WEBVTT
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So we're starting to read Luke chapter 23, and so far in the last two chapters, uh everything is coming to a head, right?
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In in Luke 21, Jesus is talking about the signs of the times and the end of the world, as if everything is going to collapse soon.
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And then in Luke chapter 22, Jesus gathers his disciples around what we would call the Last Supper.
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It's the Passover celebration, and he breaks bread and he gives them the cup and he says, something new is being inaugurated in this ritual feast.
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Something new is going to happen.
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And then, of course, uh from there he heads out to the Mount of Olives where he prays.
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And while he's praying, Judas arrives and betrays him with a band of guards and soldiers.
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And they take Jesus in the middle of the night, and they take him to the high the chief priests or the high priest's house, and he's in jail, and he's being put on trial by the most powerful people in that area.
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Um, and uh and his trial continues today.
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Uh so he's going to be dragged before Pilate and Herod, not just the religious leaders.
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So let's pray, and then um we'll start reading.
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Oh God, we thank you for a chance to read Luke chapter 23 today.
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Uh as these verses wash over our hearts, our minds, our souls, may they move us, challenge us, shape us.
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We prayerfully enter Luke 23 with an open heart, longing to know you more, dear Jesus, hoping to see you and get a glimpse of what it is that you're doing for us and for all of humanity and for all of creation in this great climactic scene.
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May your word be our guide, may your spirit be our teacher, and may the glory of Jesus be our greatest concern.
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Amen.
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Luke twenty-three.
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Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate.
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So Jesus has been on a bit of a trial scene in a in a bit of a trial.
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Uh at daybreak, the council of the elders of the people, the chief priests, the teachers of the law, they met together, and Jesus is brought before them.
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They're concerned to see if he's the Messiah, which would be a title for a king, right?
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They are not kings.
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They are priests, and they are Pharisees, and they are elders, and they are teachers, they are not kings.
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They're curious if he is king Messiah, right?
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Um, and and they ask if he's the son of God, and he says, You say I am.
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So so they're concerned about Jewish titles.
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Messiah, son of God.
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This is Jewish business.
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Why in the world would they drag him before a totally different court system?
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Pilate.
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Who is Pilate?
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Is Pilate Jewish?
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No, Pilate is Roman.
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This is like let's say you have an issue with uh let's say you have an issue with our church, and you have an opportunity to have uh a fair trial before the council of of St.
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Paul's United Church of Christ, and then all of a sudden the council of St.
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Paul's United Church of Christ says, you know what, we're gonna take you over to the county.
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It's like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
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My issue is with the church.
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Why are we going to the county or to the state or to the feds?
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Like, what are we doing here?
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Why the shift?
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Why bring him before Pilate?
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Because he's holding the number over all of them.
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You know, like with a fed world or something.
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They want to get rid of him and they don't have the authority to do it.
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They want to get rid of him and they're looking for somebody to do their dirty work.
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That's a big part of this.
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They're also, and this is just how humanity works, and this is so sad.
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The Jewish Messiah is a king from the descendancy of David, based on the eternal covenant that God makes with King David.
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Why does that have to fit into the politics of the day?
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Right?
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Messiah is king.
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Now they're defining king in the terms of the government that's controlling and operating within their worldview.
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Right?
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And they see a connection there.
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Part of why Rome should care about a messianic movement is Rome is king, thank you very much.
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Unless Rome sets in place client kings, which are basically the kings they pick.
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That's what they have governing this area.
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They have a governor, Pilate, they've got a client king like Herod Antipas, right?
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Why does it have to fit into that worldview in order for it to be, you know, a thing?
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When we think of the Messiah as a king of the whole universe, I think we limit ourselves if we define it in worldly political terms.
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And that's part of the conversation Jesus has with Pilate in the Gospel of John.
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He says to Pilate, literally, My kingdom is not of this world.
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If my kingdom were of this world, boy, we'd have a war and you'd get smeared.
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But my kingdom's not of this world.
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It's as if Jesus is just the kind of king that doesn't even fit the definition that we have used for governor or king or emperor.
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It just doesn't fit that category.
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That category is far too small, far too human, far too worldly for this otherworldly anti-king, king of the whole universe, Jesus.
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So it's important that he goes before Pilate.
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They're doing the wrong thing.
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God is doing the right thing, redefining for God's people what real kingship is by allowing this kind of trial to unfold.
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Okay, we'll go to the political sphere, not the religious sphere.
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In the ancient world, it wasn't necessarily a division between politics and religion.
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It was messier.
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There weren't those clear lines.
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But uh in this case, it's got to go into that sphere of politics, of empire.
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Okay, so the whole assembly led him off to Pilate.
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And they began to accuse him, saying, We have found this man subverting our nation.
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Again, here's this phrase nation, not the people of God, which is a diaspora people who live all over the planet, subverting this nation.
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He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.
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Interesting.
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What do you think Pilate would care about?
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The rules of the empire.
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He's gonna care about a king, he's gonna care about taxes, he's gonna care about the nation over which they rule.
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Huh.
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No language of son of God.
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You know, where did that theological title go?
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Right?
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So Pilate asked Jesus, Are you the king of the Jews?
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You have said so, Jesus replied.
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Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, I find no basis for a charge against this man.
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Notice the insertion of the crowd now.
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What crowd is this?
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This has moved before Pilate.
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It is in broad daylight.
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There is now a crowd gathering.
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Who is this crowd?
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And that's an interesting question to ask.
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Earlier, Judas shows up with a crowd in the middle of the night and they arrest Jesus.
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This crowd is bigger.
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This crowd is more general than that.
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This is the same types of crowds that gathered for the temple festivities.
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It's the crowds that are in town for the Passover.
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It's some of the some of the people in this crowd are from the crowd that are chanting, you know, Alleluia and Hosanna.
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Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord when Jesus triumphally entered Jerusalem.
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This is the everyday ordinary person, the crowd, is picking up the story here.
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And Pilate is asking the chief priests and the crowd.
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He's going to talk to both.
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And it's just interesting to see what people think.
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The leadership of the Jewish religion, but then also the crowds of people.
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What do they think about this Jesus, about this form of Messiah, about this God?
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There were some people there that supported the light of blood.
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Oh yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Could be.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And you know we took it, they took all their guards, but they're too.
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Oh yeah.
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Right.
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So then you gather people see what's going on.
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Yeah.
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Also, remember, there's no like news media to tell you whose side are you on and to say which crowd is here.
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What is what's gathering the crowd?
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The gossip network.
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And I would imagine every player here is trying to gossip their story to get the crowd out there.
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So there's probably Jesus followers, Jesus sympathizers, people interested in Jesus in this crowd.
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Uh there's also probably people who are loyalists to Rome in this crowd, non-Jewish people who are here just because how cool, let's go visit the city.
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And, you know, there's also probably people who are just loyal to the temple.
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Devout Jewish folks who they like the way it is.
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At least the emperor gives us permission to worship in our temple.
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And they, you know, they're there sympathetic to the temple.
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You know, there's probably a lot of people here, and it's a diverse group.
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So Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, I find no basis for a charge against this man.
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I don't know what homework he's done, but he doesn't like the charges they're bringing.
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But they insisted.
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He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching.
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He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.
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Uh why would the detail Galilee be interesting to Pilate?
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Where is Pilate's territory?
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Does anybody know?
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So Pilate's territory is Judea.
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He is uh the the governor of the basically the capital.
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Is Galilee in the capital region?
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No, it's further north.
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And so he hears that a neighboring area governed by somebody else could could have some stakes in this uh conversation.
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So on hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean, and when he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Jesus to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
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Which Herod is this?
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Which Herod is this?
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Is this Herod the Great?
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This is Herod Antipas.
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It's one of Herod the Great's sons.
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Is Herod Antipas great?
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No, he's an idiot.
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He he was a bad king.
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Herod the Great wasn't so great.
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He was actually Herod the Horrible.
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And he, when his sons become rulers, none of them are politically savvy enough to handle what Rome had tasked Herod the Great with.
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So they break the kingdom up into four regions and they end up needing to put in their own Roman governor to handle the most sensitive spot, Judah Judea.
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Herod Antipas is up north.
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Herod Antipas is the guy who had John the Baptizer arrested and beheaded.
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Herod Antipas has heard about this Jesus and is sort of interested in him.
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He is curious.
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We don't know why.
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Maybe he's curious because he's just heard the story.
