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The Sunday next before Easter, commonly called
Palm Sunday.
The
Collect.
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A
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LMIGHTY
and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy
Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death
upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great
humility; Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his
patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be said every day, after the Collect
appointed for the day, until Good Friday.
Is there a
Barabbas here today? Is there anyone like Barabbas here today?
Certainly,
there is! Let’s study the Word together to get an answer to this mystery. The
Lesson today is too long to cover in one service, so I have selected a
particular portion of the text to expound upon:
Let’s read
from the Lectionary Text found in Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 27:
11And Jesus stood before the governor: and the
governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto
him, Thou sayest. 12 And when he
was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 13 Then said
Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? 14 And he
answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. 15 Now at that
feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they
would. 16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. 17 Therefore
when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I
release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? 18 For he knew
that for envy they had delivered him. 19 When he was
set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou
nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a
dream because of him. 20 But the chief priests and elders
persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor
answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto
you? They said, Barabbas. 22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do
then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be
crucified. 23 And the governor said, Why, what evil
hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. 24 When Pilate
saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took
water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the
blood of this just person: see ye to it. 25 Then answered
all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
In the
preceding verses of the text, we learn that Christ has been betrayed for thirty
pieces of silver by a disciple who pretended to be His friend.. This was
prophesied of Christ some hundreds of years earlier:
And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break
my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11 And it was
broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that
it was the word of the LORD. 12 And I said unto them, If ye think good,
give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty
pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto
the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty
pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD. (Zechariah 11:10-13)
Now, reading
from the beginning of Chapter 27 of Saint Matthew:
1 When the morning was come, all the
chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to
death: 2 And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him
to Pontius Pilate the governor. 3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him,
when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the
thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 Saying, I
have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is
that to us? see thou to that. 5 And he cast down the pieces of silver
in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. 6 And the chief
priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into
the treasury, because it is the price of blood. 7 And they took
counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. 8 Wherefore
that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. 9 Then was
fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took
the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the
children of Israel did value; 10 And gave them for the potter's field,
as the Lord appointed me.
So Jesus now is delivered to the secular power. Even the Roman governor
was more just than the religious leaders of the Jewish Sanhedrin. Pilate
pronounced Christ innocent twice, and never found any guilt in Him.
Pontius Pilate would have been considered a good man and just for his
time. He would also be well received in government office of today. He actually
sought justice, and was politically correct. He sought justice and knew it, but
lacked the courage of his office in dispensing that justice.
11 And Jesus stood before the governor:
and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus
said unto him, Thou sayest.
Pilate opened the interview with an honest hope of finding truth.
12 And when he was accused of the chief
priests and elders, he answered nothing.
This is fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 53:7-9
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he
is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from
judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the
land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made
his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done
no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
See how Pilate presses for some word of defense from the Lord:
13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou
not how many things they witness against thee?
Pilate must have begun to suspect Christ was no common man by his conscious
decision not to utter a single word in His defense:
14 And he answered him to never a word;
insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.
Pilate begins to believe
that Christ is innocent, but he fears the Jews. What to do? Pilate begins to
think like a politician. How can I do the right thing by satisfying everyone
including these stubborn Jewish leaders?
15 Now at that feast the governor was wont
to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. 16 And they had
then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.
Barabbas was a murderer
and a violent sinner. He was the worst of the prisoners of Rome. So Pilate
would use this card to politically and discreetly ease his predicament. He
would squirm out of his troubled presence without having to make an unpopular
decision.
17 Therefore when they were gathered
together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you?
Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
The choice is always Barabbas or Christ. Will we save ourselves, or
must Christ die for us. The death of Barabbas would have been justice, but the
death of Christ would be an imputed justice. We deserve, like Barabbas, to die
for our sins, but God has provided Himself a Lamb for the sacrifice. He died a
substitutionary death in our place. Barabbas was spared death by Christ,
so are you and I. (Gen 22:7-8)
18 For he knew that for envy they had
delivered him.
See this last sentence?
Pilate knew that Jesus had been accused by the Jewish religious leaders
out of envy and not out of guilt. He judged correctly.
The example this text presents is this:
1.
Making a
correct judgment between right and wrong is important;
2.
What
counts is action upon that knowledge.
19 When he was set down on the judgment
seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just
man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
Even Pilate’s wife knew that Jesus was innocent. Had she personally
brought the message, this weak man may have feared her more than the Jews, but
now he had these trouble-making Jews alone before him who could stir up
political unrest unless Pilate granted their wishes. He feared the
present Jews more than the absent wife. He was a politician. He would trade off
his honor for a political advantage.
But Pilate could not escape
the political reality of the moment.
20 But the chief priests and elders
persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
See how the religious
leaders of the day deceived and manipulated the people to evil and to sin. The
same happens today.
Pilate presses effeminately for justice:
21 The governor answered and said unto
them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said,
Barabbas.
His political scheme is
not working. Instead of placating the wicked Jews, he should act on justice.
But he is too weak to do that!
22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do
then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
My heart goes out to this
pitifully weak man. He really tries, but he falls short.
He makes one last ditch attempt. He foolishly believes that these evil leaders
might be swayed by the reminder of justice:
23 And the governor said, Why, what evil
hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
Pilate now allows
cowardice to overrule his sense of justice.
He now does what politicians are so adept at doing, he passes the responsibility
for the coming evil to his tormenters.
24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail
nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands
before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person:
see ye to it.[1]
Do you blame Pilate?
Would you have done better?
HAVE you done better?
We are Pilate, the Jewish leaders, and Barabbas wrapped up into one entity.
Like Judas, we have sold out our Lord for personal gain, pride, and sin. We
claim to be His friend, yet we denounce Him through our witness among our
friends who ridicule Godly values.
Our sins have made us like unto the Jewish leaders in that they have led to the
necessity of His dying for us.
We are like Pilate in that we put up a good illusion of doing justice and
righteousness, yet we fail to live up to the model, and we pass the
responsibility for our failures to others.
We are, especially, Barabbas because we deserve death for our sins, but Christ
has died in our stead and paid the penalty of death for us.
·
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God; (Romans 3:23)
·
For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Have we
accepted Christ as our Redeemer? Or have we, like Pilate, denied truth and justice?
[1]
As a leader Pilate
failed. You can delegate
authority, you cannot delegate responsibility. Pilate became the universal poster child for this
concept. You cannot wash your
hands of responsibility onto another.
There is no scapegoat. He
knew what was right and chose what was easy at the time. Like Judas his name be came a category
title.
