John 19:1-16a on March 22nd, 2026
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
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One of the more memorable images of Jesus's trial and crucifixion is that purple robe and the crown of the words of all the things that happen in these few chapters. That is something that is easy for us to picture. And of course the soldiers did that to mock this king of the Jews. To him he is just a silly little man. Their taunting is meant to degrade him, to humiliate them, but in their mocking they unknowingly reveal the truth. That Jesus is king but not just king of the Jews. Jesus is king of the cosmos. And as king Jesus should have power and authority, he should be able to negotiate, to defend himself, escape the situation so that he could live rule be free. But by all appearances Jesus's power and authority have reached their end. Kings don't get humiliated, kings don't get mocked. He was flogged, robed, crowned, all without an ounce of retaliation. It seems like he truly has lost everything.
And instead Jesus is standing before Pilate, the one person who does have power and authority, power and authority to release or kill, to set the man free or hang him up on a cross. Pilate has control of life and death, which is the ultimate marker of power. Unlimited authority is in Pilate's hands. He can do whatever he wants. Except Pilate has tried to release Jesus a few times now. And even here after a flogging and some mocking, Pilate thinks that's good enough for this preacher boy. He brings Jesus out of the crowd saying that he finds no case against him. So if he has the authority to declare Jesus innocent and he has the power to release him, why doesn't he? It seems that Pilate does have some limits to his power after all. And one of those limits is job security. What would the emperor think if he set free a man who claimed to be a king? Fear of what would happen to him causes Pilate to pull back from the truth. So instead of setting Jesus free into the world, he turns him over to be crucified all so he can save himself.
Where's your fortitude? Should we mock Pilate for throwing Jesus under the bus to make his own life easier? That's easy to do from the comfort of our pew. And it would be pretty hypocritical because man, oh man, do we do the same thing? Jesus shows us, tells us, teaches us how to live as his disciples. He shows us the truth about living God's way. We have no problem ignoring that truth. Also, we don't have to change anything about ourselves. We, like Pilate, brush Jesus aside to save our lifestyles. Simple example. Say you're enjoying a nice evening out and someone who looks like they haven't showered in a couple of weeks starts walking towards you. We do our best to avoid eye contact and just keep walking. We've got plans, you know? And in that moment, we hand Jesus's way over to save ourselves. Crucify.
Think of any issue on how we come at it from our personal American point of view. Instead of Jesus's point of view, the environment, immigrants, guns, healthcare, abortion, capital punishment, marriage, mental health, protests, war. We have our practical, safe, fear free ways of approaching those things. And like Pilate, we choose the way that preserves our way of life, instead of letting Jesus loose. We could set Jesus free into the world, but instead we brush Jesus aside. Crucify. Our pragmatism stops the way that Jesus shows us. It's not practical to live like Jesus does. Love our enemies, not feasible. Forgive instead of holding a grudge, nonsense. I mean, plus, if we really listen to Jesus, we'd be giving away all our hard earned stuff. We have no king, but our things. We don't want to be seen as weak as feeble, as a pushover. So we do what sustains our livelihood and our comfort. Crucify Him.
Pilate has pretensions of being powerful and authoritative. The truth is, he isn't. The Jewish leaders claim to be faithful to God and God alone, but they hold the emperor as their king. We assert many godly things, but we often fail because that's just not the way things work around here. Everyone comes up short. And that is a hard pill to swallow. Yet we are about to see what true power and authority look like. And here in John's telling, this scene is where all the threads are pulled together.
You may remember several weeks ago when we first met John the Baptist. There in the first chapter of John's gospel, he sees Jesus and says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And shortly thereafter, Jesus enters the temple and drives out all the money changers. In John's telling, that didn't occur because those money changers were cheating people as in those other gospels. In John, Jesus does this because the people no longer need to make sacrifices now that Jesus has come on the scene. And why did the need for sacrifice change? Because Jesus is the Lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice, the one who takes away the sin of the world once and for all, just as the Baptist said.
This is the day of preparation for the Passover. That is the day before the Passover, when everybody is getting things ready for the next day's celebrations. This is the day on which the Passover Lamb is prepared. The Lamb, if you remember, the Exodus story was killed so that its blood could be spread on the doorposts of one's house. When God came and saw the blood on the door, God would pass over that house, saving the household from death. The Passover Lamb, through its death, saved others. And now, Jesus, the Lamb of God, is sentenced to die at the exact same time that Passover lambs are slaughtered for the celebration. That is no accident. John is testifying to the truth. And the truth is, Jesus is the Lamb of God. The one whose death covers us, the one who takes away our sin, the one who saves us, the one who lays down his life, and the one who takes it up again. Control of life and death is the ultimate marker of power. And all authority is in Jesus' hands. He can do whatever he wants. And he chooses to go to the cross. He lays down his life knowingly, willingly. And this is the way that his true authority, his true kingship is seen.
Jesus reveals the truth about God. For God so loved the world that God sent the only begotten Son, not to condemn but to save, not to preserve his own way of life, but to give eternal life to the world. And now, as baptized children of God, you too have been given authority. Authority to live and love and serve, authority to let Jesus loose in the world. And we do that with the words we use, with the ways we act, with the ways that we live. We don't need to live like Pilate, fearful, saving ourselves at every turn. Christ has already saved you. The Lamb laid down his life willingly and death across the tomb or not the end. And now the authority that we have is not about protecting our way of life. It is about sharing his life with the world that God so desperately loves. What looks like loss is actually authority. What looks like weakness is actually kingship. What looks like death is actually salvation. Jesus's blood covers you. Your sin is taken away and you are free. You are free. You are free to let Jesus loose in the world. Amen.