May 23, 2007

Touched by God

• Make plans on attending the Summer Series
• Be praying about the Summer Series
• Freedom Fest

Review – The Crowd

• The crowds during Jesus’ ministry
• The Sermon on the Mount
• The Feeding of the Five Thousand
  • The crowds’ zeal for Jesus (running to meet him)
  • Jesus has compassion on the crowd
  • Jesus met the needs of the crowds (healing, teaching, feeding)
  • Our following of Christ’s example
• The Triumphal Entry
  • Jesus comes as a King
  • Jesus comes as more than a King

Pilate

·        Prefect, procurator, governor of Judea

·        That title was used until Claudius named Herod Agrippa I “King of the Jews”

·        Lower class of Roman ruler – Equestrian Order or Order of Knights (not Senate)

·        Would rule from Caesarea the majority of the time

·        Would be in Jerusalem for Passover to keep order but might try to lay low because of Jewish sensitivity to Roman rule

The governor of any Roman province had four tasks.    

1.      He was responsible for collection of taxes. As the emperor's personal financial agent, he had to supervise the local authorities and the private tax collectors (the notorious publicans). To facilitate things, a governor could mint coins and negotiate with wealthy institutions (like the Temple in Jerusalem) that could advance the money.

2.      Served as an accountant: he inspected the books and supervised large scale building projects.

3.      Served as the province's supreme judge. Appeal was not impossible, but the voyage to Rome was expensive. (Paul appealed to Caesar in his trial before Festus in Acts 25)

4.      He commanded an army. The Judaean governor commanded only auxiliary troops – maybe 3000 men.

Pilate:

·        Possibly had a special relationship with Caiaphas or at least recognized Caiaphas’ position because he kept him in office. Caiaphas was appointed by Pilate's predecessor, Valerius Gratus.

·        Pilate minted coins showing the staff of an Italian seer on one side and a bunch of grapes on the other (the usual picture on any Jewish coin) showing some level of equality between Jews and non-Jews.

Incidents involving Pilate:

A.        Roman images brought into Jerusalem

• Pilate brought military standards into Jerusalem at night that had busts of the emperor attached
• The Jews traveled to Caesarea to entreat Pilate to take the images away
• For six days he refused to yield to them
• On day six he surrounded the Jews with a hidden army. On signal, he had the army surround them and threatened them with death
• The Jews bared their throats showing their willingness to die rather than have their laws broken
• Pilate was so impressed with their devotion that he had the images removed

B.         Construction of the Aqueduct

• Pilate took money from the temple treasury to construct an aqueduct to bring water into Jerusalem
• When the Jews gathered to protest, Pilate had soldiers among the crowd dressed as Jews.
• On a pre-arranged signal, he had the Jews beaten by the soldiers killing some, disabling others.

C.        Luke 13:1

• Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

General:

• Not a nice guy - Josephus and Philo both record his cruelty, corruption, and inhumanity
• Pilate’s main goal during this time is to keep peace so that he maintains favor with Rome.
• Pilate must have dreaded this time of year - especially knowing that many of these people would be in the area for the next seven weeks to celebrate Pentecost.

So Pilate is going about his regular duties during this Passover

• Passover - thousands have crowded into Jerusalem
• They are celebrating their deliverance from bondage in Egypt while they are under Roman rule
• Not exactly the most peaceful time - According to the Jewish historian Josephus, "about three thousand" died during one Passover riot in 4 BCE and "upwards of thirty thousand perished" in another one around 50 CE.

• Pilate had probably heard about Jesus but scripture doesn’t record it
• We do know that Herod had heard of Jesus and wanted to see him (Luke 23)
• The first instance that Jesus and Pilate are mentioned together is when the Jews bring Jesus to Pilate
  • After Jesus is arrested in the garden
  • After he is illegally questioned/tried before Annas, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin
  • (Kirk has an excellent series of lessons on these trials)
  • Matthew 27:1-2 - Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2 They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.
• At this point, Pilate becomes a key figure in history because he is the only one with the authority to have Jesus crucified

Jesus and Pilate

Pilate has his moment in history

• Matthew, Mark, and Luke record one question and answer:
  • Pilate asks, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
  • Jesus answers, “Yes, it is as you say”
• What is Pilate asking with this question? Does he really see Jesus as a kingly figure?
• Matthew and Mark record that Pilate is amazed at Jesus’ lack of response
• Matthew adds the detail of Pilate’s wife’s dream – Matthew 27:19 - While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."
• John gives the most extensive account of the interaction between Jesus and Pilate
  • How did John know these things?
  • Inspiration of the Holy Spirit?
  • Did Christ relate any of it to him after his resurrection?

John 18:28 – 19:16 - Jesus Before Pilate

• Jews bring Jesus to Pilate (18:28-32)
• Pilate converses with Jesus (18:33-38)
• Pilate tries to reason with the Jews (18:38-40)
• Pilate has Jesus flogged to try and satisfy the Jews (19:1-3)
• Pilate tries to reason with the Jews (19:4-7)
• Pilate converses with Jesus (19:8-11)
• Pilate tries to reason with the Jews (19:12-15)
• Pilate hands Jesus over to be crucified (19:16)

28 Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?" 30 "If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you." 31 Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." "But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. 32 This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" 34 "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" 35 "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" 36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." 37 "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." 38 "What is truth?" Pilate asked.

With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?" 40 They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.

4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!" 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!" But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him." 7 The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."

8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" 11 Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar." 13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.  "Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

• Why does Pilate try to keep Christ from being crucified?
  • Matthew 27:18 - “he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.”
  • Matthew 27:19 - his wife’s dream
  • His encounter with Christ
• What is the ultimate reason that Pilate has Christ crucified?
  • Fear?
  • Politics?

Back to the crowd

• What changed?
• On Sunday they are praising Jesus and welcoming him into Jerusalem
• On Friday they are wanting him condemned to death

Some ideas:

• He didn’t accept their version of being a king so they rejected him
• It wasn’t the same crowd
  • The Triumphal Entry crowd was coming into Jerusalem with Jesus
  • The “Crucify Him” crowd was the people in Jerusalem
  • Matthew 21:10 - When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"
• They didn’t understand what was going on
  • John 12:16 - At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.
• Blasphemy
  • Matthew 26:64 - "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
• Yet the leaders were afraid of the crowds’ support for Jesus
  • Matthew 26:3-4 - Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. 5 "But not during the Feast," they said, "or there may be a riot among the people."