Rough Justice

Thanks very much, Rachel. Good morning, everyone. Can I repeat, Alistair's welcome, whether you're here in the church or watching on YouTube or listening to the audio recording, you're very welcome with us this morning.

One of the most compelling TV series that I've watched recently was BBC Scotland's Murder Trial.

Maybe that makes me one of the true crime addicts that Archie talked about last week.

But what was particularly interesting about that series were two things.

One was that the cameras unusually in Scotland were allowed into the courtroom to film the trial.

So you saw that alongside commentary from the advocates and witnesses and so on.

And the second thing was that all the murders involved were historical.

Two of them went back to the 1970s. So the court was doing what I think is called a code case in the legal jargon.

And really interesting to look at how the evidence from long ago was pieced together using modern standards.

And two of the cases, indeed, there wasn't even a body that had been discovered.

So they were only suspected murders.

I'm not going to spoil it for you in case you want to watch the series yourselves.

But two things particularly struck me about them.

And there's nothing else flattering in these.

You'd probably notice the same things in almost any trial that you saw.

The first of these was the centrality of the defendant in the trial.

Now, the nature of the thing was that we were talking about elderly people here.

I think there were three men, I think, all in their 80s, plus a woman.

And they were all quite old.

And as you looked at them, sometimes they looked nervous.

Sometimes they looked maybe a bit confused.

Sometimes a bit defiant.

But you thought they really look in many ways quite pathetic and powerless in the court.

Things are happening round about them.

They're being talked about.

Things from their lives long ago are being dissected.

And apart from one opportunity, if they wish to, and not everyone did, to give evidence,

they are absolutely powerless.

They're in the hands of the witnesses, the advocates, the judge, and ultimately the jury.

And yet they're still central to the case.

It is their guilt, their future, that is being discussed.

And you looked at them and thought, could this person 40-odd years ago really have done the crime that they're accused of?

Is there anything that you can see would give you any indication of that?

What is their demeanor like?

Is it possible that they are guilty or that perhaps they are innocent and they are then very cruelly in their old age being brought to court?

As we come today to the trial of Jesus, then very much I want us to see that Jesus is central in it.

We will look in some detail because we need to understand what's happening at the chief priests and at Pilate

and what their actions and motivations were.

But ultimately it's about Jesus.

It's about what is going to happen to him.

It is about what he is here for.

And it is about whether he really is the Son of God, the King that is being talked about in the trial.

In verse 4 of our passage, Pilate brings Jesus in front of the crowd and he says,

Here is the man.

I've heard the older rendition, Behold the man.

Now what Pilate is doing there, he's trying to win the sympathy of the crowd by presenting someone who is totally powerless.

Jesus has been flogged.

He suffered the scorn and the mockery of the soldiers.

And Pilate is bringing him out and saying,

You don't really think that this man here would be capable of leading a rebellion against Rome.

He's pathetic and powerless.

Why do you think he might be a rebel?

Now, of course, Jesus wasn't pathetic and powerless in any sense at all.

And we'll come back to that a bit later on.

But Pilate was presenting,

Here's the man who is in the centre of this court, at the centre of his case.

I can't say anything wrong that he's done.

Will you release?

Of course, the crowd then said, No.

So that's the first thing, that the defendant is the central person in a trial.

The second thing, and again, there's nothing air shattering here,

is in a trial in a Scottish court or UK court generally and in civilised countries around the world,

there are efforts made to be fair to the dependent.

In almost every trial, I suspect you'll hear someone saying something along the lines,

It is for the prosecution to prove guilt.

The defendant doesn't have to prove anything.

Remember, one of the advocates in one of the cases said how burdened he felt,

because if he didn't do his job well,

and if the defendant really was innocent,

then he might be responsible for what he called a death sentence,

that the man was ill and old and wouldn't survive a prison term.

And there was a real thought,

We need to make sure that justice is done.

Don't assume just because someone's in court that they're guilty.

How different that was from Jesus' trial.

Because there is no justice here.

You have Pilate.

Pilate is in charge.

Pilate is responsible for dispensing Roman justice,

and Roman justice generally aimed to be fair.

Pilate knows he is convinced that Jesus is innocent,

and yet he can't bring himself to release Jesus

in the face of all the shouting that's coming

and the pressure that's being applied on him.

