Midweek Lent 3 3/15/06 Text: Matthew 27: 11-14 and 24-26 Title: Pontius Pilate

Midweek Lent 3
3/15/2006
Text: Matthew 27: 11-14 and 24-26
Title: Pontius Pilate

Grace, mercy, and peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
Today we are going to look at another one of the principal players in the Passion of Christ. Besides Judas, who we looked at last week, I can’t think of anyone that receives more scorn than Pontius Pilate. We see him as a weak individual who did not have the guts to stand up to the Jewish people that wanted Jesus killed.
Pontius Pilate’s official title was, “governor of the imperial province of Syria.” He was appointed by Emperor Tiberous Caesar to maintain Roman control over Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and some other territories to the North. He was governor of the area for 10 years.
Now at first glance you would think that his appointment was a real plum, for after all he controlled a large amount of land and people. The problem is that it was not a plum job. Palestine was considered a hot spot because the Jews had gotten a well deserved reputation for bitter opposition to any foreign rule.
The territory was troublesome and so when a governor was assigned there it meant that he was not on Caesar’s good side.
Pilate’s term as governor was not any better than those sent there before him for it was marred by almost continuous discontent and rioting among the Jews. History shows that he brought much of the trouble on himself. Let me give you a couple of examples.
The first thing he did when he was made governor was to install the imperial symbol, the Roman eagle on the main wall of the temple. You have to admit that was not the smartest thing for him to do. The people rioted and five days later he had it taken down.
Later he ordered the building of 25 mile long aqueduct to bring fresh water from the mountains to the citizens of Jerusalem. Now you have to admit that an aqueduct to bring fresh water to a city that was running out of water was a good idea. I am sure that there was no doubt in his mind that he would make some points with the Jewish population.
Well you would think that, but it did not work out as he had hoped, for you see he wanted to take the money to build it out of the temple treasury. As you can imagine another bloody riot broke out and that ended that idea.
I think that you could safely say that there was no love lost between the Jews and Pilate. Interesting information, but you might be wondering why I am giving you all this background information on Pilate. I wanted you to have it, for as you will see all that tension comes into play in the final hours of Jesus’ life.
The one thing that Pilate made sure of was that he was in Jerusalem on the Jewish holidays, for that is when they caused the most trouble. He had to be there to command his troops. So here he is on Passover Week in the year 29 and just as it happened almost every year, there was trouble brewing with the Jewish population.
He was awakened early one morning by a noisy delegation of Jews. You can imagine Pilate’s reaction. No doubt he probably used the latest Roman curse words as he crawled out of bed and went to see what the devil was the problem they were complaining about this time.
When he asked them what the problem was their sarcastic answer did not help his mood any. Then they told him that, “This man deserves to die because he calls himself a king and opposes payment of taxes to Caesar.”
That was what he was waiting for and he jumped at the opportunity to rid himself of the whole mess. He was not going to just rubber stamp their verdict, for he knew that if that statement was true they would have right there urging him on. Their hypocrisy was more than he could stand.
But they had backed him into a corner and if he refused to hear the case, then in the Jews own words, he would be no friend of Caesar’s. And if Caesar ever heard of it, his next assignment would be even worse than this one.
Pilate knew that the Jewish trial was sham, nothing more than a diabolical plan to get rid of someone who was obviously a threat, not to Caesar, but to the Jewish leaders themselves.
Pilate tried every way possible to stop their thirst for Jesus’ blood. That is every thing, but using the power he had, to tell them to back off and just free Jesus. He tried to pawn off the case to Herod, but that didn’t work when Herod sent him right back, because Jesus did not perform any magic tricks for him.
Then he tried to give them a choice between releasing Jesus or another man named Jesus Barabbas, a notorious criminal. That did not work, so he decided to beat Jesus with one of the worst whips that has ever been invented. The whip consisted of leather thongs in which were embedded small bones, or pieces of metal. The sole purpose was to tear off chunks of flesh and muscle. Most of the recipients of the whip did not survive it. He thought that might do it, but even that did not work.
He finally just gave in to them. He washed his hands in a wash basin symbolizing that he was innocent of Jesus’ death. Oh, I almost forgot. Sometime in the midst of all this Pilate’s wife warned him that he better watch what he was doing concerning the man Jesus, for she had been warned in a dream that Jesus was innocent
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. He ignored his conscience and the warning of his wife. Why did he let the Jews have their way then? The answer to that question died with him and we will never know, but I think that there is a good chance that he did it because he was a pragmatist.
