Sermon Tone Analysis

What's the most you've ever paid for something?

Did it mean something to you?

You see, this morning, we're going to start to see the price Jesus paid for us and the great cost of it- his suffering, shame, pain, and death.

And he paid a high price.

Why?

What was it for?

Allow me a moment to list some verses and the reasons Christ died directly from Peter and Paul themselves:

Jesus died for us, but specifically, what for?

Jesus died so that we could acknowledge his Lordship.

He made the Kingdom of God now.

With his death, he established the reign of the kingdom of God on the earth here and now, and he has called us his people- that all those who have been his throughout the ages, living and dead, might acknowledge him as Lord- remember Philippians 2?

And also in 1 Peter, it says:

Jesus died for our sins- he died to remove the guilt of our sins and to make us right with God.

Jesus is our Propitiation and Expiation

Propitiation specifically, is the turning away of the wrath of God- Jesus has turned away the wrath of God for those who are covered by his blood and saved by his grace.

Expiation is the removal of guilt for a crime committed- Jesus has removed our guilt by declaring us innocent.

Jesus died to give us righteousness.

To make it as though we had perfectly kept the Law of God, when it was him.

He gives us imputed righteousness.

Like someone with an infinite supply of money allowing someone to charge everything to him and never running out of funds, so is Jesus' righteousness for us- nothing we do can diminish the finished work of Christ.

This, and much more is what Jesus died for out of love- though at a word, he could have been freed from his captivity, he loves us, and so, he died- and here's the cost:

Now, we have an issue with the interpretation that the NLT takes here.

John simply records that he is flogged.

And the way he glosses over the detail here makes it sound like it is not severe.

So why does the NLT add in "with a lead-tipped whip"?

According to Roman law, there were three types of flogging, fustigatio, flagellatio, and verberatio.

Fustigatio was the least severe form of flogging, generally for mild crimes and accompanied by a severe warning against the behavior for which the flogging was given.

Flagellatio was a moderate flogging, brutal in its own right and reserved for criminals whose offenses were more serious.

Verberatio was the most severe form of flogging, and was always accompanied by a more severe punishment like crucifixion.

The NLT is making the interpretive decision that the flogging Jesus received here was verberatio.

This conclusion does not make sense because Pilate has not handed down a sentence for Jesus yet.

Pilate was still trying to gin up sympathy for Jesus and get them to let him go, declaring that he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

No, the flogging that Pilate gave Jesus here was probably fustigatio a flogging meant to generate sympathy for Jesus among the bloodthirsty crowd that had gathered and demanded his crucifixion.

This means that Jesus probably received two floggings.

Once before his sentence, and once after his sentence.

The second would have been like we see in The Passion of the Christ- verberatio.

Since John doesn't mention another flogging, let me describe this second flogging Jesus received on our behalf.

Verberatio was brutal.

It was meant to weaken and dehumanize its victim before their death.

Jesus would have been stripped naked and tied to a post, and beaten with whips by several men until they were either exhausted, or their commanding officer ordered them to stop.

The whips were leather with bone fragments, or lead, or shards of glass or pottery embedded in them for maximum damage.

And these beatings were so brutal that it was not uncommon for men to die while receiving them.

Describe the act

Eyewitnesses to these brutal floggings said that often the victims were left with bones and entrails exposed.

Often, eyes were gouged out in this process, and some people no longer looked like humans after this severe torture.

And this is what we deserve for our sin.

Jesus paid this price for us in blood, and in dignity.

They mock him.

They strip Jesus of all his dignity.

They place a crown of thorns on his head.

They give him a purple robe denoting royalty and bow down in mockery.

Jesus truly bears the curse here.

Remember the curse?

Thorns are a symbol for the curse.

ἄκανθα

This is the same word as in Genesis 3:18.

Jesus bears the curse upon himself.

And the end of the story is Jesus saying, "Behold, I am making all things new.”

This is how, right here, by bearing the curse in himself.

Sonship in the Jewish sense talks about inheritance.

If Jesus is the son of God, everything that God has belongs to Jesus.

So, of course Pilate would be frightened.

What if he were being pressured to crucify the son of God.

He would be calling down the wrath of that God on himself.

It's like the parable that Jesus tells in Luke 20:

Pilate didn't want to be counted among the wicked farmers, so he asks Jesus to substantiate or reject the claim of the Pharisees that he claimed to be the Son of God.

And when Jesus doesn't answer, Pilate pleads for his cooperation, saying:

But Jesus knows the breadth of the situation, and does not give in to the temptation to place his trust in men.

And neither should we.

In the face of pressure and persecution, our words should echo the reformer, Martin Luther, who, when he was being tried as a heretic and debating with the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church at the Diet of Worms and was maneuvered into a position of siding with Scripture or with the culture in the church said:

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.

I cannot and I will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.

I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen.

So Jesus explains to Pilate from where his authority is derived and makes known to him that Jesus is in greater authority still- it is not Pilate's word holding Jesus there, but God's.

It is not Pilate's grace that could set Jesus free, but Jesus' grace that could set Pilate free.

There was no escape.

Pilate was convinced, and tried to release Jesus, not wanting to incur the wrath of God, but God had other plans.

And the Jews pressed him, saying that if he didn't crucify Jesus, he was unfit to govern, and that, basically, they would report him to Rome.

If that happened, and the emperor found out that Pilate had released someone who claimed to be a king, then Pilate would have suffered his punishment instead- crucifixion.

So Pilate reluctantly caves.

And the Jews claim to have no king but Caesar.

How true this was, since they had just rejected their own king.

This wasn't the first time that Israel had rejected its true king.

And Samuel warns them, and still they reject their true king in favor of men.

And God makes it clear- it's a rejection of him.

What ways in your life do you reject your king?

How do you remove him from his throne?

He died to be both Lord and Savior.

Is he both to you?

Jesus said:

How are you dying to yourself?

Are you killing the sin in you and telling your impulses "no" and submitting the the Lorship of Christ, or are you placing yourself on the throne in his place and doing what you want, what feels good, what is convenient and expedient?

Be washed by the blood of Jesus as your savior, but be adopted by Jesus as your Lord.

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