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Outline:

This morning as we ease our way back into the flow of John 19 I want to back up just a bit and address three things we weren’t able to discuss last Sunday: the motivations of the mob, the significance of the location of Golgotha, and the sad fate of this man Pontius Pilate.

First, consider the motivations of the mob who had come to the Praetorium adamant Jesus be crucified and this known criminal Barabbas released. For starters, there are some who try to make the case the same crowd who cried out on Palm Sunday, “Hosanna the King” were now demanding Pilate “crucify Jesus!” I’m not sure that’s a fair assertion.

Though true most of those who’d amassed were indeed present for Jesus’ triumphal entry, keep in mind it’s not only early in the morning and the gathering of such a crowd odd to say the least, but the Gospel records indicate a bit of astroturfing may have been at work.

Notice on the two occasions John records Pilate’s interactions with this crowd we read (John 19:6), “Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Jesus, they cried out, saying, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’” Then after trying to appease their blood-thirst by having Jesus scourged, John 19:14-15 records, “And Pilate said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ But they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’”

Aside from this account provided in John’s Gospel, in both Mark 15 and Matthew 27 we read how it was “the chief priests and elders who persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.” In fact, in his summary of the entire scene, Luke tell us (Luke 23:23), “And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed.”

The reason this is important centers on the fact that Jesus wasn’t crucified because of the fickle emotions of an out-of-control mob, but rather the intentional actions of the religious establishment. It’s likely powerful men like Annas and Caiaphas recruited a mob to make it seem like this was an organic outcry against Jesus when it really wasn’t.

Aside from the underhanded nature of such a ploy, what makes the actions of these men all the more egregious is the fact they had been charged by God with the task of looking out for the Messiah! The grand twist to the entire story is the fact they knowingly rejected a man who was likely their Messiah and then had Him crucified!

Read the rest at: http://www.c316.tv/sermons/367