Cross Examination (Mark 15.1-20)

Picture courtesy of The Lumo Project

Introduction

If you pick up a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records you will probably find a reference to this man [picture on screen]. I bet £5 that no one here knows who he is - and I think my money is safe. Any guesses?
 

Wikimedia Commons

His name is Sir Lionel Luckhoo. Why is this man in the Guinness Book of Records? The answer is that he secured 245 murder acquittals in a row, making him easily the most successful trial lawyer in world history.

He’s the guy you want defending your case if ever you find yourself in the dock. Or maybe not actually; I guarantee he wouldn’t get you off the hook, not because he’d be defending the indefensible, but because he’s dead now. He died in 1997.

But on 7 November 1978, at age 64, he experienced a dramatic and sudden conversion to faith in Jesus Christ. This is what the world’s most successful trial lawyer said about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

“I say unequivocally that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.”

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we? The resurrection is for Easter Day in two weeks’ time. Not that it’s only relevant for one week of our year – the resurrection is momentous and significant every day of our lives.

The Inevitable Outcome

I just mention this now though because even this amazingly intelligent man, Sir Lionel Luckhoo, could not have got Jesus acquitted and released.

Why not? Why would he lose the case? It’s not that he wasn’t a great lawyer; as I just said, he was the best the world has ever seen.

It’s not that Jesus was so manifestly guilty, that his case was as good as over before the hearing. The opposite is true. No one managed to make a single accusation stick.

In fact, Pilate threw his hands in the air and said, “Why [should I condemn him]? What crime has he committed?” because he couldn’t find anything wrong with him.

So, why would Sir Lionel Luckhoo fail to get Jesus off the hook?

There’s only one reason and it’s this; because, the Bible says, Jesus was appointed by God the Father before the beginning of time to be our Saviour. No human force could stop it. It was predestined. God, in his unsearchable wisdom, and immense love for us, had decided before creation that this must happen.

Galatians 4.4 says that when the time was right, God did what he had determined from eternity; become one of us and die in our place to save us from sin and eternal death.

The Personnel

Let’s look at today’s Bible passage. There is an inevitability about Jesus’ trial. Every time I read this I think, “No, they can’t; he’s so obviously innocent, look, he’s being framed, don’t do it.” But the journey to the cross is inescapable.

Last Sunday, we saw how Part 1 of the trial, the hearing before the chief priest was a complete farce. If you were here you might remember that I found no fewer than twelve illegalities that rendered the trial null and void. The case should have been thrown out.

But, at the end of chapter 14, they all decide Jesus is guilty of blasphemy and must die.

However, the chief priests have a bit of a problem. They have no authority to apply the death penalty. Only their overlords the Romans can do that. So they have to persuade Pontius Pilate to do their dirty work for them.

In one sense, that should be no great problem. Because Pilate, as it turns out, is a great fan of crucifixion. He’s got a reputation for it. Anyone who even slightly steps out of line gets banged up on a cross.

Pilate doesn’t care. He rules by fear and the history books say he has already crucified about 3,000 people before he even meets Jesus.

We know quite a lot about Pontius Pilate actually from outside the Bible. Appointed Prefect of Judea in AD 26, he stayed in that job for 10 years. He antagonised the Jews with outrage after outrage against their religion.

He helped himself to temple money to spend on one of his vanity projects and conveniently ‘forgot’ to pay it back. He went into the temple with offensive images on his shield, caused a riot and spilled lots of blood.

He suppressed any hint of protest with excessive force. His furious temper was notorious. He quickly got a reputation for corruption and capital punishment without trial. It’s all there in the history books.  

So the elders and chief priests probably think it will be easy to get this cruel and vindictive man to order the crucifixion of some nobody who is supposed to have been causing trouble. Should be easy, right?

But it’s more complicated than that. Because word has been getting back to Rome about Pontius Pilate inflaming unrest and Caesar is starting to lose patience with him.

The emperor needs someone to keep the peace, not stir up the locals, so by now Pontius Pilate is one avoidable riot away from being fired. And he knows the score; “You mess it up once more with these Jews, and you’re out of a job.”

Unsurprisingly, Pilate doesn’t like the chief priests and the chief priests don’t like him. There’s bad blood between them.

The Charges

In v3 it says they accuse Jesus of many things. The one thing they don’t charge him with though is the one thing they have just found him guilty of; blasphemy. Jesus said he is God in human flesh. For the chief priests, that’s worth of the death penalty.

But blasphemy means nothing at all to a Roman governor. The one thing the Romans can’t get enough of is gods.

They’ve got gods for love, for war, for wine, for food, for the sea, for just about everything. You tell the Romans you’re a god and you’re cool! They’ll fall over themselves to build you a temple in your honour.  

So the Jewish leaders have to accuse Jesus of something else to get him condemned. Piecing together from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, it’s clear that they go attack him on three different fronts.

