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Andy Stanley - Ninety Part 10 The Pilate Chronicles · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: So today we conclude our journey with Jesus, from his
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: introduction to the world on the banks of the Jordan
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: River to his.
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  Speaker 2: Sacrifice for the world.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: So today in some ways is an end, and today
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  Speaker 1: in many ways is just a beginning. Previously, last time
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: we were here together, we found Jesus in the city
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  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem. He'd come there to celebrate Passover with his apostles.
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  Speaker 1: He came into a parade, a parade along the roads
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: outside the city and inside the city. The city was
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  Speaker 1: filled with Jews who were expecting not just Passover that
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  Speaker 1: but perhaps this person Jesus that many had heard speak,
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  Speaker 1: many had seen perform miracles. Perhaps this was the time
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  Speaker 1: that he would declare himself as Messiah and as heart
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  Speaker 1: as the church lead, the temple leaders and the religious leaders.
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  Speaker 1: As hard as they had tried to separate the crowds
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  Speaker 1: from Jesus, they'd been unsuccessful. In fact, even his enemies,
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  Speaker 1: even his enemies, accepted the fact that there was no
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  Speaker 1: way they would ever win the crowd. That Jesus had
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  Speaker 1: the crowd, And at some point one of them blurted
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  Speaker 1: out into meeting, See.
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  Speaker 2: This is getting us nowhere.
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  Speaker 1: Look how the whole world has gone after him is
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  Speaker 1: They stared out into the streets of Jerusalem, and Jewish
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  Speaker 1: people were shouting Hosanna, Hosanna. As they were shouting you
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  Speaker 1: are the king, Here comes the King, they realized they
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  Speaker 1: had lost the battle and their only opportunity would be
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  Speaker 1: to separate Jesus from the crowd, to have him rested
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  Speaker 1: and ultimately have him executed. Jesus comes to the city,
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  Speaker 1: he secures the secure location for he and his guys
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  Speaker 1: to celebrate Passover. They gather that night, and so much
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  Speaker 1: went on in that conversation. He had hinted throughout that
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  Speaker 1: he was here to establish something new that Jesus did
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  Speaker 1: not come to be an end, Jesus came to be
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: and instead of and that night he inaugurated what he
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  Speaker 1: called his new Covenant, his new relational arrangement between God
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  Speaker 1: and mankind, a covenant that would be the fulfillment of
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  Speaker 1: Abraham's covenant with God and would be the replacement for
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: God's covenant with the Nation of Israel established at Mount
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  Speaker 1: Sign through Moses. And just like contracts have terms and conditions,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: so covenants in ancient times had terms and conditions. And
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: that very night, as they celebrated Passover. He gave them
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  Speaker 1: the terms and conditions of his new covenant. There wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: be six hundred plus laws. There wouldn't be ten commandments.
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  Speaker 1: There wouldn't even be two. There would just be one,
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  Speaker 1: the new Covenant commandment. And it was this, as I've
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  Speaker 1: loved you, so you must love one another, that this
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  Speaker 1: would be This would be the overarching ethic. This would
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  Speaker 1: establish the overarching morality for his brand new movement, the Church.
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  Speaker 1: This was the mark of the covenant that Jesus came
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  Speaker 1: to establish with you and with all mankind. What a
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  Speaker 1: night it started over started off with Jesus saying, from
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  Speaker 1: now on, when you celebrate Passover, you're not going to
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  Speaker 1: celebrate Israel's migration out of Egypt. From now on, when
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: you celebrate Passover, you're going to do this in remembrance
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  Speaker 1: of me. That the bread is my body, that the
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  Speaker 1: wine is my blood. And they have no category for
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: any of this. It was all so confusing, And as
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  Speaker 1: the night wore on, they could tell that Jesus became
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  Speaker 1: more and more disturbed. Something was up, but Jesus wasn't up.
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  Speaker 2: He seemed troubled.
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  Speaker 1: If Jesus could be worried Jesus seemed worried, and where
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  Speaker 1: did Judas run off to?
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  Speaker 2: They all expected him to be back by now.
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  Speaker 1: After the supper. Jesus gets up and he says, let's leave.
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  Speaker 1: Let's go to the garden, and they make their way
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  Speaker 1: to the garden of Gathsemone, an urban garden in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the city.
