John 18:28-19:16 - Jesus Christ: The King We've Always Wanted and Always Needed

We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel, and it is Palm Sunday, so we're going to take the passage that deals with some of what we've come to call the Passion Week, just prior to and leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, and then the grand finale, of course, next Sunday, Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day.

But as I pick up in John chapter 18, verses 28 and following, we'll go on into chapter 19 for a few verses there as well.

John 18:28

It is one of those days in the Passion Week where Jesus is being put through a series of trials.

There are, depending on how you count them, there are three by the religious leaders of that day and that time, and then three trials or interrogations, if you will, that begin with Pilate, go to Herod, and then back to Pilate again.

So Jesus has been accused by the religious leaders of political insurrection.

That's the only way they could get the Roman government officials to be concerned with the issue of Jesus.

And the religious leaders have been plotting and planning some way to do away with Jesus.

Yes, even to murder, to kill Jesus up until this point, because they don't like the fact that the people have begun to follow him.

And they don't like the fact that he doesn't seem to obey all of their traditions, not their uh not their uh clear interpretations of God's law.

Jesus does that.

He's quite uh he's quite well within bounds there.

But it's all of those added-on traditions of men that Jesus keeps calling them on, and he keeps besting them in all of their arguments.

But here we get to the place where he is being interrogated by Pilate, especially.

And uh this is in the Praetorium, which is also the governor's residence when he's in Jerusalem.

Typically, Pilate would have uh uh spent most of the year at Caesarea by the sea.

And if you've been to Israel with us or ever on your own, uh, you have visited some of the ruins at Caesarea by the sea.

And it's quite remarkable, actually, um, to once again be reminded over and over again that our Bible is set in space-time history.

Well, John 18, we're gonna pick up at verse 28.

Uh, it has that dramatic smack and live body detail that sounds just like history.

Not fable, not myth, not legend, but it just sounds and reads exactly like history.

And that's because uh I believe it is history.

Uh, the unimaginable happens.

Um, Jesus will be actually declared innocent at least three times in this passage.

And if you read the other gospel records, you might be able to make a case for more times, but at least three times in this passage that I'm about to read, Pilate will say, This guy's innocent.

And he'll be saying that to the religious leaders.

They're the ones that want to do away with him.

So as we think about Palm Sunday today and head into the week where we remember the Lord's passion and his suffering on our behalf, um, here we have part of a description of what that week was like for Jesus.

And uh, so I want to read the text here.

Verse 28.

They led Jesus, therefore, from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early, and they themselves did not enter into the praetorium in order that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.

And so here's a bunch of religious guys, the religious leaders of the day.

They've got murder on their mind, but they don't want to go into the praetorium because it would make them, quote, unclean ceremonially, and they wouldn't be able to go in and do their religious thing.

And so you can kind of see just right there how ridiculously out of balance it is when they've got murder on their mind, and yet they want to follow their little religious rules.

Well, Pilate uh therefore went out to them.

In other words, he comes out to talk with them because they're um they're having to get along with the with the Roman governor there, and uh, and that's who Pilate is.

He served as procurator from 26 to around 36 A.D.

Uh seems to disappear from from history uh in 37 A.D., but at least we know he's procurator here in this part of the world uh on behalf of the Roman government uh from 26 to about 35, 36, right in there.

And he comes out in verse 29 and goes to talk to these religious leaders that have Jesus in tow, and then he says, What accusation do you bring against this man?

Now remember, they've already asked him for a guard uh to go and to arrest Jesus.

And uh and he sends them out and says, You've got a guard, go on and do that.

So they've they've already kind of talked about it, but here he's he's kind of pressing them one more time for what is it he's done wrong again?

You know?

Verse 30, they answered and said to him, If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him up to you, which is kind of an evasive answer.

It's sort of a non-answer answer.

You've probably gotten those from somebody before or heard those from somebody on television before, somebody was being interviewed or whatever.

Sort of the non-answer answer, right?

Pilate therefore says to them, Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.

The Jews said to him, but we are not permitted to put anyone to death.

This is verse 31, and it is amazingly telling.

