A Baffled Ruler

Hi, my name is Rebecca and I'm one of the members here at Brunsfield.

This morning's reading is from John chapter 18, verses 28 through 40.

John 18:28–40

Jesus before Pilate.

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor.

By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness,

they did not enter the palace because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.

So Pilate came out to them and asked, what charges are you bringing against this man?

If he were not a criminal, they replied, we would not have handed him over to you.

Pilate said, take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.

But we have no right to execute anyone, they objected.

This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him,

Are you the king of the Jews?

Is that your own idea? Jesus asked.

Or did others talk to you about me?

Am I a Jew? Pilate replied.

Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me.

What is it you have done?

Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world.

If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders.

But now my kingdom is from another place.

You are a king then, said Pilate.

Jesus answered, you say that I am a king.

In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.

Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.

What is truth?

Retorted Pilate.

With this, he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said,

I find no basis for a charge against him.

But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of Passover.

Do you want me to release the king of the Jews?

They shouted back, no, not him.

Give us Barabbas.

Now, Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

Hi, my name is Jonathan.

I'm a member here at Brunsfield.

I'm going to pray as Alistair comes to preach to us.

Father, we bring before you our time together, whether it is where we can't be here physically.

Together, we are together spiritually.

I'm meeting in your name.

We pray for Alistair as he comes to speak to us,

that you would grant him wisdom and grant us the clarity to hear what he has to say

and that we listen and hear clearly in your name.

Amen.

Well, good morning, everyone.

My name is Alistair.

I have the privilege of being the assistant pastor here at Brunsfield

and the privilege of leading us through this wonderful chapter of John's Gospel

as Jesus interacts with a Roman ruler.

But before we dive into this chapter, let's pray together.

Father, we come before you this morning and ask that the words of my mouth

and that the meditations of all of our hearts would be pleasing to you.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our rock and our redeemer.

Amen.

One of the big questions that people are asking in the world is,

what is truth?

So truth can be seen by some as relative,

meaning that there's no such thing as one definite truth.

Everything is up for grabs.

You choose to believe what you want,

even if there's no evidence for it,

or even if the evidence runs contrary to what you think.

You can almost pick and choose what truth is.

A common phrase you might hear today is,

your truth.

It's become a strapline, a phrase that seems to be inclusive and loving,

but in reality, it denies facts and hard evidence for feelings and wishful thinking.

It's become a phrase that characterizes self-help sections in bookstores.

A phrase that's used to encourage those deemed different by the rest of society.

And a phrase to encourage those who feel discouraged.

You live your truth, people say.

But it isn't that easy.

Because the big question that that phrase never actually addresses is,

well, what is truth?

If truth is something that we can be flexible with,

if it is something that we can choose,

something that we decide for ourselves,

then it's not truth at all.

It's speculation.

It's a theory.

Truth becomes nothing more than an idea to be discarded.

Well, this morning in John chapter 18,

John 18 · chapter mention

we're going to meet a Roman ruler who asks that question,

what is truth?

And he asks the question because Jesus is brought into his courtroom

and the Jewish leaders are calling him a criminal.

And Pilate sees a difference.

Some people call Jesus a criminal,

while some call him king of the Jews.

So what is the truth?

Well, we're going to walk through this passage this morning,

almost verse by verse,

and just let the narrative guide us to the main point we're going to see this morning,

which is this,

that Jesus is the true king,

the innocent,

who takes the place of the guilty.

So let's dive in together and read with me at verse 28.

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor.

By now it was early morning.

The night before the events in our verses for this morning,

Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane.

And one of his disciples,

one of his followers,

one of his friends,

came in and betrayed him with a kiss

and handed him over to the Jewish leaders,

a group of people who'd wanted Jesus dead from the very beginning.

And now they have their chance.

And what follows is a botched trial.

Jesus is taken to the high priest's house

and questioned by an illegitimate court

who meet in secret

in the middle of the night

because they know that they have no case against Jesus.

He has done no wrong.

But that's not what they care about.

They don't care about justice.

They don't care about truth.

They want him dead.

And so in verse 28,

as morning breaks,

they take him to Pilate,

to the Roman governor.

But look at the detail in verse 28.

It says,

to avoid ceremonial uncleanness.

They did not enter the palace

because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.

So the religious leaders won't enter the palace

because they want to avoid ceremonial uncleanness.

They want to be able to continue to celebrate

the festival of unleavened bread

that was happening in Jerusalem that very week

and which concluded with the Passover meal.

A meal to remember how God had saved the Israelites in the past

by delivering them from slavery in Egypt.

The irony is

that they are rejecting the final Passover lamb

and scheming for the death,

for his death in such a hurry

so that they can sit and celebrate

how God saved them years ago.