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  Speaker 2: They'd been there many times.
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  Speaker 1: They went at night so they wouldn't be recognized, so
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  Speaker 1: no one would disturb them.
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  Speaker 2: They go into the garden.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus says, I want you to stay here and pray,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm going to go further into the garden to
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  Speaker 1: pray alone. He prays for a while, and he prays
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  Speaker 1: that agonizing prayer where he essentially says to his heavenly father, Father,
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  Speaker 1: you and I know what's about to happen, and if
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  Speaker 1: I had a choice, I would choose another option. I
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  Speaker 1: would choose another route. But as always, not my will,
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  Speaker 1: but your will be done. It goes back to check
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  Speaker 1: on the ball and they are sound asleep, and he
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  Speaker 1: wakes them up and he says, could you not even
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  Speaker 1: pray with me?
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  Speaker 2: For an hour?
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  Speaker 1: And then Judas shows up, but he's not alone. He
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  Speaker 1: brings with him a small army temple henchman, and they
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  Speaker 1: come to get Jesus into the shock, to the dismay,
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  Speaker 1: to the horror of the whole contingency, Jesus surrenders himself
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  Speaker 1: to the temple leaders. In fact, the text says this,
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  Speaker 1: then everyone deserted him and fled. The story continues, they
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  Speaker 1: took Jesus to see the High Priest. They took Jesus
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  Speaker 1: to the High Priest, and all the chief priests were there,
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  Speaker 1: and the elders and the teachers of the law, they
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  Speaker 1: all came together.
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  Speaker 2: They'd never been.
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  Speaker 1: Able to get this close to Jesus. They'd never been
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  Speaker 1: able to isolate him from the crowd. They'd never been
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  Speaker 1: able to look into those eyes. They've never been into
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  Speaker 1: place where they could reach out and touch him.
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  Speaker 2: And they were curious.
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  Speaker 1: And now because there was more of them than there
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  Speaker 1: was him, they were emboldened. And what follows next is
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  Speaker 1: so interesting, and there's so much detail. And if you
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  Speaker 1: ever find yourself reading a part of a narrative in
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament and you think to yourself, how did
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  Speaker 1: they get this information?
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  Speaker 2: Where? Who told them these things happen?
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  Speaker 1: It's so fascinating because we find out in the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Acts. You know, there's Matthew Martin, Luke John the
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  Speaker 1: Four Counts of jesus Life, and Luke wrote the history
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  Speaker 1: of the Church. It's called Acts. And in the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Acts we discover that many, many Pharisees became Jesus followers,
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  Speaker 1: not because of what Jesus taught. They became followers of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus after the resurrection. And no doubt it was some
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  Speaker 1: of those men who were in these meetings that gave
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  Speaker 1: the gospel writers this detail.
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  Speaker 2: Here's what happened.
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  Speaker 1: The chief Priest, the Chief Priest, and the whole Sanhedrin,
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  Speaker 1: this is the entire Jewish Supreme Court. We're looking for
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  Speaker 1: evidence against Jesus so they could put him to death.
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  Speaker 1: But they could not find any They couldn't find any,
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  Speaker 1: many many against Jesus. But they testified falsely. Their statements
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: didn't even line up. Their statements didn't even agree. And
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  Speaker 1: then when they would ask Jesus a direct question, he
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  Speaker 1: refused to answer. Finally, the High Priest, the most powerful
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  Speaker 1: person in the room, begins to lose his temper, and
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  Speaker 1: he stood up and he said to the whole group,
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  Speaker 1: to Jesus, are you not going to answer but Jesus
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  Speaker 1: remained silent and gave no answer. And finally the Chief
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  Speaker 1: Priest goes to the heart of the matter, the one
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  Speaker 1: question they want Jesus to answer out loud, because if
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  Speaker 1: he answers incorrectly, it's all the evidence they need to
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  Speaker 1: crucify him. And they ask, okay, are you or are
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  Speaker 1: you not? Are you the Messiah? Are you the son
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  Speaker 1: of the blessed One? And in this moment Jesus held
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  Speaker 1: his future in your future in his hands, and he
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  Speaker 1: looked at the chief Priest and the men in the room,
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  Speaker 1: whose motives were anything but pure, and he said, I am.
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  Speaker 1: At that moment, the Chief Priest and the High Priest
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  Speaker 1: tore their robes as a sign of lament and anguish.