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He's far enough north.
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He's a petty enough king to be interested in a guy who's got some superpowers.
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When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased because for a long time he had wanted to see him.
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From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort.
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He wants a magic show.
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He's heard that this guy's fed thousands of hungry people, that he can take bread and multiply it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all across the crowd.
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That he could take somebody who can't walk and say, get up, and all of a sudden the the person can walk around and that he's taken dead people and raised them.
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Maybe he's a necromancer.
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So he wants to see a sign.
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He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.
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Why does Jesus continue to not answer?
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Does he not want to incriminate himself?
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He's just refusing to play the game.
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You know there's a game he's not playing the game.
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What's that?
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He knows what his game is and his open is going to be played.
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And so he's not giving him an energy way.
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It does seem like he's he's opening himself up to a plan larger than himself.
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That he's he's not taking every effort to manipulate his circumstances and get himself out or convince anybody of who he is.
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He has let his actions speak for themselves.
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He has let his teachings speak for themselves.
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His word will not be amplified in this moment.
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His word is everything he's taught and everything he's spoken in public.
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And his identity is who he is and who he has always been from that time he was born as a baby in Bethlehem until now.
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And he's not gonna let the court records define who he is.
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He's gonna let his activity and his action, and he has given himself a fair shot at showing the world that he is the true Messiah, that he is the hope for salvation.
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And now he's almost leaving it in humanity's hands and also leaving it in God, his father's hands, to let you said, his fate unfold, or let God's purposes unfold, or or let humanity make the wrong choice so that God's purposes can unfold.
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Yeah, something like that's going on.
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Jesus gave him no answer.
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Verse 30, the chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there vehemently accusing him.
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When Herod and his soldiers, then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him, dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.
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That day Herod and Pilate became friends.
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Before this they had been enemies.
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Why are Herod and Pilate friends now?
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They have a common enemy.
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Why were they enemies before?
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Yeah, one's got a little piece of a kingdom, one's got a little piece of a kingdom, they're neighboring rulers, and uh, you know, Herod, Antipas, probably hates Pilate because he wishes he was more like Daddy and got to rule Daddy's whole territory.
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Pilate, meanwhile, knows the truth about the whole Herod family.
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It's like these idiots were just put in as client kings.
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I just want to go back to Milan and be in charge of a different, you know, group of soldiers, and they hated each other.
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But now they're friends, they have a common enemy.
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You know, the later Luke will describe that the the gift of the Holy Spirit is to unite people in Christ, that that diverse groups of people are united to the cause of love in Christ.
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And I think this is the inverse of that.
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This is a warped and twisted spirit.
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This is an evil kind of spirit that's taking two people who are political adversaries and uniting them for a common cause that benefits them and eradicates their enemy.
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And it's unfortunately, it happens a lot today.
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Why do nations become united?
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Right?
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And at our best, we are united for things like, you know, the Olympics or like the World Cup has unfolded this summer.
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And I I've heard people say up to four billion people were watching the World Cup.
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And in the spirit of sporthood, uh, you know, Argentina and Spain, they hate each other, but they also respect each other.
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And they love the game that's being played.
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England and France love the game.
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Harry Kane and Mbappe, they love the game that's being played.
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Watching these wonderfully gifted athletes perform.
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In the Olympics, you see the same kind of thing.
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You're rooting for your own cause or your own team or your own athlete.
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And yet there's a commonality and there's a unity there that is it's competitive, but it's respectful.
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And it and there's a dignity and a goodness there.
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And then in geopolitics, outside of sports, it's just kind of the opposite, isn't it?
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Nations are allied with nations that benefit themselves.
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You don't see a lot of nations.
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Sometimes you get small examples of this, but you don't see a lot of nations just taking another nation under their wing saying, we're gonna be buds, we're gonna, we're gonna work together, we're gonna be allies so that I can help you.
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Well, what do you get out of it?
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Nothing.
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You know, you just don't see that.
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And that's what's happening here.
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Herod and Pilate get something out of this, a common enemy.
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And it's sad that the world operates this way, but it does.
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Verse 13, Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people.
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And he said to them, You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion.
00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:02.400
Is that what they said?
00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.119
That he was inciting people to rebellion?
00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:07.039
That's what he heard.
00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:17.680
Messiah, Messianic movement, an anti-Roman king who's drawing people from Galilee into this region to bring about a rebellion.
00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:29.759
I have examined him in your presence, and have found no basis for your charges against him.
00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:34.960
Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us.
00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:40.559
As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.
00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:45.039
Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.
00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:56.559
Herod and Pilate have a common enemy, they also have a common concern, and that is that the crowds will not like the death of this particular prophet.
00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.519
Jesus did a lot of good things in Galilee.
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.640
There's a lot of those villages that love him.
00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:13.759
There's some villages that didn't turn to him, but he worked the town after town after town after town, and a grassroots movement in Galilee has taken place.
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:16.799
And Herod's got to go rule that territory.
00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:24.640
And he doesn't want 62% of his people that he rules pissed off that Jesus has been killed.
00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:29.680
So they've got a common enemy, Jesus, but they also have a common cause, which is keep the peace.
00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:32.240
So they want to punish Jesus and release him.
00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:40.480
You look at the legal band dress and up and overcome.
00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:57.599
Here was some anthems walking around and um and that Tyler and Harry both were don't get the dress, except how they're this man with a commoner.
00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:01.119
Yeah.
00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:05.039
And he said, no, he can't be because he doesn't dress that way.
00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:07.359
And he doesn't look that way, he just doesn't care.
00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:08.240
Yeah.
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:13.039
Yeah, I uh so there I think there's two or three layers of meaning here.
00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:17.200
So the the the question is about the elegant garments or the elegant clothing.
00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:19.519
First of all, who dresses him up that way?
00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:21.680
It is Herod's soldiers.
00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:31.039
So this is Rome defining who he is and saying, okay, if he's gonna call himself a messiah, we'll make him look like a king.
00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:32.240
Purple robe.
00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:40.880
Purple is the the you know color of royalty because it's so darn hard in the ancient world to dye things purple.
00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:42.000
It's really expensive.
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:52.000
They get their purple dye from the snails in certain parts of the shores of Greece, and and they don't, it's not readily available to everyone.
00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:58.960
So uh dress him up in some elegant clothing and and that signifies that he's somebody important.
00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:01.039
Jesus hasn't done this for himself.
00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:04.559
Humanity is putting that expectation on him.
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:09.680
And the irony is like this is actually what humanity wants.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:12.480
Humanity wants a ruler who looks like a ruler.
00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:14.480
They don't want a ruler in rags.
00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:21.839
Humanity wants a king who kicks butt and looks great, you know, on the front page of the news the next day.
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:28.400
They don't want a king who is muddied and brutalized and beaten and hanging on a cross.
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:36.079
How many, you know, kids are gonna go and buy Mbappe jerseys this week?
00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:40.640
After France lost to England 6-4.
00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:44.960
I checked out the Nike website.
00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:48.400
All of the jerseys are on sale right now.
00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:51.200
Why are all the jerseys on sale?
00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:54.400
Nobody wants a loser.
00:24:55.440 --> 00:25:02.160
He won the golden boot or whatever it's called, but still, you know, nobody wants a loser.
00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:10.799
And so part of this is just a mirror being held up to humanity saying, Gosh, why is it that you love kings who wear purple?
00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:16.400
Why is it that you want a ruler who looks like a ruler?
00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.400
In our country, it would be, why do you want a president that looks like a president?
00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:21.279
You know?
00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:24.079
It's it's weird, isn't it?
00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:35.599
It's kind of so the clothing, uh he is he is the true king, and there's an irony that they're putting that upon him.
00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:38.880
It's interesting to note that the soldiers are the ones putting that on him.
00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:42.559
You know, Jesus' followers aren't choosing that, and Jesus himself isn't choosing it.
00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:48.640
Jesus is accepting the identity that they would want to put on him, which is ironic.
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:55.920
And what are and and why are the soldiers actually doing it?
00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:01.359
For the worst reasons, because they're, excuse my French, they're assholes.
00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:03.200
They're mocking him.
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:05.279
They're just being mean.
00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:12.799
They dress him up like a king so that when they beat the crap out of him, they get to beat the crap out of a king.
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:14.319
How fun is that?
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:19.920
It's not so fun to beat the crap out of a homeless guy who's wearing rags.