All that concerns is a pragmatist is what works best in a given situation. A pragmatist does not have a clear cut idea of what is right or wrong, you just do what you need to do, with little or no regard for others. Pilate just could not take a chance on doing what was right. He wanted a promotion so he could get out of this hell hole of the Roman empire.
You see, it just isn’t possible to stick to absolute principles of right and wrong when you want a promotion, or anything else bad enough. You have to do what is expedient. So Pilate winds up being seen as a weak, cowardly man willing to comprise what he knows is right.
Which by the way didn’t work out as he planned. Herod sent him off to Gaul some time later, which made his present governship look like a walk in the park. His pragmatism didn’t work and according to the historian Eusebius, Pilate in the end committed suicide. One will never know, but I wonder if he like Judas could not bear the weight of what they had done that night.
Here we are nearly 2000 years later and it is easy to cast stones at Pilate and all those that condemned Jesus that night. But when you give it some thought nothing has changed. Don’t we still live in world that views pragmatism as being the only way to go? I am not talking about politicians who unfortunately say far too many times whatever it takes to get elected, or to get their favorite projects passed.
I am talking about us, you and me. Who of us can honestly say that they have never compromised their belief system for the sake of being practical? We all know the temptations of hidden incomes, exaggerated deductions, and the like.
Beating the government out of tax money has become a national pastime. How many of us have not paid attention to a particular law, because we felt like it didn’t apply to us? Far too many I am afraid.
You see if we want to talk about principles, then we have to talk about honesty, fairness, decency, and integrity, which is not very practical. It is not practical when we want something that benefits us. And so we too don’t always follow the commands of our God, the God to which we owe our very lives.
If Pilate, like Judas had had faith in Jesus his tragic death could have been avoided. That is the lesson we can learn from Pilate tonight, for we know, unlike Pilate, that our wavering and weakness, our calculating and compromising, together with all our other acts of waywardness and wrongdoing, are all covered by the cross of Jesus.
We know that our own acts are forgiven by the death that Pilate let happen because it was the most practical thing for him to do. Knowing that we have the strength, which Pilate did not have because of his lack of faith, to stand by our conscience and stick by our principles, so that we become less and less like the pragmatic Pilate and more and more like Jesus, who truly is the Son of God. Amen.

Lent 2 3/12/06 Text: Mark 8:31-38 Title: My Way or God's Way

Lent 2
3/12/2006
Text: Mark 8: 31-38
Title: My Way or God’s Way.
Let us pray, Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
For those of you that are long time church goers, our Gospel reading for this morning is very familiar, so familiar that, if you are like I was, it tends to go in one ear and out the other. But this story is more than just a story in the Bible for it has the power to transform your life. All you need to do is listen and then heed its lesson. There is one catch and that is that after listening to what Jesus Christ is saying to you today, you will probably have to struggle with what he said if you want to apply it to your life.
So I invite you to listen carefully this morning. Listen to what Jesus is telling you in this text. Listen to determine what it means for your life. Listen so that Jesus might lead you in the right direction. Listen for his words are directly aimed at your heart.
It is essential that when you look at a particular story in the Bible that you understand the context in which that story is set. That way you will not only have a better understanding of the story you studying but you will have a better chance applying it to your life.
Just before the event we are looking at Peter had just proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, the one whom Israel had been waiting for so long. Peter’s confession is the hinge, the turning point of the story. Peter did have it right, for Jesus is the Messiah, the one who will save Israel.
By this time Jesus had fulfilled most of the Old Testament prophecies and it is time for Jesus to teach, to prepare his disciples about what it really means to be the Messiah.
He starts by telling them that he must suffer and die. Now that doesn’t set to well with Peter, the same Peter that had just a short time earlier made such a wonderful confession. Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him.
Mark doesn’t tell us what Peter is saying to Jesus, but more than likely it is something like, “Jesus you need to quit talking foolishness. All that talk about suffering and dying is not going to win any converts to our cause. Quit talking crazy talk. Pull yourself together. You are the Messiah, now act like one.” Let’s not hear any more of that foolish talk about suffering and dying.”