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  Speaker 1: Why do we need any more witnesses? We don't need
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  Speaker 1: any more witnesses, he asked.
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  Speaker 2: You have heard, We have all heard.
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  Speaker 1: We are all now witnesses to his blasphemy. And they
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  Speaker 1: all condemned Jesus. They condemned him as worthy of death.
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  Speaker 1: And then the temple guards stepped in, and some began
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  Speaker 1: to spit on him, while others blindfolded.
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  Speaker 2: Him and struck him with their fists.
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  Speaker 1: And they said prophesy prophesy, and the guards took him
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  Speaker 1: and they beat him. The men in the room who
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  Speaker 1: were in charge, who now had what they needed from
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  Speaker 1: Jesus in order to condemn him to death, conspired together
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  Speaker 1: throughout the night to figure out what the next step
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  Speaker 1: was to enact their plan.
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  Speaker 2: And we don't know if they were up all night.
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  Speaker 1: We're sure that Jesus probably got no sleep that night,
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  Speaker 1: but the text tells.
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  Speaker 2: Us that very early in the morning, very early in
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  Speaker 2: the morning.
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  Speaker 1: The chief Priest, with the elders, the teachers of the law,
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  Speaker 1: and again the whole Sanhedrin, the entire Supreme court, they
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  Speaker 1: came up with a plan because having determined jesus guilt,
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  Speaker 1: they still needed Rome in order to carry out their sentence.
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  Speaker 1: And their plan was simple. Their plan was to figure
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  Speaker 1: out a way to convince Pilot to execute Jesus that
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  Speaker 1: very day before passover, so they could all get back
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  Speaker 1: to business, so the city would settle down, so that
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  Speaker 1: people would give up on their messianic aspirations and things
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  Speaker 1: would be as they always had been. And they wanted
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  Speaker 1: this done before sunset, before passover, So they came up
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  Speaker 1: with what they thought would be the best way to
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  Speaker 1: get Pilot to do their bidding. So the text says,
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  Speaker 1: they bound Jesus and they led him away, and they
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  Speaker 1: handed him over to Pilot.
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  Speaker 2: Now, Pilot had.
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  Speaker 1: Been the governor of Judea, where the city of Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: is and the province of Samaria. He'd been the governor
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  Speaker 1: there for about seven years. And we know from history
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  Speaker 1: that Pilot he could not stand the Jews. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: he didn't even like going to the city of Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: He lived in a palace on the coast, and he
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  Speaker 1: only came to Jerusalem during festival days in order to
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  Speaker 1: keep the peace. And his favorite pastime was antagonizing the
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  Speaker 1: Jewish leaders and reminding them that they were subjects of Rome,
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  Speaker 1: and he reveled in their groveling. Now, by now, the
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  Speaker 1: text says, by now it was early morning, the sun
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  Speaker 1: begins to come up. And to avoid ceremonial uncleanliness, uncleanness,
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  Speaker 1: they did not the teachers of the law of the Pharisees,
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  Speaker 1: the elders the Sanhedrin, they did not want to go
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  Speaker 1: into Pilot's palace, otherwise they would not be able to
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  Speaker 1: celebrate Passover. So they had gone through this series of
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  Speaker 1: elaborate cleansings so that they could lead passover, so they
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  Speaker 1: could take part in passover. And they knew if they
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  Speaker 1: stepped across the threshold of Pilot's palace, if they entered
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  Speaker 1: the home of a gentile, they would have to start
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  Speaker 1: that cleaning process all over again. So imagine the hypocrisy.
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  Speaker 1: They wouldn't cross a threshold, but they're abouts to insist
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  Speaker 1: that an innocent man be put on a cross. So Pilot,
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  Speaker 1: because he had no choice. Pilot comes out to them
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  Speaker 1: and he asks, okay, it's.
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  Speaker 2: Early in the morning.
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  Speaker 1: What charges are you bringing against this man? And they
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  Speaker 1: had a prepared statement, and here was their prepared statement, Pilot.