It reveals what's really in their heart, what their motive is behind their um hatred for Jesus, their obsession with Jesus.

They want him put to death, and they don't have the power of capital punishment in that day and time.

The Roman government would be the only uh uh government, the only government uh or authority that would have the right to uh to uh impose capital punishment on anyone.

So they had to come and bring Jesus to him and get him to see Jesus as a political adversary, uh, an insurrectionist, if you will, who would be a threat to the Roman government.

So we're not permitted to put anyone to death.

I say that and this verse 32 is really a hinge verse to uh in John's gospel that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he was about to die.

And John knows what Jesus would have predicted, that he would be lifted up.

And that's the image there, of course, is what happens to him when he's put to death on a cross.

The ancient Jewish tradition of uh uh of meeting out some kind of capital punishment would have been to stone someone to death.

They're on the ground, and you're throwing stones at them until they're die till they die.

Um, but here uh what's got to happen if he's gonna um uh be put to death is he's gonna have to be put to death by Roman uh crucifixion.

And this is all that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled.

You see, you kind of get the impression now that the defendant, Jesus, is the one who's really in charge in all of this, right?

So that his word would be fulfilled, signifying by what kind of death he was to die.

Verse 33, Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to Jesus, You are the king of the Jews.

And this is sort of in the emphatic.

And so the idea is he's really asking a question.

He he's looking at Jesus, who has already been spat upon.

He's been hit and beaten by the religious leaders, and they're um uh in according to their own law, they're you know, illegal trials that they held overnight, which they shouldn't have been able to do, and trying to um uh uh generate a bunch of witnesses that would all tell the same story, and they had much difficulty with that.

Uh, we're even told that in the gospel records as well.

But Pilate looks at him and he goes, You're the king of the Jews, you're the one.

In other words, he's just almost incredulous.

Jesus answered, verse 34, Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me?

And remember, uh, I always make the argument, I think I'm gonna hold to this, that all of Jesus' questions are rhetorical.

He knows the answer.

He's just trying to get somebody else to actually ask the same question and come up with the answer.

All right.

So he goes, Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me?

Um, Pilate answered and said, I am not a Jew, am I?

Your own nation, and the chief priests delivered you up to me.

What have you done?

And so he's, you know, he feels a little threatened.

He feels a little uh in some way that Jesus, who answers often, answers questions with questions.

And he, Pilate, is is struggling, I think, a little bit here to preserve his own pride and dignity and authority and all that.

You'll see that a little bit more here in just a second.

But he says, I'm not a Jew.

Your own nation, your people delivered you up to me.

What have you done?

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.

And it's like he he totally um it almost ignores Pilate's question and cuts to the subject of a kingdom, which Jesus talked about all the time.

Um, folks, and this is such a beautiful thing.

My kingdom is not of this world.

And really, what he's saying there is it could be interpreted this way as well.

My kingdom is not from this world.

Yeah.

In other words, it's not in this, it doesn't have its source of life and structure and authority and all of that from this world.

He says, if my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting that I might not be delivered up to the Jews, but as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm.

So Jesus answered first in the negative and then in the positive.

Um, it's not from this world.

Uh uh, if it were, then this is the way my servants would be fighting for me, and I would not be delivered up to the Jews.

And uh, and he says, My kingdom is not from or of this world.

Pilate therefore says to him, So you are a king.

Jesus answered him and said, You say correctly that I am a king.

For this I've been born, and for this I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth.

Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

Well, Pilate uh has enough schooling and enough in him that he's still uh a little bit uh uh upset and curmudgeonly toward the religious leaders for even bringing Jesus uh to him to him.

And at the same time, who is this guy that's got this bloody face?

Uh, who is this guy think he is to to uh sort of play mind games and philosophical games with me, talking about kingdoms and and and and you know that sort of thing.

And so Pilate basically says, What is truth?

Verse 38.

And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no guilt in him.

And this is the first of three times that Pilate will declare Jesus innocent of their accusations against him.

Okay.

So what's interesting though, rewind the tape just a little bit.

Um, what's really interesting is he asked the question, What is truth?

Um, three really important words that make up a really important question that some people have been asking for a long time, especially in our institutions of higher learning.