Ultimately, he buckles,

and he gives the crowd their way in allowing Jesus to be crucified.

He looks like the person who's in charge.

Actually, he's one of the ones who's pathetic and powerless in this situation.

Then you have the chief priests, the leaders of the Jews.

They know in their hearts to ensure that Jesus has not done anything

that's worthy of death.

And yet they're determined to see him crucified.

But their problem is they're not able to do it.

But they need Pilate to condemn him before he can be executed.

And they try all sorts of ways to achieve that.

They start by accusing Jesus of planning rebellion,

of claiming to be a king, of going against Caesar.

When Pilate ultimately pours scorn on that,

they change their accusation to it becomes a religious one,

saying he's broken their law by blaspheming

and claiming to be the son of God.

Ultimately, they put pressure on Pilate through a thinly veiled threat

to his job, maybe even to his life.

And they're even willing to say they have no king but Caesar,

which in itself is a blasphemy because their king is God.

They too are pathetic and powerless.

And standing above all this is Jesus.

They're meekly submitting to everything that's given to him,

but doing it with dignity, doing it knowing that what he is doing is God's will.

So as I say, we're going to come at the end and think particularly about Jesus.

We'll also think a bit about the motives of the high priests

and of Pilate and how they might apply to us.

But I want to just take a few minutes to walk through the story,

walk through the narrative,

because I think it's quite important that we understand it.

If you were here last Sunday,

you may remember that Archie took us through the first parts of Jesus' trials.

There was one before the high priests,

and then he was brought into Pilate and stood trial there.

And Archie described it as having a number of scenes in it.

Because it was Passover time,

the Jews didn't want to go into Pilate's palace,

where the trial was taking place,

and become richly unclean.

So they stood outside,

and Pilate shuttled backwards and forwards

between his court inside

and the courtyard outside,

where the people were.

There were three scenes last week.

The first of them were Pilate was trying to establish the charge.

The second where he was interrogating Jesus,

and they had the discussion about kingship and about truth.

And then the third one,

where Pilate made an attempt to persuade the crowd to release Jesus

in the traditional way that someone was released at Passover time,

and they chose Barabbas.

Today we have four more scenes,

two outside the palace,

and two inside it.

And the first of them,

if you've got your Bible,

is in verses 1 to 3.

And we're inside the palace,

and Pilate is having Jesus flawed.

I've given this one the heading,

inhumanity,

because that's what it is, isn't it?

Pilate believes that Jesus is innocent.

He's tried him,

he's talked with him,

he's heard the accusations against him,

and he can find nothing that Jesus has done wrong.

And yet,

he has him flogged,

and he releases him to the soldiers to mock him.

There are two floggings of Jesus recorded

in the Gospel narratives of the crucifixion.

This one in John,

which is in the middle of the trial,

and then in Mark's Gospel,

there's a flogging after the trial,

before Jesus is taken away to be crucified.

Now, that second flogging was terribly severe.

In fact, many people apparently didn't survive it.

It was normal before a crucifixion,

I think probably to make sure

that the person being crucified

wasn't too long on the cross,

that they died relatively quickly.

Probably this flogging wasn't quite as severe,

but nevertheless very brutal.

Maybe more akin to what we sometimes read about

in the Middle East

when people endure punishment floggings,

that kind of thing,

really brutal,

really painful,

blood flowing everywhere,

but not life-threatening at that point.

But Pilate has the innocent Jesus flogged.

And then the soldiers have their fun.

They twist together the thorns

to make a crown more agony for Jesus.

They put a purple robe in mockery,

mocking his kingship,

and they come up and say,

Hail, King of the Jews,

and they slap him in the face,

I suppose,

just to demonstrate how powerless this king is.

Utterly no justice here.

Nothing that is justified

in terms of what happens to Jesus.

And we might ask,

well, why does Pilate do it?

If Pilate really believes that Jesus is innocent,

why does he allow this to happen to him

instead of just releasing him?

Well, the most likely explanation

is that Pilate is hoping to win the sympathy

of the Jewish crowd for Jesus.

To be able to say to them,

hasn't he suffered enough?

I've made an example of him.

He clearly isn't a threat to the power of Rome.

There's no reason for me to get him crucified.

Have I not done enough to him?

And I think that's probably why he did it

and why he then brought Jesus out

to show the crowd.

So he brings Jesus out

and he shows him to the crown,

says,

Here is the man.

