Silence So Loud

Mark 15:1-20

Transcript

And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the
elders and scribes and the whole council, and they bound Jesus and led him away
and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, are you the king of the
Jews? And he answered him, you have said so. And the chief priests accused him
of many things. And Pilate again asked him, have you no answer to make? See how
many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further answer, so that
Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast, he used to release for them one prisoner
for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison who had committed murder in
the insurrection there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and
began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them
saying, do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews? For he perceived
that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the
chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas
instead. And Pilate again said to them, then what shall I do with the man you
call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, crucify him. And Pilate
said to them, why, what evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, crucify
him. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas. And
having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. And the soldiers led
him away inside the palace, that is the governor's headquarters. And they called
together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak and
twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him and they began to salute
him. Hail, king of the Jews. And they were striking his head with a reed and
spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked
him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And
they led him out to crucify him. The word of the Lord. Will you pray with me
this morning? Father, we come to a dark text. And we praise you that in this
darkness, we see Jesus shining the light on truth. Father, we praise you for our
Savior. And as we go through a familiar text, I pray that you would open our
eyes afresh to see your glory, and by seeing your glory, may we be changed.
Lord, I pray that you would mold us and make us more like Christ. That you would
give us a deeper affection for the Savior who suffered so that we might be
saved. So I pray that your Spirit would work among us this morning. For your
glory, for our good. In Jesus' name, amen. We come to the darkest day and the
darkest hour of human history. Now Christ said that this day would surely come.
In fact, three times in Mark's Gospel, Christ explicitly states that he would
suffer and die. In Mark 10, Christ said to his disciples, we are going up to
Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and
the scribes. They will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the
Gentiles. They will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And
after three days, he will rise. Now despite Christ's clear statements, the
disciples found this news hard to believe. Maybe Jesus was somehow speaking
metaphorically. I mean, granted, the leaders hated Jesus, but he had the support
of the crowds. They loved him. They adored him. In fact, just a few days before
this day, the crowds had lined the streets of Jerusalem as Jesus came into the
city, waving their palm branches as they cried, Hosanna, Son of David, blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They were amazed at his teachings. They
were amazed at his miracles. And they were ready to crown him as their king. But
at the very height of Jesus' popularity, things seemingly begin to unravel.
Judas, one of the 12, betrays Jesus to the religious leaders. The disciples in
fear run away. And Peter, who Jesus called the Rock, crumbles under pressure. In
a sham trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus is found guilty of blasphemy. And while
all of this is happening, Jesus did nothing. He didn't resist. He didn't defend
himself. He didn't fight back. The one who had saved others would not save
himself. The light had come into the world, but on this day, it seemed as though
the darkness had overcome it. But on this dark day, when the powers of hell were
unleashed, as the forces of evil wielded their full power, we see Jesus standing
courageous, silently submitting to the will of the Father. In verses 1 through
5, we see Jesus standing courageous before the corrupt. In 6 through 15, we see
Jesus standing courageous before the crowds. And then in verses 16 through 20,
we see Jesus standing courageous before the contemptible. So let's begin in 1
through 5, standing courageous before the corrupt. Scripture reads, as soon as
it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and the
scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and
delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, are you the king of the
Jews? And he answered him, you have said so. And the chief priests accused him
of many things. And Pilate again asked him, have you no answer to make? See how
many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further answer, so that
Pilate was amazed. Now, remember the context. The chief priests had been looking
actually for quite some time for an opportunity to destroy Jesus. But it was
Passover, and there's a lot of excitement and expectation. So clearly now was
not the time. Or was it? Well, there's a plot twist. Judas, who's one of the 12,
approaches the chief priests and agrees to betray Jesus for basically a couple
hundred bucks. And the priests agree. And so during the night when Jesus had
finished eating the Passover meal with his disciples, the religious leaders have
Jesus arrest. He stands before the council and they charge him as guilty of
blasphemy. Now, according to Jewish law, blasphemy was a punishment that was
worthy of death. But there was a slight problem because Israel couldn't operate
independently using their own law because they were currently under Roman rule
and they had to follow Roman laws. And according to Roman laws, the Jewish
leaders did not have the power to execute capital punishment, especially for a
crime like blasphemy that the Roman leaders could really frankly care less
about. And so in verse one, the leaders have to carefully consider what they are
going to do. The momentum seems to have shifted in their way, but they've got to
figure out how they can coerce Rome to crucify Jesus. And so after some careful
consideration, they decide to bring Jesus before the Roman governor, Pontius
Pilate, and accuse him not of blasphemy, because that really wouldn't be a big
deal, but rather of high treason, and that's a crime that the Romans simply
could not overlook. Now, Pilate was in Jerusalem to make sure that during this
time there were no riots, there were no revolts, it was the Passover season. So
you had lots of Jews who came to the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the
Passover. And of course, if you remember from the Old Testament, the Passover
was a celebration of deliverance. The people are looking to be delivered, so
there's a lot of tension in the air. So Rome's got to send their finest, Rome's
got to send their best to make sure there's no riots, no revolts, no problems.