Doesn’t it seem odd to you that in such a short time Peter could confess his belief in Jesus as the Messiah and then in almost the next breath criticize him in the next? It is odd, but maybe it really isn’t that odd, for if we are to be perfectly honest with ourselves, I think that we would have to admit that far too many times we confess our believe in Jesus and then turn right around and try to make him into something he is not. Something that we can handle. Something that will not interfere in our lives, at least not interfere too much.
I am afraid we too would probably have to admit that we don’t really know who Jesus is either. After all, how can one man die for the sins of all people? How can a person be man and God all at the same time? It is impossible for a human not to sin. Jesus must have used his power as God to resist temptation, and that is cheating. I could go on and on, but I think that you get the idea.
Just like Peter, we expect certain things from Jesus, and sometimes what we get is very different from what we expected, for Christ doesn’t always do what we want him to do. I know for sure that Peter did not want Jesus to tell him “Get behind me Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
That had to hurt, but Jesus is only telling the truth. He is not saying that Peter is actually Satan. He is saying that you are either for me or against me. If your are not doing what I ask you to do, then you are doing the work of Satan.
It is pretty simple, for in God’s eye there is no gray area like we like to say there is. He is trying to teach Peter, the rest of the disciples, and us, to view the world from God’s viewpoint. Now that is easier said than done for Peter, the disciples, and us, since we can only view him from our worm’s eye-view.
Let me explain what I mean. Jesus in telling the disciples who he is and what he has to do presents a problem for they have no past experience to base his message on. It is like explaining electricity to someone who has never seen a light bulb, or listened to a radio, or watched TV. Think about it for a minute. How can you explain electricity to someone like that? It is almost an impossible task for there is no foundation on which to build their knowledge.
Frankly, I have seen thousands of light bulbs, enjoyed the miracle of electricity, and gotten shocked numerous times. Some of us are slow learners. I still don’t understand how it works. I know it does work, but to be honest it seems more like magic than science to me. I would be a poor choice if someone wanted me to explain electricity to anyone, especially someone who has never experienced it.
Now we who confess our faith in Jesus Christ every Sunday have an advantage over the disciples that day, for we know what happened. We know that Jesus did in fact suffer and die. We know that he did rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. We know that, but I am afraid that we still fail at always connecting the dots, thus we do not recognize what Jesus life, death, and resurrection really mean for us.
There is an old saying, “There is nothing worth dying for.” A statement that a lot of people believe in with their whole being, but Jesus didn’t, for he said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” That doesn’t sound like “There is nothing worth dying for” does it?
Peter and the other disciples don’t get it, for they had not yet seen the power of God in Jesus’ suffering and dying. They hadn’t seen the empty tomb. They just don’t get it and I can’t say that I can blame them, for all we have to do is look at our own lives.
We say, “Look out for number one.” Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” That is the love he wants us to have, not the love of putting oneself first. That is quite different than looking out for number one.
We say, “If I don’t take care of myself, nobody else will.” Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.” “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” That is quite different from, “If I don’t take care of myself, nobody else will.” isn’t it?
Peter and the disciples didn’t get it because Jesus was teaching them something that was much more mysterious than electricity. He was telling them how things worked in the Kingdom of God. He was asking them to make a shift from a worm’s-eye view to a God’s-eye view of him and his life giving work.
That is the same problem we have, for too keep trying to view Jesus through our worm-eyes view. We try to domesticate him, to make him harmless and comfortable, something that we can manage. Something that will not cause us to much discomfort.
We like Jesus to be where we can keep an eye on him and a good place for that is for him to stay right here in church where we don’t have to worry about him interfering in our lives. Oh sure we know that we are going to heaven because of what he did. We accept his free gift of forgiveness.
We accept him and his forgiveness, but that is as close as we want him to be in our lives. So many times we leave here every Sunday and go on our merry way unhindered by his demands on our lives, demands that are always good for us.
You know, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can change, I can change, we all can change, for Jesus is not telling us that we actually have to die to follow him, or to actually walk around carrying a cross like the one in the corner. What he is telling us is to just put him first in our lives.
Jesus knows that when we have put him first we have changed from viewing him from a worms-eye view to a God’s-eye view. And in doing so we no longer see Jesus as just someone who has assured us of a place in heaven as important as that is. We see him as someone we want in our lives guiding us through the good and bad times as we do the will of God. Amen