Behold the man.

And immediately the crowd,

the chief priests and the officials,

shout, crucify.

Pilate's plan has not worked.

He brought Jesus out,

his back streaming with blood,

blood flowing from his head

and his cheeks bruised from the slapping,

that silly robe on him in mockery.

And he thinks that will win the sympathy

of the crowd.

And it almost does the opposite.

They're even more determined

to crucify him.

And they come up with, as I said,

with an alternative accusation.

So they seem to have realised

this accusation that Jesus is a revolutionary,

is dangerous to Rome.

That's not going to wash.

Here's something that Pilate can't argue with.

Let's hit him with our own laws,

with the Jewish laws,

with our religious laws.

Now the Romans,

anywhere they occupied,

were very aware of the sensitivities

of the religious views

of the occupied lands.

And they tried, where possible,

to accommodate them.

So the Jews thought,

well, here's a plan

that we can put into effect.

And what Pilate should have done

was to say,

well, these are your laws.

They're not the laws of Rome.

I still find Jesus innocent.

He maybe tried to do that

a bit obliquely

by saying to him,

well, you take him

and crucify him then

if he's broken your law.

Knowing full well

that the Jews couldn't do that

because they didn't have

the authority.

But what's happened here,

ultimately,

is that the Jews,

their plan has backfired too.

Because it says,

Pilate was even more afraid

when he heard this.

Why was that?

Pilate was a Roman, of course,

or a Roman citizen.

And Romans believed

in many different gods.

They believed also

that on occasion,

gods might come down

as humans.

And I think in this situation,

Pilate is really worried

that maybe Jesus is

who he says he is

and who the Jews

are accusing him of.

Is he a son of the gods

because they believed

in plural gods?

Is he a son of the gods

come to earth?

And what will happen

to Pilate

if he kills someone

who's one of the gods?

What dreadful fate

is going to befall him

as a result of that?

So we have the next scene then

where Pilate goes back in

and he talks again

with Jesus.

And he asks him first,

where do you come from?

Now I'm sure Pilate

wasn't expecting

the answer in Nazareth to that.

He was asking

a spiritual question.

He was asking Jesus effectively,

are you really a god?

And Jesus doesn't reply,

maybe because he's already

given the answer.

Back in chapter 18

that we looked at last week,

Jesus says,

my kingdom

is not from this world.

So he was admitting

the claim that he was a king,

but saying he was a spiritual,

a heavenly kingdom

rather than an earthly one.

So Jesus doesn't answer Pilate.

And Pilate then pushes and says,

don't you realize

I have power

either to free you

or to crucify you?

And Jesus gives him a reply.

That gives him two replies to that.

One is to say,

you would have no power

unless it was given to you

from above.

Now again,

from above,

I don't think means Rome.

Pilate would have no power

if it wasn't given to him by Rome.

But Jesus means

it's come from heaven.

And then he says,

the one who handed me over to you

is guilty of a greater sin.

Who was it who handed Jesus over to Pilate?

I don't think he's talking about Judas here.

He's talking particularly about Caiaphas,

the high priest,

and the chief priests of the Jews generally.

They are the ones

who bear the greatest guilt for this.

And as Pilate hears that,

Pilate appears to be convinced by it.

Because as he goes out again,

John says that he made

continuing efforts

to get Jesus freed.

He wanted to be able to release Jesus.

He just never could quite bring himself

to do it.

And as he goes out again and says,

here is your king,

and the Jews shall take him away

and crucify him.

They also say,

if you let this man go,

you are no friend of Caesar.

That's in verse 12,

if you're following.

Anyone who claims to be a king

opposes Caesar.

Now, to understand this,

we need to know a little bit

about Pilate's situation.

Pilate was the governor of Judea.

In many ways,

he wasn't a very good governor.

There was quite a lot of rebellion

during his time,

which Pilate crushed quite brutally.

But even with that,

he wouldn't be well regarded in Rome

if his province was seen

as being a bit unruly.

On top of that,

his neighbor Herod,

who was in charge in Galilee,

was highly regarded.

He was quite in

with the people in power in Rome.

So, on that point,

if two things were a bit shaky

for Pilate,

and the third thing was

the house of Annas,

the high priestly house of Israel,

was very wealthy and influential.

And they were quite capable

of going to Rome

and saying,

look, this man Pilate,

he's not doing a good job.