Used to be they were in pursuit of the truth, now they don't believe in truth.

And much like Pilate, they're dismissive of the truth or the uh recognition that there might be something called truth.

And so he says, What is truth?

And he walks out basically, doesn't even wait for an answer, but does go out there and say, I find no guilt in him.

But if you have a custom that I should uh, but you do have a custom, Pilate says to them, that I should release someone for you at the Passover.

Do you wish then that I release for you the king of the Jews?

This Jesus, this one that you've brought to me, since I'm supposed to release somebody, you know.

I mean, and this was some kind of a deal that they had an ongoing tradition.

Or remember, he's he's uh in office from 26 to 36.

So um, yeah, 10-year run, uh, he could easily have established some practices, uh, especially since he was a bit of a bit of a cruel man.

And the Jews had actually officially complained to Rome about him, and he didn't like that at all.

And so, in some way, I think to um uh sort of reconcile with them or uh to re-establish a peaceful, you know, sort of relationship with them, uh, he's probably made some concessions to them, and this might be one of them indeed.

So Pilate says, you know, if you'd like me to, since we've got this cut custom, I'll release this guy if you want me to.

Um, and then they cried out again, which is really interesting, um, not this man, but Barabbas.

Now, uh John then puts one little sentence right after that.

Now, Barabbas was a robber.

All right, so Barabbas was a criminal.

Jesus has been accused of being an insurrectionist, but he's not.

And how do I know that?

Well, Pilate just declared him innocent, and we'll do it two more times.

So, what the enemies of Jesus, the religious leaders, what they couldn't see here, this pagan Roman governor could see.

And once again, you know, where you don't expect to find faith or the eyes of faith, you sometimes find it.

And where you do expect to find faith or the eyes of faith, you don't find it.

And that's the way it is here with Pilate and with the religious leaders of his day.

So Barabbas was a robber.

That's the end of chapter 18.

And we roll right into what we call chapter 19 because remember, when John's writing this gospel, um, he wasn't dealing with verse numbers or chapter numbers.

Chapter numbers come in around 13th century AD.

Uh, verse numbers are added in 16th century, right around there.

And so we use those to kind of identify where we are in the text, but this would have just kept right on rolling in the ancient scroll, um, as John has it written out, right?

So Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him.

Why?

I don't know.

He's just an angry man, he's a cruel man, and uh and it it got him in trouble a number of times, even with his own uh emperor.

But he scourges Jesus with whips, uh leather whips, sometimes with bits of bone or metal or glass in it.

And um uh very hard to think about this, hard to talk about this uh when it comes to, especially when it comes to Jesus.

Um but this too was predicted by the ancient prophets and is being fulfilled now by his stripes, you see, by his death, we have life, by his stripes we have healing.

Um, he is the one that has defeated our last and greatest enemy.

And so here he goes through this scourging.

Uh, verse one says, uh, verse two, the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him with a purple robe, and they began to come up to him and say, Hail, king of the Jews.

In other words, they're just openly mocking him.

Um, and then they gave him blows in the face, and so um the man of sorrows uh is is undergoing this scourging all because he loves me and because he loves you.

Um all because he will pay the price for our sins on the cross.

And even getting there is worse than most of us will ever experience physically, the kind of suffering and injustice and abuse that he experiences.

Well, Pilate came out again, verse four of chapter 19 says, and said to them, the religious leaders, Behold, I'm bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no guilt in him.

That's the second of three times.

Pilate will say, not guilty.

And yet Pilate abused him, and Pilate's soldiers abused him, and the religious leaders abused him.

Jesus therefore came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.

And you, you know, this this is a this is designed as a mockery, this is designed as a as a let me let me show you what I do to the guy that you're telling me thinks he's the king.

Um and he finds no guilt in him, but he he brings him out and is openly, publicly humiliating Jesus.

And Pilate then says to them, Behold the man, in a very dramatic way.

He's trying to make his point and use Jesus to make his point.

Verse 6 When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify, crucify.

Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him.

I find no guilt in him.

Third time.

Pilate has said, I find no guilt in him.

The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself out to be the Son of God.