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  Speaker 1: If he were not a criminal, we would not have
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  Speaker 1: handed him over to you translated. Let's not get bogged
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  Speaker 1: down into details. We just need a favor. We have
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  Speaker 1: been through this before. You know, we wouldn't bring him
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  Speaker 1: here if this wasn't important. You know, we really would
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  Speaker 1: not bring him here on the eve of Passover if
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  Speaker 1: this was not really important. So let's not get into
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  Speaker 1: the details. We need a favor. And Pilot loved it
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  Speaker 1: when the Jewish leaders needed a favor, so he eggs
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  Speaker 1: him on. He says, well, then go ahead, take him yourselves,
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  Speaker 1: judge him by your own law. He wanted them to
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  Speaker 1: beg He wanted them to acknowledge Rome's sovereigns over this
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  Speaker 1: Jewish rebel or this Jewish rebel state, to acknowledge that
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  Speaker 1: Rome was ultimately sovereign. So they sighed and they looked
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  Speaker 1: at Pilot because everybody knew the answer to this. Everybody
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  Speaker 1: knew this story. Everybody understood this scenario.
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  Speaker 2: But Pilot, as you know, we have no right to
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  Speaker 2: execute anyone. Ah. This was music to his Roman ears.
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  Speaker 2: Oh that's right.
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  Speaker 1: You don't have the power to impose your own laws.
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  Speaker 2: What a pity.
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  Speaker 1: And then Pilot did something else to irritate them. He
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  Speaker 1: went back into his palace, knowing they wouldn't follow because
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  Speaker 1: they were too good for that, but he insisted they
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  Speaker 1: bring Jesus in. The text says that Pilot went back
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  Speaker 1: into the palace inside and he summoned Jesus and they
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  Speaker 1: asked him.
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  Speaker 2: He said, are you the king of the Jews?
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  Speaker 1: And outside, the religious leaders are going crazy because they're
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  Speaker 1: so afraid that if Pilot is one on one with Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus will do his magic.
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  Speaker 2: He swayed the crowd.
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  Speaker 1: He'd won the nation, there's no telling what he would
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  Speaker 1: say to Pilot. So as they're scared to death outside
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  Speaker 1: wondering why their plan hadn't worked out, and they didn't
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  Speaker 1: anticipate the fact that since they refused to go in,
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  Speaker 1: that perhaps Pilot would invite Jesus in, and Jesus seemed
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  Speaker 1: to have no reservation about spending time with gentiles and sinners.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, that was part of the problem with Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: was who he hang out with. And so Pilot goes
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  Speaker 1: to the heart of the matter because this.
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  Speaker 2: Was the rumor.
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  Speaker 1: Pilot had heard the rumors that the Rabbi from Galilee
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  Speaker 1: was coming to Jerusalem. He'd heard about the parade, he'd
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  Speaker 1: seen the crowds. His soldiers had reported back that we're
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  Speaker 1: on the verge of a riot because of the Rabbi
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  Speaker 1: from Galilee. He's coming to the city for Passover. And
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  Speaker 1: now Pilot has his opportunity to ask his questions, are.
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  Speaker 2: You the king?
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  Speaker 1: And Jesus responds, is that your idea? Or did others
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  Speaker 1: talk to you about me? And then Pilot, he's on edge.
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  Speaker 2: Am I a Jew?
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  Speaker 1: He says, your own people in chief priest handed you
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  Speaker 1: over to me.
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  Speaker 2: Now tell me what have you done? Why are we here?
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  Speaker 2: Why are we here so early in the morning.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you understand the stir that you've created and the
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  Speaker 1: chaos you've created in this city.
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  Speaker 2: So Jesus goes back to the original.
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  Speaker 1: Question, because this is the question, and Jesus acknowledges, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: I'm a king, but understand, my kingdom is not of,
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  Speaker 1: not from, not like, not designed around the kingdoms of
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  Speaker 1: this world.
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  Speaker 2: My kingdom is not of this world. If it were pilot, if.
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  Speaker 1: It were pilot, if it were we know how this
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  Speaker 1: scenario would play out, because this happens all the time,
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  Speaker 1: the same thing that happens anytime somebody claims to be
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  Speaker 1: a Jewish king, the same time anybody claims to be
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  Speaker 1: a messiah.
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  Speaker 2: We know how this plays out.
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  Speaker 1: My servants would show up and they would have kept
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  Speaker 1: me from being arrested by the Jewish leaders. We know
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  Speaker 1: how this plays out. If my kingdom were of this world,
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  Speaker 1: I would out roam Rome. I would play by your rules.