He's even letting someone

who stands against Rome

go free.

And Pilate would have been worried

not just for his job,

but probably also for his life,

because Caesar Tiberius,

who was the emperor at this time,

was notorious,

as many despots are,

was notorious for his jealousy

and for putting to death

anyone who showed

even the slightest sign

of not being behind him.

So, Pilate is feeling here

that his life,

certainly his job,

is at stake.

And ultimately,

that is more important to him

than doing justice.

He believed firmly

that Jesus is innocent.

But at the end of the day,

what he's most interested in

is his own welfare,

his own safety,

his own job.

He really is,

in that sense,

pretty pathetic and powerless

as he gives in

to the chief priests

and the rulers.

And so,

he's a final effort

to talk about Jesus

as the king,

and then he releases him

to be crucified.

We'll follow that

over the next couple of weeks.

Let's go back, though,

as we come towards the end,

and let's just think about,

again,

a bit about the characters

in the story.

And we'll take them

in the reverse order

from what we looked at them

previously.

So, first of all,

we have the chief priests,

the leaders of the Israelites.

What do we make of them?

Well, their minds

were totally closed

to the truth,

weren't they?

They had managed

to convince themselves,

or at least to try

and convince others,

that Jesus was a threat

to Rome,

but also to them.

He was a threat to them

because he exposed

their hypocrisy.

And whatever happened,

they were not willing

to yield one inch

in their determination

to see him crucified.

Jesus made them

uncomfortable.

He exposed their hypocrisy.

And they wanted rid of him,

whatever happened.

I think we can put

a modern context

on that too.

There are a lot of people

around today

who Jesus makes

feel very uncomfortable

and would really not

want anything

to do with him.

They would rather

he wasn't there.

They would rather

forget about him.

I'm not talking,

by and large,

about religious people.

Certainly secularists,

many of them,

would be like that.

Let's just get rid of Jesus.

We don't want anything

to do with him.

Perhaps someone here

is a bit like that.

Jesus makes you feel

uncomfortable.

You don't know

what to make of him,

but you just want

to blank him out,

not have anything

to do with him.

If you're like that,

can I urge you

not to close your mind

the way that

the chief priests

and the Jewish leaders did.

Read one of the books

we've got in the foyer,

perhaps particularly

read the John's Gospels

that are there.

Come to them

with an open mind

and read sincerely

looking for the truth.

Who is this man,

Jesus?

What happened to him?

What did he do?

What relevance

does he have today?

See whether it rings true

as it has for so many

others here.

Perhaps I could also say

to those of you

who are Christians,

who are followers of Jesus,

you may have friends

you think are like that.

They are never going

to accept Jesus.

They're so opposed

to everything

that you stand for,

to any kind of faith,

they are never going

to become Christians.

Well, can I encourage you

keep praying for them

and keep your witness

to them active.

We don't know

whose heart God

is going to soften

and it is often

those who appear

most opposed

to Christian faith

and to the Lord Jesus

actually who come

to be broken

and moved by the Spirit

and come to trust

in him.

Keep praying

for your friends

or your family

that God will

draw them

to himself.

Secondly,

in this we have

Pilate.

Pilate,

the one who seemed

to be in power

but actually wasn't.

Pilate,

the man who wanted

to do what was right

but actually

at the end of the day

because of his own

self-interest

he just couldn't

bring himself

to do that.

Perhaps people like here,

perhaps someone here

is in that position too.

You've looked at Jesus.

You see someone

who's attractive.

Perhaps you believe

even that he's

a son of God

that he died

on the cross

for our sins.

And yet you've not

taken that final step

of trusting in him

and committing

your life to him.

Perhaps it would mean

too many changes

to your lifestyle.

Or perhaps you're

worried about

what others,

your family,

your friends

or whoever

might say about it

and it's just

you feel

too much

for you to do.

Again today

can I urge you

look at Jesus,

look at all

that he has done

for you.

If he has done

so much for you

then you must be

willing to trust him

and to commit

your life

to him.

Yes,

there may be difficulties,

it's not easy

always being a Christian

but ultimately

it's worthwhile

as our sins

are forgiven,

as we have

a relationship

with God

as we know

our future

is secure.