And now you see they're they're bouncing back to the Jewish law instead of the Roman law.

Um, and this is Pilate, therefore, hears this statement, and he was more afraid.

He entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, Where are you from?

But Jesus gave him no answer.

So now Jesus is gonna go silent.

He's got one more thing he's gonna say, though.

Pilate therefore said to him, You do not speak to me.

And indignant that Jesus wouldn't answer him, you know.

Um, do you not know that I have authority to release you and I have authority to crucify you?

And I think that's what Jesus was waiting for Pilate to get to in terms of subject and in terms of the interrogation because he wants Jesus.

Not only does he love the people that will put him on the cross, physically put him on the cross, but he loves this man too.

See, Jesus died for sinners, he even died for the religious leaders that that trumped all this up against him, all these false charges against him, put him through all this.

And so this question of authority comes up.

And and Pilate is saying to Jesus, don't you even know I have the, I can snuff you out in a heartbeat, basically.

I can crucify you, I have authority to do that.

And Jesus answered and said, You would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above.

In other words, God's in charge of ultimately of all authority.

For this reason, he who delivered me up to you has the greater sin, probably a reference to Judas, possibly though, a reference to the collective group of the Jews that religious leaders that brought Jesus to Pilate, the greater, they have the greater sin.

Verse 12.

As a result of this, Pilate made efforts to release him.

And again, look at this.

This is this isn't a fourth declaration, but this is the narrator, John, telling us what Pilate was trying to do was this guy's not guilty.

You know, this is this isn't right.

So again, recognizing a little that that would be a wrong thing to do, to put this man to death, uh, he's saying that to the religious leaders, but man, they will have nothing to do with it.

They want Jesus put to death.

Um, if if you release, uh so he made efforts to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, if you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar.

Everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.

Now they're the religious Jews, they're the religious leaders are actually trying to get inside Pilate's head and tell him he's no friend of Caesar's.

And that sounds like a threat to Pilate, I'm sure, because again, they might go to Rome and complain and say, look, this guy Pilate, he's not doing your bidding back there in Judea.

He's not your friend.

Well, when Pilate therefore heard these words, verse 13, he brought Jesus out, sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the pavement, but in Hebrew called Gabbatha.

Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover.

It was about the sixth hour.

And he said to the Jews, Behold, your king.

And they therefore cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.

Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king?

The chief priests answered, We have.

No king but Caesar.

I don't know if you're you're hearing this the way I'm hearing this, but they have just abandoned their own faith completely.

Even in Yahweh, they've certainly turned their back on Jesus and they're fighting against Christ.

But they've just completely abandoned all sense of God being the ultimate authority in their lives.

We have no king but Caesar.

In other words, we sacrifice ourselves to political powers.

And man, I just was thinking about the way our world is so obsessed with political power.

It just, you know, in all sides.

And it's just amazing to me how that can become so much what people think is the ultimate authority in the world.

Here's blind hatred and mob mentality that has led these religious leaders to a full denial and turning away from God.

And so he then delivered him, Jesus, up to them to be crucified.

Now there's more to the story, but I'm going to stop there for today.

I think it's really surprising, almost shocking how Jesus seemed very little uh concern about politics.

I know a lot of people try to use Jesus to support their political viewpoints.

Um, but the the only thing I can tell Jesus ever says about any kind of politics is surrender under Caesar whatever belongs to Caesar and under God whatever belongs to God.

Now, what belongs to God?

Everything.

What belongs to Caesar, he was looking at a coin when he answered, when he when he said this.

And on the coin was was uh the picture of the bust of Caesar, and on the back, I think some other symbols of Rome, because they used to um mint these coins, and it was a way of sort of immortalizing, you know, uh the emperor.

And so Jesus would simply take the coin when he was asked about whether they should pay whether he should pay taxes or not.

He just took the coin, looked on, said, Whose inscription, whose head's at?

So, okay, and he flips the coin back to him and says, render under Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, but unto God that which belongs to God.

And again, the contrast here in this section, the contrast, that story as well, between what belongs to who in the world, where's the ultimate authority in the world, who is the ultimate king in the entire realm of reality?

Um, God is what we would say.