00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:21.359
That's just ugly.
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:25.519
But you dress him up like a king, that's a lot more fun to hit.
00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:28.160
And that's just gross, isn't it?
00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:37.440
I mean, that so there's just the level of why are human beings, not all of us, some of us, so darn violent and mean.
00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:39.279
We're bullies.
00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:41.279
There's a lot of us who are bullies.
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:41.920
Why?
00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:43.359
They get something out of it.
00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:46.160
We're grasping at any power we can get.
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:48.079
It's a power move.
00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:48.400
Yeah.
00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:51.440
Yeah.
00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:52.319
Yep.
00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:54.720
Boy, this beats a day in the office.
00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:57.759
We get to dress up a puppet and hit him, you know?
00:26:57.920 --> 00:26:59.359
They're just jerks.
00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:01.119
Yeah.
00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:05.519
Some people like to look back on these scenes and they want to point a finger.
00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:08.640
Who do we blame for the death of Jesus?
00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:15.200
Some people, and this trends towards anti-Semitism, they want to blame the Jewish people for the death of Jesus.
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:20.880
And I just get skeptical of that because I'm reading this and there's you can point a lot of fingers.
00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:22.319
It's not just the crowds.
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:25.519
By the way, those crowds were more than just Jewish people, right?
00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:30.720
It's also the soldiers who are being jerks, it's also the leaders who are corrupt.
00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:34.000
It's also, you know, the empire.
00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:39.519
If you want to blame someone for killing Jesus, you blame humanity.
00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:46.079
And if you want to get really, really challenging, you blame God.
00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:48.799
God is overseeing this.
00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:54.559
Why is God allowing humanity to be so brutal to God's own son?
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:57.839
What is God trying to prove?
00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:02.480
He's trying to save humanity.
00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:12.799
He's waving the white flag, offering his own self to us, and watch what we're choosing to do.
00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:30.240
So Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers of the people, and said to them, You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion, but I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him, neither is Herod, for he has sent him back to us.
00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:36.880
As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death, therefore I will punish him and release him.
00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:39.440
Verse 18.
00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:47.920
But the whole crowd shouted, Away with this man, release Barabbas to us.
00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:56.240
Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city and for murder.
00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:58.880
Why is Barabbas in jail?
00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:02.559
He's not a crook.
00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:06.799
Okay, he killed somebody, but who did he kill?
00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:11.359
Barabbas is going full Moses, right?
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:28.880
He walks into Jerusalem, sees his people being oppressed by the not Egypt this time, but Rome, and he kills maybe a soldier who's harassing one of his beloved Jewish brothers, and he's in jail for insurrection.
00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:33.200
This is a messianic movement.
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:38.960
Barabbas was a part of a messianic movement trying to drive out the evil overlords.
00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:52.559
And the crowd has a choice between two messiahs, between Jesus, Messiah from a whole nother world, that's going to save the whole world with light and goodness and love and non-violence and peace.
00:29:53.279 --> 00:30:02.720
Or a messiah who knows how to come into a city and kick some butt and actually will kill in order to get what he wants.
00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:04.480
Who will the crowd choose?
00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:08.559
That's what they wanted.
00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:19.359
Dude, if this guy can raise the dead, wait till he pulls out his mega robot with you know swords and nuclear weapons.
00:30:19.680 --> 00:30:25.440
Like, my goodness, people have been waiting for Jesus to become Ninja Jesus.
00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:28.000
And and he's not?
00:30:28.160 --> 00:30:30.480
He's not even defending himself on trial.
00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:32.799
Uh, maybe this is not the guy we thought.
00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:35.200
When is he gonna become like David?
00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:37.839
At least give this guy a slingshot, right?
00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:39.920
And he just doesn't.
00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:43.279
He's just he's weak.
00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:46.160
He's so weak.
00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:53.920
When you get down to it, do you vote for who is weak?
00:30:55.519 --> 00:31:00.400
When you get down to it, do you vote for the guy who is going to lose?
00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:10.000
The guy who doesn't defend himself, the guy who he won't even take matters into his own hands.
00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.319
They vote for Barabbas.
00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:17.759
Somebody who's actually gonna get them what they want.
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:21.039
Freedom from these darn oppressors.
00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:27.519
There's no possible way that Jesus, the path he's walking down, gets them anything.
00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:30.240
He hasn't killed anybody.
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:31.680
He's gonna die.
00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:32.319
Right?
00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:36.240
Or he's gonna get beat up and let go, but what difference does that make?
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:38.480
We're here to watch the fireworks, people.
00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:41.680
We're here for freedom and rebellion and insurrection.
00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:46.799
I wouldn't either.
00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:49.119
I'd be skeptical of that.
00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:54.240
So Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city.
00:31:54.319 --> 00:32:01.519
This is the same charge that Herod is saying Jesus is here inciting the people to rebellion.
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:06.400
Inciting the people to rebellion, insurrection in the city, same exact charge.
00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:10.400
Right.
00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:14.160
And Jesus is a Messiah unlike every other Messiah.
00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:16.559
He's just not gonna fit those categories.
00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:20.559
If he's causing insurrection, it's a pretty peaceful insurrection.
00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:25.920
The most violent at God is he threw over some tables of some greedy people, you know.
00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:31.680
Well, wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again.
00:32:31.839 --> 00:32:54.319
You get this sense, especially in John's version, that Pilate, as he talks to Jesus, and because of Pilate's wife, partly, she has this dream about who this Jesus is, but you get the sense in John's gospel at least, that Pilate is scared and spooked about this super weird guy that doesn't seem to check the boxes.
00:32:55.039 --> 00:33:00.720
And it's just a little bit like, uh, I want to get rid of you, I want to wash my hands of you.
00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:04.559
This seems like it could slip off the hillside quickly.
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:10.319
Uh, too many people are invested in this, and he just he's a coward and he's afraid.
00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:12.079
And this one, it's a little different.
00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:16.400
We're not sure exactly why, but he definitely wants to release Jesus.
00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:23.359
Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again, but they kept shouting, crucify him, crucify him.
00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:25.759
Now, who is shouting, crucify him?
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:28.240
It's the crowd, it's everyone.
00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:37.599
There is everyone's humanity's witness against Jesus when given a choice is kill that man.
00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:41.519
He's not going to give us what we want.
00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:42.640
Kill him.
00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:45.039
This is God's play.
00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:47.599
This is God's big dramatic moment.
00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:54.400
God refuses to coerce or manipulate humanity by salvation.
00:33:55.039 --> 00:33:59.440
Instead, God offers himself humbly to humanity in love.
00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:23.519
And anybody, a thousand years from now, when this is unfolding, two thousand years from when this was unfolding, like us today, any of us reading this story, my goodness, how powerful does your heart just want to take the side of the one who is weak, of the one who is wrongfully imprisoned, of the one who is, it's not his.
00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:25.679
Come on, you're making the wrong choice.
00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:30.960
But if any of us were there that day, we probably would have been chanting crucify him.
00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:32.159
Or at least keep quiet.
00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:33.599
Or at least keep quiet.
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:35.039
At least keep quiet.
00:34:35.199 --> 00:34:36.000
For fear.
00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:37.440
Yep.
00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:40.800
The opposite of faith is not doubt.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:42.639
Faith and doubt are dance partners.
00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:43.519
They go hand in hand.
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:45.679
Go ahead and doubt, ask big questions.
00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:46.400
That's good.
00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:48.559
The opposite of faith is fear.
00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:51.440
And I would have been trembling that day.
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:55.519
I would have quietly voted, release Jesus, not Barabbas.
00:34:55.599 --> 00:35:03.199
But I would have been afraid to stand up and convince the crowd, especially when the horde starts chanting crucify him.
00:35:04.239 --> 00:35:34.079
When a crowd turns bad, when a crowd turns nasty, and you see this, like, you know, after a football game gets out, if you're, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine, if you're an England fan, or you're a France fan, and you go to that England-France game, that soccer match, you know, you take off your jersey and you walk out shirtless after that game because you don't want to be the guy with the Mbappe jersey on who just lost.
00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:38.639
Because some drunk English fans are gonna kick in your teeth.
00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:40.079
Or worse, you win.
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:41.199
You take off your jersey.
00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:43.840
I mean, like either way, crowds are crazy.
00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:50.000
I went to Lansing when Michigan State lost in the Final Four when I was 19 years old.
