It’s so easy to point fingers on Good Friday.
We have trouble wrapping our minds around all the evil that led to Christ’s crucifixion. Surely, if we were in the same position, we would not be the one’s crying, “Crucify Him!”
But friend, the evil that dwelt in the hearts of the Jews and priests crying, “Crucify him!” is the very same evil that dwells in our hearts.
For this Friday Morning Bible Study, we’re going to take a look at the most evil moment in all of history: when we crucified our King.
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.”
John 19:15
Context
An angry mob has gathered, incited by the Priests. Jesus had been arrested and taken to the High Priest for questioning. And the High Priest has sent him to Pilate. Pilate can find nothing to charge Jesus with, but the crowd will not be swayed. They are out for blood.
“Crucify him!” they chant. Jesus has been beaten and flogged. He is clothed in a purple robe and a crown of thorns. The crowd will get their wish. They will crucify the Son of God. He will hang on a cross, asking God to forgive them as he goes, taking all their sin (all OUR sin) upon himself and bearing God’s wrath on their behalf. He will cry out, “It is finished” and breathe his last.
Observation – What does it say?
They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!”
They. We learn from the verse before this one that the “they” referred to in this verse are the Jews. God’s own chosen people are crying out for their Lord’s crucifixion. The crucifixion that the Jews were calling for was one of the most gruesome, humiliating ways to die. It was often done to make an example of someone and deter others from committing similar crimes. Wikipedia says,
“Crucifixion was usually intended to provide a death that was particularly slow, painful (hence the term excruciating, literally “out of crucifying”), gruesome, humiliating, and public, using whatever means were most expedient for that goal.”
We know from earlier in John that Caiaphas, the high priest, “had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people” (John 18:14). They were looking to make an example of Jesus.
Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”
Pontius Pilate was the 5th prefect of the Roman Province of Judea from AD 26/27 to 36/37 (source: Wikipedia).
We read this about Pilate in Matthew 27:
So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
Pilate unsuccessfully tried to turn away the crowd’s anger and release Jesus. As was tradition, Pilate would release one prisoner for the people. But the people did not want Jesus to be released. They wanted him to be crucified. Pilate could find nothing to charge Jesus with, but fearing a riot, he submitted to the people’s request.
The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
Who were the priests?
The priesthood was established in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. God gave instructions for building a special tent, a tabernacle, where God would dwell with his people. The priests worked within the tabernacle, speaking to God on behalf of the people and making atonement for their sins (by performing animal sacrifices on the people’s behalf). They were specially consecrated for this task as mediators between God and his people. The priests were to be in a ritual state of holiness for performing the holy sacrifices. The High Priest was to be the most holy for performing the most holy sacrifices and for entering the “Holy of Holies” (God’s dwelling place) once a year on the Day of Atonement. They were even given specific instructions on the clothing they needed to wear as they carried out the sacrifices on the people’s behalf.
Jay Sklar in his commentary on Leviticus gives some insight into the purpose of the priests:
“In Leviticus, the central image describing the relationship between the Lord and Israel is that of a covenant King (the Lord) dwelling among his covenant people (Israel)…Just as kings had servants in their palaces who wore special uniforms and ministered before him (1 Kings 10:5), so too the Lord has servants (the priests) in his palace-tent who wear special uniforms (Exodus 28) and minister before him (Exodus 28:43).”
The priests were ministers to the King of all Kings. They had a very high calling. By the time of Jesus, however, the purpose of the priests had changed. They were no longer intermediaries. They were rule-makers who expected the people to live up to all the rules they had set for them. The people God had set apart to make atonement for the Israel’s sins, were leading Israel into sin.
Interpretation – What does it mean?
The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
Let the gravity of that statement wash over you.
God had established himself as the King of all Kings from the very beginning. And he established the people of Israel as the citizens of his covenant kingdom from the moment he chose to bless the offspring of Abraham.
And the priests! The priests! The priests were to be set apart. They were to be holy. They were to lead the people to their King and make atonement for their sins. They were to minister in the King’s throne room and lead the people into becoming a holy kingdom.
And now the priests are brazenly denying God’s Kingship.
The King’s ministers have arrested and beaten and will kill their covenant king.
In that moment, Israel had finally hit rock bottom.
Application – How does it change me?
The most evil moment in all of history was when the people of God denied the Kingship of God and crucified the King of Kings.
Where do we see such evil today?
I have to look no further than my own mirror.
Although it’s hard to comprehend that God’s own priests would carry out such evil, my own heart carries out such evil every day.
I daily deny God’s kingship in my life.
I deny God’s kingship when I worry and try to gain control over my circumstances by thinking through all the what-ifs. I frequently do no trust my covenant king and think that if I were on his throne I would write my story better than he could.
I deny God’s kingship when I refuse to die to myself. I am selfish with my time. I am selfish with my resources. I balk at the idea of giving to someone else if it’s inconvenient for me. I want the world to revolve around me and my throne.
I deny God’s kingship when I try to take his glory for myself. I want all the glory and honor and praise for all the good work I do and all the good gifts God has given me. I want everyone to bow before my throne and worship me.
We are right to be horrified when we read in God’s Word that it was his very own chosen priests who were denying his Kingship and calling for Christ’s crucifixion. But we are being foolish if we don’t recognize our own capacity for the very same kind of evil.
On this good Friday look into the face of Christ as he hangs on the cross and remember,
“it was MY sin that held him there until it was accomplished.”
But also look forward in hopeful expectation of Resurrection Sunday. When Christ rose from the dead victorious over our sins to bring us to the very God we so arrogantly denied.
Praise God for Jesus and for his death that conquered all our sins, including the sins that attempt to dethrone him. And praise God that Christ rose again from the dead so that we too will one day rise and spend eternity worshiping at the throne of the King of all Kings.
Behold the man upon a cross,
“How Deep The Father’s Love for Us”
My sin upon His shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life –
I know that it is finished.
Stuart Townend Copyright © 1995 Thankyou Music