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Open your Bibles to Mark 15:1-15.
•We are continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark.
•This morning we come to Mark’s account of our Lord’s trial before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.
We confess in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate.”
•Likewise, we confess in the Nicene Creed that “He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate.”
•The text before us is a big part of the story of redemption, for it was before the governor Pilate that our Lord was sentenced to be crucified.
•It was at the verdict and direction of Pilate that our Lord was sent to the Cross where He accomplished His work of salvation for sinners.
As we come to this text, we come to bear witness to the greatest miscarriage of justice that Gentiles have ever committed: The condemnation of the Son of God.
•Two weeks ago we witnessed the greatest miscarriage of justice that the Jews ever committed.
And it was the same as our Lord was on trial before the Sanhedrin.
•We will see that our Lord, though He did no wrong and no guilt was found in Him, was condemned to death as if He were a guilty man.
•We will see the chief priests lie and twist His words to Pilate in order to secure a guilty verdict.
•We will see the crowds cry out for His crucifixion without any reason for doing so.
•And we will see Pilate condemn the spotless, sinless Lamb of God to the death of the cross while KNOWING that He was innocent of any wrongdoing.
We will bear witness to injustice this morning.
•But by doing so, we will see things in the text that instruct us, call us to repentance, and call us to glory in Christ crucified for sinners.
A couple of notes about this sermon before we begin:
1.
To get the fullest picture of what happened at this trial, you need to read the parallel accounts in Matthew 27, Luke 23, and John 18. (Do that sometime today.)
•But I plan on sticking fairly close to Mark’s account and making only a few references to the parallels.
2.
When I preach, I usually try to find a unifying theme of the passage and drive that point home as best I can while making a few related sub-points.
•But this past week, I didn’t see that so much in the text.
(Due to my own ignorance and lack of ability as a preacher.)
•But I did see multiple things in the text that I believe are profitable for us to think on together this morning.
•I’m telling you this so you’re not confused if the points of this sermon seem to be a little disconnected.
•I often find devotional commentaries that point out various things in a text, even if they’re seemingly unrelated, to be edifying, encouraging, and warming to my soul.
•And I suppose that this sermon is kind of in that vein of things.
This morning, we’ll consider five things together:
1.
The Injustice Done to Christ
2. The Silent Love of Christ
3. The Sovereignty of God over the Wicked Actions of Men
4. Barabbas and Jesus as a Picture of the Gospel
5.
The Choice Between Barabbas and Jesus.
•May God bless us as we are instructed by His Word this morning.
Now, if you would and are able, please stand with me for the reading of the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God.
Mark 15:1-15
[1] And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council.
And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate.
[2] And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
And he answered him, “You have said so.”
[3] And the chief priests accused him of many things.
[4] And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make?
See how many charges they bring against you.”
[5] But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
[6] Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked.
[7] And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.
[8] And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them.
[9] And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”
[10] For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.
[11] But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.
[12] And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?”
[13] And they cried out again, “Crucify him.”
[14] And Pilate said to them, “Why?
What evil has he done?”
But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.”
[15] So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
(PRAY)
Our Heavenly Father,
Your Word is glorious.
It makes the simple wise, it strengthens the weak, it encourages the fainthearted, and it points sinners to the Savior, Jesus Christ.
And it does so because you bless the proclamation of the Word and apply to our hearts.
So we ask this morning that you would bless us by opening our hearts to receive the Word of God with humility, reverence, obedience, and faith.
Speak to us today.
By your Holy Spirit, rebuke us, grant us repentance, encourage our faint hearts, and show us our Savior, your only begotten Son.
Glorify yourself today through the preaching of your Word.
We ask these things in Jesus’ Name and for His sake.
Amen.
1.)
Let’s begin by walking through the text a bit so we can see what happened at Jesus’ trial.
•Mark begins by telling us that “as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council.”
•The Sanhedrin assembled again after their illegal night trial.
And they did so for a couple of reasons:
1. Possibly to give the appearance of legality.
They were meeting in the day to ratify the guilty verdict they came to a few hours earlier.
2.
They had to agree on what charges they were going to bring against Jesus before Pilate.
•You see, the Romans reserved the right to execute criminals.
So, the Sanhedrin couldn’t carry out the death sentence they had passed on Jesus.
•And Pilate wouldn’t care about their religious laws about blasphemy.
•So if they took Jesus to Pilate saying, “He blasphemed our God and deserves the death sentence,” Pilate would say, “That’s not my problem.
I don’t care about your Jewish religion.
He has committed no capital crime in the eyes of Rome.
Deal with it yourself.”
•And so, the Sanhedrin held a consultation to try to figure out what they were going to accuse Jesus of that the Roman government would see as a capital offense.
•So, having agreed on a charge, “they bound Jesus and led Him away and delivered Him over to Pilate.”
So what was their charge?
•Pilate’s question to Jesus reveals it: “Are you the King of the Jews?”
•The Sanhedrin told Pilate that Jesus deserved execution because He claimed to be the King of the Jews.
•And this is technically correct.
At the trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus confessed that He is the CHRIST.
•And the Christ, the Messiah, is the Son of David, the heir of David’s throne.
The Messiah is the King of the Jews.
The King they were all waiting for who would save them.
Jesus is the King of the Jews.
He is the Messiah.
•But, as we read in John 18, Jesus told Pilate that His Kingdom is “not of this world.”
Jesus is the King of the Jews, but He is not the King of an earthly nation.
•Jesus did not come to found a geopolitical entity.
He came to establish the Kingdom of God and bring sinners into it by saving them through His Cross.
•He came to establish God’s rule over the world through the Messiah.
But He did not come to overthrow the Roman government by military means.
But the Sanhedrin twisted His words.
•They took His claim to be the Messiah and made it out to be a claim against Caesar.
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