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  Speaker 1: I would use force, because pilot, that's.
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  Speaker 2: The way of things.
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  Speaker 1: But pilot, my kingdom is nothing like your kingdom. It's
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  Speaker 1: nothing like the kingdoms you're familiar with. My kingdom is
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  Speaker 1: not anything like any kingdom on this planet.
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  Speaker 2: Ah, Pilot says, so at least we've gotten somewhere, so.
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  Speaker 1: You are a king then, So Pilot goes back out
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  Speaker 1: to the crowd and he announces. He says to the
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  Speaker 1: chief priests and the crowd, look, I find no basis
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  Speaker 1: for a charge against this man.
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  Speaker 2: But they insisted.
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  Speaker 1: He stirs up the people all over Judea. This is
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  Speaker 1: where Pilot is the governor by his teaching. And then
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: one of them in the crowd says something I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: they agreed upon beforehand not to mention, and that was Galilee.
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  Speaker 1: He stirs up at the people all over Judea. And
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  Speaker 1: he started in Galilee and has come all the way here.
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  Speaker 1: And the Pilot thinks to himself, ah, Galilee, so he
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  Speaker 1: is a Galilean. That's not even my jurisdiction. You've come
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  Speaker 1: to the wrong person. You're wasting your time. You need
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  Speaker 1: to take him to Herod. Herod is the governor of Galilee.
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  Speaker 1: And they turned to whoever said that in the crowd
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  Speaker 1: and said, we decide not to mention Galilee. This has
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  Speaker 1: taken too much time. Well, as it turns out Herod.
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  Speaker 1: Now Herod is the son of Herod the Great who
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: built the temple, Herod the Great, who sent his henchman
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  Speaker 1: into Bethlehem many years earlier to murder all the two
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  Speaker 1: year olds because then to boys two years old and younger,
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  Speaker 1: because he was afraid that someone else would take his place,
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  Speaker 1: and of course, like everybody else, he'd have eventually died anyway.
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  Speaker 1: His sons controlled the area at the time, were parts
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  Speaker 1: of the area, and at this point his son Herod
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  Speaker 1: was the governor of Galilee, and he happened to be
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  Speaker 1: in town, of course, for passover. He just happened to
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  Speaker 1: be on the other side of town. So Pilot says, well, look,
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  Speaker 1: Herod's in town. This is none of my business. Take
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  Speaker 1: him to Herod. Well, this is not going as they plan.
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  Speaker 1: So sure enough, Pilot hands them back Jesus back to them,
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  Speaker 1: their henchmen, their soldiers take them over to take them
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  Speaker 1: to find where Herod's living. He goes into Herod's house
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  Speaker 1: and Herod is thrilled. You can read this for yourself.
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  Speaker 1: Herod is thrilled to see Jesus because, like Pilot, like
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  Speaker 1: so many others, he's never been able to get close.
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  Speaker 1: He's never been able to have a converse and he
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: has heard the rumors, and he brings Jesus in and
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  Speaker 1: he asks Jesus questions, and Jesus won't answer his questions,
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  Speaker 1: and then he says, Jesus, do some tricks. I've heard
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  Speaker 1: about your tricks. Do some tricks. Bring him something here,
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  Speaker 1: do some of your tricks. And of course Jesus refuses
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  Speaker 1: to play along. And here it is fed up, doesn't
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  Speaker 1: see what he wants to see, doesn't hear what he
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  Speaker 1: wants to hear, and he sends Jesus back to Pilot.
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  Speaker 1: When Jesus gets back, Pilot gathers the group that had
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  Speaker 1: come accusing Jesus to begin with, and he brought this man.
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  Speaker 1: And he says to them, you brought me this man.
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  Speaker 1: You brought me this man who was inciting the people
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  Speaker 1: to rebellion.
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  Speaker 2: Do any of you hear rebellion?
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: Know me?
