The Shaming of the Son of God

[0:00] If you have your Bibles with you, then I want you to open them up to Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15. We finished chapter 14 last week. It took us a few weeks to get through it because there was a lot there.

[0:12] But we're going to cover chapter 15 pretty quickly. So we're going to look this morning at the first 20 verses in this chapter. So the first half of chapter 15 this morning. And I'm going to begin reading in verse 1.

[0:24] So I want to ask you guys to stand with me as I read from the Word. Mark 15 verse 1. As soon as it was morning, the chief priest held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council.

[0:40] And they bound Jesus and led Him away and delivered Him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked Him, Are you the King of the Jews? And He answered him, You have said so.

[0:52] And the chief priest accused Him of many things. And Pilate again asked Him, Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you? But Jesus made no further answer.

[1:04] So that Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast, He used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.

[1:19] And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And He answered them saying, Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews? For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priest had delivered Him up.

[1:34] But the chief priest stirred up the crowd to have Him released for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, Then what shall I do with the man you call King of the Jews?

[1:45] And they cried out again, Crucify Him! Pilate said to them, Why? What evil has He done? But they shouted all the more, Crucify Him!

[1:56] So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas. And having scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified. And the soldiers led Him away inside the palace, that is, the governor's headquarters.

[2:10] And they called together the whole battalion, and they clothed Him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on Him. And they began to salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews!

[2:21] And they were striking His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling down in homage to Him. And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the purple cloak, and put His own clothes on Him, and they led Him out to crucify Him.

[2:36] Father, take Your Word now, and apply it to our hearts, and illumine our minds to understand it. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. You guys take a seat. Two weeks ago, as we were in the middle of chapter 14, we saw Jesus on trial before the Sanhedrin, which was the Jewish ruling authority in Jerusalem at this time.

[3:01] And during that trial, we found that Jesus was tried unjustly and illegally when measured by the standards of the Old Testament law, which was the standard to which the chief priests and the scribes were bound to.

[3:16] And yet they violated it. They held a trial secretly in the middle of the night, which was against the law. They called together false witnesses. And even though none of those false witnesses were able to agree in their testimony, they violated the law, which states that the testimony of at least two or three witnesses must agree in order to condemn a man of a crime of which he is accused.

[3:37] They violated the law on that point. They violated the law by having Jesus self-incriminate Himself, by asking Him to confirm their own suspicions. It was against the law for someone to incriminate themselves simply by their statement.

[3:51] There had to be evidence. There had to be other witnesses. So in every way, the trial was illegal and unjust. And now, as we move toward chapter 15, we're seeing the Roman half of His trial.

[4:06] And things do not fare any better for Jesus in the Roman half of His trial. Now, if you'll remember, I told you before that the Jewish part of Jesus' trial could be divided up pretty neatly into three parts.

[4:21] Mark focuses only upon the central part, the main portion of Jesus' trial. But there was a precursor to that main trial that happened earlier in the evening when Jesus met with Annas, the former high priest, who then sent Him off to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin.

[4:36] And then in the morning, we see in our passage in verse 1, it talks about them gathering together again in the morning in order to again affirm their ruling that they had come to the night before.

[4:48] Because it was, as we've said, illegal to hold a trial in the middle of the night. And although they had done it, they wanted to at least have the appearance of obeying the law. So they gathered together at daybreak, held a quick hearing, affirmed their ruling from the night before, and moved ahead with the Roman part of Jesus' trial, which can also be divided into three parts.

[5:12] You have Jesus' first meeting with Pilate, and then Pilate sends Jesus off to Herod, and then Jesus comes back for a second hearing with Pilate. So both halves of His trial can be divided into three parts.

[5:25] But just as Mark only focuses on one specific part of Jesus' trial in chapter 14 of His Jewish trial, so in chapter 15, He only focuses on one specific part of the three-part Roman trial, and that is He gathers together both of Jesus' meetings with Pilate, and just sort of summarizes both of those meetings, and doesn't mention His time with Herod at all.

[5:46] But in order for you to sort of get a mental image, an accurate picture of what's happening here, I want to show you some significant events that take place during this trial that Mark doesn't record, that we find in the other Gospels.

[6:01] And so you have the story in which Jesus is brought before Pilate, and Pilate begins to question Jesus, but Pilate quickly realizes that Jesus is not from Judea.