So you have Pilate there, you have lots of soldiers there, to make sure the
crowd is kept in check. Now, when Pilate was in Jerusalem, he was governor over
Jerusalem, it was customary for him and other Roman governors to try criminal
cases early in the morning. So they'd wake up, try these criminal cases,
basically their day would end. Afterwards, they'd enjoy some leisure time and
activities in the afternoon. So early in the morning, in fact, the text says as
soon as it was early, as soon as it was morning, the leaders bind Jesus, they
lead him away, and they deliver him over to Pilate. They want to make sure that
they get a hearing and get this over with as soon as possible. Now, before we go
on into the actual courtroom, let's consider this person Pilate. Now, as a kid
growing up, I grew up in church and I obviously knew the stories about Pontius
Pilate, and I always thought of Pontius Pilate as this kind of like nice guy who
found himself in a tough situation. Like, poor guy, what's he going to do?
Pontius Pilate was not an innocent man who just suffered from a bad situation.
In fact, if we look at historians, Josephus, Philo, who had written about him
during that time, we see that he was an extremely corrupt leader. He's not a
good guy. He was cruel. He was stubborn. He hated, I mean hated the Jews, and
the feeling was mutual. His actions over the years had led to a number of large
Jewish protests, which nearly jeopardized his political career, and that's
important to consider as things begin to unfold. So, the Jewish leaders lead
Jesus into Pilate's presence, and they begin their accusations. In Luke chapter
23, the leaders say, we have found this man, Jesus, misleading our nation and
forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a
king. Now, Jesus had not misled the nation. Jesus certainly had not forbidden
them to give tribute to Caesar. In fact, if you recall, Jesus said, render to
Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but give to God what belongs to God. These are
blatantly false accusations, but it is true that Jesus declared himself as the
Christ. And so, this is the accusation that Pilate's kind of interested in. And
so, in verse 2, he asks Jesus, after the charge has been given, are you the king
of the Jews, or literally, do you make yourself out to be a king? Because if so,
his trial's over. Jesus responds with a simple and perhaps puzzling statement.
He says, you have said so. Now, John, the Gospel of John, records a little more
of the conversation. Initially, when Pilate asked Jesus if he was king of the
Jews, Jesus responded by asking this question. He said, do you say this of your
own accord, or did others say it to you about me? In other words, do you really
want to know the truth about who I am? Are you interested in the truth? And
Pilate responds, of course, with the legendary question, what is truth? What is
truth? So, Jesus, responding, you have said so, is a question. Will you consider
my claims? Do you agree that I am the Christ? Pilate essentially sees Jesus as a
philosopher. This is not someone who's a threat to Roman rule. And so, Pilate
declares Jesus as not guilty. But the chief priests aren't satisfied with
Pilate's assessment of the situation. And so, in verse three, they accuse him of
many things. He's a rebel rouser. He stirs up the people. The floodgate opens,
and all kinds of false and bogus accusations start pouring in. Now, if you have
ever been on the receiving end of a false accusation, you know how that feels.