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Neither who to decide people to rebellion. I've examined him
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: in your presence and have found no basis for your
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: charges against him. And by the way, neither has Herod,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: for he sent him back to us. As you can see,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, just to
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: appease you, to get you off of my front porch
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: so we can get on with passover. I'll punish him,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: but then I'll release him.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: And the crowd went crazy.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: They said, no, away with this man, Away with this man,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Away with this man. And then Pilot had his soldiers
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: take him to where his guards spent their time, and
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: he had Jesus flogged. For first century readers, there was
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: no need for an explanation. They all understood this word.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Two Roman soldiers, each with a cat of nine tails
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: with pieces of bone and metal fragments tied into the leather,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: would stand behind a man, and the man's hands would
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: be bound and placed way over his head as far
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: as they could stretch him out, and they would take
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: turns and they would count. Because even the Romans had
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: rules about flogging. The pieces of metal and the pieces
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: of bone would not only rip layer after layer after
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: layer of skin off a man's back, it would rip
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: layer after layer after layer of skin off a man's gut,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: as those pieces of leather would rap around and rip
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: away skin. Time after time after time, people died from flogging.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: They bled to death, they died from infection. Now here's
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: the thing that we have to stop and talk about.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: For a minute.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: As twenty first century people, it is virtually impossible for us,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I mean and for me too, It is virtually impossible
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: for us not to sanitize and then romanticize what happens
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: next in these next few hours in the life of Jesus.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: And the reason is almost impossible for us not to
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: sanitize it and romanticize it is because most of us,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: or many of us, heard this story as children.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: And when you tell children a.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Story like this, you have to remove the blood and
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: the guts. You have to remove the part that it's
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: just not appropriate for children, but for many of us,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: for most of us, perhaps for again, for maybe you,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the last time you heard this story was as a child.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: The last time you've heard anyone read these passages was
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: as a teenager, and so again you sort of got
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: the PG version, or the PG thirteen version of the story.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: But as an adult, it's so important that we not
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: sanitize it or somehow have soft music playing in the
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: back and make this some kind of spiritual inspirational moment,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: because it is anything but that. And to maintain our
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: childlike view of this story is to miss the story.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Because the truth is, we would all look away. The
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, and they put
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: it on his head, and then they put a purple
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: robe on his beaten, bloody, raw back. And they went
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: up to him again and again and again, and they
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: said Hail, King of the Jews, and they slapped him
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: in a face that had already been bruised the night
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: before by the temple guard. And once more, Pilot came
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: out to the waiting crowd, and he said to the
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Jews gathered there, look, look in hopes that Jesus state,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: and hope that seeing Jesus in this beaten state, and
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: hopes that perhaps they would have a little bit of pity,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: perhaps they would say, Okay, enough is enough, Okay, we're done.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: He's ruined. He'll probably die anyway. Surely this was enough
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: to get them to leave him alone, to not have
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: to do something he didn't want to do, and to
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: get past another passover so he could.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: Go back to the coast where he wanted to be.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Anyway, Look, he said, I am bringing him out to
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: you to let you know I find no basis for.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: A charge against him.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Even when he was being beat to death, he did
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: not break even when he was being flogged. He did
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: not shout out and confess things that he knew weren't
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: true in order to get my men to stop. This
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: man is absolutely innocent. But as soon as the chief
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: priest saw him, they shouted, crucify, crucify. And Pilot can't
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: believe this. He's never seen anything like this. He says, I'm.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Done with this.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Look you take him, you take him and crucify him.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: As for me, I find no basis for a charge
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: against him. And then the Jewish leaders went into part
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: two of their plans, since part one was taking too long.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: They said, okay, we have a law. We didn't mention
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: this earlier.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: We have a law, and according to that law, he
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: must die. And here's why we never told you why
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: this was a capital offense, because he claimed to be
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the son of God. Now, when Pilot heard this, the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: text says, when Pilot heard this, he was even more afraid,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: and he went back inside the palace. He was more
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: afraid because son of God intersected with Roman myth, Roman legend.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Suddenly this had crossed over from just simply a Jewish
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: thing to a Roman thing. For someone to claim to
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: be the son of God was threatening to the empire.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: This was a big deal, This was a code word,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: and now he knew he needed to do something else.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: He goes back inside. The text says that the guards
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: took him back inside, and Pilot decides to question Jesus
