Midweek Lenten Worship March 13, 2023
“Faith for a Complicated World” Luke 23:1-25
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
You’ve heard the account from Luke 23. There are 3 major players in those 25 verses.
1. The chief priests
2. Pontius Pilate
3. Jesus
Have you heard the phrase that goes like this, “There is no one so blind as the one who doesn’t want to see”? That phrase describes the chief priests. Last week we used the term, “Blind ignorance of unbelief” to describe them. They were the gang who would not let up on their hatred of Jesus. They had brought Jesus to Pilate and made their charges known, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.” (Luke 23:2) Those charges could not be taken lightly.
But Pilate knows those charges carry no weight. He told the chief priests and everyone in the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.” (Luke 23:4) So the priests mention that Jesus had been causing political unrest all the way from Galilee. When Pilate heard that Jesus was from Galilee he sent him to Herod Antipas, who ruled over that territory in Israel.
This gang of priests followed Jesus when He was sent to Herod. Their venomous words and charges against Jesus only became longer and louder. But other than mocking Him, beating Him and ridiculing Him, Herod didn’t, and couldn’t, do what the chief priests had hoped. Pilate and Herod, known enemies of each other, became friends that day.
So back to Pilate Jesus goes, along with the priests. It was the priests that offered the name of Barabbas to the crowd. The custom in the Jewish Passover was to release a prisoner to the people. Some type of goodwill to the Jewish people, I suppose. So they told the people to ask for Barabbas. This guy was a bum – I bet no one ever asked him to teach Sunday School. He was in prison for murder and insurrection. Isn’t it ironic that the first charge the chief priests brought against Jesus was for insurrection, “subverting our nation”? And the man they wanted released had been tried and found guilty of that and even more.
The second major player of evil in this account is Pontius Pilate. He is governor of Judea and Samaria. He is directly responsible to Tiberius Caesar. Tiberius is the emperor – when you think of him think “top dog” and then multiply that a thousand times. Pilate represents the interests of the Roman empire, and the two interests are (1) peace and order, and (2) tax money. Tiberius demanded that of Pilate.
Rome held the power in that country. They would not allow any Jewish authority – the Sanhedrin – to execute anyone even if that person deserved to die. Pilate is the prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, judge and jury. Pilate held all the cards.
You know what Pilate did. We speak his name every Sunday. We speak of his cowardice and the judgment he pronounced. We say, “He was crucified under Pontius Pilate.” He had tried, repeatedly, to let Jesus go. But he failed to execute justice. We read, “But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he (Jesus) be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.” (Luke 23:23-25)
Sometimes when we hear the account we shrug our shoulders and cynically say, “What do you expect? Isn’t that how politics work? Powerful people do what is convenient. They compromise. They give in to special interests.”
No. It is sad that such a thing happened. Ruling authorities exist to protect the weak, powerless, helpless. They are to help the poor and the widow and the orphan. God has given the government the command to punish the one who does evil and reward the one who does good. Pilate had been given much authority. “To the one who has been given much, much more will be demanded.” (Luke 12:48) Pilate doesn’t get a free pass here.
The third person in this account is Jesus. Chief priests. Pontius Pilate. Jesus. In the weeks that followed the death and resurrection of Jesus the apostles of Jesus were quite visible and vocal in speaking about their crucified and risen Lord. And it got them into trouble. The chief priests were involved in their arrest, as they had been with Jesus. In Acts 4 we read of what happened:
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why do the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’ – for truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” (Acts 4:23-28)
Did you hear that? “To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” Was it evil? Did the power players do evil? Yes. It was evil. But was God caught off guard? No, He was not. Did God take what was evil and use it for our good? Yes. Yes. Yes.
In our readings we are told that “Jesus spoke not a word.” He was quizzed, “Aren’t you going to defend yourself?” We read, “And Jesus was silent.” And now it makes sense. He wasn’t there to defend himself against evil but to fight evil. In John 12 Jesus speaks, “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’” (Verses 27-28)
We live in a complicated world. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense. But please have your eyes wide open to see that God is still at work among us and He can take evil and bring His good into every situation and into every life. Amen!!
(Many of the thoughts, words and ideas for this message came from Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs. He serves on the faculty of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. His Lenten sermon series, “You Meant It For Evil, But God Meant It For Good”, Concordia Seminary Press, 2022, is the basis for this message.)