They are rejecting God's ultimate means of salvation

even though he is standing right before them.

They are killing the sacrificial lamb,

the Passover lamb.

According to their own oral law,

Jews were not allowed to enter into the house of a Gentile,

someone who was not a Jew.

And if they did, they were deemed unclean

and needed to undergo a cleaning ritual

that would take a number of days.

And so they stayed outside of the palace.

But do you see the hypocrisy

in this whole episode?

They want to be clean

even though hours before this very event

they had beaten Jesus.

And even now as they are trying to have the appearance of being clean,

they are manipulating the judicial system

to get their own way.

You see the reason they take Jesus

to be tried before a Roman ruler

is they don't have the authority

to execute anyone.

Only the Roman authorities

could command that.

These men know the law of God

and they are keen to obey it.

In fact, they are so keen

that they keep adding their laws

on top of God's law

to prevent disobedience.

But the problem was

that they thought their knowledge of the law

equaled obedience.

You could say that the religious leaders

were over-educated

but untransformed by the word of God.

Rebecca Pippitt, an author from the US

sums this up well.

It is of no use to say

we believe in something

when our actions betray our beliefs.

To know is not only to verbalize

and intellectualize.

It is to submit in obedience

with our lives as well.

Now I think that there's a challenge

in there for us this morning.

It is not the main point of our passage

but it should make us reflect

on the consistency of our lives.

As Christians,

are we being transformed

by the knowledge that we have

of God and of the Bible

or are we trying to keep up

an outward appearance

of holy lives

without really being transformed?

You see, these men knew their Bibles

but they didn't understand

that the law was there

to show them their inability

to be righteous.

Their need for forgiveness from God.

Their hypocrisy

led to self-righteousness.

Beating a man one hour

and then claiming holiness

and cleanliness the next.

But that isn't too unfamiliar today,

is it?

It's so easy to have a Barney

with the family

just as you are on your way to church

but then you walk through the doors

and you put on a fake smile

and you pretend everything's okay

until you sit back in the car seat again.

Or maybe, like the religious leaders,

we're tempted to think that evil,

that sin is only something external

to ourselves

rather than something

that comes from within.

Reflect on how you are behaving

when no one's watching.

How are you engaging with God's Word

and your worship of Him

every day

but maybe even now

on a Sunday morning

when the service is online

and no one is around you?

Have you been transformed

by the Word of God?

We need to know the Word of God

but we also need to be transformed by it

and live in submission

to it and to God's will.

So the religious leaders

in an act of absolute hypocrisy

bring Jesus before Pilate

because he has a reputation

of being a harsh leader.

He doesn't really like the Jews.

He's presiding over Judea,

one of the regions

in the Roman Empire

known for its trouble,

for its religious riots

and uprisings.

And Pilate is known

for his brutality.

And so the religious leaders

think that this execution

is a done deal.

But Pilate does the unexpected

in verse 29

because he opens the court

with the proper proceedings

by asking the question,

what charges are you bringing

against this man?

Now at this point,

you can almost feel the blood drain

from the faces of the Pharisees

and religious leaders,

can't you?

You can almost hear the whispering

in the crowd

as they're wondering

how to respond

to this question

because they know

they have no case

against Jesus.

They know that he has done

no wrong.

In fact,

the only thing that he has done

is preach the truth

about God to them.

And he has called them out

on their religious acts

which glorify man,

not God.

And so they snap back

at Pilate in verse 30.

We wouldn't have brought him here

if he wasn't a criminal.

But they don't answer

the question

because they have no leg

to stand on.

And so Pilate dismisses them

and tells them to judge Jesus

by their own law.

But we see their real motives

for this perversion of justice

in verse 31

where it says,

but we have no right

to execute anyone.

They want Jesus dead

and they will stop at nothing

until it is done.

Now at this point in the story

we might be tempted to think

that Jesus is a lost cause.

That he has no more control.

That his life will be taken away

and that he will just be

another victim of injustice.

But friends,

we need to remember

that before these men

stands Jesus Christ,

the Son of God,

God in the flesh,

the one who healed the sick,

the one who taught people

about God,

the one who stilled

the waves with his words,

the one who raised people

from the dead,

and the one who knows

exactly what is happening.

Verse 32,

this took place

to fulfill

what Jesus had said

about the kind of death

he was going to die.

Jesus is in absolute control

of what is going on here.

In fact,

this has all been part

of God's plan

from the very beginning

of time.

Jesus even told

his disciples

in John chapter 12

John 12:32–33

verses 32 to 33

that he would be lifted up,

meaning that he would die

on a cross.

And so in this chapter

and the next,

it is all about power.

Pilate and the religious leaders,

they think they're

the ones in control.