The blood starts to boil. And if you're an Italian like me, I mean, it's really
boiling. And you get that urge, nope, not true. You stand up, you won't even let
that person finish that accusation. You're going to explain yourself. You're
going to defend yourself. You're not going to let that fly. That's how we
respond. But notice how Jesus responds. He doesn't defend himself. He doesn't
explain himself. In fact, he doesn't respond at all. He says nothing. Like
Isaiah 53, verse seven states, he was oppressed. He was afflicted. Yet, he
opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep
that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Before the
corrupt, Christ stood courageous, silently submitting to the will of the Father.
And as Pilate sees his courage, as he sees his resolve, as he sees his
unflinching confidence in the face of agonizing death, Pilate is amazed. He had
seen a thing or two in his day, but nothing like this, because this man was no
ordinary man, the Son of God, standing courageous in the face of the corrupt. In
verse six through 15, the scene shifts from before Pilate to now before the
crowds. And though the scene shifts, Christ's posture doesn't. He stood
courageous before the corrupt, and now he will stand courageous. Before the
crowds. Look with me at verses six through 15. Now at the feast, he, that is
Pilate, used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the
rebels in prison who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man
named Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he
usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, do you want me to release
for you the king of the Jews? For he perceived that it was out of envy that the
chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd
to have him released for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them,
then what shall I do with the man that you call the king of the Jews? And they
cried out, crucify him. And Pilate said to them, why? What evil has he done? But
they shouted all the more, crucify him. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd,
released for them Barabbas. And having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be
crucified. Now as the text notes, there was a custom of releasing a prisoner
during the Passover as a kind of a goodwill gesture to the people. Now there was
a prisoner named Barabbas who, unlike Jesus, was actually a threat to Roman
rule. During an insurrection, Barabbas murdered either a Roman soldier or a
Roman leader. We're not sure who, but in his rage against Rome, he's actually
murdering people. He is a threat. Now we don't know which specific insurrection
Mark is referring to. There were a number of them that had happened during that
day. But Mark's audience clearly understands which one he's talking about. So
the crowd comes to Pilate. Now at this point, Pilate doesn't want anything to do
with Jesus. He knows he's innocent. And he knows what's going on. The chief
priests don't care about Rome and its interests. They're doing what they're
doing out of envy. They're jealous because Jesus is popular and they are not. So
not only is Pilate aware of what's going on, but he's also afraid of what's
going on. The other gospels note that Pilate begins essentially to freak out
when he finds out that Jesus claims to be the Son of God. There was a lot of
superstition that was going on in that day. And so for someone that already had
impressed Pilate to have declared himself as the Son of God, this would have
been a bad omen. I can't, I don't want to mess with this guy. Something bad
could happen to me. His wife also had sent word to him saying, have nothing to
do with that righteous man. For I have suffered much because of him today in a
dream. So everything points to releasing Jesus. But how's he going to do that?
Well, here's his opportunity. He's thinking to himself, I can release Jesus
because it's my custom to release a prisoner during the Passover feast. And so
Pilate then gives this recommendation in verse nine. Or yeah, verse nine. He
says, he answered them, do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?
Surely the crowds would be good with that. Jesus is no threat. Jesus was a
beloved teacher. The crowds will respond positively, right? Well, that plan
backfires massively. The same crowds, think about this, the same crowds that not
even a week earlier had shouted, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord, they're now calling for the release of a murderer and the crucifixion
of the Messiah. The chief priests stir up the crowd and they cry out for
Barabbas' release. And it would appear as though Pilate was not prepared for
that response. And so he asked the crowd, what do you want me to do with Jesus
who is the Christ? Now, here is the man who has been entrusted with executing
justice. And he's yielding that to the crowds. Think of the irony here. The one
who claims to be sovereign is governed by the clouds. And the one who seems to
be at the whim of the crowds is actually reigning sovereign. And so the crowds
respond to Pilate by saying, crucify him, crucify him. You can almost feel just
the energy and the passion and the hatred of the crowds for Jesus. Pilate
reeling asks, well, why? Like, what's he done? But at this point, it doesn't
matter what Jesus had done or what Jesus had not done. The crowds shout all the
more, crucify him, crucify him. Only crucifixion, the worst possible death known
to humanity would satisfy this crowd's bloodthirsty lust. And so what does
Pilate do? In fear, he gives way to the whim of the people. Wishing to satisfy
them, wishing to make sure that his political career remained intact, he
releases Barabbas. He scourges Jesus and delivers him over. To be crucified. Now
that little phrase, he scourges Jesus, we could quickly read over that. As Mark
writes his gospel, he's not highlighting the physical agony that Jesus endured.
