Christ’s Healing Stripes - John 19:1-16a

Well, this morning we find ourselves in John chapter 19. And obviously, we’re looking at Jesus’ trial which took place shortly before his crucifixion.

We’re essentially at the center of redemptive history, aren’t we? I guess, we’re technically not there quite yet because the crucifixion is really the center of redemption history but we’re close.

And we’re right smack dab in the middle of Jesus’ trial before Pilate and what’s interesting about the trial is that there's a lot of back and forth between Pilate and the Jews over what to do with Jesus. We know what happens, but when you read it in context, you really get the sense that Pilate is wavering back and forth as to what he’ll do and of course, the whole time, there’s a Jewish mob doing everything in their power to convince him to crucify Jesus.

Our American minds often have a hard time understanding what’s going on in the passage! How can a mob impose its will on a judge? Where’s the impartial due process? Needless to say, that wasn't the way the ancient world worked, but everything that happens in this passage happens according to God’s perfect, holy, and sovereign will.

Maybe you noticed that both Pilate and the Jews want to deal with Jesus in a way that’s convenient, expedient and pragmatic. Many of you know what pragmatism is, but pragmatism is a more modern philosophy that simply says, “if it works, do it, if it doesn’t work, don’t do it.” The technical definition of pragmatism is, “an approach that assesses the truth of theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical application.”

Or my definition, “do it if it works, don’t do it if it doesn’t work.”

And a pragmatic approach to many things like sports or business. But there’s a real issue with pragmatism when it’s used as a philosophical guide to life. If you simply adopt a pragmatic approach to life you’ll run into this serious dilemma: doing what works or what will get results will put you in conflict with doing what’s right. In short, pragmatism will override your ethical convictions.

As we’ll see in our passage this morning, both Pilate and the Jews are driven entirely by pragmatism. They’re driven exclusively by results. So first, we’re going to examine the pragmatism of Pilate and then we’re going to examine the pragmatism of the Jews.

When results are all you care about, the ends will always justify the means. It’ll never matter how you get there as long as you get there. And that’s what Jesus is really to both Pilate and the Jews - an inconvenience, a thorn in their side. He’s someone that needs to disappear in order to make everyone’s lives a little easier.

Consider our passage: Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, which is why he tells the Jewish mob on three separate occasions he “finds no guilt” in Jesus.

And yet, by the end of the passage he turns Jesus over to be crucified.

At every step along the way, Pilate is trying to figure out how exactly to deal with Jesus. He’s clearly not a threat, but the Jewish mob is outraged. Which is why he offered them a choice: would you rather have Jesus or Barabbas? What’s the crowd’s answer? Barabbas! Barabbas’ the real insurrectionist while Jesus, a truly innocent man was held captive.

The Scourging and Mockery (vv. 1-3)

And that’s really what we see even in this particular passage. Pilate knows Jesus is innocent but continues to hold him captive. Why? Because he was politically beholden to the Jewish people. He wants to appease these people, which is why Jesus is flogged in verse 1.

Clearly, Pilate believed having him flogged or scourged would be enough to satisfy the bloodthirsty Jewish mob, because a Roman scourging was a serious punishment.

These scourgings were a gruesome form of torture in their own right. The Roman soldiers would whip the bare backs of prisoners with leather straps that had pieces of lead, brass, or even bone in it. And a prisoner would continue to be scourged until either the soldiers would stop on their own due to exhaustion or the Roman Captain would call them off.

The flogging or scourging would be so violent that major arteries, organs, entrails, or bone would be exposed. That’s how deep these wounds would be. In fact, the scourging would be so awful that many prisoners would die right there.

It’s just a little comment there in verse 1. “Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.”

Whenever we think about Jesus suffering, our minds immediately go to the cross, which is true, but he’s suffering right here too!

And as if that wasn’t enough, Jesus is openly mocked in verses 2-3. “And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.”

The soldiers think so little of Jesus that they put together a mock coronation.

Most of you have probably seen the images of Caesar with the dainty leafy crown around his head. Well, the soldiers put a crown of thorns around his head. They put a purple robe around him, because purple was the color of royalty. And they ridicule him with “Hail King of the Jews!” and strike him as they pass by.

I’m currently listening to The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. He wrote a three volume set on Teddy Roosevelt, but The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is obviously about his early life and in it, Morris pounds away on a particular theme about young Teddy Roosevelt: he didn’t look, act, or sound like a future president!

He certainly showed flashes of brilliance and a few people like nannies and friends prophetically said that perhaps one day he could be President! And those around them would laugh and shake their heads at the thought of young Teddy as President.