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: even further, but this time Jesus won't answer.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: And I love this.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: In fact, if you're not a Christian, or you left faith,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: or somebody's making you watch this or listen to this,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: or you stumbled into church because somebody promised you launch,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: or you stayed up late and you're watching this, please
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: don't miss this next line. For whatever reason when you
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: left church or quit believing. I get that if I
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: were you, I bet I would have to. So there's
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: no guilt, there's no judgment. But I just don't want
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: you to miss this. A first century Roman soldier who
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: had seen everything the text says, was amazed. You see,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: this is when men groveled and begged not for their life.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: This is when men fell to their knees and begged
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: for a quick death.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: And Jesus won't answer.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: He finally is so exasperated he says to Jesus, do
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: you refuse to speak to me? Do you not realize
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: I have power either to free you or to crucify you,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: to which Jesus could have said, then, Pilot, why are
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: you the one that is so.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Afraid? But here's what he said.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Jesus answered him, and he said, you, Pilot, would have
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: no power over me if it were not given to
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: you from above. Pilot had seen a lot. He'd seen
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: men die in battle. He'd seen men die immediately in battle.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: He had seen men die slowly in battle.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: He'd seen men lead.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: To death on the surgeon's table. He'd heard screams. He
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: had seen it all. But he'd never seen anything, and
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: he'd never seen anyone like this, because when he stared
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: into Jesus's eyes, those were not crazy eyes. Those were
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: eyes that were fully aware. Those were eyes that were sincere,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: maybe most importantly to a man like Pilot, those were
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: eyes that were fearless. So much so, the text tells
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: us that from that point on, Pilot did everything he
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: could to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders wouldn't
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: have it. The text says that they kept shouting, if
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: you let this man go, part three of their plan.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: If you let this man go, you are no friend
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar. Checkmate.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: They had him. Pilot was out maneuvered, his hands were bound.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: They'd called him out publicly, and Pilot knew that Emperor
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Tiberius had eyes and spies everywhere in the empire. In fact,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the text says that when Pilot heard this, when they
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: finally got to this part of their plan, when they
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: finally got to this level of argument, the text says
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: that when Pilot heard this, he brought Jesus out and
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: sat down at the judges, a place known as the
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: stone Pavement. There's so much detail in this part of
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the story. And it was about noon, and he said
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: to the Jews, here is your king. He continues to
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: twist the knife, Here is your king. You want me
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to crucify your king? Here's your king, Pilot said to
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the Jews. But they shouted, take him away, take him away,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: crucify and crucify, And Pilot, he says, shall I crucify
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: your king? Do you really want me to crucify your king?
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: And before they can stop themselves, someone in the crowd
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: shouts out something that in any other moment, at any
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: other time, would would have been considered blasphemous. Somebody shouts out, no,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: we have no king. But Caesar, the chief priest, answered,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: and finally, finally, Pilot handed him over to be crucified.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: So the soldiers, Pilot soldiers took charge of Jesus, and
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: they brought him to the place called Gaugatha, and they
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: offered him wine mixed with mrr, just a gesture of mercy,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: but he did not take it. And as you read
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: this part of the story in all four Gospels, it's
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: like time slows down. There's so much detail. It's almost
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: moment by moment. It's hour by hour, it's conversation by conversation,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: it's line by line.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: It's so much detail.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: But suddenly, when we get to this part of the story,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: all of that stops because what came next required.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: No explanation. And then crucified him.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Invented by the Greeks, perfected by the Romans. It could
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: take a man days to die from crucifixion, depending on
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: how healthy the person was and how well the Romans
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: did their job, because the goal was not a quick death,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the goal was a prolonged death. In fact, crucifixion was
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: so gruesome. Crucifixion was so gruesome that church leaders later
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: on baned it. They banned it from any depiction in art.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: In fact, crucifixion was banned from any depiction in art
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: until the fourth century, when Constantine became emperor and banned
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: it as a method of execution. C. S.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Lewis wrote this.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: He said, the crucifixion did not become a frequent motive
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: or motif of Christian art until the generations which had
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: actually seen real crucifixions were all dead.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: It was nothing glamorous. It was.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: You could not sanitize it. There was no way to
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: make it a romantic gesture. It was horrible, and crucifixion
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: was a death inflicted upon many. But my friends, it
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: was chosen, my only one, our Savior, displayed on a
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: criminal's cross, and darkness rejoiced as though Heaven had lost.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Here's something you should know. Here's something that you may
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: have never heard before. Here's something that makes the rest