That they're the ones

who have power

and who are controlling

the events leading up

to Jesus' death.

But the reality is

that these people

have not realized

the truth.

That the one true king

stands before them

and he is in control.

He is fulfilling

the father's plan

and willingly

going to the cross

to die.

The innocent

for the guilty.

unsatisfied

with the religious leaders,

Pilate summons Jesus

into the palace

in verse 33

and asks

a question

that's been on his mind

this whole time.

Are you

the king

of the Jews?

Now this indicated

that the charge

the religious leaders

had brought

against Jesus

were framed

in political terms

rather than

the theological

grievance

that they had

with his works

and his words.

But Pilate

is basically

asking Jesus

are you a threat

to the power

of Rome?

See Pilate knows

that any mention

of another king

any mention

or rumour

of an uprising

must be dealt

with immediately.

And so when he

hears about Jesus

being a king

he feels this need

to defend

his power.

But Jesus

doesn't answer

Pilate's question

plainly with a yes

or with a no

because he needs

to know

the kind of kingship

Pilate is asking about.

See Pilate

could have been asking

if Jesus

was a rebel king

who would

lead

a rebellion

against the Roman Empire

try to overthrow

them and kick

them out

of Jerusalem.

Or Pilate's

asking

he could be

asking

are you the

Messiah king?

The Old Testament

king that all

of the Jews

are waiting for

the one who

would come

and save

the Lord's

people.

Pilate isn't

satisfied with

his findings

and so he

asked Jesus

in verse 35

what have you

done?

and in verse 36

we get a very

important response

that teaches us

about who Jesus

is

and about the

nature of his

kingdom.

Jesus said

my kingdom

is not of this

world if it were

my servants

would fight

to prevent

my arrest

by the religious

leaders

but now

my kingdom

is from

another place.

Jesus tells

Pilate that

he is a

king

but not

in the way

that Pilate

thinks.

Jesus'

kingdom

is not

of this

world

meaning

that it

is of

no threat

to Pilate

or to

Rome

in the

way

that

Pilate

thinks

because

the kingdom

of Jesus

did not

come about

through

violence

or force

like all

the other

kingdoms

of the

world.

the

kingdom

of God

is not

bound

to a

physical

location

or region

the kingdom

of God

is not

political

and to

prove

his point

Jesus

basically

says to

Pilate

if my

kingdom

were like

those

of this

world

do you

really

think

that the

religious

leaders

would have

so easily

arrested

me?