He was bookish, wore glasses, dressed strangely, spoke oddly, and was terribly asthmatic, so when he chose a career in politics over a career in science, everyone was shocked! Not only was politics believed to be beneath his aristocratic family, he didn’t look or act like a proper politician, and yet, he became one of the most well-known politicians in American history.

And yes, I know this illustration is inadequate. Comparing Teddy Roosevelt to Jesus is insufficient, but just bear with me for a second.

The Roman soldiers were getting a lot of mileage out of the fact that Jesus didn’t look or act like a king, but claimed to be one! Kings aren’t meek and beaten - they’re strong and tough! The Roman soldiers think they’re being cute and ironic by putting the crown of thorns on Jesus’ head, and dressing him in a royal robe. Because in their minds, he’s not really a king. He’s just a Jewish troublemaker that they got to torture and mock!

But in reality, Jesus was and still is a King!

And if you’re a Christian here this morning, this tortured, beaten, and mocked man is your King. His first coming was marked by humility, but his second coming is going to be marked by strength and power.

And this tortured, mocked and beaten king has set out to conquer sin, death, and the grave! He was on a mission! This was God’s will.

Pilate is Driven by Politics (vv. 4-11)

It certainly seems that Pilate had Jesus scourged in an attempt to satisfy a blood thirsty crowd, because Pilate brings him out again and declares that he finds no guilt in him. But all of his attempts to satisfy the crowd were never good enough.

In verse 5, Pilate brought Jesus out beaten, bloodied, and in mock kingly attire, in order to garner sympathy from the crowd.

Which is why he says there, “Behold the man!” It was a way of saying, “look at how pathetic this guy is! Do you really think he’s a threat?”

But the chief priests and officers are adamant: They wanted him dead. “Crucify him, crucify him!” they shouted.

Those words are the ones that will live in infamy won’t they? The scourging wasn’t good enough, the mocking wasn’t good enough, only his death will be good enough.

And it really is interesting that Pilate says on three separate occasions that he finds no guilt in the man! He keeps declaring Jesus innocent, and yet, he continues to hold him as a prisoner! If he really believed what he said, he should have released Jesus right there!

But Pilate’s tune changed when he learned of the Jews theological charge against Jesus in verse 7: “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.”

In verse 7, the Jews reveal their theological case against Jesus - he has committed blasphemy by making himself the Son of God. Of course, Jesus never made himself the Son of God, he has always been the Son of God the second person of the Trinity.

But that struck fear into the heart of Pilate. Pilate was undoubtedly superstitious and realized that if this is true then I’m in big trouble! We even learn from Matthew’s gospel that his wife was begging him to have nothing to do with Jesus!

But even his conscience and fear aren’t enough to prevent him from giving into the Jewish mob. We know that Jesus ends up on the cross.

And Jesus is silent. Pilate demanded answers from Jesus and he said nothing. “... like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)

But John records one thing that Jesus said to Pilate. Pilate flexed his political power in verse 10: “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”

And how does Jesus respond? “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

All his authority is God given. Every person in a position of power has been placed there by the sovereign hand of God. So Pilate’s authority that he tries to flex on Jesus has been given to him by God. Therefore, it’s not really his authority to begin with, it’s God’s!

Jesus points out that the Jews bear the majority of responsibility for his treatment and subsequent death, however, Pilate bears responsibility as well, but to a lesser degree.

We often think that all sin is perfectly equal, but that’s simply not the case. There are degrees of sin. All sin is worthy of God’s wrath and justice, but that doesn’t mean that some sins are more heinous than others.

Westminster Larger Catechism 150 makes this point:

Question: Are all transgressions of the law of God equally heinous in themselves, and in the sight of God?

Answer: All transgressions of the law of God are not equally heinous; but some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.”

The next question and answer gives four reasons that some sins may be more grievous than others. Someone’s age and experience, who they offended, the nature and quality of their sin, and the circumstance, time, and place of the sin.

And this is essentially what Jesus is telling Pilate. He’s telling Pilate, you bear responsibility for your sin in this situation, but you are less responsible than the Jews who brought all of this about and want me dead.

But really what I want us to see from verses 1-11 is what’s motivating Pilate’s decision making. He’s not keeping Jesus as a prisoner because he believes he’s guilty and it’s the right thing to do. He says, three separate times, that he finds no guilt in him!

No, he’s keeping Jesus as a prisoner in order to appease the Jews. He knows that Jesus is innocent. It’s crystal clear that Pilate doesn’t want to do the right thing because it will make his life complicated. Things will get messy! It would be incredibly inconvenient to release Jesus. He’d be in even greater conflict with the Jewish people, and he’d probably find himself in trouble with Caesar because he released a man back into the public who claimed to be a king!

