Mark Chapter 15 Verse 1

•Two things here that immediately strike a chord for me. First, Mark tells us that they bound Jesus. Psyche! Not possible! This may be what happened physically…circumstantially, but in reality, they did not bind Jesus. With what? Ropes? Chains? He created those things! In reality, Jesus allowed them to bind Him…why? Because He is the very Lamb of God. The willing and perfect sacrifice that would stand in my place and take the full brunt of my penalty not because He is bound, but because He is love!

•The second thing is that Mark said that they led Him. First in my mind and heart that doesn’t fit because Jesus is THE Leader. And yet they get out in front of Him and lead Him. Again, turn the camera...It’s not so much that He is being led by them, but that He is on His way to the cross…whether they lead or not. God’s love is unstoppable. His Word, undeniable. These ropes could have melted off of Him…but He submits Himself and is taken from the Council, to Pontius Pilate.

•Now between them delivering Jesus to Pilate and Pilate’s questioning of Jesus which we are about to see, Matthew (in Matthew 27 which parallels Mark 15) Matthew gives us the account of Judas’ regret and suicide…so very tragic. He returned the 30 pieces of silver, throwing them down at the feet of the Council and then went out and hung himself…Just like we talked about last week…his dream was 30 pieces of silver, money…and the world delivered it…but then took it back…notice he casts his treasure not at the feet of the Almighty but at the feet of the zero-mighty…mere men…and its over for him. Man can we please learn from him and not go down that path ourselves!!

•I wish the answer to that question was a resounding yes…but I know it’s not…

•Now we are about to see and hear the rightful title of Jesus over and over again as we march through this scene…He will be called, labeled, even questioned…as a King…and the King He certainly is but my how that title has been cheapened here on earth. Men were never meant to be kings. The children of Israel had no king…they wanted one…God said to them, “Here I am!” And they said, “Not good enough.” So God appointed Saul…then we have others that have cheapened that title…The King of England…please. The Lion King. Don King. Stephen King. Larry King. Burger King! I mean come on! How much more can we cheapen this title…precisely what the enemy would have done in this fallen world…

•But know this…, they called Jesus “King” since birth…Matthew 2:2…and in eternity…that word is precious. That title, reserved for One. The King of kings and the Lord of Lords…sauté that in your skull skillet as we move forward!!

Mark Chapter 15 Verses 2 – 5

•John gives us many more red letters during this interaction. Many more details as to what Jesus said to Pilate and amazingly what we find is Jesus reaching out to Pilate personally. Pilate was a fearful man. He had two major strikes against him as the Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea. He had paraded an image of Caesar on the Temple Mount, causing the Jews to riot…then he had financed an aqueduct using the Temple Treasury…causing the Jews to riot…he was on thin ice with Rome…one more slip-up would be his head and so who was bound in this scene? Not Jesus.

•And so we see the heart of God. To unwind chains. To bring truth and light and freedom to a weary and heavy heart. Precisely what He does still today in my life and in yours. What He’s doing right now actually as we study the Word together! That if we will hear His voice and do not harden our hearts, then He will bring peace…not the peace of the world…man that’s not peace anyway…that’s a fake…but peace in the form of strength, stillness, surety, sanity, savvy and salvation!

•But Pilate is terminal. The fear defeats him…He says to Jesus, “Are you a King?” Jesus replies, (in John), “Are you asking because that’s what they told you, or are you asking for you?” Pilate doesn’t know what to say…Jesus says, “It is as YOU say.”…I love that…Pilate knows…man he knows…causes Him to marvel even…and Jesus says, “My kingdom…not of this world. There’s too many here…the true kingdom is one…” And that is the age to come folks…

•And so Jesus reaches out to Pilate…doesn’t defend Himself. Doesn’t have to. Defense is only needed if there is a battle…but the victory was already won…the night before, in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus surrendered His will to the Father! He is quickened! He is resolved! He is the Christ. The matter is settled. “Nevertheless, not My will but Your will Father!” And so as He is abused, as He is beaten, as He is openly charged and wrongly discredited…He answers nothing! Meek and mighty co-existing in pure dominance of the situation! That is peace man!! He’s in control the entire time!! There are just SO many lessons there for us!!

•And so Pilate marveled! In the Greek the word is actually “admired in wonderment…” Pilate’s never seen strength like this…

Mark Chapter 15 Verse 6
•Now Mark skips over this but in Luke’s account, Chapter 23, we see an additional detail about how Pilate tried to get out of this…When he learns that Jesus was a Galilean, which he learned from talking with Him, he sends Jesus to Herod (who had the authority over Galilee) and who happened to be in Jerusalem. Herod asked Him many things but again Jesus didn’t say a word…so Herod sends Him back to Pilate after mocking Him and the crazy thing that Luke points out is from that day forward, Herod and Pilate were friends…

Mark Chapter 15 Verses 7 – 15

•Do you want Jesus, the King of the only real kingdom…the One who has done no evil, the One who took the abuse, the accusations, the beatings, the questioning, the discrediting, the shame of the sin of the world upon Himself…without a word of defense for Himself…

•And really no defense would have been appropriate! Because He was standing in my place and in your place…He was scourged in my place and in yours…and deserving of punishment we all are! But by His stripes we are healed Isaiah tells us…another Gospel tells us that even while being scourged, He was silent…and Pilate again…marveled…why? Because even in delivering Jesus to be scourged, he was trying to release Him. To appease the hate of the Jews…Scourging was a brutal tactic used to get a confession and it always worked! Whether the person was guilty or not…because when the confession came, the stripes ceased…but not Jesus…

•He had already confessed…I am the Christ! And in that, those stripes were justified…they were deserved…because they were mine and they were yours…and so whom do you choose? The One who was foretold? The One who was clear as to who He was and is? The One that loves you so much that He would offer His life for yours? The One that proved He is life as He sat up from death never to taste of it again? The only Son of the Almighty Father…or…the murderer…the thief…son of a father…

•That’s what Barabbas literally means by the way…,”son of a father.” But that’s your choice, that’s my choice, that’s THE choice…choose ourselves, as we are sons and daughters of a father…we are a mess, sinful, dark and corrupted, our flesh and our carnal habits robbing from us and others as we seek our own, murdering us and others as we suffer with the consequences of the disease of sin, ultimately claiming us for the dark fires of hell…or choose the Son of the Father…it’s really THE choice…

•So interesting…you find the name Barabbas in 10 verses in the Bible. 10 is the number of the law. The number of the Old Covenant…where man must be good enough, man must reach God by living perfectly…a thing no man can do and yet apart from God…we are self-deceived into thinking that we must be granted entrance into heaven’s gates…smart folks, intelligent folks, brilliant folks…going to hell every day man…because the Kingdom of God is not in word or in deed but in power 1 Cor 4:20 tells us…by opening your heart to Power Himself…and as the Holy Spirit comes within you, you are a mess still, chaotic still, imperfect still…but now filled with strength, stillness, surety, sanity, savvy and salvation…filled with the very presence of God and from the inside out He begins to teach you, to lead you, to guide you, to show you life, eternal life now…

•10 verses we find the “son of a father” and yet the pattern of the verses reveals truth…5 verses in Matthew…the number of grace…God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense…3 verses in Mark, the number of the Triune God…revelation of God Himself in the persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…one verse in Luke and one verse in John because to receive God’s grace, to know the One True God…it’s a one on one thing…just you, just Him…whom do you choose?