify you, 06:21 I can set you free, I have the power. 06:24 And then Jesus come back in verse 11. 06:26 Yeah. "Jesus answered, 06:28 You could have no power at all against me, 06:31 unless it had been given to you from above therefore 06:35 the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin." 06:40 I just find it beautiful here, in the midst of this trial, 06:44 Jesus is still not concerned about Himself. 06:46 He still holds out the olive branch to Pilate. 06:49 He says look, yes, I know you're in a difficult position. 06:52 You didn't choose to be here. 06:54 The one who handed you over has the greater sin. 06:56 He kind of lets him off the hook just a little bit 07:00 and Pilate sees what Jesus is doing. 07:02 And in verse 12 it says, 07:05 he tried to set Jesus free even more. 07:09 So doesn't work? 07:13 It's not working. 07:15 Pilate comes to realize 07:17 he either gives Jesus up or he gives himself up. 07:20 Yeah. Now, Dr. Paulien, here when Jesus says 07:24 that the one who has given to you-- 07:27 who has delivered me to you has greater sin. 07:31 So it seems that Jesus is implying that Pilate 07:34 has sin or is guilty of something. 07:38 What is that sin that Pilate is guilty off? 07:42 Because Pilate is really putting himself ahead of Jesus. 07:45 If you know who Jesus is and that's what 07:47 this gospel is all about. 07:48 If you've read from the prologue on, 07:50 you realize that for Pilate, 07:52 this is the most awesome moment of his life. 07:55 He is with the King of the universe. 07:57 He is with the One who created everything, you see. 08:01 That's the moment of all moments to say, 08:04 I don't care if I'm governor, I don't care if I even live, 08:08 I got to do what God wants me to do. 08:10 That's the thing that truly matters 08:11 in the ultimate scheme of things. 08:13 And Pilate has some sense of that. 08:16 He realizes he is dealing with somebody special even thought 08:19 he doesn't get a message from his wife in this account. 08:21 You can see that Pilate definitely believes Jesus 08:25 is innocent and there's something about Jesus 08:27 that's really special. 08:29 But he also realizes that the religious leadership 08:32 is not going to be moved and so now he is faced with a choice. 08:37 He can save Jesus or he can save himself, he can't do both. 08:43 And it is that decision that is his lesser sin in that sense. 08:47 He is not the one who wants Jesus dead, 08:49 but he is nevertheless willing for Jesus to die. 08:53 So he can stay as governor and continue 08:56 with his plush life and all of that. 08:59 So, Pilate makes the decision, he realizes that his indecision 09:04 is causing him trouble. 09:06 And so he says, "I'm going to become decisive now." 09:09 And he decides if he is going to give Jesus up, 09:12 he wants something in return. 09:14 And what he does in the next few verse, 09:16 we won't have time to read them. 09:18 But what he does is basically extract from them 09:21 the confession that Caesar is their king, not Jesus, 09:26 not God, not anyone else. 09:28 And the irony of this is amazing because Caiaphas 09:31 has said in Chapter 11 that "Preserving the nation 09:36 is the crucial thing one person should die 09:39 that the nation would be preserved". 09:42 Now, they are so against Jesus that they are willing 09:44 to sacrifice the nation in order to kill on man. 09:48 I mean the whole thing is turned on its head. 09:50 They are willing to say. 09:52 We have no king but Caesar. 09:56 And Pilate hears that he knows that he is one. 10:00 And then he has a placard put on there, 10:03 the king of the Jews you see. 10:06 I mean the humiliation of Israel, 10:08 he uses the cross to absolutely destroy 10:13 the standing of these religious leaders 10:15 in the eyes of the people and they realize 10:17 what he is doing and they protest. 10:19 Pilate is unmovable. 10:21 Once he is decided to give up Jesus, 10:25 he is confident, he is unmovable. 10:28 What I have written I have written. 10:31 So Pilate in putting Jesus on the cross finds himself, 10:37 that's the interesting thing. 10:39 The cross of Christ changes 10:41 people in the Gospel of John. 10:43 It changes Pilate too, he becomes 10:45 a different person after that. 10:47 He is confident he knows where he is going etcetera. 10:49 Obviously it's in rejection of Jesus, 10:53 it's a loss to him in the ultimate scheme of things, 10:56 but in condemning Jesus to the cross, 10:59 Pilate ironically finds himself. 11:03 The crucifixion story itself is almost totally unique to John. 11:08 He has a lot of stuff that the Matthew, 11:11 Mike and Luke don't have in. 11:12 Let me review those quickly before we draw to a close. 11:17 There's the controversy over the inscription, 11:19 you know, what he should write there. 11:21 The cross is a fulfillment of prophecy. 11:24 Pilate now is like Peter, you know. 11:28 He wants to be in control and he feels like 11:30 he's got in control of the situation. 11:32 But God is in control, Pilate is simply fulfilling prophecy. 11:37 Jesus' death is voluntary, 11:41 it's full of purpose and it's according to the Bible. 11:45 He sees Mary, His mother and He puts her in the hands 11:50 of John and takes care of her and then he says it is finished. 11:58 And then the reality of Jesus' death 12:00 is verified by experts, Roman soldiers. 12:05 So in concluding the story of the cross, 12:08 you want to ask the question what was finished at the cross. 12:10 Jesus says, "It is finished." 12:13 What was finished at the cross? 12:16 From John we get four answers. 12:19 Number one, Jesus and the Father are glorified. 12:23 God's character is revealed, 12:25 that revelation was complete at the cross. 12:29 Second, the prophecies related to the Messiah, 12:32 Isaiah 53 those are completed at the cross. 12:36 Number three, the ruler of the world has been defeated. 12:40 Satan is defeated at the cross, John 12:31. 12:43 And finally John 12:32, everyone will be drawn 12:49 to Jesus because of the cross, that's what was finished. 12:53 And, Dr. Paulien, you know as I think about this, 12:55 I try to apply it to my own life. 12:57 And I think we sometimes are in the position of Pilate 13:01 where we must decide either for Jesus or against Him. 13:05 We cannot be neutral just as Pilate was. 13:07 And so, friends, I also want to invite you 13:09 to invite Jesus Christ into your life. |
Revised 2014-12-17