And Jesus, uh the son of God himself.

Here in our own times, I know this is a problem as people are obsessed with politics.

Uh, and in case you think I'm talking about them, there's no them.

It's us.

There's no repugnant other.

Okay?

It's all of us.

We've all done this.

And and and what we need to do is repent from that.

It's just become an idol to us.

We need to repent from that and find ourselves uh once again in the kingdom or under the kingship, if you will, of Jesus.

This passage describes what the church has come to call part of the uh Passion Week or Holy Week.

Um, and I and I'll throw up on the screen for you uh a little of the elements of the Holy Week, just in case you haven't used that terminology before.

But typically included the triumphal entry into Jerusalem of Jesus, riding on a donkey, a beast of um, not a not a war horse, but a but a beast that would have said he came in peace.

Uh, the cleansing of the temple, several days of teaching and the rising tension with the religious leaders.

This is all downtown Jerusalem here, down by the temple.

Uh, the Last Supper is another event that is that is uh generally included in what we call Holy Week, the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal, arrest of Jesus, the trials that we just read some of, and the torture of Jesus.

Um, all of this uh um, you know, part of the Holy Week.

And some of these last few items I've mentioned, anyway, part of what is commemorated in a Monday Thursday worship service, uh, that some of you may have been a part of a church that does that kind of thing on a Monday third, Monday Thursday.

Uh, they would talk uh uh or they would sort of reflect upon the washing of the disciples' feet by Jesus, the institution of the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist, uh, thirdly, the agony and prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and fourthly, um, the betrayal of Christ by Judas and his arrest.

So Jesus endured these six trials, and Jesus endured all of this suffering and torture and interrogation, um, all because of false charges made against him by these religious leaders that brought him forward to the political authorities because the religious leaders didn't have the right to uh put Jesus to death.

But Jesus will be, as part of Passion Week or Holy Week, the death of Jesus by Roman crucifixion, the burial of Jesus in the tomb of Joseph, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Now, biblical scholars have varying views as to precisely which of these events took place on which of the days.

Some of them uh, you know, you'll you'll find the majority of Bible scholars will say, well, yes, this happened on that day, this happened on that day.

But some of the some of the items that are uh a part of Holy Week, we're not exactly sure which day they might have fallen on.

But I love the Christian faith, and I love the fact that the body of Christ is is varied and that it is a unity uh within a diversity like this.

It's a beautiful and God-glorifying unity within a diversity.

And to know just a little bit about each of the siblings streams um which uh flow throughout church history, carrying that same source of living water of the gospel of Jesus, uh I find that a treasure and a real treat.

Uh, and I we do here at the village chapel as well.

So, what do we what do we have here in John chapter 18, uh starting with verse 28 and running all the way through chapter 19, verse 16?

John 18 · chapter mention

First of all, the religious leaders remind us that acting religious is not always the same as being righteous.

Again, here they are uh completely focused on murder, and yet they're really concerned about entering a Gentile's house because they might become unclean and not be able to go to temple worship and do their religious ritual thing.

Listen, um, the gospel is about heart transformation, not about behavior modification.

Religion is just about behavior modification like that.

And it makes no sense whatsoever that they would be have murder on their mind, breaking one of the Ten Commandments itself, you know.

And not only that, but they've broken several of them here, as they're lying and doing false witness, and they're really worshiping their own religion instead of the God who's at the center of their own faith and the one who has delivered them uh over and over again as a people.

And so, and now sent them his own messiah, see.

So, religion isn't the same thing as being righteous.

Secondly, Pilate reminds us that when we fail to acknowledge truth, we become vulnerable to the deception of lies.

His question, what is truth?

And then just walking away, not not even uh waiting for an answer.

It's so, so much.

I mean, it's almost a postmodern response in the ancient world.

I mean, was he ahead of his time or what?

So here he is, what is truth, and just stomps out.

Probably could get a job at uh some of the major universities, Ivy League uh universities here in the United States, uh, because of his beliefs about there being no such thing as truth.

Um Pilate doesn't even believe his own version of the truth, though, does he?

Yeah?

How do I get that?

