Mark 15:6-15-- Undermining Justice

Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. Answering again, Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with him whom you call the King of the Jews?" They shouted back, "Crucify him!" But Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him!" Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified.

Now Barabbas actually was the kind of man the priests were accusing Jesus of being.  He was a brigand, a rebel, and he not only attacked Romans and Jews, but he had killed one.  

Pilate suspected that the chief priests’ accusations were an exaggeration and so he used a custom he had to determine their seriousness.  Pilate was well-known in Judea and Galilee as a harsh, violent ruler.  To try to placate the people, he allowed the Judeans to chose one person whom he had imprisoned to set them free.  He did this on Passover, one of three feasts a year where Jews from all over the world would come together in Jerusalem.  So Pilate offered the crowds a choice: Barabbas, a rebel and criminal, or Jesus, a religious leader dependent on God.  The priests had already selected the crowd before Pilate, so they all called out for Barabbas to be freed.  

Pilate was extremely frustrated and he asked, “So what do you want me to do with this man whom you call king?”  Pilate was purposing to goad them into denying that he was a king, and so deny their testimony.  But they just called out for Jesus to be crucified.  Pilate tried to argue with them, but they called out “Crucify” again and again until Pilate gave into their wishes.  Pilate wasn’t just wishy-washy here—he couldn’t afford for the people to raise a complaint to Caesar about him, and so he was hesitant to go against the people in such a questionable case.  

Crucifixion is an execution given to a non-citizen or a traitor.  A Roman citizen who was so evil to need to be executed would be killed by beheading.  A Jewish citizen who was so evil to need to be executed would be killed by stoning. But the one who is crucified is accepted by no nation, an outsider.  For the Judeans and Pilate to command him to be crucified means that Jesus was rejected by both Jews and Gentiles—he was an outcast.

Who are these people shouting "Crucify him!"?  They are supporters of the high priest and the Sanhedrin.  They are the people who believe that their leaders are always right and that their people should be supported no matter what.  They are the common party-members, patriots and lovers of their nation.  They heard their leaders say, "This is the enemy of our nation.  This is the destroyer of our peace.  He must be gotten rid of."  And so they work toward the destruction of the enemy for which they have no evidence to condemn.

In the Bible, condemning and punishing the innocent is one of the most serious crimes.  It is not just a criminal act, it is the undermining of all justice and peace in one's nation.  Every time that we condemn a whole people, then we are setting aside the righteousness of God for our own prejudice.  Every time that we agree with other people's condemnation, instead of looking for proof, then we are the guilty one.  Every time we point the finger at someone when we don't actually know, we are condemning Jesus all over again.

True patriotism judges with a right judgment, so that justice might not be undermined.

Mark 15:1-5-- Gossip

Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole Council, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate. Pilate questioned him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "It is as you say." The chief priests began to accuse him harshly. Then Pilate questioned him again, saying, "Do you not answer? See how many charges they bring against you!" But Jesus made no further answer; so Pilate was amazed.

Even as Jesus prophesied, the Jewish Sanhedrin attempted to surrender Jesus over to Pilate so that he would be crucified.  While it is possible that the Sanhedrin could have stoned Jesus to death for his blasphemy, it was illegal for them to do so under Roman law.  The Romans held the authority to execute for themselves.  Even so, the Sanhedrin would want Jesus to be completely shamed and cursed, and crucifixion was the best way to do this, for the law says, “Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree.”(Deuteronomy 21:22-23). 

To Pilate, the Sanhedrin accused Jesus of claiming to be king, in opposition to Caesar.  While this is technically true, Jesus was also claiming that God would depose both the Sanhedrin and Caesar Himself, Without any human army,  this posed no real threat that the Romans would recognize, because they saw their God, Jupiter, to be far more powerful than the Jewish God, Yahweh.  But they didn’t mention his lack of force to Pilate, so he thought that they were accusing him of being a lestes, a brigand in opposition to Rome, attacking Roman soldiers.  

Jesus, however, said nothing to these accusations in defense of himself.  Jesus did this in fulfillment to the prophecy in Isaiah (53:7) that he would be silent before those who oppressed him.  Pilate was amazed at this, for he was used to people defending themselves and him determining the truth between accusation and defense.  Unfortunately, he has some outlandish accusations, and a silent defendant.  He could not determine justice as it stood.  If Jesus had defended himself, saying “I am not leading an army, but I am waiting on God to deliver his people,”  Pilate might have let Jesus go.  But Jesus was remaining silent so that God’s will could be done here.

There are times that we are in the place of Pilate.  Someone is accused before us, and we make a judgment, even though the accused isn't defending themselves.  For the case of Pilate, we can see that he is wrong.  Jesus was mostly innocent of the accusations, and even those he is guilty of (claiming to be king), it makes no difference to the Romans unless God acts in power.

But while we might rightly say that Pilate was wrong, yet we will listen to gossip, or one side of an event in someone's life and we make our determination of someone's guilt based on listening to one side of the story.  Justice doesn't look at just one side.  At least we need to hear both sides.  

Mark 14:66-72-- Failure

As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with Jesus the Nazarene." But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are talking about." And he went out onto the porch, and a rooster crowed. The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, "This is one of them!" But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too." But he began to curse and swear, "I do not know this man you are talking about!"  Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, "Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he began to weep.

It was already stated that Peter had followed Jesus to the court of the high priest, where the Sanhedrin met (Mark 14:54).  Mark goes back and forth between Peter and Jesus, to inform the reader that both events were happening at the same time. 

Peter was confused about his position, for Jesus made it clear that he didn’t want to resist arrest, but Peter claimed to defend Jesus with his life, so he felt he needed to follow.  Two girls who were servants of the high priest claimed that they recognized him as being a follower of Jesus.  Because of his confusion and his immediate fear of being arrested, he denied their claims.  Then others hear his Galilean accent, and confronted him with his lies.  However, now his honor was at stake, for they were accusing him of being a liar, and so he vehemently denied it, even cursing to show how strongly he felt about it.  Then the rooster crowed, and he remembered Jesus’ prophecy, connecting him denying Jesus with a rooster crowing.  At this point, Peter realized his gross sin and wept from repentance.  

His denial was a severe sin, for Jesus claimed that whoever was ashamed of him would be rejected by him and the Father (Mark 8:38).  But note that Jesus, even after knowing that Peter would deny him, still have Peter the “inner circle” status in Gethsemene, and so offered him forgiveness even before he had sinned.

Sometimes, in following Jesus, we find ourselves in situations that we never would have chosen ourselves, situations in which we are way over our head.  We don't even know how we got there, and once there, we are clawing at anyone and everyone to try to get out.  We look back at those times and we cry out to God, wondering why He ever let us get in that place to begin with.

Isn't it odd that Jesus isn't surprised at our failure or sin.  He knows what we are capable of, even if we do not.  He knows that we will be a screw up.  And he isn't disappointed in us, or heap more guilt on us than we do ourselves.  He just picks us up, dusts us off, and say, "Okay, let's do better next time, okay?"

In following Jesus, we WILL fail.  We need to expect that.  Jesus sometimes demands more than we can give-- or we demand more for ourselves than Jesus asks.  Failure is part of the process.  Through it we can both learn our own limitations and Jesus' mercy.