He's highlighting the agony of being separated from the Father. He's
highlighting the agony of the mockery and the hatred and the cruelty that Jesus
experienced. But make no mistake about it, scourging was a horrific punishment.
You can put the picture up on the board. The individual who was scourged would
be stripped naked, tied to a pole, and the Romans would begin to whip his back
with the idea of ripping off the very skin of the person who was guilty. At the
end of the whips, you would have pieces of bone and metal that would cut deep,
and as they whipped back, the flesh would be ripped off the victim. To be
scourged oftentimes led to the death of the prisoner. Jesus, the innocent,
scourged in the place of the guilty. Now, stop for a moment. Think about all of
Mark's gospel and how the crowds were amazed at Jesus, how the crowds loved
Jesus. How did the crowds go from such amazement to such anger? How did the
crowds go ready from crowning Him King to condemning Him to crucifixion? Well,
the truth is, that's the nature of the crowds. Crowds are fickle. Crowds are
temperamental. Crowds are only committed to their own interests. And when Jesus
didn't acquiesce to the crowds, they wanted nothing to do with Him. They loved
the kingdom that He offered. They just simply didn't want the King for who He
truly was. Christ, before the crowds, stands courageous, silently submitting to
the will of the Father. Courageous before the corrupt, courageous before the
crowds. Then in verses 16 through 20, we see Jesus standing courageous before
the contemptible. And the soldiers, verse 16, led Him in a way inside the
palace, that is the governor's headquarters. And they called together the whole
battalion, roughly about 200 Roman soldiers, and they clothed Him in a purple
cloak and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on Him. And they
began to salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews. And they were spitting or striking
His head with a reed and spitting on Him and kneeling down in homage to Him. And
when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the purple cloak and put His own
clothes on Him, and they led Him out to crucify Him. This is a barbaric scene.
The mockery, the shame, the torture that Jesus endures here is beyond anything
that we can fully grasp. We have callous, contemptible soldiers having fun in a
perverted way at Jesus' expense. Here is the Son of God, the Creator, the King
of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Author of life, sustaining the very lives of the
ones who in that moment were treating Him with contempt. They take a purple
cloak, they twist together a crown of thorns, they salute Him, Hail, King of the
Jews. In verse 19 when it says they were striking His head with a reed, the idea
there is they continually were striking His head with a reed. It goes from
making a mockery to absolute brutality. They continue spitting on Him, which in
that day as it is today is one of the ultimate signs of contempt. And in a mock
kneel down in homage to Him. They take the purple robe that they had now put on
Him and they rip it off. By the time that robe had been on Him for any length of
moments, that would have basically sealed His back. And now as they rip the robe
off, the back is once again exposed. If you ever had a band-aid quickly ripped
off, you know the pain of that. Imagine your entire back, that happening too.
This is utter contempt for the Son of God. And what does Christ do? Through all
of this, in the presence of the corrupt, in the presence of the crowd, as He
stood before the contemptible, Christ is courageous, silently submitting to the
will of the Father. Now you might be asking the question by now, well why did
Jesus do all of that? Couldn't there have been another way? Did it really have
to come down to this? Why did He do it? Two reasons friends. Number one, He did
this for our salvation. He did this for our salvation. Here in His love. Not
that we love God, but that He loved us. He sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sin. To fully take and exhaust the wrath of God against your sin and
mine. You remember in the garden when Jesus cried out, let this cup pass from
me? The cup of God's wrath? It could not pass. It must be poured out. There was
no other way. It would only be through death that death ultimately could be
defeated. It would only be through suffering that we could experience salvation.
