Keion Henderson - When The Servant Suffers

I want to talk about this for a moment: when the servant suffers. In my humble opinion, today’s lesson covers the morning that the jury assembled to hear the biggest case in history. Also, in my opinion, it was a poisoned panel before it ever started. It is also my opinion that the people had already prejudged the case and that Jesus was going to be guilty no matter what he said. He was brought before a council of people. History teaches us that their designation was the Sanhedrin council, which, for your information, you may already know, is nothing more than a group of Jewish religious leaders—Pharisees and Sadducees—who were strict on law but light on grace. This group of men came together to besiege Jesus, and what we know for sure is that there is a Roman leader by the name of Pontius Pilate, who has been given the authority to be the judge over this case. I would not have wanted to be him; it was a difficult situation because the crucifixion of Jesus just so happens to fall on a traditional custom that they had, where every year, Pastor Rhema, they would release a prisoner. This year, it was Barabbas who was up for release. It is also suggested by some writers that the reason why this particular crucifixion of Jesus and the release of Barabbas happened to fall at the same time is because, remember, we read last week that it was the week of preparation, which was the significant celebration of the Passover feast of Israel. It is suggested by some that this is really a hangover because Israel, the Jews, had this feast in the Old Testament, where they were actually released from Egyptian bondage. This is a hangover; they have this custom that hinges on the fact that since they have been released, they believe that other guilty people should be released. So, this is a hangover according to some, and Pontius Pilate, in his particular involvement in this text, is in one heck of a conundrum, and his decision for that history has left a stain. When I look at this text and I see, through coincidence or through custom, the release of Jesus and the release of Barabbas, and it being the week of preparation and the custom of the Passover—all of this happening at the same time—I realize that there is no accident here; everything about this text is actually intentional. And, Pastor Hammond, some suggest that as the people are screaming and shouting, «Should we release Barabbas, or should we crucify Jesus?» Read the Scriptures, ladies and gentlemen; I know you know this part. The people are shouting, «Crucify him! Release Barabbas! Crucify Jesus!» One week ago, they were saying, «Hosanna!» This week, they are saying, «Crucify him!» Some say that this pressure from the people shouting «Crucify him!» was, in fact, the linchpin that tipped the scales of justice in the direction of Barabbas and made Pontius Pilate decide to release him and crucify Jesus. Some writers say that the people’s cries for Jesus' crucifixion influenced Pontius Pilate’s decision. I would believe that if I hadn’t read some of Josephus’s writings. The writings of Josephus suggest that Pontius Pilate was a stubborn man, a man of his own opinion. Josephus said that Pontius Pilate was perhaps one of the strongest psychological figures in Scripture, which lets me know that if he is a stubborn man of his own opinions who makes his own decisions, then he likely did not make his choice based on the people shouting «Crucify him!» or «Give us Barabbas!» This indicates that he does not succumb to political pressure or peer pressure. I also know that he does not give in to pressure because if you read on in the text, the Bible says that Pontius Pilate’s wife had a dream that night. She said, «I had trouble sleeping, and what I took away from my dream is that the voice of God, or whoever was speaking in that dream—I don’t know what it was, and I don’t know who it was—but I do know what they said: they said, 'Have nothing to do with that righteous man.'» His wife told him to leave Jesus alone, and he did not listen. If he did not listen to his wife, what makes you think he would listen to the people? This was a part of God’s plan, and I want you to know that something bigger is happening here. According to what we just read, they were taunting him, saying, «He said he’s the King of the Jews.» Two things are happening here: number one, crucifixion was a Roman cultural practice, while the Sanhedrin is a Jewish cultural body. Even in the Bible, in the book of John, it says that when Jesus was arrested, both the Jews and the Romans were present. He has been crucified, which is a Roman practice; he was ostracized by the council, which was a Jewish body. I see something here that I really never saw before. The first thing I see, as it relates to the crucifixion of Jesus, is collusion. I see collusion; I see both the Jews and the Romans working together to disenfranchise the anointing of God. The crucifixion was a concoction of culture and counsel. John 18 says that it was the Romans and the Jews who arrested Jesus. This was coordination; this was collusion. His anointing was so emphatic that it took both the Romans and the Jews to bring him down.