Pilate is driven by compromise, expediency, and pragmatism. He wanted to get rid of this whole situation while maintaining all his power. He’d have to compromise on what he knew was right, because he was more worried about protecting himself! Self-interest is his real motivation.

In other words, he was more interested in getting the desired result than doing what was right! He was a pragmatist!

The Jews are Driven by Convenience

The Jews are really driven by the same thing as well. They too are driven by their pragmatism.

In verse 12, the Jews threaten Pilate when they tell him he’s “not Caesar’s friend” if he releases Jesus, because, “Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”

They were threatening Pilate! They were going to tell Rome that Pilate was a political traitor if he released Jesus!

But as the trial was going on, Pilate said of Jesus to the Jews in a mocking sort of way, “Behold your King!” But the crowd still desperately wanted him crucified.

The shouts still coming in, “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.”

That statement right there is rather shocking isn’t it? “We have no king but Caesar…” Huh?

Isn't the whole Old Testament about a theocratic monarchy and looking for the Messiah who will rule over them? Even when Israel was destroyed and they were ruled by other nations, weren’t they desperately hoping to return to their land and reestablish their theocratic monarchy.

It’s sort of like how Virginia Tech football fans are desperately hoping for a return to glory next season! We want to experience the glory days again!

But for the Jews that statement is far more egregious, because who had always been their King?

King David who was the greatest King in Israel wrote in Psalm 24:

“Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! 9 Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!”

Israel’s king was a placeholder for the true king - the Lord. The Lord was king over Israel.

It’s deeply ironic that the chief priests shout, “We have no king but Caesar!” The chief priests, the men who supposedly led the people of Israel in worship of the one true God! They openly rejected God as their king. Here’s Jesus, God in the flesh, dressed as a King, being rejected by his people.

But of course, they knew what they were doing!

There’s a greater problem at play here: they were willing to say anything to get Pilate to crucify Jesus. If that meant openly denying God, and mocking their Savior so be it! We just want Jesus dead!

Perhaps you’ve noticed college football coaches are in the only profession that I’m aware of where you can make millions of dollars for failing. They have these crazy contract buyouts so that in order for a college to fire them, they have to pay them millions and millions of dollars. It’s crazy.

But I did laugh when I read a story about a college football coach who was fired, and the college bought out his contract for like $20 million dollars. Supposedly, as soon as the ink dried on the papers he looked at the college athletic director and said, “where do you want me to go and which door do you want me to walk out of?” He was being sarcastic, but he really didn’t want to do anything that would mess up his golden parachute! He just made millions of dollars for poor job performance, but he certainly wasn’t going to say anything or do anything to mess it up!

On the other hand, the Jews are willing to say or do whatever it takes to kill Jesus. There at the end of verse 15 they’re basically like, “sure Pilate, we don’t believe in a God that sits enthroned on high, no King but Caesar, now go crucify Jesus.”

For the Jews too, the results are most important. They too are driven by pragmatism.

This has been a major criticism of the church in recent years. Churches seem willing to compromise or violate Biblical principles in order to get results. There are countless examples of this.

But the truth is, the same can be said for many of us personally as well. Even folks that profess faith in Christ can find themselves compromising Biblical principles in order to achieve a desired result. We’ve all seen it!

But I do think there is a grave warning to all of us this morning: if you’re constantly motivated by personal self-interest you will inevitably compromise what you know is right.

Self-interest, selfish-ambition, and self-preservation is the road that will guide you into compromise, expediency, and pragmatic thinking. Is that not what we just read? Both Pilate and the Jews compromised what they knew was right, in order to crucify Jesus for their own selfish reasons.

Of course, both Pilate and the Jews rejected Jesus Christ. I think we all know and understand that. The greatest sin committed in this passage is their unbelief and rejection of Christ.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you’re a Christian here this morning, then you’re called to something much better. You’re not called to live for yourself, rather you and I are called to live for God. We’re called to live by his principles, his moral law, and resist the temptation to embrace self-centered compromise, expediency, and pragmatism.

You have to hold on loosely to your own desires so that you can hang on tighter to Christ. We must remember passages like the one that we read this morning: that Christ willingly gave himself up for us. He willingly subjected himself to a sham trial, allowed himself to be scourged, mocked and beaten in order to atone for our sins.

In order to satisfy God’s perfect and holy justice a perfect sacrifice had to be made for your sin and my sin. And of course, Jesus is that perfect sacrifice.

In order for the Christian to avoid the natural pull into compromise you must remember that you are not your own, but have been bought with a price.

You know, it’s almost impossible to read John 19 without thinking about Isaiah 53, particularly verse 5. I like the way the King James renders it, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

His scourging and humiliation is our strength and healing.

The gospel message that saves you and me is the same gospel message that empowers us to live for him. Let’s pray together.