00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:59.599
People were throwing burning couches out of windows because they were pissed off that Michigan State lost in the basketball final four March Madness.
00:35:59.679 --> 00:36:03.519
I mean, the madness of a crowd is a real thing.
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:07.280
You know, look at what happened in the United States at January 6th, right?
00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:09.199
Madness is infectious.
00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:10.880
It just gets wild fast.
00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:12.239
It's like, why'd we do that?
00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:15.840
I don't know, somebody else was kicking in a window, so I did it too.
00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:18.000
You know, why'd you start the couch on fire?
00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:18.639
I don't know.
00:36:18.719 --> 00:36:21.440
It was just you go crazy when you're in a crowd.
00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:24.000
And here the crowd is going crazy.
00:36:24.320 --> 00:36:27.039
But they do it with the room, like when we're gonna do it.
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:27.840
Right.
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:32.639
That's the the foolishness of the crowd.
00:36:33.199 --> 00:36:39.760
And the foolishness of the crowd is on display here when they're chanting, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him.
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:42.079
You whip that crowd into a frenzy.
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:45.760
I'd be scared if I was there.
00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:47.599
Going back to I would be scared.
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:50.079
Who was gonna say, oh, everyone's healing crucified?
00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:52.320
No, we're releasing it.
00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:53.119
Yeah.
00:36:55.039 --> 00:36:57.920
Pilate also is, I'm sure Pilate is scared.
00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:01.280
It's Pilate's one job to keep the peace, Pax Romana.
00:37:01.519 --> 00:37:06.880
Like, as a Roman official, he knows the one thing he cannot have is a riot.
00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:09.920
You know what happens if there's a riot in Jerusalem?
00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:12.639
Pilate loses his job, right?
00:37:12.880 --> 00:37:21.920
And and Rome hears about it a week or two later, and they send the troops and they snuff out the riot and they put it in place a new governor.
00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:25.360
So so Pilate is like up here sweating, I think.
00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:26.719
What do I okay?
00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:28.719
The the crowd, this is what the crowd wants.
00:37:28.800 --> 00:37:30.880
I have to give the crowd what they want, right?
00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:32.159
Here's here's what he says.
00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:33.599
For the third time he spoke to them.
00:37:33.679 --> 00:37:33.920
Why?
00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:35.679
What crime has this man committed?
00:37:35.840 --> 00:37:41.679
I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty, therefore I will have him punished and then release him.
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:51.280
But with loud shouts, they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:53.199
I mean, there it is.
00:37:53.760 --> 00:37:56.480
The crowd gets what the crowd wants.
00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:00.559
So how is the fluid spectrum to Bible?
00:38:01.280 --> 00:38:09.440
Well, in that's in the Gospel of John, Pilate's wife has this dream, and she says, have nothing to do with this innocent man.
00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:19.039
And so he's kind of shaking, like, okay, uh, my wife is saying, she said to me before I went to work this morning, have nothing to do with an innocent man.
00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:26.800
And then he's talking to this guy, and Jesus, look, I didn't, I wasn't alive 2,000 years ago.
00:38:27.199 --> 00:38:38.800
But I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Jesus' personality, that his personhood was infectious, that when he walked in a room, you just felt the love.
00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:40.239
You saw the kindness.
00:38:40.320 --> 00:38:44.159
I never you saw the kindness and the joy in his eyes.
00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:48.800
And I think, if I'm just guessing, this is way extra biblical.
00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:57.119
My own creative, I think when Pilate looks at Jesus, he can't help but think, holy smokes, there's something special there.
00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:59.599
And his wife is saying there's something special there.
00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:07.840
And when the parents like who wants to go with God of Matthew, yeah, yeah, that was for different reasons.
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:08.079
Yeah.
00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:09.119
Right.
00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:10.079
Right.
00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:12.400
Yeah, yeah.
00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:20.320
Oh, there's always in in these types of stories, there's always a home life behind the scenes that that plays into it too.
00:39:20.400 --> 00:39:21.039
Yeah.
00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:21.920
Mm-hmm.
00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:26.559
Okay, so their shouts prevailed.
00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:30.559
Verse 24, so Pilate decided to grant their demand.
00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:37.519
He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for.
00:39:38.239 --> 00:39:41.119
And he surrendered Jesus to their will.
00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:44.480
This is the will of humanity.
00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:51.920
From the very beginning, we have given, been given free will by God.
00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:56.400
And if you go back to the first, this is the story the Bible is saying.
00:39:56.559 --> 00:40:10.480
You go back to the first human beings, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and they have a choice to become more than what they are, to eat from the fruit, to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
00:40:10.800 --> 00:40:13.840
And the temptation is to become more than human.
00:40:15.440 --> 00:40:18.320
They take it, they eat it.
00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:24.480
They want those nutrients, those supplements, that extra juz, that artificial intelligence.
00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:25.599
They want it.
00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:28.880
They want to be more than what they are.
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:37.920
It's human desire, it's human ingenuity, it's human adaptability, it's it's we want to be great.
00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:41.760
We want to be great, we want to be God.
00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:48.800
And from there on, I mean they have children.
00:40:49.360 --> 00:40:51.679
And you see violence.
00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:57.360
When greatness is at stake, human beings turn to violence.
00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:04.800
Cain and Abel cannot live in a world where one of them is more blessed than the other.
00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:11.519
They can't live in that world, and a brother kills a brother, and the blood cries out from the soil.
00:41:11.679 --> 00:41:19.760
Look at what humanity will become, following their own will, not God's will.
00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:26.960
So Pilate surrendered Jesus to their will.
00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:40.320
Let's pause there this week, reflect on your will, God's will, what might it look like to uh have a God who surrenders to humanity's will.
00:41:40.639 --> 00:41:42.239
What does that mean?
00:41:42.800 --> 00:41:46.159
Why why is that so powerful and meaningful?
00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:55.679
God would, with open hands, walk in to the midst of humanity and say, in the fullness of time, do with me what you want.
00:41:56.800 --> 00:42:01.360
I mean, it's it's exactly what humanity is supposed to be saying to God.
00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:08.000
You know, we approach God and we say, God, do with me what you would what you would do.
00:42:09.119 --> 00:42:17.679
Again, Jesus is just, God is just modeling for humanity exactly what we're supposed to be as a fully human being, you know.
00:42:17.920 --> 00:42:20.159
And uh, and so think about that this week.
00:42:20.239 --> 00:42:24.960
And when we come back next week, we'll read about the crucifixion of Jesus.
00:42:25.280 --> 00:42:27.199
Grace and peace, everybody.
00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:10.400
So we're starting to read Luke chapter 23, and so far in the last two chapters, uh everything is coming to a head, right?
00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:18.800
In in Luke 21, Jesus is talking about the signs of the times and the end of the world, as if everything is going to collapse soon.
00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:24.800
And then in Luke chapter 22, Jesus gathers his disciples around what we would call the Last Supper.
00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:38.479
It's the Passover celebration, and he breaks bread and he gives them the cup and he says, something new is being inaugurated in this ritual feast.
00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.200
Something new is going to happen.
00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:47.679
And then, of course, uh from there he heads out to the Mount of Olives where he prays.
00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:54.719
And while he's praying, Judas arrives and betrays him with a band of guards and soldiers.
00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:13.040
And they take Jesus in the middle of the night, and they take him to the high the chief priests or the high priest's house, and he's in jail, and he's being put on trial by the most powerful people in that area.
00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:18.319
Um, and uh and his trial continues today.
00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:27.359
Uh so he's going to be dragged before Pilate and Herod, not just the religious leaders.
00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:32.159
So let's pray, and then um we'll start reading.
00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:37.280
Oh God, we thank you for a chance to read Luke chapter 23 today.
00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:49.680
Uh as these verses wash over our hearts, our minds, our souls, may they move us, challenge us, shape us.
00:01:50.000 --> 00:02:12.800
We prayerfully enter Luke 23 with an open heart, longing to know you more, dear Jesus, hoping to see you and get a glimpse of what it is that you're doing for us and for all of humanity and for all of creation in this great climactic scene.
00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:21.039
May your word be our guide, may your spirit be our teacher, and may the glory of Jesus be our greatest concern.
00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:22.000
Amen.
00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:24.719
Luke twenty-three.
00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:33.360
Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate.
00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:40.960
So Jesus has been on a bit of a trial scene in a in a bit of a trial.
