So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them
Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's
headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they
clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns,
they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the
Jews! (Mark 15:15-18 ESV)
This may seem like this is passage is more informative than
transformative because there is not anything that is obviously
convicting. I even selected these verses by accident! However, this has
become a great lesson to learn about scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16
says “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that
the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Therefore, while these verses might not stand out upon initially
reading them as being transformative, remember that because it is
scripture, it has power. Additionally, remember that all of scripture is
about Jesus! This approach to studying the Bible through the lens of
Christ is called Biblical Theology.
• Biblical Theology: It is following the bible story line knowing
that Jesus is the main character of the story. The New and Old
Testaments point to Jesus and how God is redeeming a people to himself
to make his name famous among the earth.
Historical Context
In these verses, Jesus was being handed over to Pontius Pilate.
Pilate was not the Emperor but more like a mayor or governor of a
province of Rome. Authority had been given to him on what to do with
Jesus. Jesus was being accused of being a liar and causing a lot of
trouble because he had been boldly proclaiming that he was king of the
Jews. The decision to punish Jesus was in Pilate’s hands. For some
reason, Pilate decided he did not want to be guilty of killing on
innocent man and gave the people the deciding power on what to do with
Jesus. He gave them an option to kill Jesus or the town murderer,
Barabbaas. With the help of the chief priests (aka the pastors) the
crowd chose to kill Jesus.
The Reality of the Situation
Now, all of this may seem crazy to you that people would want to kill
an innocent man. But keep in mind; this is all a fulfillment of
scripture! Jesus kept telling his disciples that this was going to and
had to happen.
Why the cross?
There was (and still is) a problem between God and humanity - sin. By
nature we are not good people. Look at this passage! The people God
created wanted Jesus dead. He was betrayed by one of his disciples. The
pastor’s of that time were leading the charge for Jesus to be killed.
And these are supposed to be the good people! Let’s not talk about the
other chaos that was going down. According to Romans 3, there was no one
righteous. There was not a man on the planet that did not have sin
except Jesus. Jesus followed the Father’s laws perfectly. He obeyed
everything that the Father commanded. God was pleased with him! Yet,
there had to be a ransom for humanity and Jesus was the guy!
What now?
Jesus willingly took the sins of the world and gave us his sinless
perfection. Think about everything in your life. How many times have you
not gotten what you deserve? Well, Jesus got what he did not deserve.
He experienced the wrath of God, he was beat, he was outcaste,
ridiculed, laughed at, spit on and murdered! The result: we got what we
did not deserve. We got freedom from sin, access to the father, freedom
from the wrath of God and an invitation into the kingdom of God.
So this passage that may not seem important, but it is! As you pray
this week, ask the Lord to give you an understanding of the crucifixion
of Jesus. Ask him to melt your heart, knowing that without Jesus there
would be no hope for us. Rejoice in that fact that the Lord has called
you and saved you! A lot of us go about our day as though we deserve
things. We walk around with our nose in the air and act like we are in
control of our life. But let this reality sink in deep - God controls
everything, including the death of Jesus.
This should change the way you respond to life. We are an
underserving people that God has graciously given more than we deserve.
If you are in a place right now and feel like you have no friends, that
money is tight, or you are having a rough family situation, remember God
is here! He understands! We deserve death and nothing good but God has
given abundantly more than we need. More importantly, we get him. We get
Jesus! He is the most important thing in this universe. Let this
reality should fuel you to obedience! That’s my prayer for me and for
you!
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