Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so
that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”
31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”
32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.33
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens
to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
You may be familiar with the name, Arthur Schlesinger. He was a historian, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of more than 20 books. He died at the age of 89, in 2007.
He was very liberal in his political bent and quite outspoken. I read in a sermon some years ago the account of when Schlesinger was speaking at Brown University in 1989, he quoted Huck Finn and its account at the end when Tom rips up the letter that
would have made Huck’s guilt quite obvious and Tom then says, “So I’ll go to hell…” “That,” said Schlesinger, “is what America is all about.”
Schlesinger’s point was that our culture is living an experiment in open rebellion against the Christian God, has thrown off his authority in pursuit of what God would
not permit us. It is daring God to punish us if he will. Let God do his worst, we will have what we want. We don’t care about truth or God or the judgment day. Folks claim to care about spiritual things, but of course so did the Jews in Jesus’ day, just as
Pilate did in his own way. But our actions speak louder than our words. “So, we’ll go to hell…” Schlesinger himself saluted this defiant American spirit. But, of course he had no fear of God’s judgment either, well, he didn’t when he spoke these words, he
might think differently now.
What we find in our text is like spirit to all of that, more brazen and more wickedly portrayed, but the same spirit. Jesus, the King and Creator, the giver of life,
stands before those who owe Him everything and listens to false accusations, unjust judgments, and hatred for Him and all that He stands for…And did it stop, after He was crucified, these false accusations and judgments? No. Jesus has been judged by men, judged
falsely, ever since and continues to be so judged, today.
What we see in our text is really nothing more than men acting as men still act, rejecting Jesus Christ for precisely those same reasons that men reject him today
and not taking Him or His claims as seriously as we should. Why do people reject Jesus today? Why do they refuse to acknowledge him as the King of truth? Or why do they nod their head and acknowledge Him as a good man, a good teacher, even call him Savior,
but never take his claims on them seriously? Well, for the very same reasons illustrated in this text.
Before I get to the specific reasons that seem to transcend time regarding the continued rejection of Jesus, I want you to see the cat and mouse game that is being
played in the text between Pilate and the Jews…John tells the story masterfully.
Pontius Pilate is one who goes down in infamy, even mentioned in the historic creeds of the church: “…crucified also for us unto Pontius Pilate…” Pilate would
have typically lived and worked in Caesarea, in the palace that King Herod the Great had built for himself. Herod the Great, was the one who was king when Jesus was born and who had all the babies murdered as he sought to kill the infant Jesus.
It was not uncommon for Roman governors to be present at the great feast days of the Jewish people…a Roman presence being thought necessary to squelch any rebellious
ideas. As we read in verse 28 the religious folks were very careful not to break one of their cleanliness laws so as to be unclean for the weeklong feast of Passover. I want to pause there for a minute so that you don’t miss the hypocrisy of what verse 28
is showing us.
The Jews are concerned about their ceremonial purity during Passover, are straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel. They are concerned to play the part of being
religiously upright, of being the kind of people that everyone would look up to, maintaining as they did their ceremonies, visible as they were to everyone…Here they are being all religious, keeping all their rule while at the same time they are unjustly and
cruelly manipulating the judicial system so they can have Jesus executed and for no reason other than their own jealousy and envy.
Think about how dangerous envy, jealousy, pride can be. They want to kill someone who they know has done no wrong, no harm…they even have to coerce people to lie to
the authorities so as to convict him…lying…hmmm, perjury…does the law of the Pharisees and scribes say anything about that??? When we really see what is going on it is appalling, sickening even…exalting self for all to see while sinning grossly against another
even to have him killed.
I would simply point out how all of us can fall to the same things…we don’t seek for those we envy to be killed, but we are pretty susceptible to pretending to be
holy, doing all the right things, looking like good Christian people as we come to church and sing our songs and hymns and then turn around and live as if our religion is completely irrelevant, evidenced by how it is that we treat others horribly, fail to
love, fail to live the life that Christ so beautifully has modeled for us to live. We cite the creeds, profess our faith, pray our prayers but then continue to build our lives, even our religious lives around ourselves, and look good and religious while doing
so.
You get the picture. I learned long ago that the Pharisees are easy targets, but the truth of the matter is, there is too much of that same spirit, that same self-exalting
spirit, in me…and perhaps I should take better and more careful aim at my own heart. And that is the issue isn’t it, our hearts? Even in the text, the lying, perjury, manipulation and even murder, all began in their hearts, just as all our sin begins in ours.
Remember, their envy and pride didn’t just show up on this day, this is the culmination of hearts long given over to themselves. Probably starting in little things,
things that would never seem at first glance to be all that big of deal…That is the way sin works. David’s irresponsibility led to murder; Abraham’s fear of man led to him putting his wife’s life in danger. What are the little things in your life that you
excuse as no big deal? Do you ever say things like:
Yea, I am proud, yea I have a temper, yea, I am kind of selfish, yea, I don’t submit well to authority…and think these things are small and insignificant?
And of course, that’s where it starts, just like the Pharisees and pretty soon you will be doing and saying all kinds of horrible things and wondering, how in the world did I get here. Be careful of your habits, especially the habits of your hearts. If we
are not students of our hearts, if we are not those who joyfully live in repentance, praying with David for the Lord to search our hearts and know our ways…we are never far away from sin and even some pretty serious sin.
We see in verse 29 Pilate was willing to defer to the thinking of the Jewish religious pressure especially during one of the high feasts. You have to appreciate that
it was very important for Pilate politically to avoid trouble, to appease the Jews so they don’t stir up things causing Caesar to think Pilate couldn’t control his region, that would not be good for Pilate.
So Pilate, gritting his teeth I am sure, comes out to them instead of requiring them to come in to him. It has been suggested by commentators that in verse 31 where Pilate tells them
to judge Jesus themselves, that he is playing them…He knows that they cannot judge Jesus as they want to, only Rome could do that, and some historians are convinced that he is just the type of man who would enjoy making the Jews recognize his authority and
grovel before him. He knew what they wanted, but they were going to have to jump through his hoops to get it.
For Pilate, things begin to unravel a bit beginning in verse 33. If Jesus is really a king, then there could be some problems, especially seeing that Rome wouldn’t think kindly of some
king claiming a degree of authority that Rome believed itself to have monopolized. Pilate doesn’t give a flip about their religious controversies, but, at the same time, the text seems to indicate that he didn’t really believe what the Sanhedrin was saying
about Jesus either.
Jesus acknowledges that he is a king, but of a completely different kind of kingdom but what exactly does that mean? There are all kinds of speculations about what Pilate meant in verse
38 when he asked Jesus, “What is truth?” Did he say it sincerely, as though he were looking for it? Or did he say it sarcastically? Or perhaps he said in under his breath as if to say, “I only wish we could really get to the truth.”
It is really hard to know for sure. But we do see that in verse 38 Pilate declares that he could find no basis for a charge against Jesus indicating that he did not view Jesus or his
kingdom as a threat to Rome. Interesting to note, that Satan would not have agreed with Pilate…Jesus is a threat to everyone and every worldview that sets itself against God and the truth…perhaps Pilate didn’t understand that, but the invisible world sure
did!
Prayer: Father, while I am often critical of the sins of others I am not so attentive to the sins of my own heart. Help me to see the evil that lurks and the subtle ways it makes
its way into my thoughts, words and behaviors. Help me to repent of all the vestiges of the old man that I might continue to give myself to the transforming work of Your Spirit, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Song: Morning Light. (Another one by Josh Garrels, click on the tab and follow the words!