[6:12] Now Pilate is the Roman governor appointed over Judea in the south, where Jerusalem is located. But the northern part of Israel is Galilee, and Pilate is not appointed as ruler over Galilee by the Romans.

[6:27] Instead, Herod is the ruler in the northern region of Galilee. So as soon as Pilate finds out that Jesus is from Galilee, because Pilate wants nothing to do with Jesus, he wants nothing to do with this trial, he understands that the chief priests and the scribes are trying to string Jesus up for something that he has not done, for a crime that he has not committed, and Pilate wants no part of it at all.

[6:52] And so he quickly ships him off to Herod. And in fact, if you turn over to the Gospel of Luke, in Luke chapter 23, you can see these events as they unfold.

[7:04] Luke chapter 23, verse 6, we're told that when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

[7:18] So not a lot of time is passing here. Herod is not in Galilee in the north where he rules. Herod is never in Galilee in the north where he rules, because he hates Galilee. He's always in Judea, because he likes to be where the center of power, and things are happening.

[7:32] It's much like many of our senators and congressmen today. Although they may represent us here, we rarely see them, because they spend all of their time in Washington, because they want to be where the center of power is.

[7:44] Well, Herod's no different. He wants to be in Judea and in Jerusalem most of the time, or at least near Jerusalem, where things are happening, things that matter. But he is technically the ruler over Galilee.

[7:56] And so not a lot of time has to pass in order for Pilate to pass Jesus just right down the street to Herod's headquarters in Jerusalem, where Jesus meets with him there. In Herod, we are told, in verse 8, that when Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.

[8:18] This is the same Herod, who when he had John the Baptist in prison, was amused by John the Baptist preaching. He wasn't convicted by his preaching. He didn't believe in his preaching, but he would have him paraded out before his court, and have him preach to them, because he found it amusing.

[8:33] And in the same way, he's hoping to get some amusement out of Jesus. He's heard that he's a great miracle worker. He's heard all these things. Let's see a sign, Jesus. Let's see what you can do to entertain us.

[8:44] That's Herod's motive in all of this. And yet, Jesus does nothing. Verse 9, So he questioned him at some length, and he made no answer.

[8:56] The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him, and Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then they put him in a splendid clothing, they sent him back to Pilate.

[9:07] And that day, Luke tells us, Herod and Pilate became friends, because previously they had been at odds with one another. So over the issue of the trial of Christ, and what they're going to do with this man from Nazareth, these two former enemies sort of strike up a friendship, because they have something in common.

[9:26] Neither of them really wants to deal with the Jesus issue. It's almost as if Pilate laughingly sends him off to Herod, and Herod laughingly sends him back. Oh no, this is Jerusalem. You handle it, Pilate.

[9:37] I don't want anything at all to do with this. Now there's an undercurrent that's present in all of this that can help you to understand why the shifting of him around. It's not because Pilate is such a good man that he wants nothing to do with this kind of a trial, although that's a factor in it.

[9:52] But he's not so good that he wouldn't try someone and convict them of a crime that they're not guilty of. Pilate's not that kind of guy. You might get that impression simply from reading the Gospels, but he's not that kind of guy according to ancient historians.

[10:06] He had his own issues. And in fact, in the past, there had been riots in Jerusalem, riots in Judea, while Pilate was governor. Pilate had been held liable by Caesar himself.

[10:20] One of the things that the Romans were so set on maintaining was this facade of peace and stability in the empire. While their armies were out conquering and wreaking havoc on other places, within the lands that they had already conquered, where they had set up their governors and their local rulers, they wanted to have some outward appearance of stability.

[10:43] The Romans really wanted things to just remain quiet and calm. They're fighting too many wars out there to have to turn things internally. And so the job of a Roman governor like Pilate would have been to keep the peace, satisfy the people on the one hand, uphold the rule of Rome on the other hand.

[11:01] And Pilate has already been in trouble for riots in Jerusalem in the past. So the one thing that Pilate wants desperately to avoid, because he's on thin ice with Caesar, the thing he wants desperately to avoid is another riot in his city.

[11:16] He cannot politically afford it. And that's the undercurrent. Pilate wants nothing to do with any of this, because he knows. These chief priests and elders, they held their trials secretly at night because the people loved Jesus.

[11:33] They couldn't arrest Jesus as he came into town in a parade thrown in his honor. They couldn't arrest Jesus as he stood in the temple, accusing them of various things, because the people were cheering Jesus on.

