Jesus, The Innocent One

Luke Following Jesus The Innocent One

Text: Luke 23:1-25

Intro: Political theatre is real. In our 24-hour news cycle, the news always pushes something. Someone has always done something reprehensible and needs indicted, impeached, or held accountable in some way. Today, in this text, political theatre is at its zenith and we will see the greatest picture of injustice in all of eternity. Love is seen through action—presence during hard times, and one who sticks up for you when being accused. Real love acts sacrificially on behalf of another. This type of love changes your life. Today, we see the love Jesus chooses on our behalf. When we see this in all of its beauty, we will not get over it. Jesus was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter three times, beaten by the guards, and condemned by the religious council. The religious Sanhedrin council is ready to condemn Jesus to death, but they must involve Rome to gain the political cover then need, and Rome gives them exactly what they need.

1. Pilate 23:1-7
   1. The entire council, not just a representation of it, brings Jesus before Pilate. 23:1 This act fulfills Jesus’ prophecy of being delivered to the Gentiles. 18:32
   2. Pilate is the Roman governor of Judea.
      1. Historical records indicate that he was a corrupt and brutal individual.
      2. He did not always act wisely, but had learned from past mistakes.

• Pilate began his leadership with a parade bearing banners with the image of Tiberius Caesar, his superior, and placed the images throughout Jerusalem, including at the temple. To have anyone’s image in the temple, nevertheless a pagan emperor, was blasphemy to the Jews, so they were enraged. Pilate met with the Jewish leadership in the amphitheatre; he surrounded them with soldiers and threatened to kill them. The Jews called his bluff and laid down, baring their necks, and Pilate caved. Later, Pilate needed money for a new aqueduct, so he extorted it from the temple treasury. The Jews protested, and Pilate sent Roman soldiers dressed as Jewish citizens and, on signal, beat Jewish protestors to death. Jews hated Pilate.

1. Tiberius Caesar placed Pilate on probation. If he made any further mistakes, he would be removed from office. During Passover, the last thing Pilate needed was a riot, as the city was already at its capacity limit with almost a million people.
2. The religious leaders change tactics concerning Jesus by bringing three accusations:
   1. Jesus misleads our nation - the teaching of Jesus creates an uprising
   2. Jesus tells us not to pay taxes - The specific accusations were lies, as Jesus had instructed them to pay their taxes to Caesar.
   3. Jesus calls Himself a king -
      1. Jesus is indeed a king, but He poses no threat to Rome. Pilate asks Jesus if He is the King of the Jews, and Jesus responds diplomatically, “You say so.” This is a wise and surprising answer. John 18:33-38
      2. Jesus’ answer is deliberately slippery. Why? Jesus is saying, “Wrong question.” He hadn’t come for earthly political reasons one way or the other, and to answer Pilate’s question would be to concede that the question has merit. Think about it this way: If I ask you, “Have you stopped kicking your cat?” answering either “Yes” or “No” implies that you have been kicking your cat.
      3. If Jesus said “yes,” then he confirms to Pilate that there is a political problem.
      4. If he says “no,” then he lies as He is King, but His kingdom is not a political one, as it is not of this world and poses no immediate threat to Rome.
3. Pilate’s response was accurate, as he found no fault in this man.
4. The religious response was urgent because for them Jesus must die. They call Jesus an agitator of the people (not all the people, just some.)
5. The religious elite pressed Pilate, claiming that Jesus was agitating the people, and Pilate could not ignore this as a good governor. Pilate doesn’t care at all whether Jesus claims to be the Son of God, but he does care about political instability.
6. Pilate perceived that the chief priests were envious of Jesus and his influence among the people. Mk. 15:10
7. Pilate heard a loophole when they said Jesus was from Galilee, because now Pilate could claim a jurisdiction issue. Pilate sent Jesus to Herod’s court, so he sent Him there. 23:5-7 Pilate also knew that Herod was part Jewish, which helped Pilate.
8. Herod
   1. History of Herod
      1. Herod the Great, who tried to kill Jesus at his birth, had three sons.
      2. Herod Archelaus, who ruled in the south over Judea and Samaria.
      3. Herod Philip, who rules over the northeast area of iterea
      4. Herod Antipas, who ruled over the southwest, over Galilee.
   2. Herod was sensual and worldly. He murdered John the Baptist after a seductive dance by his niece.
   3. Herod appreciated Pilate sending Jesus to him.
      1. Pilate acknowledged Herod as one with legitimate authority in front of the religious council.
      2. He hoped to have an audience with Jesus because Jesus’ fame had spread. 9:7-9
   4. Herod saw this moment as an opportunity to see and hear Jesus. He probably thought he would see a sideshow from the magician/miracle worker. 23:8
   5. How does Jesus respond to Herod?
      1. Jesus stands silent, frustrating Herod. Herod allows his soldiers to mock Jesus.
      2. Jesus doesn’t fight back but carries our sorrows. Is. 53:4 Jesus receives the accusations and doesn’t bristle 23:9-10.
      3. The chief priests and scribes vehemently - with extreme intensity accuse Jesus Is. 53:7 He doesn’t defend Himself.
   6. Jesus understands shame and unjust accusations. Within hours of this moment, Jesus will be on the cross bearing our sin and experiencing the shame from our sin so that we can receive freedom. Is. 53:1-3
   7. Jesus, the very Son of God, became a carpenter from a nobody town. Jesus gave up everything so that we can be in a right relationship with God. Don’t ever get past the price Jesus paid for our sins. There is no better picture of love than this.