And so He yields in submission to the Father for your salvation and for mine.
Isaiah puts it this way, it was the will of the Lord to crush Him. He was
despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as
one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised. And we esteemed Him not.
Surely He has borne our griefs. He has carried our sorrows. He was pierced for
our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the
chastisement that brought us peace. And with His wounds, we are healed. 1 Peter
says, Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, you and
me, that He might bring us to God. Friend, you cannot doubt the love of God for
you. You cannot doubt God's good, gracious intentions for you. Because this is
Jesus. And in the face of the corrupt, in the face of the crowds, in the face of
the contemptible, He stands courageous for your salvation and for mine. And the
good news is, He still stands courageous, even when we sin, to be the perfect
high priest and intercessor for His people. He did this for your salvation. He
did this for my salvation. And for all who repent and believe. If you're here
today and you don't know this salvation, if you think that you can make life
work your way independently of Christ, consider Jesus. There's no greater love,
no greater sacrifice. Through His wounds, we can be healed. Forever forgiven,
pardoned, and brought into right relationship with God. Sinners can be declared
saints. The just can be justified. All because of Jesus. Would you turn to Him?
Why would you hold out on Jesus when He did not hold out for you? So He did this
for our salvation. But secondly, He did this for our sanctification. For our
growth in grace. Think about Mark's context. Who's Mark writing to? He's writing
this gospel to believers who are suffering persecution for the sake of Christ.
People, believers, who were being tortured, beaten, put to death. And Mark
reminds them, in your suffering, you are not alone. Consider Jesus. Consider
Jesus. Through His suffering, Jesus not only saves us, but He shows us how to
stand courageous as we submit to the will of the Father, even in our suffering.
1 Peter puts it this way, this is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one
endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might
follow in His steps. He committed no sin. Neither was there deceit found in His
mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He
did not threaten. But He continued entrusting Himself to the One who judges
justly. Friend, that's how we live. The manner of Christ's suffering brings
salvation. The model of Christ's suffering helps us in sanctification. Because
when we suffer, and we will, we can look to Jesus. And when we see Jesus, we see
the Son of God standing courageous, not reviling, not threatening, not walking
in a defeatist spirit, but rather continually entrusting Himself to the One who
ultimately judges justly. Listen, life in a sin-cursed world is full of
suffering. That's how it is. And like Jesus, we will suffer. There are times
that God calls us to stand before the corrupt. I worked in the school system for
a number of years, so I know how this works. He calls us to stand before the
corrupt. He calls us to live out our Christian lives in the presence of hostile
crowds. The people who they like religion just, you know, kept in a small box.
They like Jesus, but not the Jesus of the Bible. And sometimes we even live in
the presence of the contemptible, those who just out and out make a mock of our
faith. We may find ourselves in these situations at work. Sadly, we may find
ourselves in these situations even within our own home. And we're tempted when
those moments come to doubt. We're tempted to fear. We're tempted to quit. We're
tempted to say, you know what? It's not worth it. The author of Hebrews,
however, reminds us that we are called to run the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy that
was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the
right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such suffering from
sinners. And so in the face of suffering and justice, when we stand before the
corrupt, the crowds with the contemptible, friend, look to Jesus. And stand
courageous as you silently submit to the will of the Father. Let's pray. Father,
we praise You for a sympathetic Savior who knows suffering. We thank You that
through His courageous stand, we experience never-ending salvation. We thank You
that He shows us how to live and run the race even in the midst of corruption,
the unapproving crowds, or the contemptible. Father, we need Your grace to stand
courageous. So Lord, we thank You for Jesus. We thank You that He not only shows
us, but through His Spirit, He empowers us. Father, I pray for those here who
are still holding out on Christ, even though He did not hold out for them. I
pray that even this very day, You would turn their hearts from darkness to light
to embrace the suffering Savior as their sovereign King and Lord. For we love
You, we thank You for Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.