See

Jesus is

making it

clear that

he is

a king

but not

a king

who sits

on a

throne

in a

luxurious

palace

not a

king

who

surrounds

himself

with

armies

and

bodyguards

and not

a king

whose focus

is his

own

personal

gain

but instead

Jesus

is the

servant

king

he is

the

perfect

king

the

true

king

the

sinless

king

who

rules

and who

reigns

over a

heavenly

kingdom

that no

man

that no

army

that no

Roman

ruler

that no

religious

leader

can

defeat

the

kingdom

of God

is like

no other

kingdom

that Pilate

can

imagine

but

Jesus

isn't

saying

that his

kingdom

won't

affect

the

world

we live

approximately

2000

years

on

from the

life

death

and

resurrection

of Jesus

and we

can look

over

history

and we

can

know

for

certain

and we

can see

how God's

kingdom

has changed

the world

but the

point that

Jesus is

making is

that his

kingdom

will not

affect the

Roman Empire

like another

earthly kingdom

would

because Jesus

is king

of the

heavenly

kingdom

so you

are a

king

Pilate

says

and Jesus

answers

in verse

37

but it

doesn't

quite come

across

so well

in our

NIVs

a better

translation

would be

you're

right

I am

a king

in fact

the reason

I was

born

and came

into this

world

is to

testify

to the

truth

everyone

on the

side of

truth

listens

to me

now here

comes that

pivotal

question

what

is

truth

Pilate

asks

the answer

is

Jesus

in John

John 14:4–6

14

verses 4

to 6

Jesus

said

I am

the way

the truth

and the

life

no one

comes to

the father

except

through me

if you

really know

me

you will

know my

father as

well

from now

on you

do know

him

and have

seen

him

friends

the truth

is

that Jesus

Christ is

God in

the flesh

that Jesus

humbled himself

and took the

form of human

flesh to

reveal God

to us

to reveal

the glory

of God

to a

sinful

world

what's the

truth

well it's

that the

religious

leaders

that

Pilate

that you

and me

need our

eyes to

be opened

we need

to see

the glory

of God

we need

to understand

our sinfulness

and our

inability to

be made

right with

God

without a

sacrifice

without a

Passover

lamb

Jesus

opened the

eyes of

the blind

he taught

the truth

about God

and he

brought the

kingdom of

God

into this

world

the truth

is that the

kingdom of

God is

here

and the

only way

to enter

into that

glorious

kingdom

is because

of the

events that

unfold that

very day

in Jerusalem

as Jesus

the perfect

the true

king is

nailed to

a cruel

cross

bearing all

the weight

and punishment

and punishment

for our

sin

or the

just and

righteous

wrath of

God

against a

rebellious

sinful

humanity

the truth

is

that the

true king

was nailed

to a cruel

cross

the innocent

died

so that the

guilty

can live

and that

is why

Jesus says

in verse

37

everyone on

the side

of truth

listens to

me

this is a

call for

Pilate

and this is a

call for you

this morning

if you are not

a Christian

to open your

eyes and see

the majesty

of this king

who willingly

died so that

you can live

it's a call

for you to

put your

trust in

Jesus

to come

into his

kingdom

to see

the truth

it's an

invitation

to see

Jesus

for who

he is

the true

king

the innocent

one

who takes

the place

of the

guilty

and for

the Christian

the challenge

is do we

really listen

to

and submit

to Jesus

we can't

treat our

salvation

like a

get into

heaven

free card

we are

called to

follow Jesus

to submit

to him

to hold

heartedly

live our

lives out

of service

and devotion

to him

are we

listening to

and acting

on the

words of

Jesus

Christ

Pilate

says in

verse 38

that he

finds no

basis

for a

charge

against

Jesus

and he

says it

twice more

in chapter

19

and yet

the religious

leaders still

cry out

crucify him

why

because they

don't want to

see the

truth

they don't

want to

recognize that

Jesus is the

king of

kings and

lord of

lords

they don't

want to

recognize that

Jesus is

innocent because

they are

content to

think that they

have all the

power that

they have all

the control

the truth is

that Jesus was

in control

this whole

time

that he is

the true

king who

willingly

willingly

was nailed

to a cross

to make

forgiveness

possible and

rose three

days later

triumphant

from the grave

defeating sin

defeating death

and calling

people to

repent

to believe

in him

and to

enter into

his kingdom

Christian

look at

these wonderful

truths before

us in this

passage and

make them

move you

to whole

hearted

worship of

who Jesus

is

marvel at

the wonderful

grace that

this perfect

innocent king

died in

your place

meaning that

you can have

the privilege

of being in

the kingdom

of God

and that

truth should

blow our

minds every

single time

we think

about it

and we

should give

all the

honor and

all the

glory to

God and

it should

lead us to

praise him

with everything

we are and

everything we

have we

should sing

endless praises

of our

great God

never cease

giving thanks

for our

wonderful

savior

and for

the true

gospel

but don't

stop there

because our

world is

searching for

truth and

we have it

we can open

our bibles and

see Jesus

truth personified

God in the

flesh who

calls people to

enter into his

kingdom

kingdom and we

are to be

ambassadors of

that kingdom

we are to

proclaim it to

the ends of

the earth

to proclaim it

to the

distant shores

to go to the

distant shores

but also to go to

the neighbor

next door

because everybody

needs to hear

about Jesus

in Jesus we

find the hope

the satisfaction

that this world

is longing

for and we

have a future

that is secured

through the death

and resurrection

of Jesus Christ

so go

take the gospel

to the world

and plead for

people to enter

into the kingdom

of God

we know the

truth

and the world

needs to know

him too

and if you're

not a Christian

I would ask you

please investigate

the life of

Jesus Christ

the evidence

is overwhelming

look and see

that his claims

are true

he is the

true king

the only

innocent one

who took the

place of the

guilty

he died

so that sinners

like you

and like me

can live

will you put

your trust

in Jesus

this morning

and find

truth

one of the

biggest questions

that people

need to ask

in our world

is that question

what is

truth

and the answer

that we can

boldly

and with

confidence

proclaimed

to the

world

is that

Jesus

is the

way

the truth

and the

life

let's pray

together

heavenly father

we thank you

so much

that from

the very

beginning

of time

you had

your plan

of salvation

in place

whereby

you

would take

on flesh

you would

become one

of us

step into

our sinful

broken

sin

stained

world

and die

on a cross

so that

people can

be forgiven

and enter

into a

relationship

with you

father

thank you

that you

have revealed

the truth

to us

by your

spirit

through the

person

of Jesus

Christ

would you

help us

live out

that truth

would you

help us

live in

obedience

and submission

to your

word

and would you

help us

glorify you

with everything

that we do

and say

we ask this

for the

upbuilding

of your

kingdom

and in the

name of our

precious

saviour

Jesus

Christ

amen

as

how to

know

as

Actually

at reminded

the

of the

people

and

they

have

escaped

and they

were

here

and they

could they

join us

and they

use

that