[11:46] They could not publicly attack Jesus, so they come secretly in the middle of the night, having bribed them as own disciples to betray him. Everything is done covertly. They know that they cannot openly oppose Jesus, which stands, I think, as the motive for them bringing him to Pilate in the first place.

[12:08] Why, if they've already found him guilty of what they call blasphemy, why, if they've already condemned him as worthy of death, and Mark tells us that they have, why don't they do to him what they did to Stephen in the book of Acts?

[12:25] Stephen is simply taken outside of town and stoned to death by the same group of men who have condemned Jesus as worthy of death, and yet they take him to Pilate, because they too cannot risk a riot.

[12:40] They too do not want to be responsible for the death of Jesus in a public manner. They want him dead. They want him off the scene. They want him out of the way because he's a troublemaker, because he makes claims, and he makes accusations toward them that would end their influence and rule over the people in Jerusalem.

[13:00] They need to get rid of him, but they cannot be seen as the executioners of Jesus. So they bring him to Pilate, and even in bringing him to Pilate, they cite a technicality of Roman law.

[13:15] In Roman law, the local peoples were not allowed to carry out capital punishment. They couldn't carry out the death penalty. That's official Roman law. But in reality, because Rome's desire is just to keep the peace, if the people, say a mom, say someone like a Sanhedrin, if they decide that they want to stone someone to death, most of the time, the Romans would just turn a blind eye to it because there's no sense in causing a scene here.

[13:41] If they want to take care of this guy, let them handle their own business. But technically speaking, it was illegal for them to kill Jesus. So they come to Pilate, and we read about that in the Gospel of John.

[13:53] They come to Pilate, and they say, we need you to take care of him. And when Pilate says, he's one of your own. He's a Jew. You take care of him. You want to crucify him? Crucify him. And they say, we can't do that.

[14:05] It's against the law. You know that, Pilate. We cannot deal with this on our own. So all the while, they're trying to protect themselves. Pilate is trying to protect himself.

[14:17] All this is undercurrent. All this will explain Mark's summary of the trial of Jesus before Pilate. But there's one more thing that you need to know.

[14:27] I want you to turn over to the Gospel of John real quickly. Because Mark does not record for us. In fact, neither does Matthew or Luke. They don't record for us Jesus' full conversation that he had with Pilate.

[14:41] We don't know if John recorded everything that Jesus and Pilate talked about. But he certainly recorded a lot more than Mark did. And in the Gospel of John, in chapter 18, Jesus comes to trial before Pilate.

[14:55] And Pilate begins to ask him questions. Just as he does in the Gospel of Mark. But John gives us the details. You can just take a look in verse 33. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews?

[15:12] Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord? Or do others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew?

[15:22] Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.

[15:34] If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. Jesus does not deny that he is a king.

[15:47] He does not deny that he is the king of the Jews. He is the rightful king from the line of David. He never denies that. But he makes sure that Pilate understands.

[15:58] My kingdom is no threat to your governorship here. My kingdom is not of this world. I have not come to push out the Romans and set up an earthly kingdom with my capital here in Jerusalem.

[16:11] If I wanted to do that, my followers would be fighting and they're not. They're nowhere to be seen. If Jesus wanted to become king, he's had multiple opportunities.

[16:22] He had massive crowds following him throughout Galilee during his ministry in Galilee. He had crowds that the gospel writers tell us were ready to make him king after he had fed the multitudes.

[16:34] And yet Jesus got in a boat and sailed away from them. That's not his plan. It was never his plan to overthrow the Romans and set up a kingdom in Palestine.

[16:48] And so he says to Pilate in no uncertain terms, I'm a king, yes. I have a kingdom, yes. But my kingdom is not of this world. It's no threat to you, Pilate. It's no threat to Rome, at least not at this point in human history.

[17:02] It's not of this world. And so their conversation moves forward, verse 37 of John 18. Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king. Jesus answered, You say that I am a king.

[17:17] For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice to which Pilate responds, What is truth? And then Pilate goes back to the Jews in verse 38 and says to them, I find no guilt in this man.

[17:35] No guilt in him. Mark only records the last little bit of Pilate's conversation with Jesus where Pilate asks him, says, Are you the king?

[17:46] To which Jesus responds, You say that I am. So you can read that in two different ways in Mark.

[17:56] You can read it as Jesus saying, I never said I was a king. You're the one who keeps saying I'm a king. I never said anything about that. You could read it that way. Or you could read it in terms of Jesus saying, You said it.

