Sunday, March 25, 2007
Mark 15:15-20
Senior Pastor
Jesus has now survived a night in which he ate supper with his disciples; predicted their abandonment of him; prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, was then arrested by the temple guard. Then he has a hearing with the temple authorities who condemn him as worthy of death. But the Jewish authorities are subject to the Romans, who have conquered them and are occupying Jerusalem and Israel. So, only the Romans have the right to put a person to death. Therefore, they take Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, who has the power to actually carry out a death sentence against Jesus.
Pilate asks Jesus about his identity and his claim to
kingship. Although Jesus has answered
this question when the Jewish authorities ask (we looked at that in some detail
last week), now Mark tells us that this time he says nothing. Pilate decides he has no real reason to
condemn him or crucify him. So, he goes
out to the crowd of Jewish authorities gathered there and offers to release one
of two people in custody. One is
named Barabbas and the other Jesus.
They choose Barabbas.
Often in the Gospels, knowing more about the background of the setting or the characters communicates much more than a surface reading of the story. This is true in this story. Mark is not only telling us that Jesus has already been unjustly arrested, accused and beaten. Now, yet another injustice is happening in this choice. But moreover he is drawing a sharp contrast between the choices humanity faces in their lives and with their leaders.
We read today beginning in verse 15, but back in verse 7 Barabbas is described. This is what Mark tells us, Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. The insurrection would have been against the Romans. There were a number of these Jewish insurrections or rebellions against the Romans while they controlled this whole area. These were armed rebellions. These were groups of zealous Jewish nationals who would organize themselves, train and arm themselves and then look for a time when they might strike and run the Romans out of Jerusalem and out of all of their lands, if they could.
Passover might be a good time because the numbers of faithful Jews swelled the population of the city. Many would come to Jerusalem to celebrate or commemorate the Passover. Now remember that the Passover celebrates God’s dramatic deliverance of the Jewish people from another oppressor, the Egyptians. So, it made for a ripe time to stir up rebellion. Pilate would certainly be aware of that. It had happened before.
Think of riots in Los Angeles and other places not too long ago when people did not like a verdict. A crowd gathers and a mob mentality takes over and pent up anger and hatred boils over and violence breaks out and once started escalates until people are dead and whole sections of cities burned. It had happened in Jerusalem just thirty years before.
Or think of our troops in Iraq today. They are looking for insurrectionists aren’t they? Because we know that if those leaders with hatred and violence in their hearts begin to find too many followers, the momentum builds and the outcomes are deadly. So, Pilate, the Roman Governor at the time, wants to quell any thoughts of violent rebellion. He will give up one of these insurrectionists. He asks the people which it will be.
Mark tells us they choose
Barabbas. Not only do they choose
Barabbas, but then Pilate asks them, “Then what do you wish me to do with the
man you call the King of the Jews?” They
shout, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
So Pilate, wishing to
satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he
handed him over to be crucified. (v.
15) The violent murdering rebel is
set free. And to our astonishment the
non-violent rabbi is flogged.
I want us to realize before
we move on the nature of flogging as practiced by the Romans. It was brutal. Flogging included tying a person to a stake
or a whipping post. He is bound in such
a way that he cannot resist and his whole backside is exposed. Then he was whipped with a long leather
thong studded with sharpened pieces of bone and metal. It was clearly an instrument of torture
designed to inflict great pain without killing the person. But you can imagine the damage it would do
to a person’s skin to have this leather studded whip lashed across your body
time after time after time. Jesus is
flogged.
Then they mock him. They say,
“Hail, King of the Jews!” They are
saying look here is the king of the Jews.
They are mocking the whole Jewish people. If this is their king, what kind of people are they? Whipped, beaten down, pitiful people. He does not speak; he does not resist; what
kind of leader is this?
Reverend Adam Hamilton when considering this passage suggests this scenario. What if we had a presidential candidate advocating peace through strength – advocating self-rule and self-determination? This candidate says we will need to resort to armed resistance to reach those ends. What if that leader claims they would be strong enough to lead us into battle if that is what it takes? I will lead the troops out to show our force.
Now they are campaigning against a candidate that advocates peace through serving and suffering, if necessary. This second candidate claims that history shows that armed resistance only leads to more violence and suggests that going into battle is not the best answer to our conflicts. This candidate says that there are better ways to co-exist with our enemies. I will lead the troops out to show our love.
Who would you vote for? Who would America vote for? I think it is clear that we vote for peace through strength. Nobody wants to give our country away and there are not these two candidates in America anyway. I am not trying to describe Democrats and Republicans. I am describing Barabbas and Jesus.
I am suggesting to you that there is a deep strain within humans, within all of us, that is drawn to and trusts in power and violence, when seen as necessary. We are more comfortable when we have the upper hand, when we have the power advantage – whether it is personal politics or international politics. I like it better in that position. Don’t you?
