Good Friday
Jn
18:1-19:42
3/30/18
As we listen to our Gospel lesson
tonight, one can almost feel sorry for Pontius Pilate. For starters, Pilate didn’t even want to be
in Jerusalem. His residence as prefect
of the Roman province of Judea was at the palace that Herod the Great had built
in Caesarea, a city on the Mediterranean Sea.
Pilate wanted to be at the beach.
The last place he wanted to be that
week was in Jerusalem. Jerusalem during
the Passover was a city crowded with Jews.
Pilate was not a fan of the Jews – more on that in a moment. He didn’t want to be surrounded by them in their
city. But a large gathering of Jews
celebrating God’s rescue of Israel from a foreign oppressor was a dangerous
situation, and so each year the prefect came to Jerusalem with extra troops to
make sure that nothing unexpected happened.
Pilate didn’t want to be in Jerusalem. And now in the morning when the prefect did
business, the Jewish religious leaders summoned
Pilate to come out to them. They didn’t want to defile themselves by
entering into that Gentile setting.
No doubt Pilate wanted to ignore
their summons. He didn’t like the Jews
and treated them with contempt. When he
arrived as the prefect in 26 A.D. he had the Roman standards that were embossed
with figures of the emperor taken into Jerusalem. Previous prefects had avoided doing this
since they didn’t want to incite the Jews by bringing a sign of emperor worship
into the holy city. Pilate didn’t care …
until he realized that he had stirred up trouble that could easily turn into a
revolt. So he was forced to back down
and remove the standards. It was an incident that produced animosity between
Pilate and the Jewish religious leaders from the start.
Pilate didn’t want trouble. There were Jews who had connections back in
Rome. An embassy sent by them to the
emperor with charges against Pilate could result in his removal. So
Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against
this man?” Their response was less than forthcoming as they said, “If this man
were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”
Pilate was no fool. He knew that they wanted this man Jesus
dead. But they couldn’t do it
themselves. Like other areas of the empire, the Romans allowed the local
leaders to run daily affairs. In this
case, the Jews were able to administer their religious laws. However, the
Romans were in charge and so the Jews were not allowed to execute anyone.
Pilate had to play along with the
Jewish leaders. But he was going to
remind them who was the conqueror and who was the conquered. He said, “Take him yourselves and judge him
by your own law.” Grudgingly the Jews had to say to him, “It is not lawful for
us to put anyone to death.”
John tells us that this happened for
a reason. He says, “This
was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he
was going to die.” When Jesus had
entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday he said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what
shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come
to this hour.” Then later he added, “Now is the judgment of this world; now
will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all people to myself.” John explains, “He said this to show – literally ‘to
sign’ - by what kind of death he was going to die.” Jesus had declared that his saving action
would take place on the cross. That was
the reason Pontius Pilate was involved.
It didn’t
take long for Pilate to conclude that the accusation was about the leaders’
hatred of Jesus and not about anything Jesus had done. Pilate found nothing more than a deluded Jew
who said he was the king of a kingdom that was not in this world – a king who
had come to this world to bear witness to the truth.
Jesus had
done nothing worthy of death and he told the leaders this: “I find no guilt in
him.” He hoped to use a Passover custom
of releasing a prisoner to take care of the matter. But instead the leaders demanded Barabbas, a
robber. So Pilate had Jesus flogged and then brought Jesus out
dressed mockingly in a crown of thorns and a purple robe. He said, “See, I am bringing him out to you
that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” The leaders cried out, “Crucify
him, crucify him!” Pilate responded,
“Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
John tells
us that Pilate was trying to release Jesus. But finally the Jewish leaders
pushed him into a corner by playing the political card. They said, “If
you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a
king opposes Caesar.” Pontius Pilate
wasn’t going to risk his position over some Jew. So he delivered Jesus over to
be crucified.
Again and
again John’s Gospel tells us that even
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. Though by no means a paragon of virtue,
Pilate really tries to prevent Jesus from being killed. He finally gives up when that effort
threatens himself.
Of course,
Pilate did not fully understand how
innocent Jesus was. He did not
understand that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
He did not understand that Jesus is God in the flesh. The Son of God took on flesh in order to be
like us in all ways except for sin.
Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin
Mary. He was conceived and born without
sin. And then he lived without sin. He
lived in order to do the Father’s will.
Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to
accomplish his work.”
Jesus did
this because we aren’t. We aren’t
conceived and born without sin. Instead,
as Jesus said, “flesh gives birth to flesh.”
Sinful fallen nature produces more sinful fallen nature. That’s why no one has ever had to teach their
child to be angry or jealous or to lie.
It’s already inside each one of us from the moment we are
conceived. And as our abilities and
powers grow, so do our sins. We find new and inventive ways to reject God and
harm our neighbor.
Tonight we
remember that Jesus died on the cross for us.
At the beginning of this Gospel, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he
said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John compares Jesus to a sacrifice commanded
by the Torah. God had made a covenant
with Israel and had given the sacrifices as the means by which he dealt with
sin and gave forgiveness. Yet all of
those sacrifices pointed forward. The deaths
of all those animals and the shedding of their blood pointed to the cross of
Good Friday. Jesus died as the perfect
sacrifice for you, and not just for you but also for all people. The judgment of God against all sin fell upon
Jesus as he hung upon the cross.
This is
what the Son of God entered our world to do.
This is why he became man. He
became flesh to be nailed to a cross. In
the Gospel lesson we learn that at Jesus’ death he said, “It is finished.”
John records this in Greek using a form that indicates the present
result of a past action. Jesus’ saving
work on the cross stands completed. His
death occurred two thousand years ago, but its benefits continue now in the
present. You are the forgiven child of
God because of his suffering and death.
Death by crucifixion was a slow
process. It was a long, painful and
humiliating death. It was not uncommon
for it to last more than day. Typically
the Romans left the body on the cross to be eaten by birds. It was a billboard that said to all who
passed by: “Don’t mess with us.”
One thing that could hasten the
process was to shatter the legs of the victim so that they could no longer bear
any weight. Instead the arms and the
chest received all the stress and this led to asphyxiation as the person could
no longer gasp for breath.
John
tells us that on Friday afternoon the
Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken
away so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on Saturday, the
Sabbath. The soldiers did this to the
two criminals. John tells us, “But when
they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his
legs. But
one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out
blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness--his testimony is true, and he
knows that he is telling the truth--that you also may believe.”
In death, blood and water issued
forth from Jesus’ body. The Church has
always been reminded by this that the water of Holy Baptism and the blood of
the Sacrament of the Altar find their origin in Jesus crucified on Good
Friday. The death of Jesus on the cross
is the source of the forgiveness delivered by these Means of Grace. Through them there is certainty that the
salvation won on the cross by Jesus is yours.
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