[18:08] You got it. You're right on target there. You can read it either way in Mark and you can't tell which way it's supposed to go. And knowing Greek doesn't help you to figure that out one bit. But when you turn to the Gospel of John it becomes clear that Jesus is affirmed to Pilate, Yes, I'm a king.

[18:23] You say I'm a king, you say it rightly. But understand, my kingdom is not of this world. That's the full conversation. Which is why after Jesus affirms to Pilate that he is indeed a king, Pilate still finds no reason to carry out punishment on Jesus.

[18:42] See, the chief priests, the elders, the Sanhedrin had a plan in place. Once Jesus had affirmed to them that he was the Messiah, that he was the Son of God and as Messiah, as the Anointed One, also Son of David and the rightful heir to the throne of David.

[18:59] That's part of what it meant to be the Messiah, to be the Anointed One from the line of David. Once Jesus admitted that to them, they had all they need to take him to Rome, they thought. They tried earlier to trick him.

[19:12] When they asked him, well, should you pay taxes to Caesar or not? They tried to trap him between the kind of answer that would please the Jews around him or the kind of answer that would get him in trouble with Rome. They tried to trap him before and they failed that time.

[19:24] Now they feel like they've got him. He's admitted to being the Messiah, which means in all practical purposes he's admitted to being the rightful king over the Jews. So let's hand him over, tell Pilate, this guy's going around saying he's the king of the Jews and Pilate will execute him because the Romans cannot stand that kind of a threat to them.

[19:41] But Pilate's conversation betrays all their motive. Pilate sees nothing in Jesus that poses a threat to Rome or to himself or to anyone else for that matter other than the chief priests who handed him over.

[19:56] And so Pilate sees no reason whatsoever to punish Jesus. Back in Mark chapter 15 Pilate comes to them in verse 8 we're told that a crowd in verse 7 it says verse 6 I'm sorry it says now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked and among the rebels in prison who had committed murder in the insurrection there was a man called Barabbas and the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them and he answered them saying do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?

[20:33] We perceived it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up but these chief priests were told they stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas instead. Now picture what's happening here the last time that we've seen crowds gathered around Jesus has been in the temple as they cheered him on and now suddenly the crowds are calling for his crucifixion and the release of a known criminal the release of a murderer and a robber why would they do that?

[20:59] What's happening here? I don't think that we're dealing with the exact same crowds I think we're probably dealing with crowds that these Jewish religious authorities have sort of corralled and gathered together there near Herod's palace they've sort of gathered people either people who are just so naive that they can be coerced or people who are already sympathetic to the chief priest's desires or whatever but we're told that they stir up the crowd they're in the crowd amongst the crowd stirring them up to call out for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus they're very sly they're very slick in all that they're going to do and Pilate who thought that this was a way out offer them the worst most vile of criminals or Jesus surely they'll choose Jesus they choose the vilest of criminals a man that they have no respect for a man that they know is worthy of death Pilate has underestimated the resolve of the Sanhedrin so Pilate again verse 12 said to them then what shall I do with the man you call the king of the Jews and they cried out again crucify him and Pilate said to them why what evil has he done but they shouted out all the more crucify him now here it is

[22:17] Pilate's motive revealed so Pilate wishing to satisfy the crowd released for them Barabbas and having scourged Jesus he delivered him to be crucified always at all times Pilate's main concern is maintain the peace and when the crowd becomes riled against Jesus no matter how convinced Pilate is that Jesus is no threat to him no matter how convinced Pilate is that Jesus has not done anything to deserve death no matter what Pilate may believe about those things his main agenda is to maintain the peace and so if it requires the death of an innocent man who's done nothing wrong Pilate will go along with it to preserve his own power his own authority to keep him out of trouble with Caesar and so he agrees he sees the beginnings of a riot or what appears to him to be a riot and so he says fine you can have Jesus and I'll let Barabbas go and then the final stage in all of this is that the soldiers lead

[23:21] Jesus away we're told in verse 16 they let him inside the palace that is the governor's headquarters this trial that Jesus has been enduring has taken place in large part just outside Pilate's headquarters because because the chief priests and the scribes well it's Passover they can't go into a Gentile's home they can't go into Pilate's headquarters they'll become unclean they're so concerned with their own moral uprightness that they won't go into Pilate's headquarters but they'll stand on his steps and condemn an innocent man to death it's irony but in any event the trial took place outside now they lead him inside into the courtyard and we're told that they gathered a whole battalion 600 soldiers normally that's what would make up a battalion they gather all of these soldiers together and it says they clothed him in a purple cloak twisted a crown of thorns and put it on him and began to salute him hail king of the Jews they were striking him with a reed spitting on him kneeling down in homage to him and when they had mocked him we're told they stripped him of the purple cloak put his clothes on him and led him out to crucify him notice how this proceeds from stage to stage you begin in verse one and the chief priests hand