Well, the perspective of Pilate was blinded by his cowardly, people-pleasing, um uh box-checking approach to doing his job.

He declares Jesus innocent, but he's not willing to act on that.

As a matter of fact, he acts against it by having Jesus scourged, whipped, tortured, and then turning Jesus over to be crucified when he knows full well, completely has admitted it, that Jesus is an innocent man.

So Pilate doesn't even believe his own postmodern thinking.

And it's fascinating to me because I've I think it's true, most postmodern worldviews critique every other worldview except their own.

And Pilate's just leading the way there.

He's the original of the postmoderns.

Thirdly, Barabbas uh reminds us that through the death of Jesus on the cross, God has made his offer of salvation immensely personal.

Isn't it ironic?

That the name Barabbas, Bar Abbas, which means son of father, is contrasted with Jesus, who's actually the son of the father.

Isn't that ironic?

That the son of the father takes the place or substitutes himself for Barabbas.

The one Jesus, who is innocent, substitutes himself and takes the place of the one who was really guilty.

And we were told in no uncertain terms by John, Barabbas was a robber.

Barabbas was an insurrectionist, Barabbas was the guilty one, and yet Jesus took his place, and Jesus continues to do that same thing for you and for me.

And see that, folks, that's why he came.

He could have called 10,000 angels, he he could have shut this all down.

He had the power to do all of it to shut this all down.

But he actually, this was all fulfilling what was predicted by the Old Testament prophets under the direction of God himself, you see.

And so this has all been a part of God's plan.

You're hearing it, I'm being reminded of it.

We're all being reminded of this over and over again.

Why?

Because it's almost too good to be true, but I want you to know that it is the meta-narrative that runs from the beginning, Genesis, all the way to the end, revelation.

God is in pursuit of a people, he can call his own, and he's done everything necessary in the personal work of Jesus to make it happen, to make it right so that we could be reconciled to God, sinners though we are.

So he substitutes, he takes our place on the cross and takes with him our sins.

Oh man.

The Apostle Paul would later write, um, God made him, Jesus who knew no sin, to become sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ.

So if you're in Christ, see, Jesus has given you his righteousness.

This is powerful.

Number four, the Roman soldiers remind us that Jesus is the God with wounds.

And he's the God of the abused.

Look at the way they treated him.

Um blindfolding him, slapping about, hitting him on the head, prophesy who hit you, dressing him up in a total mockery with a purple robe, a royal robe, putting a crown of thorns on his head.

All of this.

Look at how violent we can be in our own day and time.

Hardly a week goes by where our hearts aren't broken because of some violent act that that happens in our culture here, even here in the West, uh, anywhere around the world.

It it's just heartbreaking and sobering it.

Just one more of those proofs that I I would think there anybody that's reasonable could acknowledge that there are a mountain of them piling up that tell us the truth about ourselves.

We can't fix this on our own.

No amount of money, no amount of education, no, no amount of uh any kind of philosophizing or calling people out or shaming people.

None of that works.

See?

No, no amount of religious rule following, none of that works.

We need something much bigger, a more radical change and transformation than any of that that can be done by human means.

We need outside help.

The crowd reminds us, number five, that we have the opportunity to choose our king.

So who will be your king?

Who's it you're going to look to?

Who's it that you're gonna say, you know what, that is the ultimate authority.

That's the one that I'll I'll believe ultimate.

No matter what the culture says, no matter what the current politics of the day says, no matter what is going on around me, no matter what I've been, what's been handed down to me, I'm gonna go somewhere.

Right there is where I'm going for the truth.

And that's why we study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel, these timeless truths, unique in its source, God breathed, God inspired 40 plus different authors from all walks of life.

Um, so that we would have a library of 66 books, as we call it, that not only speaks in historical narrative, not only speaks in poetry, but also speaks in letters to individuals as let and letters to entire churches or groups of churches.

And then those beautiful four gospels like we just read today that tell us the story of God's Son, Jesus Christ, coming into the world to save sinners like me.

Sinners like you.

Doing for us what we can't do for ourselves.

See, being able to come and be the king of hearts, the one who can change hearts.

See, that's where that's where the transformation needs to be.