• Whatever is close to a person’s heart impacts their words (out of the abundance of their heart a man speaks), calendar and pocketbook.

1. Herod sees no resolution to this case for him, so he sends Jesus back to Pilate.
2. Herod mocks Jesus as King when he sends him back to Pilate dressed in splendid clothing. Pilate and Herod became friends over Jesus. Jesus will have the last word Ps. 2:1-4
3. Mob 23:8-12
   1. Pilate desires not to get into a religious dispute. 23:13-16 He offered for his soldiers to beat Jesus, but that would have ended his dealings with Jesus.
   2. Jesus receives His second beating, and probably the most cruel beating with the cat of nine tails. Jn. 19:1
   3. Pilate and his soldiers thought what Herod and his men did to Jesus was funny, so they went further by placing a purple robe and a crown of thorns on Jesus. Jn. 19:2-4
   4. Matthew adds some significant facts to the story.
      1. At the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which began at the Passover, the Roman government gave clemency to one prisoner as an act of goodwill to the people.
      2. Pilate desired to let Jesus go as the criminal of the year, but the people demanded Barabbas, who was a clearly guilty criminal.
   5. The people acted with a mob mentality, calling for crucifixion repeatedly. 23:18. Pilate found no guilt in Jesus, but the people would not stop. 23:19-23
   6. Pilate released the guilty and killed the innocent. Pilate caved to pressure. He washed his hands, a Jewish act, to state Jesus’ innocence. Mt. 27:24
   7. Jesus’ innocence is noted five times in the passage. 23:4, 14, 15 2x, 22
   8. Pilate knows that Jesus is innocent, but is unwilling to act on what he knows.
      1. Other things, like keeping his job, were more important to him.
      2. We make value judgments all the time: money, job, health, marriage, dating, and Jesus. In 100 years, only one of these decisions will truly matter.
   9. Pilate represents the person too distracted by their circumstances, too engulfed in the cares of this life to consider what Jesus claims and decide about him one way or the other.
      1. Their whole lives, they’ve been laser-focused on, ‘How to get the right career, get married, have a happy family, raise kids right, be wealthy and financially secure.
   10. Distraction sends more people to hell than anything else.
   11. Barabbas - son of the father. The mob chose the guilty son of the father rather than the innocent Son of God the Father.
   12. Jesus allows the mob and those calling crucify to win when he could have unleashed his power on the people and burned them to a crisp.

• Most kingdoms do everything they can to protect their king. We see this clearly in the game of chess, for example. When the king falls, the kingdom is lost. Therefore, the king is protected at all costs. Another notable example comes from the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill desperately wanted to join the expeditionary forces and watch the invasion from the bridge of a battleship in the English Channel. U.S. General Dwight David Eisenhower was desperate to stop him, for fear that the Germans would kill the Prime Minister in battle. When it became apparent that Churchill could not convince him, Eisenhower appealed to a higher authority: King George VI. The king went and told Churchill that if it was the Prime Minister's duty to witness the invasion, he could only conclude that it was also his duty as king to join him on the battleship. At this point, Churchill reluctantly agreed to back down, for he knew that he could never expose the King of England to such danger.

