PM Home Bible Study Group; May 28, 2014
John 18:39-19:16
Theme: In His trial, our Lord was presented to His own—and His own rejected Him.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
Early in this Gospel, we were told this about the Lord Jesus: “He came to His own, and his own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). When He rode into the city of Jerusalem, He came to His own rightful domain as the Son of David. But His own rightful subjects—the Jewish people, the Jewish leaders, and the priests—did not welcome Him to themselves for what He was. Jesus Himself taught that this would be so. After speaking a parable against the Jewish leaders, He told them,
“Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’” (Matthew 21:42-44).
In this evening’s passage, we find those words played out in our Lord’s trial before His own people. In John 18:12-27, we read of Jesus’ trail before the high priest Annas. Then, John tells us—after the appearance before Caiaphas (which John does not describe)—of Jesus’ trial before Pilate. And now, we read of Jesus’ trial—after being presented to them by Pilate—before His own people. They reject their King. But their rejection didn’t change who He was. As John went on later to say in John 1:12-13, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
* * * * * * * * * *
The trial of Jesus before His people can be seen in three stages. In the first stage, the people choose a dangerous criminal over their King. “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” they cry. In the second stage, they prefer to subject Him to an unjust, pagan execution that to set Him free. “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” And in the final stage, they descend to the lowest point in their rejection of God’s appointed King. “We have no king but Caesar!”
I. FIRST STAGE: “NOT THIS MAN, BUT BARABBAS!” (18:39-40).
A. Pilate had just interrogated Jesus. He had asked Him if He was a king—even uttering those fateful words, “What is truth?” But then, he went out to the Jewish people and said, “I find no fault in Him at all” (v. 38). This was because Pilate had been given the impression that Jesus was an evildoer—a seditious man who was presenting Himself as a king in defiance of Roman rule and of the puppet king Herod. In fact, in Luke’s Gospel, we’re told that Pilate even sent Jesus to Herod for examination; but that Herod merely mocked Him and sent Him back (Luke 23:6-12). If Jesus were a king, then He was a king of a kingdom that had no relevance to Pilate. In Luke 23:14-16, we’re told that Pilate called the chief priests, the rulers and the people together and told them, ““You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him. I will therefore chastise Him and release Him.” What a weak man Pilate was! He had just declared that he found no fault in Him—and yet, he declared that before he released Him, he would chastise Him!
B. Pilate did seek, however, to make a concession to the Jews—one that he thought might also be favorable to the case of Jesus Himself. He told them, “But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” (v. 39). In Mark’s Gospel, we’re told that the chief priests stirred up the people to demand that Barabbas be released instead. Luke tells us that Barabbas was a man “who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, and for murder” (Luke 23:19). He was most likely an anti-Roman zealot—what we, in modern times, would consider a dangerous terrorist. John calls him a “robber”—and he may have been that too! But the same word “robber” is also used to describe the two criminals that hung next to our Lord. Suffice it to say that Barabbas would be the last person Pilate or the Roman government would want released. And yet, as John tells us, “Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber (v. 40).
What a picture! Given the choice, sinful men—in rebellion against their Creator—would rather have a dangerous criminal than the Son of God! It reminds us of Jesus’ lament as He first rode into the city: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Matthew 23:37-39).
II. SECOND STAGE: “CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM!” (19:1-7).
A. We’re told, “So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him” (v. 1). Perhaps Pilate was hoping that, by doing this, he would persuade the Jews to think that this was a sufficient substitute for the death sentence they demanded. But to scourge our Lord was no small thing. Some men actually died during the scourging. And worse, He was mocked horribly. We’re told, “And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they struck Him with their hands” (vv. 2-4). Perhaps this was when the prophecy concerning Jesus was fulfilled, “I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out My beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6). Our Lord would have been as it says in Isaiah 52:14; “So His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men . . .” We’re told
“Pilate then went out again, and said to them, ‘Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him’” (v. 4). What a shocking sight the Lamb of God must have been! We’re told, “Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the Man!’” (v. 5). Those words—Ecce homo in Latin—may have been spoken in something of an appeal for pity; as if to say, “Look at Him! Gaze upon the suffering of the Man! Haven’t I done enough to Him?”
