theologians they don't know nothin' about my soul

they thin my heart with little things & my life with change

A sermon on Jesus' trial before Pilate

We’ve all heard that the church and state are a deadly mix. I’m enlightening no one by saying politics and religion are a combustible combination. However, in today’s passage, we see these two forces are plenty fatal all on their own. Although not fatal in any active way. No, what’s really so lethal about these two implements is their ineffectiveness. Their ineffectiveness.

The violence is set in motion with a religious concern. The church leaders can’t bring their accusations against Jesus to Pilate. The problem is, if they were to set foot in Pilate’s profane headquarters, they would be defiled. And if that were to happen, these clergy wouldn’t be able to preside at the upcoming high-holy day.

In a moment, we’ll discuss how that’s addressed. But for now, it’s enough just to notice the irony of it all. These religious teachers are desperately trying to do in Jesus, the lamb of God! All while they’re devoutly observing the finer points of the law! 

Turns out, there was no lack of devotion when Jesus was crucified. Apparently, piety isn’t enough to keep Christ off the cross.

That’s not all, though! Pilate, the consummate politician, knows enough to respect local customs. So Pilate leaves his office to meet these community leaders somewhere more accommodating. And like any bureaucrat with the next appointment on their mind, Pilate ensures these concerned citizens he’ll look into the matter promptly.

The only problem, though, is no sooner does Pilate begin his investigation than he realizes Jesus isn’t any real threat! Jesus certainly isn’t guilty of anything resembling what religious leaders have in mind. So in response, Pilate tries reasoning and compromise to resolve the affair. However, none of that’s enough to get this innocent Jesus acquitted! In fact, before everything’s said and done, a criminal will be released in Jesus' stead!

Turns out, there was also no lack of concern for justice when Jesus was crucified, either! Apparently, neither is politics enough to keep Christ off that cross.

As Jesus hurtles toward his unwarranted fate, neither piety nor politics can avert this miscarriage of justice! In fact, the human race’s highest and most holy aspirations only speed along this ill-gotten condemnation of the Son of God in-the-flesh and the only totally innocent person to ever live!

Now, let’s be clear, these two things, politics and religion, they have their place. Politics is the art of living together as a society. And as we’re all learning, this is vitally important. And I like to think religion matters, too. Sitting in an uncomfortable pew, poorly singing lovely old hymns, and hearing about the love of God for an hour or so is how I’ve spent some of the best moments of my life. 

The rub, though, is we don’t leave these two things in their place! We pin our hopes on them! We place utmost importance upon them! We vault them to high heaven! We try and make our politics and/or our piety into the force by which we hope that prayer will be answered, “Thy kingdom come.” 

But, the moment you do that, you’re heading for calamity. Just look at today’s Scripture. 

Seeing as we’re being so honest, let’s also admit that it’s not just piety and politics, either. You and I, we all have these little self-deliverance endeavors we pursue with religious fervor and moral righteousness! It can be piety or politics, and all too often is. But it can also be things like health, family, or work. All that we pursue, not for its own sake, but for the outcome we think it can affect. 

The problem with our life-management pet projects is that their efficacy always drops off! And when that happens, we go into overdrive trying to make them work. We redouble our efforts to bring about that desired outcome we just know will herald in the Kingdom of God! 

Just like the religious authorities and Pilate, the civil one, did in today’s passage. And as this passage reveals, that’s when things get really deadly! When our preferred means of controlling the world around us stop working, we always start applying that blunt tool of brute force, be it physical or emotional, to achieve our aims. 

In fact, Jesus says as much when Pilate asks him if he’s a king! Jesus may well be a king, he tells Pilate, but he’s not the kind of king who relies on the force of things like piety or politics to enforce his will. If he were, his followers would be fighting like the rest of us to avert this fiasco. As it is, though, that’s not the way Jesus’ kingdom comes or his will is done!

In fact, they come about precisely in the opposite way! Instead of correcting the situation, Jesus rode the futility of piety and politics all the way to their bitter end! And it’s there, and there alone, he unleashed all the power of his redemption!

As Jesus heads to the cross, we see more clearly how ineffective all those ways we try and save ourselves are. But it also works the other way ‘round, too! The more clearly you see the futility of all those means of self-salvation, the clearer you see Christ’s cross and all its effectiveness for your deliverance!

Jesus doesn’t teach you how to avoid calamity. No, he promises to meet you in its fatal inefficacy! And what more, he comes with all the blessed power of his redemption right there in the thick of it, too! 

Christ hasn’t come to save you from disaster. No, he’s come to save you in it! Your future isn’t secured in getting life right. Rather, it’s found in the death of the one who suffered the futility of all those endeavors!

If Jesus had just put everyone on notice that day instead of going all the way to the cross, he’d leave us with nothing more than one more way we had to get life right! In addition to piety, politics, profession, fitness, family, and the like, we’d now have some sort of detached enlightenment to add to our list of ways to manage life. 

Blessed, though, that’s precisely what Jesus didn’t do! Jesus didn’t rush headlong to the cross to give you one more thing to do. One more burden to add to your list. No, he came to free you from all that! Barabbas wasn’t the only one Jesus secured the release of that day! He also won yours! When Jesus declared “it is finished,” he meant it!

In Christ, all those ways we try and control fate and manage our lives have been put back in their place! Now they’re simply another fine way to serve your neighbor. God doesn’t need you to get politics, piety or the rest of it right. But your neighbor might.

And anyway, as far as securing the future goes, all those forces that rely on the gasoline of our willpower are bunk! And they always have been, too. But the Good News is, when all that stops working, Christ starts working!

In Christ, you’re freed of all that! Or, as our evangelist put it, from Christ’s fullness we have all received, grace upon grace! (John 1:16) Or, as St. Paul said, for freedom Christ has set you free! (Gal. 5:1)