Pastor Muri's message from Sunday:

John chapter 19, please. Go there with me, if you would, please. John chapter 19.

 

Under the press of injustice, amplified by the passions of Jewish hatred, the cowardly arrogance of Pontius Pilate and the monstrous betrayal of Judas, Jesus makes a sudden and surprising, rare, but very clarifying declaration in the midst of it all. If you’ve got Bibles that have the words of Jesus in red, don’t assume that you have a special version. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is all profitable for doctrine and for reproof and for correction and for instruction in righteousness, not just the red ones.

 

But if you have the benefit of the red-letter edition, then you know that in the midst of this narrative -- this explanation of John, as he deals with the chronological events in the conversation between Jesus and Pilate, and Pilate and the Jews, and Jesus and Pilate again and all this that’s taking place, this rush of circumstances that is being narrated to us in these chapters -- that suddenly Jesus speaks up and He makes this statement in verse 11, and it’s very, very instructive.

 

Jesus says to Pilate, He says:

 

You would have no authority

 

You have to understand, Pilate has just said, “You mean, you’re not answering me? I asked you a question. Are you not answering my question? Do you not realize that I have the power, I have the authority invested in me by the Emperor himself to either release you or to crucify you?”

 

And Jesus, at this point, I don’t know if Jesus was looking down and just kind of just lost in His own redemptive thoughts at this point, but He looks into Pilate’s face and He says to Pilate:

 

You would have no authority over me at all [except that] it had been given [to] you from above. [And] Therefore he who [has] delivered me over to you has the greater [blame].

 

Well, now you stop and think about that statement. That is the centerpiece of this narrative. That is the piece that I wanna camp out on this morning because Jesus is putting things in perspective for us. He’s helping us to understand something about this whole event that is transpiring. And He’s helping us to understand that there is a sovereign God, who is overseeing all of these events and allowing that to happen which He has intended to happen from before the dawn of creation for our redemption, and yet there are human players on the stage that are fully culpable, have to take full ownership and responsibility for their actions. And Pilate, you’re one of them. And you’re not the only one.

 

We’re gonna look at those this morning. In a sense, Jesus is saying to Pilate, “Lighten up, Pilate. You’re really not as important in this whole event and scenario as you think you are. In fact, rather than being the judge presiding over this case, you are merely one of multiple defendants in this obscene trial.”

 

Now those are not the words of Jesus, but I’m thinking there’s some implication here that goes very much along those lines.

 

“Pilate, you’re overestimating your importance in this whole thing. You’re standing here, not realizing who you are and how you really fit into this narrative.”

 

In fact, if you could indulge me for a moment, let me just begin back at the beginning of chapter 19 and let me just read these verses again and let me put them into context, into the context of the Gospel of John and the Gospel of John establishes its major theological context in the prelude, in the very beginning, the introduction, the preface to this whole Gospel in chapter 1. Let me just tie it back there for you as we read through this narrative.

 

I’m gonna turn [end of track 1, 4:58] in my Bible to John chapter 1 and I’m gonna flip back and forth. Beginning in verse 1

 

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together

 

By the way, you understand that Jesus has been arrested in chapter 18 by the Roman soldiers, the guards or the soldiers hired by the chief priests and this whole rabble that all came together to the garden and arrested Jesus and took Him off to the house of Annas where He was quickly tried and remanded over to Caiaphas and after a series of events and a quickly convened Sanhedrin meeting that night and a reconvened meeting the next morning where they officially passed judgment on Jesus. He’s remanded over now to Pilate because only the Romans have the authority of capital punishment and they need Jesus to die. And so He’s been given over to Pilate. Pilate has interviewed Him already. There’s been this pre-trial hearing where Pilate has already kind of interrogated Jesus, if you please, in the tail end of chapter 18. He has questioned the priests and the Pharisees who have brought Jesus and it’s obvious that we’re not going to get through this without a trial. And so

 

Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.

 

They did this, Jesus not having yet been charged with a crime, or Jesus not yet being convicted of a crime. He’s already receiving punishment.

 

They came up to him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I am bringing him out to you that you [might see] that I find no guilt in him.

 

Is that surprising to you in light of who He is?

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word [Jesus Christ, logos] was God.

 

Is it any surprise, is it any wonder that a man, a Roman tribunal, a Roman governor with even a shred of logic or intelligence about him, with just a couple live brain cells still working up there, is there any wonder that a man like that would look at Jesus, question Him and say, “I find no fault in Him. This is a man who is pure, who is sinless, who is holy, who is without guile.” Of course he’s gonna find no guilt in this man.

 

So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them [the Jews], Behold the man!

 

The Word [the logos, the eternal God, Jesus Christ, the Son of Man] became flesh [chapter 1, verse 14 says, He became flesh] and [literally tabernacled among us, pitched His tent among us] dwelt among us [in human flesh], and we [beheld] his glory, [John says] glory as of the only [begotten of] the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

But he refers to the fact that Jesus Christ, the God of eternity, the Son of God, co-eternal with God and the creator of all things, verses 1 through 3 of John chapter 1, “became flesh.”

 

Behold the man! 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him, crucify him!

 

He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

 

Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. 7 The Jews answered ..., We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he ... made himself ... God.

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

 

This is God. He made Himself to be God. He is God

 

When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid.

 

Rightly so.

 

He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, Where are you from?

 

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

 

“Where have you come from?” Answer (chapter 1, verse 18): The Father’s side.

 

“Who are you?” God, the creator.

 

So Pilate said to him, You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? [end of track 2, 5:02]

 

Authority? Over your creator? Come on! You’re not thinking in context, Pilate. You didn’t read the beginning of this book.