Mark 15:1-15

Bringing the sermon home:

As Jesus is brought before Pilate, the Roman governor, He is charged with treason, for He has declared Himself to be the long-promised Messiah, and any claim to kingship was seen as a rejection of the rule of the Roman Emperor. Jesus accepts the charges, but in a way that indicates some measure of reserve. While He is “the King of the Jews”, He is far more than that: He is the King of all the earth and the only Savior of the world.

As the chief priests accuse Jesus of many other things, Jesus remains silent. Pilate is amazed that Jesus doesn't defend Himself against what Pilate understands are spurious charges, but Jesus is not ultimately standing trial for Himself. Instead, He is laying His life down in place of the guilty.

The great exchange of the gospel is powerfully illustrated as an insurrectionist is set free while an innocent man is condemned to die. Those are the same charges that will be brought against you on the last day, for we have all treasonously rejected the kingship of our Creator. Do you accept the charges against you? Are you a participant in this exchange?

Not only are we being called to see ourselves in the treasonous rebel, Barabbas, but in the crowd who called for his release. Like them, it is often the case that the deliverance we want (revolution) is not the deliverance we need (salvation). We must not allow ourselves to be swept up by the mob. Instead, we must so delight in what we have already been given that we are willing, like Jesus, to suffer the mob's fury, that the beauty of the gospel may be displayed in us.

Outline:

1. The charge: a claim to be king. The confession: not just any king. (vv. 1-2)
2. The Lamb goes quietly to the slaughter as the willing sacrifice. (vv. 3-5)
3. The innocent is condemned while the insurrectionist is set free. (vv. 6-11)
4. The deliverance we want is not the deliverance we need. (vv. 12-15)