When it comes to foreign policy it is much more complicated and complex than I have described. Yet, for our purposes considering scenarios like this stretches us to think about our discipleship and the role our faith plays in our lives. Ironically, Christianity did overtake the Roman Empire in time and in fact, is still outliving it today.
Jesus is teaching that it is not by the sword, but by the cross that we find freedom in our personal relationships and our spiritual lives. Remember, just the night before, Jesus has stopped one of his followers from using his sword. He has said, love your enemies; turn the other cheek; if one asks for your cloak give them your shirt also. He has said many radical things before he ever mentions that to follow him means to take up your cross. We often forget that the path of discipleship leads through suffering and death before it encounters resurrection.
That is a disturbing thing to hear. It is counter-intuitive. It goes against our natural instincts and in fact, I feel it indicts me, because I do not eagerly jump onto that path of discipleship. But the wonder of the Gospel is that even though we keep choosing Barabbas, God keeps choosing us. God keeps choosing us. God keeps loving us.
Even in the face of our hesitation and reticence, and sometimes our out right rejection of Jesus, he still chooses us.
I saw the best movie I have seen in years recently. It is called Stranger than Fiction. It stars Will Farrell. He portrays a very ordinary fellow who is an IRS agent. He spends his days looking at numbers. He is a genius with numbers, but extremely limited in personal relationships. He begins to hear a voice in his head that is narrating his life.
He goes to see a psychologist and she tells him that it is schizophrenia. He says no to that idea because the voice is not telling him to do anything, it is just narrating his life. The psychologist suggests prescription medicine. He asks her if she has any other ideas. She says you might see somebody who knows about literature, since this voice seems to be telling your life story.
He finds a literature professor, portrayed by Dustin Hoffman, to help him. The man is convinced that he needs to find the voice. The literature professor explains to him that all stories are either comedy or tragedy. In a comedy the hero ends up with the girl and lives happily ever after. In a tragedy the hero dies. What kind of story are you in, the professor asks. The man does not know.
Through a series of incidents they identify the author and realize that she is writing his story and everything she writes comes true in this man’s life. They also realize that the only kind of stories she writes, are tragedies. But in the process this ordinary man has actually met a young woman, because he is auditing her, but nonetheless, he met her and has established a relationship with her. He doesn’t want to die. He wants more than ever to live.
He finds the author and tells her what is going on – she of course, is shocked. She has been working on a good way to kill off this character and end her book. But now she realizes it is a real person and she is dismayed. She gives him the manuscript so he can read it. He can’t bear to read the end, so he takes it to the professor.
The next day the man returns to the professor.
The professor says, “You have to die.”
The man says lets change it – can’t you find a way to change it and still make it come out all right? The professor says he cannot.
The man says, “You’re asking me to knowingly face my death?”
The professor answers, “Yes.” “Don’t you understand we are all going to die? You are going to die. Absolutely. And I guarantee you that if you avoid this your death, your death will not be as nearly poetic or meaningful.”
They discuss it a little further and then the professor says
this most insightful line for us to understand. “It’s the nature of all tragedies, the hero dies. But the story lives on forever.”
The professor tells him he ought to read the manuscript. So the man reads the manuscript and finds out how he is going to die. Then in a most startling turn of events agrees to the plot.
The next morning he gets ready for work and proceeds with his day as he normally would. While waiting for his bus he sees a young boy recklessly riding a bike down the sidewalk. The kid crashes and falls into the street. The man jumps into the street to save the boy. As he throws the boy back onto the sidewalk and stands to jump out of the way of oncoming traffic he is struck head on by the bus and slammed into the pavement.
Does this plot sound familiar? A man realizes the trajectory of his life is on a collision course with a violent and premature death. He does not want to die. He searches for another way, but this is the way. So, he agrees to continue to follow the path of his life because he realizes his death will save another’s life.
What would you choose?
8:03
a.m. – Jesus Flogged and Mocked 3/25/07
One is named Barabbas and the other Jesus.
They choose ________________.
…the choices humanity faces in their __________… leaders.
…back in verse ____ Barabbas is described.
They shout, “Crucify
him! Crucify him!”
v. ____
…the nature of flogging… It was
____________.
Then they ________ him.
I am describing ________________ and ____________.
…a deep strain within humans, within ______ of us, that
is
drawn to and trusts in power and violence…
Ironically, Christianity did overtake the
____________
____________ in time and in fact, is still outliving it today.
…the wonder of the Gospel is that even though we keep
choosing Barabbas, God keeps choosing ____.
Stranger than Fiction
“You’re asking me to knowingly face my death?”
“It’s the nature of all tragedies, the hero
________.
But the story lives on forever.”
What would ______
____________?
Kid’s Question: What is the wonder of the Gospel?