00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:48.479
Uh at daybreak, the council of the elders of the people, the chief priests, the teachers of the law, they met together, and Jesus is brought before them.
00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:53.919
They're concerned to see if he's the Messiah, which would be a title for a king, right?
00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:55.680
They are not kings.
00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:01.840
They are priests, and they are Pharisees, and they are elders, and they are teachers, they are not kings.
00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.039
They're curious if he is king Messiah, right?
00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:12.080
Um, and and they ask if he's the son of God, and he says, You say I am.
00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:16.080
So so they're concerned about Jewish titles.
00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:18.639
Messiah, son of God.
00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:20.960
This is Jewish business.
00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:30.080
Why in the world would they drag him before a totally different court system?
00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:31.680
Pilate.
00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:34.080
Who is Pilate?
00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:36.159
Is Pilate Jewish?
00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:39.360
No, Pilate is Roman.
00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:53.680
This is like let's say you have an issue with uh let's say you have an issue with our church, and you have an opportunity to have uh a fair trial before the council of of St.
00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.280
Paul's United Church of Christ, and then all of a sudden the council of St.
00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:00.639
Paul's United Church of Christ says, you know what, we're gonna take you over to the county.
00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:02.639
It's like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:04.400
My issue is with the church.
00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:09.039
Why are we going to the county or to the state or to the feds?
00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:10.560
Like, what are we doing here?
00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.080
Why the shift?
00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:14.240
Why bring him before Pilate?
00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:16.800
Because he's holding the number over all of them.
00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:19.680
You know, like with a fed world or something.
00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:23.279
They want to get rid of him and they don't have the authority to do it.
00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:27.519
They want to get rid of him and they're looking for somebody to do their dirty work.
00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:29.519
That's a big part of this.
00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:37.040
They're also, and this is just how humanity works, and this is so sad.
00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:49.120
The Jewish Messiah is a king from the descendancy of David, based on the eternal covenant that God makes with King David.
00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:55.040
Why does that have to fit into the politics of the day?
00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:55.839
Right?
00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:58.160
Messiah is king.
00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:08.319
Now they're defining king in the terms of the government that's controlling and operating within their worldview.
00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:09.040
Right?
00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:11.279
And they see a connection there.
00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:19.519
Part of why Rome should care about a messianic movement is Rome is king, thank you very much.
00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:24.000
Unless Rome sets in place client kings, which are basically the kings they pick.
00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.240
That's what they have governing this area.
00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:31.199
They have a governor, Pilate, they've got a client king like Herod Antipas, right?
00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:41.360
Why does it have to fit into that worldview in order for it to be, you know, a thing?
00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:53.360
When we think of the Messiah as a king of the whole universe, I think we limit ourselves if we define it in worldly political terms.
00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:57.519
And that's part of the conversation Jesus has with Pilate in the Gospel of John.
00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:01.680
He says to Pilate, literally, My kingdom is not of this world.
00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:08.959
If my kingdom were of this world, boy, we'd have a war and you'd get smeared.
00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:11.680
But my kingdom's not of this world.
00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:24.079
It's as if Jesus is just the kind of king that doesn't even fit the definition that we have used for governor or king or emperor.
00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:25.920
It just doesn't fit that category.
00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:38.160
That category is far too small, far too human, far too worldly for this otherworldly anti-king, king of the whole universe, Jesus.
00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:42.480
So it's important that he goes before Pilate.
00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:46.800
They're doing the wrong thing.
00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:59.439
God is doing the right thing, redefining for God's people what real kingship is by allowing this kind of trial to unfold.
00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:02.879
Okay, we'll go to the political sphere, not the religious sphere.
00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:07.040
In the ancient world, it wasn't necessarily a division between politics and religion.
00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:08.240
It was messier.
00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:09.759
There weren't those clear lines.
00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:18.160
But uh in this case, it's got to go into that sphere of politics, of empire.
00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:22.319
Okay, so the whole assembly led him off to Pilate.
00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:29.680
And they began to accuse him, saying, We have found this man subverting our nation.
00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:38.720
Again, here's this phrase nation, not the people of God, which is a diaspora people who live all over the planet, subverting this nation.
00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:46.399
He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.
00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:47.199
Interesting.
00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:49.600
What do you think Pilate would care about?
00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:51.439
The rules of the empire.
00:07:51.600 --> 00:08:00.160
He's gonna care about a king, he's gonna care about taxes, he's gonna care about the nation over which they rule.
00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:01.279
Huh.
00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:03.519
No language of son of God.
00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:06.160
You know, where did that theological title go?
00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:07.120
Right?
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.360
So Pilate asked Jesus, Are you the king of the Jews?
00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.639
You have said so, Jesus replied.
00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:24.959
Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, I find no basis for a charge against this man.
00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:27.519
Notice the insertion of the crowd now.
00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:29.920
What crowd is this?
00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:33.200
This has moved before Pilate.
00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:35.360
It is in broad daylight.
00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:37.840
There is now a crowd gathering.
00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:39.679
Who is this crowd?
00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:42.320
And that's an interesting question to ask.
00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:47.679
Earlier, Judas shows up with a crowd in the middle of the night and they arrest Jesus.
00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:50.159
This crowd is bigger.
00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:52.639
This crowd is more general than that.
00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:58.960
This is the same types of crowds that gathered for the temple festivities.
00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:01.759
It's the crowds that are in town for the Passover.
00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:09.120
It's some of the some of the people in this crowd are from the crowd that are chanting, you know, Alleluia and Hosanna.
00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:15.279
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord when Jesus triumphally entered Jerusalem.
00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:22.720
This is the everyday ordinary person, the crowd, is picking up the story here.
00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:27.360
And Pilate is asking the chief priests and the crowd.
00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:28.879
He's going to talk to both.
00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:32.639
And it's just interesting to see what people think.
00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:38.399
The leadership of the Jewish religion, but then also the crowds of people.
00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:44.799
What do they think about this Jesus, about this form of Messiah, about this God?
00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:51.200
There were some people there that supported the light of blood.
00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:55.360
Oh yeah.
00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:56.559
Yeah.
00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:05.039
Yeah.
00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:05.840
Yeah.
00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:06.960
Could be.
00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:09.840
Yeah.
00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:15.120
Yeah.
00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.480
And you know we took it, they took all their guards, but they're too.
00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:18.960
Oh yeah.
00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:20.080
Right.
00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:23.360
So then you gather people see what's going on.
00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:24.399
Yeah.
00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:34.240
Also, remember, there's no like news media to tell you whose side are you on and to say which crowd is here.
00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:37.039
What is what's gathering the crowd?
00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:38.399
The gossip network.
00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:46.480
And I would imagine every player here is trying to gossip their story to get the crowd out there.
00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:54.320
So there's probably Jesus followers, Jesus sympathizers, people interested in Jesus in this crowd.
00:10:54.720 --> 00:11:05.440
Uh there's also probably people who are loyalists to Rome in this crowd, non-Jewish people who are here just because how cool, let's go visit the city.
00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:09.840
And, you know, there's also probably people who are just loyal to the temple.
00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.679
Devout Jewish folks who they like the way it is.
00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:18.399
At least the emperor gives us permission to worship in our temple.
00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:23.039
And they, you know, they're there sympathetic to the temple.
00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:28.320
You know, there's probably a lot of people here, and it's a diverse group.
00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:36.559
So Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, I find no basis for a charge against this man.
00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:41.759
I don't know what homework he's done, but he doesn't like the charges they're bringing.
00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:43.759
But they insisted.
00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:48.320
He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching.
00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:53.679
He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.
00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:59.919
Uh why would the detail Galilee be interesting to Pilate?
00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:02.080
Where is Pilate's territory?
00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:03.519
Does anybody know?
00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:07.919
So Pilate's territory is Judea.
00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:12.799
He is uh the the governor of the basically the capital.
00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:16.159
Is Galilee in the capital region?
00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:19.039
No, it's further north.
00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:31.919
And so he hears that a neighboring area governed by somebody else could could have some stakes in this uh conversation.
00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:49.200
So on hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean, and when he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Jesus to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:51.360
Which Herod is this?
00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:57.120
Which Herod is this?
00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:58.799
Is this Herod the Great?
00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:03.600
This is Herod Antipas.
00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:05.759
It's one of Herod the Great's sons.
00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:09.440
Is Herod Antipas great?
00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:11.200
No, he's an idiot.