King Jesus did precisely the opposite. With royal courage, he surrendered his body to be crucified. On the cross, he offered a king's ransom: his life for the life of his people. He would die for all the wrong things that we had ever done and would do, completely atoning for all our sins. The crown of thorns, meant to mock his royal claims, actually proclaimed his kingly dignity, even in death.

1. Jesus, the Son of God, pays for the sins of the sons of man. 2 Cor. 5:21
2. I’ve never led an insurrection against the government or murdered anyone, but I am just as guilty of a sinner.
   1. What was it like to be in a jail cell, wake up, and be set free with one who is entirely innocent taking your place? Barabbas knew.
   2. Later that day, he peered out to the hill where Jesus was dying and thought, “That should have been me! I should have died. He died in my place.” Friend, that’s the gospel! He died for me. Not just for me, he died instead of me. All of us who come to Jesus must be in line with Barabbas, identify with Him. Another bore my guilt and died in our place.
3. I have hope and salvation because Jesus took my place just like He took the place of Barabbas. Is. 53:5-6
4. The mob prevailed, and their desires won. The people desired Barabbas to be freed and Jesus crucified, which Luke states three times 23:18, 21, 23

• Sunday School question

1. Who is responsible for the death of Jesus? Pilate? The Mob? The Romans? Jesus gave up His life to satisfy the demand of the Lord’s holiness and so that we might be saved. Acts 2:23, Is. 53:10-11

• In 1989, 96 fans were crushed to death in a football [soccer] stadium in Sheffield, England, and another 200 were injured. At one of the hospitals where the victims were, an attending surgeon spoke to the parents who had come to find out the fate of their children. The surgeon read the names of those killed and expressed his sympathy. He said that he believed that God understood the parents' grief and was with them in their time of need. One father bitterly responded: "What does God know about losing a son?"

1. Luke clearly reveals this in how he states the story: Jesus is innocent, and He dies in the place of the guilty. Theologically, this is called the substiutionary atonement of Jesus.
   1. Jesus died as our substitute - we are guilty and He is innocent
   2. Jesus’ payment on the cross as one who is innocent fully pays for our sins. I can not add anything to what Jesus has done on the cross. Baptism, good works, etc. Jesus is enough. (turn to) 1 Pet. 2:22-25
      1. Every sin will be judged.
      2. God has already judged our sins, and the payment was so great that it cost the life of innocent, holy Jesus on the cross.
2. The result of Jesus' death on the cross for those who believe is:
   1. Freedom from sin
   2. Living for right and God pleasing things.
3. By His wounds you have been healed, a quote from Isaiah 53:5. It is taken out of context all the time, but in context, it means that we are offered spiritual, eternal healing through the suffering of Jesus on the cross, who died as our substitute.
4. So What?
   1. Jesus is innocent, and I am guilty. Jesus’ silence during the trial happened not because of his guilt but because he carried my guilt.
      1. Do you personally accept Jesus’ payment on the cross as your substitute payment for sins?
      2. Is Jesus the shepherd of your souls? Have you received the greatest gift of all? Innocent Jesus taking the place of guilty you.
      3. Joel 2:25a The locusts had destroyed their crops and devastated their country, but God says, “If you repent, not only can I make the locusts stop, I can restore to you the years of crops and the years of wasted harvests that they destroyed.” Let that sink in:
      4. You may think that your sins have so destroyed and disqualified your life that there’s no returning, but you’re wrong. God resurrects the dead. He is the God of creation. The God who calms storms and stills seas. The God who says, “Behold, I make all things new” and “call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you do not know,” and “come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”
   2. During this unjust trial, Jesus not only identifies with every sinner but also with everyone who has experienced mistreatment, abuse, or injustice.

Conclusion:

“(The holy God that we have sinned against) dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire; because of your sin, he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire. He is of purer eyes than to bear you in his sight; (because of your sin) you are ten thousand times as abominable in his eyes as the most hateful, venomous serpent is in ours." Jonathan Edwards: Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God