Communion Message
(Pilate on trial)
September 23-24, 2000
Pastor Donald Sheley

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 

Now Paul tells us each time we share the communion we proclaim again the story of Calvary, and Matthew records the story this way: When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him, they lead Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. And at the time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they had gathered  together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy. And while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have nothing to do with this just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him." But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to released to you?" They said, "Barabbas!"  And Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?"  And they all said to him, "Let Him be crucified!"  Then the governor said, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, saying, "Let Him be crucified!" Now when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.  You see to it."  And all the people answered and said, "His blood be upon us and our children."  Then he released Barabbas to them; and when they had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

It's fascinating, the stories of history that surround the event of Calvary, and there is quite a lot known about Pilate.  He's the governor.  He's also referenced as the procurator, and he's been sent there by the Roman government, and he had to meet some qualifications for the assignment.  First of all, according to Roman law he had to be at least 27 years of age.  Secondly, he had to have experience in administration, and thirdly, he had to have performed on the battlefields and proved himself to be a good soldier.  So he's been assigned by the Emperor because, as a procurator, he had the responsibility of reporting directly to Cesar in Rome.  Now he could have gone north to Syria because there was an older man in terms of longevity, but in reality when it came to the bottom line, Pilate had to report to the Cesar in Rome.  Now when Pilate arrived there his desire was to have his own way and the procurators who had arrived and sent there by Rome earlier were very sensitive to the religious sentimentalities of the Jewish people.  The Jewish people believed that according to the laws of God you're not to have any graven image, and on the Roman's standards, the poles that proceeded the procurator and the armies as they marched in, was the Roman eagle and it was right on top of the pole.  And they would carry this to lead the procurator into his new assignment as well as his army. 

The others who preceded Pilate decided to take off the Roman eagle and just put a banner up there so that they would not offend the Jewish people who resented a graven image.  Pilate said, I'm the governor, I'll decide, and he left the eagle on top of the standard and he marched into Jerusalem, and as soon as he did, he had a city who hated him because he had contaminated their city with a graven image.  So he starts off with two strikes against him.  It isn't very long till he’s in his governorship that there's a restlessness that takes place somewhere in the province, and he murders a great number of Jewish people, and now he's really hated.  But he wants to leave a name for himself before he leaves this place and he notices that Jerusalem needed a new water service, so what he did is he went to the sacred temples, stole all the money out of the sacred temples to fund his water service, now this was too much for Jewish people.  He had cleaned out to the temple coffers on a project of his own.

So when it comes to the time now of the crucifixion, he is really, he's really on soft soil when it comes to those Jewish people so he's quite meticulous about the trial.  And it's interesting, you pick this up in the context as well as in history, historians tell us that Barabbas ‘ first name was Jesus, a common name.  And what Pilate is doing, he is saying now, do you want Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is the Christ?  You're sure?  We don't have that in the text, but the underlying theme is he was trying to get them a little confused.  He knew Jesus didn't deserve death, because he knew it was out of envy they had brought Him.  He bowed to the crowd and the crucifixion took place.  A few months after, according to the history books, there's an uprising up in a little village near Samaria and they had gathered there around Mount Herman, and as the result, old Pilate sent up his troops and murdered them all in the little village. 

Now, they've had enough.  Back at Jerusalem they put the team together and they take off for Rome because they're going to put in a personal complaint to Cesar himself.  Now at first Pilate's not too concerned because it was this Cesar who had appointed him to his governorship.  So he felt he would have some favorite there, but when the crowd arrives in Rome the Cesar says, well send Pilate to me and I'll take care of it.  Now Pilate's on his way now to Rome to report to Cesar, and here's where history and tradition become obliterated.  And tradition tells us that Pilate knowing that the Cesar that's now in control is not his friend, and tradition says that Pilate committed suicide on his way to Rome.  Other tradition says, no, he arrived at Cesar's mansion and then he was exiled may be as far north as England where he died of insanity.  We don't know.  All we know is that Pilate is gone and Jesus still reigns supreme.  I remember as a little boy a hymn that we used to sing, and as a little six-year-old lad I still cannot forget its words.  Jesus is standing in Pilate's Hall, friendless, forsaken, despised by all.  Harken!  What meaneth this sudden call?  What will you do with Jesus?  And the refrain answers back, with echoes that say, what will you do with Jesus?  Neutral you cannot be for someday your heart will be asking, what will He do with me?  You see there's an interesting twist to that trial.  It was never Jesus on trial.  It was always Pilate.  Jesus didn't need to be tried.  He's perfection.  He's truth.  He's love.  He's God Almighty, and it was Pilate who made the judgment against himself.  Interesting, isn't it?  Let's kneel together, shall we?

Lord Jesus on this beautiful day of worship we bow not to judge You, but to tell You that we love You.  We bow not in mockery, but in adoration and in love.  We bow before you Lord Jesus, our Lord, our God, and our Savior.  We've made our decision, dear Jesus, to love You and to serve You with all of our heart.  That's why we're here in Your house today.  That's why we share in the proclamation of our faith in the participation of this communion service.  We identified with You Lord Jesus as You identified with us.  We're Your followers.  We're Your disciples.  We're Your family and we love You.  Let's take the bread together, shall we?  And then the cup.  And everybody said, amen.  Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?