And again

if you're a Christian

you've got family

or friends

who you think

are in that kind

of position

again keep praying

for them,

keep your witness

consistent to them,

help them to see

in you

that it is worthwhile

following Jesus

in spite of any

sacrifices

you might need

to make.

And let's end

with,

as I said,

we would

with Jesus.

Fix your eyes

on him,

behold the man

says Pilate,

behold your king.

Don't you notice

in last week's reading

and this week's

how often

the kingship

of Jesus

is referred to?

I think 11 times

it talks about

the king

or the kingdom

or whatever.

11 times

often

an accusation,

sometimes

said in mockery,

perhaps said

in sarcasm

by Pilate

as he says,

behold your king.

And yet

John is wanting

very much

to direct

our thoughts

to the fact

that Jesus

is a true

king.

He is the king

of the universe.

He might not

have looked like it

but his kingdom

is not

of this world.

And it's actually

in Jesus'

suffering

we read in

John's gospel

that we really

see his glory.

he says,

if I be lifted

up,

that's on the cross,

I will draw

all men

to me.

He talks about

being glorified.

And in this

scene of weakness,

which we'll see

continued over

the next week

or so,

in this scene

of apparent

weakness,

we see actually

Jesus the king

being glorified.

And one day,

one day,

and it may not

be very long,

Jesus will return

and everyone

will see

that he is

the true king.

He will return

to reign

in his

rightful place.

We need today

to fix our eyes

on Jesus

the king

and to own him

as our king.

As Graham Kendrick

said,

meekness and majesty,

manhood and deity

in perfect harmony,

the man

who is

God.

But there's more

than that.

If you look at

the end of the

passage today,

towards the end

of the passage

and towards the

beginning of last

week's passage,

Archie took us

through on the

trial before

Pilate,

there are references

to the Passover

feast.

It was Passover

time.

And John again

is wanting to

present to us

Jesus as our

Passover lamb.

The one who

bled.

We see the

bleeding today

in the flogging

in the crown

of thorns

and the one

who ultimately

would bleed

and die

on the cross.

He was the

one who

willingly gave

himself as

God's sacrifice

for us.

Enduring the

pain,

enduring the

scorn,

ultimately taking

God's penalty

for sin as he

was separated

from his

father on the

cross.

We need to

look at him

and see the

king,

the king of

kings,

but we also

need to see the

perfect lamb

of God,

the sacrifice

given for us.

And as we do,

as we see these

two things in

Jesus,

we should trust

in him and

we should fall

down and

worship him.

This Easter

lets all of us

make sure that

we understand

who Jesus is,

what he's done,

that our trust is

in him and that

we truly worship

him as our

king,

as our

God.

I want to

finish by

reading some

words that

Peter wrote

in his first

letter in

chapter 2.

We'll then have

a short pause

for reflection

and then I'll

pray and I'll

hand back to

Simon to

lead us in

our closing

worship.

Verses from

1 Peter chapter

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

2 from

verse 22.

He's writing

about Jesus

and it says,

he committed

no sin

and no deceit

was found

in his mouth.

When they

harrowed their

insults at him,

he did not

retaliate.

When he

suffered,

he made

no threats.

Instead,

he entrusted

himself to

him who

judges

justly.

He himself

bore our

sins in

his body

on the

cross.

So that we

might die to

sins and

live for

righteousness,

by his

wounds you

have been

healed.

For you

were like

sheep going

astray,

but now you

have returned

to the

shepherd and

overseer of

your souls.

Let's just

think on

these words

and on the

Lord Jesus

for a few

seconds and

then I'll

lead in

prayer.

Lord Jesus,

we thank you

for your

sacrifice for

us.

We thank you

that you were

willing to go

all through

what you

suffered before

Pilate,

the indignity,

the mocking

and scorn,

the agony of

the flogging,

the crown of

thorns placed

on your

head.

And ultimately

you were

willing to

go all

the way to

the cross

and to

take our

place there.

And we

recognise that

you did it

knowing everything

that was going

to happen to

you and

determined to

do God's

will.

That what

happened was

not some

kind of

accident,

it was the

will of God

being fulfilled,

albeit through

sinful men.

We thank you

Lord Jesus for

all that you

have done

for us.

Help us to

trust in you.

Help us to

love you.

Help us to

worship you.

Help us to

live our lives

for you.

We thank you

for our time

together this

morning.

We commit

ourselves to

you.

In Jesus'

name.

Amen.