Not just external stuff, material stuff, but actually hearts are changed.

Six.

Not only does the crowd remind us that we've got the opportunity to choose our king, but six, Jesus reminds us that he's the king we've always wanted and always needed.

He came not to be served, but to serve and to lay down his life for his people.

You see, that's the kind of king we've always wanted, a selfless king who didn't come to be served by us, but came to serve us, came to do for us to what we can't do for ourselves, to give to us the life we can't find for ourselves, no matter how hard we try.

You see, Jesus knows that we can be blinded by religious rule following, like the religious leaders of his day, that we can be deceived by, addicted to, and obsessed with the power of politics, just like the Roman Empire was uh during his time, and just like Pilate was uh back then, and that all of us would need to be rescued from our bondage to the self-destructive and sinful ideolatries, um, uh, or excuse me, ideologies and idolatries that batter and bruise our hearts all the time.

Um, they dehumanize us and they separate us from God, they separate us from each other, and they even separate us from the true selves, the real selves that God would have us to become and be, that He created and designed us to be.

And so all of a sudden we find ourselves, you know, struggling and wrestling with what does it mean to be a human person?

Because we've just decided to go our own way, apart from God.

Ephesians 1, 7 and 8, the Apostle Paul says, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.

You see, the world has suffered much through this pandemic that we've been going through.

There remains the hollowness of so many hearts broken by loss, the the rubble of economic ruin for so many, the the climate of unyielding political animosity, a wide variety of entrenched cultural polarities, and then the psychological unrest of identity dysphoria and those individuals trying to understand what does it mean to be human?

I really, that's a great question.

And it's never been more relevant than it is right now.

All of us have seen the foundations of reality shaken.

And we're looking for a kingdom that can't be shaken.

And here comes Jesus on Palm Sunday, riding on a donkey, in a simple, humble beast, riding into Jerusalem and bringing peace with God and offering it.

And yet he knew he would be rejected.

And so we're told he was literally gut-wrenched and began to weep over the fact that he would be rejected and then his offer of peace would be rejected.

Well, can we can we know what truth is, or are we destined to be like Pilate?

Well, I guess that depends on if you walk away or not.

I guess that depends on how you respond to Jesus when he comes before you, and when he's presented to us right here in these pages, as one who would literally lay down his life for us, who would take that kind of beating, that kind of injustice, that kind of abuse, so that those of us who have suffered injustice or abuse might understand that we have a God who actually understands us and knows us better than we know ourselves.

I'm one of those who does believe that we cannot fix this on our own.

We've neither the wisdom to know what needs to be done nor the power to do what needs to be done.

We need outside help.

And friends, this is why Jesus came.

This is why Holy Week is so important.

This is why we we want to not skip over what he suffered, not skip over that he died to just get to the you know, sort of lighthearted resurrection stuff and as just a sort of a metaphor for springtime and how wonderful new life.

No, no, no, don't skip over the hard stuff.

Why?

Because life is hard and your life and my life, we're gonna go through these kinds of things.

And the gospel transforms our view of suffering.

Because why?

Because we have a God who knows what this means.

Um, God alone satisfies the passion for justice, the longing for spirituality, the hunger for relationship, the yearning for beauty, and T.

Wright says.

And I think it is so beautiful the way he said that.

And I agree, we find all of that in the person and work of Jesus.

The church is a worshiping community that follows in the way of King Jesus by living out the gospel in both word and deed, out of a heart of sacrificial love, passionately seeking the glory of God.

May our words and our deeds and yes, even our suffering, whether that's just being marginalized or ridiculed, or whether that involves real, actual, physical, economic, cultural suffering of all different kinds, no matter what.

May our words and our deeds, our experiences point to Jesus.

May the village chapel be one of the places where the gospel is offered over and over and over again, and we're reminded of it over and over and over again, and where we continue to find our hope in Jesus, the King that we've always wanted, the King that we've always needed.

I say with the psalmist, for God alone, my soul waits in silence.

From him comes my salvation.

He alone, he only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.

I shall not be greatly shaken.

There is a Redeemer, friends.

His name is Jesus, and he's the king you've always wanted and always needed.