B. But if Pilate was trying to appeal to their sense of mercy, it was to no avail. “Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’” (v. 6a). The governor’s next words were a bit sarcastic. He told them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him” (v. 6b)—knowing, of course, that it would have been impossible for the Jews, as an occupied people, to put a criminal to death; let alone crucify Him. But they wouldn’t take no for an answer. Not even the release of Barabbas would satisfy them. And so—perhaps in a last ditched appeal—they threw forth the charge that would ordinarily mean nothing to Pilate. They had already found Him guilty of blasphemy in the interrogation by Caiaphas (see Matthew 26:63-66). And so, we’re told, “The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God’” (v. 7)]
Now; in the midst of all of this, let’s pause for a moment and consider that the people were fulfilling the promises of God in the Scripture. In Psalm 22:16-17, we read:
For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots (Psalm 22:16-17).
The Lord Jesus—in His per-incarnate state—spoke through the prophet Zechariah: “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10). The very people of our Lord—who cried out for His crucifixion—did so in fulfillment of their own Scriptures; and they would one day great Him again at His coming with mourning and repentance. He did this—and allowed them to do this to Him—for our salvation. As it says in Isaiah 53:4-6;
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6).
What a wonderful Savior! How worthy of our worship this disgraced King is!
III. THIRD STAGE: “WE HAVE NO KING BUT CAESAR!” (19:8-16).
A. The accusation that they brought to Pilate—that Jesus had called Himself the Son of God—might not have affected him very much if it had not been for something that his wife had told him earlier. Matthew 27:19 tells us, “While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, ‘Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.’” Historians tell us that Roman leaders were often subject to superstitious fears; and perhaps the fact that his wife told him of this dream—and the fact that the Jews told him that Jesus said He was the Son of God—are the reasons for what we read next. “Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, ‘Where are You from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer” (vv. 8-9). Why did Jesus give Him no answer? As F.F. Bruce put it, “What answer that He could have given would have meant anything to a pagan judge or conveyed any sense of what he had in mind when he spoke to others of having come forth from the Father?” (The Gospel of John, p. 161). Frustrated and bewildered, we’re told, “Then Pilate said to Him, ‘Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?’” (v. 10). Jesus gave an answer that might have increased Pilate’s sense of fear: “Jesus answered, ‘You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin’” (v. 11). In saying this, Jesus was saying that He was under an authority that was greater than that of Pilate—one that even Pilate was under. Jesus said, after all, that His kingdom was not of this world (18:36). Pilate was, after all, only doing the job that had been given to him. Caiaphas however—who handed Jesus over to Pilate—was acting on his own temporal authority; and so, he was guilty of the greater sin.
B. This all must have had an increasing affect on Pilate. We’re told, “From then on Pilate sought to release Him” (v. 12a). He may have tried—for whatever reason; “but the Jews cried out, saying, ‘If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar’” (v. 12b). There seemed no easy way out for Pilate. But rather than rescue Jesus from injustice, he used the situation for political advantage. “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” (vv. 13-15). What dreadful words for the Jewish priests to say! It’s hard not to see in them a foreshadowing of the fallout that is still yet to come—that time when the Jewish rejection of Christ will lead to the full acceptance and covenant with the Antichrist (Daniel 9:26-27)! Pilate, it seemed, got what he really wanted. “Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away” (v. 16).
C. To reject the Lord is not to assume a neutral position. In fact, to reject Him is not to merely embrace Caesar. To reject Him is to embrace the evil one—for whom Caesar is the mere puppet. There is no middle ground. As John put it elsewhere, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1 John 5:20-21). May we be among those who behold the King—and truly bow to Him!