00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:13.039
He he was a bad king.
00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:15.039
Herod the Great wasn't so great.
00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:17.279
He was actually Herod the Horrible.
00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:26.240
And he, when his sons become rulers, none of them are politically savvy enough to handle what Rome had tasked Herod the Great with.
00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:38.159
So they break the kingdom up into four regions and they end up needing to put in their own Roman governor to handle the most sensitive spot, Judah Judea.
00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:40.240
Herod Antipas is up north.
00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:46.960
Herod Antipas is the guy who had John the Baptizer arrested and beheaded.
00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:53.360
Herod Antipas has heard about this Jesus and is sort of interested in him.
00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:56.879
He is curious.
00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:58.480
We don't know why.
00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:01.039
Maybe he's curious because he's just heard the story.
00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:02.399
He's far enough north.
00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:08.000
He's a petty enough king to be interested in a guy who's got some superpowers.
00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:16.960
When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased because for a long time he had wanted to see him.
00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:24.639
From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort.
00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:26.240
He wants a magic show.
00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:34.879
He's heard that this guy's fed thousands of hungry people, that he can take bread and multiply it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all across the crowd.
00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:45.200
That he could take somebody who can't walk and say, get up, and all of a sudden the the person can walk around and that he's taken dead people and raised them.
00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:47.360
Maybe he's a necromancer.
00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:50.240
So he wants to see a sign.
00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:58.799
He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.
00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:04.799
Why does Jesus continue to not answer?
00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:11.840
Does he not want to incriminate himself?
00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:15.759
He's just refusing to play the game.
00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:21.120
You know there's a game he's not playing the game.
00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:22.559
What's that?
00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:26.240
He knows what his game is and his open is going to be played.
00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:32.159
And so he's not giving him an energy way.
00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:48.720
It does seem like he's he's opening himself up to a plan larger than himself.
00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:59.200
That he's he's not taking every effort to manipulate his circumstances and get himself out or convince anybody of who he is.
00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:02.799
He has let his actions speak for themselves.
00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:06.480
He has let his teachings speak for themselves.
00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:11.039
His word will not be amplified in this moment.
00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:15.919
His word is everything he's taught and everything he's spoken in public.
00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:24.879
And his identity is who he is and who he has always been from that time he was born as a baby in Bethlehem until now.
00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:30.240
And he's not gonna let the court records define who he is.
00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:41.200
He's gonna let his activity and his action, and he has given himself a fair shot at showing the world that he is the true Messiah, that he is the hope for salvation.
00:16:41.440 --> 00:17:00.720
And now he's almost leaving it in humanity's hands and also leaving it in God, his father's hands, to let you said, his fate unfold, or let God's purposes unfold, or or let humanity make the wrong choice so that God's purposes can unfold.
00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.279
Yeah, something like that's going on.
00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:05.920
Jesus gave him no answer.
00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:13.200
Verse 30, the chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there vehemently accusing him.
00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:29.839
When Herod and his soldiers, then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him, dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.
00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.519
That day Herod and Pilate became friends.
00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.559
Before this they had been enemies.
00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.759
Why are Herod and Pilate friends now?
00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:45.519
They have a common enemy.
00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:48.079
Why were they enemies before?
00:17:51.519 --> 00:18:05.599
Yeah, one's got a little piece of a kingdom, one's got a little piece of a kingdom, they're neighboring rulers, and uh, you know, Herod, Antipas, probably hates Pilate because he wishes he was more like Daddy and got to rule Daddy's whole territory.
00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:09.039
Pilate, meanwhile, knows the truth about the whole Herod family.
00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.680
It's like these idiots were just put in as client kings.
00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:18.079
I just want to go back to Milan and be in charge of a different, you know, group of soldiers, and they hated each other.
00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:20.559
But now they're friends, they have a common enemy.
00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:38.079
You know, the later Luke will describe that the the gift of the Holy Spirit is to unite people in Christ, that that diverse groups of people are united to the cause of love in Christ.
00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:40.559
And I think this is the inverse of that.
00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:43.119
This is a warped and twisted spirit.
00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:58.160
This is an evil kind of spirit that's taking two people who are political adversaries and uniting them for a common cause that benefits them and eradicates their enemy.
00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:01.920
And it's unfortunately, it happens a lot today.
00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:05.039
Why do nations become united?
00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:06.000
Right?
00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:15.519
And at our best, we are united for things like, you know, the Olympics or like the World Cup has unfolded this summer.
00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:20.480
And I I've heard people say up to four billion people were watching the World Cup.
00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:30.720
And in the spirit of sporthood, uh, you know, Argentina and Spain, they hate each other, but they also respect each other.
00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:33.920
And they love the game that's being played.
00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:37.200
England and France love the game.
00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:41.200
Harry Kane and Mbappe, they love the game that's being played.
00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:44.960
Watching these wonderfully gifted athletes perform.
00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:47.519
In the Olympics, you see the same kind of thing.
00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:52.640
You're rooting for your own cause or your own team or your own athlete.
00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:59.519
And yet there's a commonality and there's a unity there that is it's competitive, but it's respectful.
00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:03.680
And it and there's a dignity and a goodness there.
00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:10.240
And then in geopolitics, outside of sports, it's just kind of the opposite, isn't it?
00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:13.759
Nations are allied with nations that benefit themselves.
00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.400
You don't see a lot of nations.
00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:31.200
Sometimes you get small examples of this, but you don't see a lot of nations just taking another nation under their wing saying, we're gonna be buds, we're gonna, we're gonna work together, we're gonna be allies so that I can help you.
00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:32.799
Well, what do you get out of it?
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:33.200
Nothing.
00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:35.039
You know, you just don't see that.
00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:36.960
And that's what's happening here.
00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:42.079
Herod and Pilate get something out of this, a common enemy.
00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:46.319
And it's sad that the world operates this way, but it does.
00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:52.799
Verse 13, Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people.
00:20:53.680 --> 00:21:01.200
And he said to them, You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion.
00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:02.400
Is that what they said?
00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.119
That he was inciting people to rebellion?
00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:07.039
That's what he heard.
00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:17.680
Messiah, Messianic movement, an anti-Roman king who's drawing people from Galilee into this region to bring about a rebellion.
00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:29.759
I have examined him in your presence, and have found no basis for your charges against him.
00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:34.960
Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us.
00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:40.559
As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.
00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:45.039
Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.
00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:56.559
Herod and Pilate have a common enemy, they also have a common concern, and that is that the crowds will not like the death of this particular prophet.
00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.519
Jesus did a lot of good things in Galilee.
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.640
There's a lot of those villages that love him.
00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:13.759
There's some villages that didn't turn to him, but he worked the town after town after town after town, and a grassroots movement in Galilee has taken place.
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:16.799
And Herod's got to go rule that territory.
00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:24.640
And he doesn't want 62% of his people that he rules pissed off that Jesus has been killed.
00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:29.680
So they've got a common enemy, Jesus, but they also have a common cause, which is keep the peace.
00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:32.240
So they want to punish Jesus and release him.
00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:40.480
You look at the legal band dress and up and overcome.
00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:57.599
Here was some anthems walking around and um and that Tyler and Harry both were don't get the dress, except how they're this man with a commoner.
00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:01.119
Yeah.
00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:05.039
And he said, no, he can't be because he doesn't dress that way.
00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:07.359
And he doesn't look that way, he just doesn't care.
00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:08.240
Yeah.
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:13.039
Yeah, I uh so there I think there's two or three layers of meaning here.
00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:17.200
So the the the question is about the elegant garments or the elegant clothing.
00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:19.519
First of all, who dresses him up that way?
00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:21.680
It is Herod's soldiers.
00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:31.039
So this is Rome defining who he is and saying, okay, if he's gonna call himself a messiah, we'll make him look like a king.
00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:32.240
Purple robe.
00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:40.880
Purple is the the you know color of royalty because it's so darn hard in the ancient world to dye things purple.
00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:42.000
It's really expensive.
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:52.000
They get their purple dye from the snails in certain parts of the shores of Greece, and and they don't, it's not readily available to everyone.
00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:58.960
So uh dress him up in some elegant clothing and and that signifies that he's somebody important.
00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:01.039
Jesus hasn't done this for himself.
00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:04.559
Humanity is putting that expectation on him.
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:09.680
And the irony is like this is actually what humanity wants.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:12.480
Humanity wants a ruler who looks like a ruler.
