Lenten Series: The Trial Part III - John 19:1-16a

John 19:1-16a – Jesus on Trial Part III

Here we are, for the last three weeks we have walked with Jesus on the last night before his death. Jesus went from the Garden where he was praying to the house of Annas, from there to the house of Caiaphas, and then to Pilate. Last week we looked at the first part of the trial that occurred in Pilate's house. And Today we have the final part of that trial.

Let me remind you that Pilate was woken up at three in the morning, by the chief priests and the temple police, asking him to put Jesus on trial, who they say is a treasonous traitor committing vile treachery, by setting himself up as a king over and against Caesar. They tell Pilate that he needs to hurry because in the morning they need to celebrate the Passover, and while they are on that fact, they can't come inside, because if they do so they run the risk of being too unclean to celebrate Passover.

So when our passage lets us know that it is now noon, it is letting us know exactly how long they have been at this. Pilate has talked to Jesus, but cannot find anything he can hold against Jesus. Pilate talks to the Chief priests; they insist that Pilate do something about him. He goes back in talks to Jesus, back out to the Jewish leaders and so forth. He tries to mollify them by having Jesus beaten. But they won't have it. He even offers to release Jesus, to pardon him, as if he were guilty, but the emperor was kind and let him go free in honor of their Passover, but they insist they would rather have Barabbas the bandit instead. There is not pacifying them.

Pilate's next step is to meet them halfway, he has Jesus beaten and humiliated and then plans to release him, but again they will not hear of it. This time instead of simply requesting he be killed, they insist he is a traitor to the emperor and must die the traitor's death, he must be crucified.

This is like a movie we have seen over and over again. We know every line, every move, how each scene is put together, each every camera angle, every cut. We know exactly how it goes. There are no more surprises. These are the events that make us Christians. These are the events that lead to salvation; these are the events that will lead us to the tomb on Easter morning. We have walked down this road before; we know all the landmarks, all the turns in the road, all the trees, all the bumps along the way. Yet at least once a year we follow in this path, we continue to remember who Jesus is and what he did for us and what happened to him just prior to his death. Because in doing so we once again are reminded who we are and what it means to follow Christ in all things.

He is beaten, he robed in the mockery of a king's robe and a crowned with thrones. He is questioned and questioned and questioned, but no matter what, Pilate cannot find what his crime might be. The Jewish leaders keep insisting that it is treason. They say Jesus desires to be a usurper king, a traitor to the emperor. It all takes us to the last phrase, “Then he handed him over to be crucified.”

Whether or not we or someone we care about has power is something with which many of us have been concerned throughout the course of the recent barrage of Nor'easters that have come our way in recent weeks. Every day the news will tell us how many continue to be without power, with some gaining power after nearly two weeks, only to lose it again when the next storm hit. Whether or not we had power in this storm was the difference between enjoying the snow in comfort and warmth, and being left inside in the cold, doing everything with our power, to stay warm when we had no power. “I have the power,” is the cry of the hero in a Saturday morning cartoon show I watched as a child. Of course these are two different kinds of power. But either way most of us want power. We like to have things in control, we like to be in control. We like to have the power.

Power is very much something that also concerns everyone in this passage. Everyone wants power. The chief priests want to power to have Jesus killed without having to actually do it themselves. They want the power to have Jesus killed tonight, on their terms, in their time. They throw their power around by insisting that Pilate handle this situation, NOW, in the middle of the night. They take their power and laud it over him, by not only insisting this be done immediately, but that they must stay outside, forcing Pilate to in to try Jesus inside, but to repeatedly come out to talk to them. They want Jesus to be tried, they want to be the witnesses in the trial. They are the accusers. They are the ones who turn him in. They feel they are in charge. They feel they have all the power, in fact in the end it is they, and not Pilate who get to choose Jesus' means of death. They decide that he will be killed as a traitor, that he will be crucified.

Pilate is that one that has all the legal power. He is the one to whom they must ultimately bring Jesus to be tried. Pilate is the one whom Caesar, the emperor, has sent to keep the troublesome and rebellious Jews in line. One of his main jobs there is to keep the Jews from rebelling and to squash any sign of uprising. He has the power to get rid of anyone he feels inhibits his ability to keep the peace. He has the power to condemn anyone who rises up against Caesar or anyone who seems to have an inkling of separating the region from the empire. In fact Pilate lets Jesus know exactly what kind of power Pilate holds over him, the power to have him put to death and the power to have him released.