First, they allege that Jesus has been going around telling people to not pay taxes to Rome.

Second, they say that he stirs up disturbances all over the countryside.

And thirdly, they say that he is setting himself up as king in a direct challenge to Caesar.

In other words, they accuse him of tax evasion, rebellion and treason.

The Decision

As Pilate cross examines Jesus, he asks him a question, "So, you’re the king of the Jews then are you?" And Jesus replies, “You said it.”

Pilate is no idiot. He can see straightaway that Jesus is not dangerous and he’s being framed. He asks if Jesus wants to answer the charges against him.

This is his great chance to prove his innocence and get out of slow death by crucifixion - Pilate won’t be hard to convince - but to his amazement, Jesus remains silent.

Jesus can get himself out of this – and he says nothing. Isaiah 53.7 says “He was oppressed and afflicted, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

He chose the cross. He accepted it for you, so you can be forgiven whatever - no matter how bad it is - and know God and have abundant life forever.

The four gospels show how Pilate tries everything he knows to get Jesus off death row. Even flogging him to within an inch of his life. A Roman scourging was absolute carnage; leather whips with bits of bone and iron attached to the ends; it tore lumps off your back and left a pool of blood and flesh.

But even that isn’t enough for the chief priests. Pilate tries offering them a choice. Jesus or a fanatic and convicted murderer called Barabbas. Who do you want roaming the streets at night? “Give us Barabbas.”

“What about Jesus, then?” “Oh, crucify him!” And they bay for his blood over and over again. Why do they want crucifixion so badly? Why didn’t they just stone him secretly themselves? Because it says in Deuteronomy 21.23 says “cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree” and they want Jesus to die cursed by God.

The Relevance

So Pilate, fearing another riot, worried about getting the sack, caves in under pressure and hands Jesus over to be put to death.

It seems so remote to us doesn’t it? But it’s a choice that you and I face all the time. I’m serious. Here’s the choice. “Should I do what I know is right, whatever it takes? Or am I just going to please the crowd? What choice am I going to make?”

The crowd says, “Put a few dozen extra miles on your expenses. No one checks. It’s an unofficial perk. Go on! The company owes you a few beers.”

The crowd says, “Everyone’s doing drugs at this party. Come on! What’s wrong with you? It’s just mild stuff. Don’t be the only one who says no.”

The crowd says, “Take an intimate picture of yourself on your phone - or of someone else - and send it out on Snapchat. Look, everyone does it.”

Is that what God wants? Please the crowd? Know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and that you are called to the true joy of radical purity.

Pilate’s footnote in history, according to the best sources, is that he fell out of favour for good with the Emperor Caligula about five years after Jesus died and he committed suicide a broken man.

If  you had been there that Friday morning, as Jesus was led off to his gruesome death, what might you have seen?

Ending: The Picture of Grace

Maybe the ugly face of a scoundrel called Barabbas you recognize from all the Wanted posters around town. What would he be saying, do you think? Maybe something like this:

Ha ha haaaa! Pinch me! I can’t believe it! Barabbas. Career criminal, neighbour from hell and uncontrollable delinquent – that’s me.

I’ve broken into peoples’ homes and stolen all their stuff. I’ve knifed 6 innocent people this year so far. I’ve been a serial offender for years.

Last week, the law caught me trying to set fire to a hospital. Two of my mates were with me. They said we’d get the worst punishment they could think of - death on a cross. 

Just before dawn this morning I woke up – the day of my execution. The padlock on the door was unlocked and I thought, “This is it, time to face the music.”

But they just threw this new bloke into our cell.  He had been treated really badly. His clothes were torn, his body was bruised, he had two black eyes, his face was all beat up. He was a mess.

I could tell just by looking at him that he was innocent.  He looked over at me and he looked… so... I can’t really describe it. There was no judgement. No hardness on his face. No one has ever looked at me with as much love before.

Pilate said he was not guilty – no surprise there. He wanted to let him go. But the crowd was just fanatical. You could hear them from miles away. “No! Crucify him!”

Then I was led out, from my dark cell into the morning sunlight, all chained up.  Pilate asked the crowd to choose between us. 

Well, what a joke! I had a snowball in hell’s chance. It was no contest. There was no way they’d let an animal like me out on the streets again. 

But when Pilate asked, “Which one shall I set free?” everyone shouted “Barabbas”.  I just couldn’t believe my ears. I thought I must be dreaming. I was guilty as sin.

But here I am – outside, free again, my life given back to me.  All my past has been pardoned.

And heading off towards that cross, over there, the Place of the Skull, between my two mates, is that man. Instead of me. 

Why? It just doesn’t make sense. I can’t understand it – I don’t think I ever will.  This good man, Jesus, is going to die in my place.

Let’s pray...

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 18 March 2018