[24:42] Jesus over to Pilate and then Pilate who though he does not see anything wrong in Jesus chooses to release a vile criminal rather than Jesus and condemns Jesus as worthy of death now Pilate hands him over to be beaten and flogged and mocked by the soldiers in all of these things Jesus the son of God endures the shame of sinful men he endures it what could be more shameful for a devout Jew than to be handed over to the Gentiles what could be more terrible than to simply be handed over to these foreigners these invaders these pagans handed over to their justice to their way to their means and then what greater insult could there be though clearly innocent the Roman ruler chooses to release a vile criminal and to top it all off spitting upon him beating him mocking him as the king of the Jews the son of God endures the shame of men over and over and over and yet it comes as no surprise to Jesus it comes as no surprise to us who have been reading through this gospel and walking through it because

[26:14] Jesus said that these things would take place he predicted these things on more than one occasion so if you turn back a few pages to Mark chapter 8 Jesus gives great detail on what's going to happen to him in verse 31 of Mark chapter 8 we read this that he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again he will suffer many things he will be rejected by them these things happen Jesus predicted his own betrayal into the hands of the Romans by Judas Jesus predicted that the Jewish religious leaders would hand him over to the Gentiles Jesus predicted that the Gentiles would mock him and flog him over and over throughout this gospel we find these predictions that Christ has given concerning his death and all of these elements we find present when we begin to add them up together it was God's plan that Jesus should be condemned by the Sanhedrin it was God's plan that Jesus should be handed over to Pontius

[27:32] Pilate and to the Gentiles it was God's plan that Jesus should be condemned as worthy of death even though he's clearly innocent it was God's plan that the Roman soldiers should mock him and spit upon him and beat him all of these things are foretold by Jesus and foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament this was his plan Jesus endured all of this shame Matthew tells us he came to save his people from their sin Jesus tells us in the gospel of Mark chapter 10 that he came to lay his life down as a ransom all of these things are necessary for the fulfillment of God's plan for our redemption you don't get saved if Jesus doesn't get handed over to the Gentiles you don't get saved if Jesus isn't traded out for Barabbas and you don't get saved if the soldiers don't spit upon him and beat him and mock him all of these things are foretold all of these things are leading us up to the cross where we'll be next week every single one of these things must take place they will take place and they have taken place because he was willing to lay his life down as a ransom for his people that's why he did that's why he underwent all of this shame and humiliation in fact

[29:00] I want you to turn over to the book of Hebrews so that you can gain a clear glimpse into what was motivating Jesus in Hebrews chapter 12 after you read through chapter 11 and you get this great hall of faith people call it where the writer of Hebrews mentions all these great Old Testament figures and all that they've done by faith and all that God has done through them he comes to chapter 12 where he focuses upon Christ and what Christ has done he says this in chapter 12 verse 1 therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses all the people he's mentioned in chapter 11 let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame it's filled with shame and now he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted consider Christ who for the joy set before him what was that joy it was the redemption of his people in the presentation of his people to his father on the last day that moment stands in his mind in the far off distant future as he is being spit upon as they are whipping him and tearing the flesh from his back that moment of presenting his people cleansed redeemed from their sin before his father that moment stands crystal clear in his mind's eye and for the joy of that future day

[30:52] Jesus was willing to undergo all the shame all the shame of a Roman court of an unjust Jewish trial of being traded out for a criminal of being mocked and beaten by Gentile Roman soldiers all of that he was willing to endure so that he might save the people to present to his father you can be one of those people you can be one of those for whom Jesus laid down his life if you trust in him you can be one of those who are redeemed by his blood and saved by his shame if you trust in him there's one other point that that I want you to take especially from the comments that this writer of the book of Hebrews makes upon the death of Christ and the shame that he endured that he despised and yet was willing to undergo there's one more point that I think that we need to see in order to fully understand why the gospel writers would record in such detail the silence of Jesus over and over all four gospels tell us that Jesus was for the most part silent as he stood being accused silent before his