It appears that Jesus has none of the power. Before this final episode he is arrested and then carted from one place to another in a series of shame pre-trials and finally brought here to stand trial before Pilate, the representative of the ultimate political power of the Roman Empire. The Jews have power over him, they have trumped up charges, serve as false witnesses and are saying all the right things to not only have him put to death but to be tried and convicted as a traitor, to be crucified.

He responds to Pilate’s questions, calmly and humbly. At first his answers seem to satisfy Pilate. Pilate does not release him. As the night turns to morning and morning becomes noon, nothing seems to move Jesus closer to release. Jesus seems to have no power to affect the outcome of the events as they are unfolding. It seems that the Jews and Pilate hold all the power and Jesus has absolutely none.

John began his gospel with these words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being (John 1:1-2 nrsv).” Jesus is the Word of which John spoke. Jesus was not only with God in the beginning, not only the one through whom all creation was made, but Jesus is God. Jesus literally (and not the figurative form of “literally' that is popular right now, I literally mean, “literally”) has all the power but is using exactly none of it. Paul quotes an early Christian hymn when he tells us that Jesus, “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness (Phil 2:6-7 NIV).” Another version translates it this way saying that Jesus, “emptied himself,” when he became human, “taking the form of a slave (NRSV).” Jesus, while ultimately holding all the power of the universe, uses none of it and, “became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross (Phil 2:8).”

Jesus in becoming human, is much like the Genie in Disney's Aladdin who has, “Phenomenal cosmic powers! Itty bitty living space.” Jesus like the Genie living in his bottle, has phenomenal cosmic power, because he is in very nature, God but is living in a much smaller living space than would normally become the God of all things, he became human and in doing so limited himself, emptied himself of the power he could choose to use. Jesus is the one with all the power but does not use any of it, gives it up to come to earth, to teach us, to guide us, to do what needed to be done to bring us closer to God. He allowed himself to become powerless for our salvation; gave up everything for us.

Jesus may have the right and the ability to use all the Power that is and ever was and wield it as he sees fit. Yet, he restrains himself and uses none of it. The Jews and Pilate are doing their best to through the weight of their power around. Meanwhile the one who holds all the power (not only power over all of them, but the one through who all power, including any power they might have) remains seemingly powerless. In becoming incarnate, Jesus allowed himself to be subject to all that it meant to be human and here during this trial, that means containing any power he might have, giving up any opportunity he might have to use that power and in doing so is truly showing what it looks like to be the one who has the power. Having power but using or not using that power for the good of other, for the good of ALL, is what it means to be truly powerful.

As Christians, it is our calling to be like Christ, in all things. Usually when we talk about being like Christ we are talking about loving people as freely and wholly as Jesus did while he was here on earth, being giving and compassionate like Christ, but there is more to being Christlike than that.

We are called, most especially at this time of year during Lent, when we are thinking about Christ's death, to be humble, and obedient like Christ. We are called to wield power like Christ. In all things we are to be like Christ. Paul, just prior to the hymn I quoted early tells his readers that we are to be like Christ in all things, “having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” He goes on to say, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:2-5)”

Being like Christ, having the mind of Christ means that we put the interests of others a head of our own. We are to respond to the world around us not always looking to ourselves and our own good, but we are to respond selflessly giving up what belongs to us, what we deserve, what is our due and instead look to what is best for those around us, giving up our rightful due, our power, our control, to allow Christ to work in and through us in this world.

We are to have the mind of Christ, who had all the power of the universe, but set it aside, emptied himself of all but love (as another more “modern” hymn goes) to bring salvation to us and to this world. Who in that love gave up everything that belonged to him, gave up everything he deserved, gave up all his rights and all his power, and died for us. We are to have the mind of Christ, the attitude of Christ, the humility of Christ. That does not simply mean being kind, caring, compassionate human beings, who always respond in and with the love of Christ toward others in our lives and in our world, (as if that is easy in itself), but it also means that even when the power belongs to us, or even when we deserve to have the power, when it is our right, when it is what we belongs to us, instead of wielding it wildly like everyone else in this passage, we are to be like Christ and empty ourselves of the privilege our power might give us and give it away.

In this world there is power we deserve, power we have earned, power our position in society gives us, power given to us because of our job or our career, power afforded us because of our education, power we deserve. We all have power of some kind. Give it up. The call of Christ is one of self-giving, self-sacrificing love. Love that gives sacrificially, love that reaches out to others in all things, the does not demand what is our due, love that does not demand what we deserve, love that does not demand what we deserve, but instead gives up any power we might have and give generously to the world around us, giving up what is our for the benefit of the kingdom, so that all might come to know Jesus, willingly empties ourselves for the sake of Christ, so that other might know the love of God we know.