00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:14.480
They don't want a ruler in rags.
00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:21.839
Humanity wants a king who kicks butt and looks great, you know, on the front page of the news the next day.
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:28.400
They don't want a king who is muddied and brutalized and beaten and hanging on a cross.
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:36.079
How many, you know, kids are gonna go and buy Mbappe jerseys this week?
00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:40.640
After France lost to England 6-4.
00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:44.960
I checked out the Nike website.
00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:48.400
All of the jerseys are on sale right now.
00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:51.200
Why are all the jerseys on sale?
00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:54.400
Nobody wants a loser.
00:24:55.440 --> 00:25:02.160
He won the golden boot or whatever it's called, but still, you know, nobody wants a loser.
00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:10.799
And so part of this is just a mirror being held up to humanity saying, Gosh, why is it that you love kings who wear purple?
00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:16.400
Why is it that you want a ruler who looks like a ruler?
00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.400
In our country, it would be, why do you want a president that looks like a president?
00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:21.279
You know?
00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:24.079
It's it's weird, isn't it?
00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:35.599
It's kind of so the clothing, uh he is he is the true king, and there's an irony that they're putting that upon him.
00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:38.880
It's interesting to note that the soldiers are the ones putting that on him.
00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:42.559
You know, Jesus' followers aren't choosing that, and Jesus himself isn't choosing it.
00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:48.640
Jesus is accepting the identity that they would want to put on him, which is ironic.
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:55.920
And what are and and why are the soldiers actually doing it?
00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:01.359
For the worst reasons, because they're, excuse my French, they're assholes.
00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:03.200
They're mocking him.
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:05.279
They're just being mean.
00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:12.799
They dress him up like a king so that when they beat the crap out of him, they get to beat the crap out of a king.
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:14.319
How fun is that?
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:19.920
It's not so fun to beat the crap out of a homeless guy who's wearing rags.
00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:21.359
That's just ugly.
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:25.519
But you dress him up like a king, that's a lot more fun to hit.
00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:28.160
And that's just gross, isn't it?
00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:37.440
I mean, that so there's just the level of why are human beings, not all of us, some of us, so darn violent and mean.
00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:39.279
We're bullies.
00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:41.279
There's a lot of us who are bullies.
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:41.920
Why?
00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:43.359
They get something out of it.
00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:46.160
We're grasping at any power we can get.
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:48.079
It's a power move.
00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:48.400
Yeah.
00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:51.440
Yeah.
00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:52.319
Yep.
00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:54.720
Boy, this beats a day in the office.
00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:57.759
We get to dress up a puppet and hit him, you know?
00:26:57.920 --> 00:26:59.359
They're just jerks.
00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:01.119
Yeah.
00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:05.519
Some people like to look back on these scenes and they want to point a finger.
00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:08.640
Who do we blame for the death of Jesus?
00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:15.200
Some people, and this trends towards anti-Semitism, they want to blame the Jewish people for the death of Jesus.
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:20.880
And I just get skeptical of that because I'm reading this and there's you can point a lot of fingers.
00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:22.319
It's not just the crowds.
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:25.519
By the way, those crowds were more than just Jewish people, right?
00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:30.720
It's also the soldiers who are being jerks, it's also the leaders who are corrupt.
00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:34.000
It's also, you know, the empire.
00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:39.519
If you want to blame someone for killing Jesus, you blame humanity.
00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:46.079
And if you want to get really, really challenging, you blame God.
00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:48.799
God is overseeing this.
00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:54.559
Why is God allowing humanity to be so brutal to God's own son?
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:57.839
What is God trying to prove?
00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:02.480
He's trying to save humanity.
00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:12.799
He's waving the white flag, offering his own self to us, and watch what we're choosing to do.
00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:30.240
So Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers of the people, and said to them, You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion, but I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him, neither is Herod, for he has sent him back to us.
00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:36.880
As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death, therefore I will punish him and release him.
00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:39.440
Verse 18.
00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:47.920
But the whole crowd shouted, Away with this man, release Barabbas to us.
00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:56.240
Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city and for murder.
00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:58.880
Why is Barabbas in jail?
00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:02.559
He's not a crook.
00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:06.799
Okay, he killed somebody, but who did he kill?
00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:11.359
Barabbas is going full Moses, right?
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:28.880
He walks into Jerusalem, sees his people being oppressed by the not Egypt this time, but Rome, and he kills maybe a soldier who's harassing one of his beloved Jewish brothers, and he's in jail for insurrection.
00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:33.200
This is a messianic movement.
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:38.960
Barabbas was a part of a messianic movement trying to drive out the evil overlords.
00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:52.559
And the crowd has a choice between two messiahs, between Jesus, Messiah from a whole nother world, that's going to save the whole world with light and goodness and love and non-violence and peace.
00:29:53.279 --> 00:30:02.720
Or a messiah who knows how to come into a city and kick some butt and actually will kill in order to get what he wants.
00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:04.480
Who will the crowd choose?
00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:08.559
That's what they wanted.
00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:19.359
Dude, if this guy can raise the dead, wait till he pulls out his mega robot with you know swords and nuclear weapons.
00:30:19.680 --> 00:30:25.440
Like, my goodness, people have been waiting for Jesus to become Ninja Jesus.
00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:28.000
And and he's not?
00:30:28.160 --> 00:30:30.480
He's not even defending himself on trial.
00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:32.799
Uh, maybe this is not the guy we thought.
00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:35.200
When is he gonna become like David?
00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:37.839
At least give this guy a slingshot, right?
00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:39.920
And he just doesn't.
00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:43.279
He's just he's weak.
00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:46.160
He's so weak.
00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:53.920
When you get down to it, do you vote for who is weak?
00:30:55.519 --> 00:31:00.400
When you get down to it, do you vote for the guy who is going to lose?
00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:10.000
The guy who doesn't defend himself, the guy who he won't even take matters into his own hands.
00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.319
They vote for Barabbas.
00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:17.759
Somebody who's actually gonna get them what they want.
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:21.039
Freedom from these darn oppressors.
00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:27.519
There's no possible way that Jesus, the path he's walking down, gets them anything.
00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:30.240
He hasn't killed anybody.
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:31.680
He's gonna die.
00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:32.319
Right?
00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:36.240
Or he's gonna get beat up and let go, but what difference does that make?
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:38.480
We're here to watch the fireworks, people.
00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:41.680
We're here for freedom and rebellion and insurrection.
00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:46.799
I wouldn't either.
00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:49.119
I'd be skeptical of that.
00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:54.240
So Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city.
00:31:54.319 --> 00:32:01.519
This is the same charge that Herod is saying Jesus is here inciting the people to rebellion.
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:06.400
Inciting the people to rebellion, insurrection in the city, same exact charge.
00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:10.400
Right.
00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:14.160
And Jesus is a Messiah unlike every other Messiah.
00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:16.559
He's just not gonna fit those categories.
00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:20.559
If he's causing insurrection, it's a pretty peaceful insurrection.
00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:25.920
The most violent at God is he threw over some tables of some greedy people, you know.
00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:31.680
Well, wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again.
00:32:31.839 --> 00:32:54.319
You get this sense, especially in John's version, that Pilate, as he talks to Jesus, and because of Pilate's wife, partly, she has this dream about who this Jesus is, but you get the sense in John's gospel at least, that Pilate is scared and spooked about this super weird guy that doesn't seem to check the boxes.
00:32:55.039 --> 00:33:00.720
And it's just a little bit like, uh, I want to get rid of you, I want to wash my hands of you.
00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:04.559
This seems like it could slip off the hillside quickly.
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:10.319
Uh, too many people are invested in this, and he just he's a coward and he's afraid.
00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:12.079
And this one, it's a little different.
00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:16.400
We're not sure exactly why, but he definitely wants to release Jesus.
00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:23.359
Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again, but they kept shouting, crucify him, crucify him.
00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:25.759
Now, who is shouting, crucify him?
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:28.240
It's the crowd, it's everyone.
00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:37.599
There is everyone's humanity's witness against Jesus when given a choice is kill that man.
00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:41.519
He's not going to give us what we want.
00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:42.640
Kill him.
00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:45.039
This is God's play.
00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:47.599
This is God's big dramatic moment.
00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:54.400
God refuses to coerce or manipulate humanity by salvation.
00:33:55.039 --> 00:33:59.440
Instead, God offers himself humbly to humanity in love.