[32:09] Jewish accusers in the middle of the night silent the first time before Pilate silent before Herod silent the second time before Pilate except for that short conversation over and over every time an accusation is hurled at Jesus he never answers it he never comes back he never tries to justify himself never once you ask why why are the gospel writers so intent on emphasizing the silence of Jesus in the midst of his trial you don't think they said it once but all four gospel writers say it and most of them say it several times why such an emphasis it's helpful for us to see that Christ is not only our redeemer but he is the pioneer the author who goes before us on cars a path that we should walk read carefully what it says we are looking to Jesus verse 2 looking to

[33:12] Jesus for what verse 1 tells us to give us what we need to run with endurance the race that is set before us Jesus had a race before him it went it went through shame it went through the cross he had a path he had a race to run and so do we we have a race we have a path to walk down we must do it and it takes great endurance in order to do it and he says as you're walking that way as you're running that race of great endurance look to Jesus look to him who for the joy set before him endured the cross despising its shame look to him he is not only a redeemer he is your example consider verse 3 consider him who endured from sin or such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted consider Christ consider all the shame that he endured so that you will not grow weary as you endure shame in the world it's not just shame he ties it into more than that verse 4 in your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood consider Jesus as others shame you for your faith but also consider Jesus and consider the great endurance of Christ as you resist against sin in your own life moment by moment every every day we are bombarded with temptation and it's it's not always the temptation to do some great evil it's not always the temptation to violate one of the ten commandments in an overt obvious sort of way that everybody would say well that's wrong you don't walk outside and just shoot your neighbor everybody knows that's pretty easy to avoid for most of us we're okay we're good with that right but how difficult is it when you're at work and all you have to do is lie a little bit just

[35:18] I mean just a little bit your boss asked you if you did this you didn't do it because you forgot you can say yeah I got it done and you can run off and try to finish it before he finds anything out right you can do that it's a little lie not a lie you could be honest or you could just tell a little lie things would go smoother for you and you wouldn't have to endure the shame and failing to do your job right or or consider your life at home it would be perhaps easier for us to neglect kindness and to just be harsh and say exactly what we want and exactly what we think and exactly what we mean in a harsh way every time that we want something and that will that will perhaps get you what you want in the moment it may women wives may be able to say something so many times to their husbands that finally their husband will give in or husband may even say something so brough and mean to his wife that she'll just say okay do whatever you want to do you know whatever it may be something so small maybe your wife wants you to stay home that day and help clean the house because it's just a mess but you had plans you were going to play golf and you were going to go hunting or whatever and so you say

[36:39] I'm not doing that you barked you bite you could do that you're worried to speak kindly now the one is more likely to get you your way in the immediate the other will cause you to walk a path that maybe you didn't want to walk that day it might be a bit uncomfortable we are constantly bombarded by these minor little temptations everywhere around us to compromise to do this instead of that and the writer of Hebrews says well you haven't resisted temptation to the point of shedding blood in words if you're not dead yet you better be fighting against sin and if you want to be successful in that fight consider Jesus why the great emphasis on the silence of Jesus because Jesus is able to endure even great shame without declaring his own rights Jesus is able to endure the mocking of soldiers without proclaiming his own innocence consider he's handed over to the Roman governor and he's the king of kings who is this

[37:52] Roman governor to pass any sort of judgment on him he's the king of everything or the scribes the experts in the law and the chief priests the Sanhedrin they pass judgment upon him and yet he's the one that the law was written about these are experts in the law he's the subject of the law the law points to him Moses writings are all about Jesus and yet he stands under their judgment it's ridiculous he allows these Roman soldiers to spit on him and make fun of him he can at any moment call legions of angels arrayed for battle and ready to go with a with a word he could wipe them out of existence they were never born they never happen he doesn't utter that word why mostly so that the prophecies might be fulfilled and he makes it to Calvary but also and not unimportantly to show us what it looks like to endure shame for a greater joy set before us it looks like a person who doesn't insist on their own rights it looks like a person who doesn't argue their case all the time it looks like a person who's willing to lay down their life for others it looks like a person who's willing to resist sin and take the shame that comes with it till the day they die that's what it looks like and that's what Jesus is showing us in the gospel accounts saying I've come to redeem you and if you trust in me my life is a ransom for you and he's saying I've come to show you those who have been redeemed

[39:51] I have come to show you how to live how to walk and how to run the race that he has set before you let's pray we confess through