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: of the story extraordinary. When Jesus died, there were no Christians.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: When Jesus died, there were no believers. When Jesus died,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: there were no more followers. Sympathizers, yes, but no believers.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: And here's why.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Because throughout his ministry, Jesus claimed too much about himself.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: The central part of jesus ministry was not his stories.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: It wasn't even his teaching. It's what he claimed about himself.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: He claimed to be the resurrection in the life. You
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: cannot crucify the resurrection in the life. He claimed to
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: be the son of Man or the son of God.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: The Son of God isn't going to be arrested by Romans.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: He gave every indication that he was God's Messiah that
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: they'd waited on for hundreds of years. God's Messiah. Isn't
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: going to be put to death by a foreign power.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: If Jesus was dead, if Jesus was crucified, clearly he
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: was not who he claimed to be, and he was
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: not who they believed he was. There was no dream
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: to keep alive, and there was certainly no movement to
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: keep moving.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: It was over.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Joseph of Arimathea, a sanhedron part of that Supreme Court,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: a friend of Nicodemus, who we met earlier in our
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: journey together. They hugged their kids, they kissed their wives.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Then they risked their lives, and I asked Pilot for
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Jesus' body. In the first century, a crucified person cannot
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: be buried. They were put on a trash heap to
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: be left to the.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: Dogs and the wolves, and.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: They went to Pilot, and I'm sure they exchanged for
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: a few pieces of silver. They got permission to actually
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: take Jesus's body and to bury him. He was not
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: who they hoped he was, but he certainly deserved better
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: than this. He was not who they hoped he was,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: but he certainly deserved to be buried.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: Sabbath would be there soon, they had to hurry.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: The religious leaders asked if the other two criminals crucified
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: have their legs broken so they couldn't push up and breathe,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: and they suffocated when they came to Jesus because of
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: all the prior beatings, because he had been scourged, he
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: had bled to death.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: So they took his body.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: And the text tells us that Nicodem has brought a
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: mixture of mirr and aloes about seventy five pounds.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: And they took Jesus's.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Body, and as was the custom, the two of them
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: wrapped it with spices in strips, not one large cloth,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: but in strips of cloth. This was how they embalmed
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: a body. Why did they embalm his body? Because they
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: expected Jesus to stay dead. They embalmed his body in
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: such a way that if he were alive, he would
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: have surely suffocated. Now they embalmed his body in a
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: court with the Jewish burial customs, and as the sunset,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: as Passover began, they made their way home, confused, dismayed,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: with no answers to a million questions. The next day,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Pilot is disturbed once again. The text says. The next day,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: the one after preparation day, the chief priest and the
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: pharisees they go back to Pilot and he's like, what
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: is it this time? And they say, Sir, they said,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: we remember, and we've been told that while he was
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: still alive, that deceiver said that after three days I
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: will rise again. So, sir, one last favor, this will
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: serve both of us, both parties.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: Well, would you please give an.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Order for the tomb to be made secure until that
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: third day? Otherwise his disciples may come and steal the
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: body and tell the people that he has been raised
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: from the dead.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: This last deception will be far.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Worse than the first, and Pilot said, take a guard.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Make the tombs secure, as you know how. So they went,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: and they made the tomb secure by putting a seal
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: on the stone and posting a guard.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: And that night everyone slept well.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: Caiaphas slept well, knowing that once again he had out
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: maneuvered Pilot, that once again he had leveraged his power
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: to get Rome.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: To do his bidding.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Pilot slept well, knowing that passover was almost behind him,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: the city would empty of all these guests, all these foreigners,
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: that he would be able to go back home to
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: the coast, where he enjoyed his life and his family.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Up north, somewhere, Saul of Tarsus was preparing another mind
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: bending message to follow passover in.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: His region of the world.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: In Rome, Emperor Tiberius had no idea any of these
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: events ever transpired. All was as it always had been,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: All was as it always would be, because everybody, everybody
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: expected g to do what dead people usually do, stay dead.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Little did they know.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: Little did they know that in the next few hours
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: they would secure their place in history, that their names
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: would be spoken for generations and languages they didn't know about,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: in places they didn't even know exist that for generations,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: men and women would speak their names around the world,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: but not as they would have wished, because they would
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: each become a footnote in the story of the Rabbi
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: from Galilee, for what they intended as the end was
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: actually just the beginning, the beginning of something brand new,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the beginning of something brand new for the world and
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: for you.