00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:23.519
And anybody, a thousand years from now, when this is unfolding, two thousand years from when this was unfolding, like us today, any of us reading this story, my goodness, how powerful does your heart just want to take the side of the one who is weak, of the one who is wrongfully imprisoned, of the one who is, it's not his.
00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:25.679
Come on, you're making the wrong choice.
00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:30.960
But if any of us were there that day, we probably would have been chanting crucify him.
00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:32.159
Or at least keep quiet.
00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:33.599
Or at least keep quiet.
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:35.039
At least keep quiet.
00:34:35.199 --> 00:34:36.000
For fear.
00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:37.440
Yep.
00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:40.800
The opposite of faith is not doubt.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:42.639
Faith and doubt are dance partners.
00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:43.519
They go hand in hand.
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:45.679
Go ahead and doubt, ask big questions.
00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:46.400
That's good.
00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:48.559
The opposite of faith is fear.
00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:51.440
And I would have been trembling that day.
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:55.519
I would have quietly voted, release Jesus, not Barabbas.
00:34:55.599 --> 00:35:03.199
But I would have been afraid to stand up and convince the crowd, especially when the horde starts chanting crucify him.
00:35:04.239 --> 00:35:34.079
When a crowd turns bad, when a crowd turns nasty, and you see this, like, you know, after a football game gets out, if you're, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine, if you're an England fan, or you're a France fan, and you go to that England-France game, that soccer match, you know, you take off your jersey and you walk out shirtless after that game because you don't want to be the guy with the Mbappe jersey on who just lost.
00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:38.639
Because some drunk English fans are gonna kick in your teeth.
00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:40.079
Or worse, you win.
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:41.199
You take off your jersey.
00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:43.840
I mean, like either way, crowds are crazy.
00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:50.000
I went to Lansing when Michigan State lost in the Final Four when I was 19 years old.
00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:59.599
People were throwing burning couches out of windows because they were pissed off that Michigan State lost in the basketball final four March Madness.
00:35:59.679 --> 00:36:03.519
I mean, the madness of a crowd is a real thing.
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:07.280
You know, look at what happened in the United States at January 6th, right?
00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:09.199
Madness is infectious.
00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:10.880
It just gets wild fast.
00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:12.239
It's like, why'd we do that?
00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:15.840
I don't know, somebody else was kicking in a window, so I did it too.
00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:18.000
You know, why'd you start the couch on fire?
00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:18.639
I don't know.
00:36:18.719 --> 00:36:21.440
It was just you go crazy when you're in a crowd.
00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:24.000
And here the crowd is going crazy.
00:36:24.320 --> 00:36:27.039
But they do it with the room, like when we're gonna do it.
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:27.840
Right.
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:32.639
That's the the foolishness of the crowd.
00:36:33.199 --> 00:36:39.760
And the foolishness of the crowd is on display here when they're chanting, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him.
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:42.079
You whip that crowd into a frenzy.
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:45.760
I'd be scared if I was there.
00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:47.599
Going back to I would be scared.
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:50.079
Who was gonna say, oh, everyone's healing crucified?
00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:52.320
No, we're releasing it.
00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:53.119
Yeah.
00:36:55.039 --> 00:36:57.920
Pilate also is, I'm sure Pilate is scared.
00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:01.280
It's Pilate's one job to keep the peace, Pax Romana.
00:37:01.519 --> 00:37:06.880
Like, as a Roman official, he knows the one thing he cannot have is a riot.
00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:09.920
You know what happens if there's a riot in Jerusalem?
00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:12.639
Pilate loses his job, right?
00:37:12.880 --> 00:37:21.920
And and Rome hears about it a week or two later, and they send the troops and they snuff out the riot and they put it in place a new governor.
00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:25.360
So so Pilate is like up here sweating, I think.
00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:26.719
What do I okay?
00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:28.719
The the crowd, this is what the crowd wants.
00:37:28.800 --> 00:37:30.880
I have to give the crowd what they want, right?
00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:32.159
Here's here's what he says.
00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:33.599
For the third time he spoke to them.
00:37:33.679 --> 00:37:33.920
Why?
00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:35.679
What crime has this man committed?
00:37:35.840 --> 00:37:41.679
I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty, therefore I will have him punished and then release him.
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:51.280
But with loud shouts, they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:53.199
I mean, there it is.
00:37:53.760 --> 00:37:56.480
The crowd gets what the crowd wants.
00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:00.559
So how is the fluid spectrum to Bible?
00:38:01.280 --> 00:38:09.440
Well, in that's in the Gospel of John, Pilate's wife has this dream, and she says, have nothing to do with this innocent man.
00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:19.039
And so he's kind of shaking, like, okay, uh, my wife is saying, she said to me before I went to work this morning, have nothing to do with an innocent man.
00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:26.800
And then he's talking to this guy, and Jesus, look, I didn't, I wasn't alive 2,000 years ago.
00:38:27.199 --> 00:38:38.800
But I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Jesus' personality, that his personhood was infectious, that when he walked in a room, you just felt the love.
00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:40.239
You saw the kindness.
00:38:40.320 --> 00:38:44.159
I never you saw the kindness and the joy in his eyes.
00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:48.800
And I think, if I'm just guessing, this is way extra biblical.
00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:57.119
My own creative, I think when Pilate looks at Jesus, he can't help but think, holy smokes, there's something special there.
00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:59.599
And his wife is saying there's something special there.
00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:07.840
And when the parents like who wants to go with God of Matthew, yeah, yeah, that was for different reasons.
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:08.079
Yeah.
00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:09.119
Right.
00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:10.079
Right.
00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:12.400
Yeah, yeah.
00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:20.320
Oh, there's always in in these types of stories, there's always a home life behind the scenes that that plays into it too.
00:39:20.400 --> 00:39:21.039
Yeah.
00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:21.920
Mm-hmm.
00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:26.559
Okay, so their shouts prevailed.
00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:30.559
Verse 24, so Pilate decided to grant their demand.
00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:37.519
He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for.
00:39:38.239 --> 00:39:41.119
And he surrendered Jesus to their will.
00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:44.480
This is the will of humanity.
00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:51.920
From the very beginning, we have given, been given free will by God.
00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:56.400
And if you go back to the first, this is the story the Bible is saying.
00:39:56.559 --> 00:40:10.480
You go back to the first human beings, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and they have a choice to become more than what they are, to eat from the fruit, to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
00:40:10.800 --> 00:40:13.840
And the temptation is to become more than human.
00:40:15.440 --> 00:40:18.320
They take it, they eat it.
00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:24.480
They want those nutrients, those supplements, that extra juz, that artificial intelligence.
00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:25.599
They want it.
00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:28.880
They want to be more than what they are.
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:37.920
It's human desire, it's human ingenuity, it's human adaptability, it's it's we want to be great.
00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:41.760
We want to be great, we want to be God.
00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:48.800
And from there on, I mean they have children.
00:40:49.360 --> 00:40:51.679
And you see violence.
00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:57.360
When greatness is at stake, human beings turn to violence.
00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:04.800
Cain and Abel cannot live in a world where one of them is more blessed than the other.
00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:11.519
They can't live in that world, and a brother kills a brother, and the blood cries out from the soil.
00:41:11.679 --> 00:41:19.760
Look at what humanity will become, following their own will, not God's will.
00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:26.960
So Pilate surrendered Jesus to their will.
00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:40.320
Let's pause there this week, reflect on your will, God's will, what might it look like to uh have a God who surrenders to humanity's will.
00:41:40.639 --> 00:41:42.239
What does that mean?
00:41:42.800 --> 00:41:46.159
Why why is that so powerful and meaningful?
00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:55.679
God would, with open hands, walk in to the midst of humanity and say, in the fullness of time, do with me what you want.
00:41:56.800 --> 00:42:01.360
I mean, it's it's exactly what humanity is supposed to be saying to God.
00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:08.000
You know, we approach God and we say, God, do with me what you would what you would do.
00:42:09.119 --> 00:42:17.679
Again, Jesus is just, God is just modeling for humanity exactly what we're supposed to be as a fully human being, you know.
00:42:17.920 --> 00:42:20.159
And uh, and so think about that this week.
00:42:20.239 --> 00:42:24.960
And when we come back next week, we'll read about the crucifixion of Jesus.
00:42:25.280 --> 00:42:27.199
Grace and peace, everybody.
