Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What do my hearers NEED to know?

What is NICE for them to know?

Where CAN they go (if they would like to know more)?

Keep it at 45min which is 3000 words (Murder the Darlings)

What is the “Elevator Speech”?

Make sure you have a compelling hook!

Why should they listen to you?

Introduction

Greet everyone (be in front of the pulpit)

Attention (Why should they listen to you?) -

The Cowardly Lion - I’m sure you remember the scene.

Dorothy (and Toto), the Scarecrow and the Tin Man quickly walking down the Yellow Brick road as it winds it way deeper and deeper into the forest.

They are becoming increasingly nervous about the possibility of “lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!”

Over and over the repeat the mantra, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” Until, all of a sudden a big, nasty growling and intimidating lion leaps out from behind the tree.

He growls and threatens and scares the scarecrow, intimidates the Tin Man and frightens poor little Dorothy!

All of a sudden, little Dorothy musters up the strength and slaps the lion in the snout and says “You stop scaring us right now!”.

The nasty beast responds in a timid, fearful, cowardly voice...

“Oh!

What did you have do go that for?”

The Mighty King of the forest turned out to be a mighty disappointment!

Need

Need

Folks, if you can put yourself back 2000 years early on a Friday morning, this is the emotional framework the disciples and the Jewish crowd must have felt when they saw their Messiah being manhandled and maligned.

Where was the one who would restore Isreal to her Davidic glory days?

When would this man stand up and be the warrior they had been praying for for hundreds of years.

Perhaps He was just another charlatan posing as the King of Israel?

Where was their Mighty Man of God that would deliver them from Rome?

Let’s face facts, Jesus, like the cowardly lion, didn’t live up to the hype!

What a mighty disappointment!

I’m not sure what you are facing today, but perhaps you are in a similar place as the disciples and the Jews were.

Maybe Jesus isn’t living up to the hype?

Maybe you’ve prayed and sought his face about a challenging situation you are in only to have your prayers seem like they are going unanswered...

Modifier:

Maybe Jesus has been a disappointment to you?

Main Textual Idea:

And as I read and studied through the text that we are working through this morning, that’s what I see in this vignette.

Jesus didn’t appear to be the man they thought He should be...

Main Sermon Idea: The Mighty King was a Mighty Disappointment

So how was Jesus a disappointment?

There are three ways that I see Jesus as a disappointment to the disciples and the crowd, and the first way is...

Body (Satisfaction)

1. Jesus’ Appearance Disappointed (vs.

1-5)

Before we get to John’s text, I want you to give you an update on the order of events.

Dr. Doug Bookman lays out the Chronology this way for us...

(Covered last week) - Friday morning (shortly after dawn) – Jesus is tried by the Romans

1c.

Jesus is taken to the "hall of judgment" very early ()

2c.

At first, the Jews attempted to get Pilate to condemn Jesus without so much as a charge against Him; they expected Pilate to accept the very fact that they brought this One to him as ample evidence of His guilt and worthiness of death (,); however, Pilate would have none of that (18:31).

1d Notice that the problem faced by the Sanhedrinists is well expressed in .

Before Pilate the first time; Jesus remains silent (, ; ; ; )

2d Notice that by thus forcing the Jews to depend upon Rome to carry out the execution, our Lord accomplished His purpose of dying the “kind of death” () which would result in all men being drawn to Him (; ).

3c.

Pilate took Jesus alone into the Judgment Hall (1st of 2 times), and there interrogated Him ()

Jesus is taken to the "hall of judgment" very early ()

Pilate: “Are you the King of the Jews?”

The conclusion of Pilate: he brought Jesus out and declared, "I find in Him no fault at all" (18:38).

This is the first of several times that Pilate explicitly states the innocence of Jesus.

4c.

When Pilate announced this finding to the Jews, they were enraged.

They insist, Jesus is a troublemaker, “beginning in Galilee.”

Pilate heard this as an opportunity to pass this trial off to Herod Antipas, whose jurisdiction included Galilee, and who was in Jerusalem for the feast.

At first, the Jews attempted to get Pilate to condemn Jesus without so much as a charge against Him; they expected Pilate to accept the very fact that they brought this One to him as ample evidence of His guilt and worthiness of death (,); however, Pilate would have none of that (18:31).

Notice that the problem faced by the Sanhedrinists is well expressed in .

Notice that by thus forcing the Jews to depend upon Rome to carry out the execution, our Lord accomplished His purpose of dying the “kind of death” () which would result in all men being drawn to Him (; ).

Pilate took Jesus alone into the Judgment Hall (1st of 2 times), and there interrogated Him ()

“Then” - before this “Then” there was a different trial before Herod...

Pilate: “Are you the King of the Jews?”

The conclusion of Pilate: he brought Jesus out and declared, "I find in Him no fault at all" (18:38).

This is the first of several times that Pilate explicitly states the innocence of Jesus.

When Pilate announced this finding to the Jews, they were enraged.

They insist, Jesus is a troublemaker, “beginning in Galilee.”

Pilate heard this as an opportunity to pass this trial off to Herod Antipas, whose jurisdiction included Galilee, and who was in Jerusalem for the feast.

Before Herod Ant­ipas, Tetrarch of Galilee: Jesus remains silent, despite accusations against Him

)

Before Pilate a second time where ultimately we see a tragic miscarriage of justice because, in part, the Governor Pilate was afraid for his job and his life...

Pilate did start out strong...Take a look at our text this morning...

So after Herod’s

So, in order to placate the Jewish leadership and the Jews, Pilate has Jesus flogged.

Flogging - Three types

the fus-ti-gatio - a beating given for smaller offenses such as hooliganism, often accompanied by a severe warning;

1) the fustigatio, a beating given for smaller offenses such as hooliganism, often accompanied by a severe warning;

the fla-gell-atio - a more brutal flogging to which criminals were subjected whose offenses were more serious;

the ver-ber-atio - the most terrible form of this punishment, regularly associated with other reprisals such as crucifixion.

From least to most severe, there were three forms of flogging administered by the Romans: (1) the fustigatio, a beating given for smaller offenses such as hooliganism, often accompanied by a severe warning; (2) the flagellatio, a more brutal flogging to which criminals were subjected whose offenses were more serious; and (3) the verberatio, the most terrible form of this punishment, regularly associated with other reprisals such as crucifixion.

In the present instance, the flogging probably in view is the least severe form, the fustigatio, which was intended in part to appease the Jews and in part to teach Jesus a lesson.

After the sentence of crucifixion, Jesus was scourged again, this time in the most severe form, the verberatio.

This explains why Jesus was too weak to carry his own cross very far (see commentary at 19:17).

Also, the nearness of the special Sabbath meant that the agony of crucifixion must be kept short in order not to interfere with religious festivities (19:31–33).

It’s safe to say that Pilate, convinced of Jesus’ innocence, started with the first of these three (fustigatio)...

Don’t get me wrong, this was not a simple slap of the wrist, it was still brutal.

It was just less brutal by Roman standards.

This was a humiliating event.

Mocking and scorn!

Beatings and blood, being laughed at and whipped cruelly.

A twisted thorn crown and a regal purple robe - a mocking greeting welcoming the newly declared “King of the Jews.”

Only then to be met with being slapped with open hands.

This wasn’t death, but it was death to any good reputation Jesus had.

This was Pilate’s intent.

He wanted to elicit pity from the crowd and show them that Jesus was no threat to them or Rome.