Suncook UMC
March 21, 2010
Isaiah 53:4-7 (New King James)
Mark 15:1-15 (New Living Translation)
Which Jesus Do You Follow
You know . . . bringing up the girls is so hard. There are times when they just forget those “fruits of the Spirit” and they just act in ways that are so unloving to one another. There are times when they like to gang up on each other. For instance . . . there have been times when Erica and Shanequa gang up on poor Shyanne. I think that sometimes Shanequa does it just to go along with Erica. Erica is the oldest and of course Shanequa wants to be older so she goes along with what Erica says. It is not whether Erica is right or wrong . . . Shanequa just wants to go “with the crowd.” She just wants to be liked by her big sister and so she just “goes along to get along.” It is so infuriating. I think to myself “how can she do this to her best friend (as Ms. Shanequa calls her)? How can she treat Shyanne in such a way that she ends up feeling alienated and alone?” There are times when we as adults do the same thing. We go along to get along. We go along and don’t say anything when someone tells an “off color” joke in the work place. We go along and don’t say anything when we see a colleague get in trouble when we know that they don’t deserve it. We don’t want to make waves.
Let us pray…
Loving God, you who speak to your children through your Spirit and your Word, we pray this day for your Spirit to be among us that we may hear the word you have for us today. Speak to us in ways that we will understand your will for our lives. Help us to be your ambassadors of love, compassion and peace to the world around us. May we be a beacon of light in this broken world in which we live. And it’s in Jesus name we pray. Amen
Over the past few weeks, we have embarked on a journey into the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life. We have been with Him in the upper room when the Lord’s Supper was first instituted. We have walked with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed for what was about to happen. We have been in the audience when He was put on trial by the religious leaders. And now we will be with Him as He comes before Pilate, as He and Barabbas are brought before the people, we will hear the choice that the people made on that fateful day so long ago.
To give you a little history . . . the religious leaders made up accusations against Jesus and they wanted him put to death. They didn’t have the authority to do this so they decided to bring Jesus before Pilate. He had the authority to do so. They figured that because Jesus was “claiming to be King of the Jews”, Pilate would take offence to this, after all, Caesar was the ruler over the people and this man was claiming to be. The sentence for someone doing so was death. But . . . Pilate saw through their jealousy and fear, he knew the religious leaders real motive behind bringing Jesus before him. Jesus was not trying to lead some rebellion against Rome. The only authority He was against was the authority of the religious leaders. He spoke out against them not Rome. He didn’t want any part of it. So Pilate sent Him to Herod and again, Herod saw no real reason to put Jesus to death. He wanted no part as well so Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate (talk about passing the buck, neither wanted to take part in this, neither really wanted to put Jesus to death. They saw no real reason to but these religious leaders kept pushing the point). Now . . . here we have Jesus before Pilate again. What was he going to do. He knew Jesus was innocent, he knew that he had to try something. Here is where the story begins in Mathew 15:1-15. (Read Mathew 15:1-15 NLT).
The people wanted a Messiah, they wanted someone to free them from the Roman oppression. Here we have Barabbas, a man who fought “against the man” with power and might, with the sword and here we have Jesus, a man who said that they would overcome their oppression by loving their oppressors, by doing good to them, and through this goodness, they would change the hearts of the Romans and therefore stop the oppression. When Jesus came into Jerusalem, they wanted this Messiah to take the world by storm. They wanted this messiah to take up the sword and fight for the people and free them. But Jesus was not that type of Messiah and they were very disappointed. (By the way . . . both men had the same first name that means savior, Jesus Barabbas and Jesus the Christ) Some of the people that gathered here were some of the merchants and money changers that were in the temple when Jesus the Christ turned over the tables and called them thieves. They were angry and wanted Jesus to go away, never to be heard from again. These were the same people who greeted Jesus with palm crying “Hosanna” on Sunday and now were crying “Crucify him” at the end of the week.
This crowd, sheep being led, didn’t understand Jesus and how He would bring about change; they believed that the only way they would survive was by the sword, by a violent uprising. So what was Pilate to do? He needed to please the people. He didn’t want the uprising that would happen if he freed Jesus instead of Barabbas. He had the power to do so but chose to go along with the crowd to quiet them for awhile, to satisfy their request. Pilate had no trouble killing Jews, he had done so many times before. But this man, this Jesus, was different and he knew it. He knew that Jesus had only come before him out of the envy of the religious leaders. For some reason he didn’t want to put Jesus to death and try as he might, he decided to go with the flow instead of using his power in a way that he saw fit. Now think about it, how many times we have been like Pilate? We don’t want to stand out, we want to be accepted, and we remain silent when our words and actions could be the thing that makes a difference. Or how many times have we been like the crowd, not happy because things are not as we feel they should be so we want, we cry for, something that we think will work even though we know it is wrong, it is not how God would have it?
These two men, Jesus and Barabbas, remind me of two men that fought for Civil Rights. We had Malcolm X on the one hand, who believed that the only way to be “freed from the man” was with violence. Then on the other hand, there was Martin Luther King Jr. who believed that “freedom from the man” would come through gentleness, it would come through nonviolence, it would come through modeling our Lord Jesus. Which of the two men made the most impact on the Civil Rights Movement? Which of the two men lead to rights for the African American? Which of these two men made and impact on history itself? The violent or the meek saved the day? (Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth)
Jesus could have said something, he could have denied being king of the Jews and be done with it . . . carried on His ministry. That’s all the religious leaders were looking for. But Jesus knew what had to happen. He knew that He was here to bring about a change that would enable God’s children to have a right relationship with Him. Praise God that Jesus chose the harder path, not the path of the crowd. He made a way for you and for me, the way of the cross of Calvary. You see . . . Jesus said no . . . no to His will but God’s will. God said no . . . no to the broken relationship that sin caused. Love said no . . . For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son and whom shall believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Mercy said no . . .
(Play video “Mercy said No”)
Amen.
Mark 15:1-15
Isaiah 53:4-7
Call to Worship
based on Isaiah 43:19-21
Worship Theme: “Jesus,
Barabbas and Pilate”
and sermon,
“Which Jesus Do You Follow?”
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s
Whisper” blog
the fourth in a series of
sermons, based in part on the book,
“24 Hours That Changed the World”, by Reverend Adam Hamilton
Suncook United
Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
March 21, 2010
Fifth Sunday of Lent
All
of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights
reserved. Contact me at Ray
Foss for usage. See all 38,320+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
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