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Have you ever been charged with a crime? I haven't, but I've been associated with those who have. Justice seems like, in many ways, just a word. We ALL want justice, but so many judges and attorneys today will tell you that the court system isn't about getting justice, it's about what attorneys and judges can get away with. If you've got a lot of money and can hire an expensive and experienced law firm, you can get away with murder. And, at the same time, if you've got liberal district attorneys who let criminals back on the street after being arrested for a major crime - i.e. murder, sexual assault, major theft, or even assaulting a police officer(s) - then justice seems like an arbitrary word.
Jesus didn't get justice. Even 2,000 years ago, Jesus was the victim of a victimless crime and those in charge of imputing and protecting justice allowed a kangaroo court to put to Jesus to death - no jury, false testimony, and a governor who was more interested in pleasing the people than in doing the right thing!
Our bible study today sadly opens up today with the Jewish spiritual leaders (who were jealous of Jesus) making an attempt to circumvent the usual justice system set up by the Jews. They wanted Jesus dead! And, there was no other way to get that done than to bypass the typical Jewish "justice" system and thrust him before Pilate, the Roman governor over the Jewish territory. These Jewish leaders admitted it was against their law to put Jesus to death. So, they decided to let Rome do it.
To mock Jesus, they bound him up and took him to Pilate. The accused him of "many crimes". However, Pilate didn't believe anything they brought before him was a crime at all. Most of the testimony of witnesses were contradicted. And as sad as it might sound, these leaders were less interested in the many miracles He performed on the Sabbath Day, but found it offensive that He did these miracles on the Sabbath. While Jesus tried to teach these religious idiots that the Sabbath was designed for man's benefit and goodness, these leaders still had their own man-made religious rules about the Sabbath - which actually flew in the face of why God allowed for a Sabbath Day in the beginning.
Notice the timeline of events:
1. Jesus is accused of many baseless crimes! Notice how Jesus didn't rebut these crimes. Instead, by remaining silent He fulfilled the Scriptures found in Isaiah 53:7 - "He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.
- Another reason Jesus didn't defend Himself is because He knew His purpose! He knew He had to die on the cross! He knew He was our ONLY means of salvation from Hell and from being eternally separated from God!
2. Pilate tries to defend Jesus! In verse 14, Pilate asked the religious leaders - "Why, what crime has he committed?" Pilate's examination of Jesus was fairly exhaustive. Notice what Pilate said in Luke 23:14-15, Pilate says, "I have examined him thoroughly on this point in your presence and find him innocent. Herod came to the same conclusion and sent him back to us. Nothing this man has done calls for the death penalty."
- In other words, not only did the first trial before Herod end in finding "no fault" in Jesus, but also in the second trial with Pilate the outcome was the same! Justice for Jesus was a sham!
Have you ever witnessed a sham in the court system? If you're above the age of 30 and watch the news, you've seen and heard of countless shams within our justice system - crooked attorneys, bribed judges, and a penalty system where 100% of the people of any country would say is in total chaos!
3. Crowd pleasing is NOT justice! By verse 15, Pilate is worried about his political position as governor more so than doing what's right. In order to pacify the people, he himself committed the greatest crime - putting to death the Son of God! However, as we read in the book of Matthew, the chief priests and the crowd said that the blood of Jesus could be blamed on them and their children!!! Oh...what a mistake!!!! However, Jesus forgave them for what they did while He was hanging on the cross!!! He knew they had no idea of the gravity of this major, major blunder that would eternally haunt them!!!
- There is some evidence showing that Pilate eventually became a believer in Jesus as the true Son of God. If so, Jesus forgave him of his sin. However, if he didn't believe in Christ, I imagine that even now Pilate (as one writer put it) would be in Hell still trying to wash the blood from his hands saying, "Will they never be clean of this innocent man's blood?"
Have you ever tried to be a crowd pleaser to the point of shaming Jesus? Have you ever been ashamed of praying over a meal at a restaurant? Have you ever been ashamed or fearful of telling your friends about Jesus?
4. Jesus receives the utmost humiliation! I can't even imagine how our Heavenly Father endured the events of Mark 15:16-20 as the Roman soldiers stripped Jesus of his clothes, beat him, mocked him, pulled his beard out of his face (another passage), and did it until they were "tired" of mocking Him!
- Jesus left His throne of glory, and if it wasn't enough for Him to take on the flesh of wicked humans, we wicked humans have to humiliate Him more! I can only imagine how He must have felt when He said in John 17:5 - "Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
5. Jesus, our Helper, needed help that day! I love the following article by Clay Carter found in The Sampson Independent which describes this event so remarkably. Let me provide some excerpts worth noting:
"Jesus fell to the ground under the burden of the cross. After their efforts to get Him to continue on His way, the Roman soldiers are in trouble, looking for a solution to the situation. According to Roman law, they could force a traveler to help carry the burden for a mile. They found Simon of Cyrene, seized him, and put the cross on his back to take it after Jesus. Simon of Cyrene was a Jew who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. To hasten Jesus’ execution by crucifixion the soldiers forced Simon to carry the cross, which weighed approximately 88 pounds, a distance of three quarters of a mile from the fortress of Antonia to Calvary. God is always purposeful, and He may have directed the soldiers to choose Simon of Cyrene to carry the Lord’s cross for a portion of the way to Calvary. We must not lose sight of the fact that Immanuel (God with us), the Creator, the One who carries our burdens accepted help from a man. What a lesson in humility. And we know that part of the execution process involved shameful, public humiliation. Simon did not merely spectate; he also partook in the Lord’s advance toward crucifixion. If we imagine the scene along the way, we envision crowds taunting the Lord as He bears the weight of His cross. The people probably jostled each other to see the Christ go by, the One to whom they so recently cried “Hosanna! Hosanna!” Isaiah says, “He was despised and rejected by men…He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3). Matthew and Mark say Simon “was pressed into service” to carry the cross, while Luke says Simon “was seized” and had the cross laid on him. In each account, Simon is pressed into service. The passages do not say he volunteered. In a manner of spiritualizing what Simon did, we, too, would rather not carry our own crosses. When the New Testament authors cite someone by name it shows us their significance in the story. The significance of Simon of Cyrene is that he helped Jesus during his time of need. Billions of humans have lived and died since the time of Jesus’ death on the cross, but still today we know Simon for what he did on Good Friday. Perhaps this shows us what God Himself remembers: our acts of kindness (no matter how small or large) to serve those who are suffering."
6. Death after only 6 hours on the cross! I studied the crucifixion fairly heavily back in my high school and college days. I was going for a biology degree at the time and was interested in the historical and biological aspects of the notorious Roman crucifixion. I found that it has been considered one of the most tortuous deaths ever invented by man. Jesus allowed Himself to take that route! Why? Because sin deserves the worst punishment - eternal death in Hell! Hell was created by God for Satan and his angels after their fall from Heaven. Hell is the penalty for sin - even one! Why? Because God is Holy!! A Holy God cannot stand sin. But thankfully, God is also Love! And it was because of His love that He allowed Jesus to go through the most horrendous death as a sacrifice for the sins of the world!
- 6 hours was a short time! For most, it took a day or two or three. The longest on record is 9 days! And the reason the Roman soldiers broke the legs of the two men hanging with Jesus was to intentionally speed up the death of the other two. This would suffocate them quickly.
7. Jesus rose on the First Day of the Jewish week! This is why we, as Christians, worship Jesus in church on Sunday, the first day of the week.
8. Innumerable proof that Jesus rose from the grave! Jesus' appearance after His death on the cross was validated by over 500 people living in Jerusalem - people who were often skeptical until they had a chance to visit with him and see the scars in his hands and his feet. Over a hundred people were present when he was lifted back into Heaven! Many of these same people were responsible for seeing thousands of Jews in that day being converted to believing that Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah they've long been looking for!
9. Our purpose is defined! Jesus made it simple as far as our purpose is defined - the share the gospel with the world, baptizing them, and leading them in discipleship!
What did you get out of today's bible study?
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