...from the desk of Rande Wayne Smith D.Min., Th.M., M.Div.

The Apostles’ Creed - 5

… SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED

Matthew 10:38
“Those who do not take up their cross and follow in my steps are not fit to be my disciples.”

May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion to His glory and our edification.  Amen.

Pilate is the first downer that’s introduced into the Apostles’ Creed. We’ve come to see in the last few weeks that in Jesus Christ all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. Jesus is God incarnate … the Messiah … the Christ … the Son of God.

But in Pilate all of human power and value dwells in bodily form. Pilate was supreme. He was the Roman procurator (governor). And so we see shaping up before us a kind of battle royal … kingdom of God vs. kingdom of this earth. Heaven vs. the world. Spirit vs. flesh. Who’s going to come out on top?

Pilate came to his position in Judea around A.D. 26, appointed by Tiberius Caesar. Now Judea was the hot bed of the Roman Empire. And by most accounts, the Romans hated, intensely, the Jews. So, if you have a problem area of the Empire, and you particularly dislike the people that live there, who are you going to put in charge of them? Someone cruel, ruthless, greedy, oppressive … someone like Pontius Pilate.

History tells us that one of his first acts, after arriving in Jerusalem, was to parade soldiers into the city carrying Roman standards that had images of Caesar on them. Now this was deeply offensive to the Jews of that day. Commandment #1 … “Worship no god but me.” And the Emperor, Caesar, was to be worshipped in the Roman Empire. Commandment #2 … “Do not make for yourselves images of anything.” No idols. So, here comes Pilate, parading the Emperor’s image, engraved on these Roman military standards, into the holy city where only Yahweh, the God of Israel, was to be worshiped.

Of course, as we’d expect, the Jews go nuts. They riot. They revolt. Quickly a delegation is put together to go to Pilate. Maybe he doesn’t understand how sensitive this area is … now he does … but they send the delegation to beg for the removal of these flags. For 5 days they come to him pleading … and he won’t budge. By the 6th day Pilate has had just about enough of this, so he places some of his troops in the crowds that have gathered each day around the government center. And then, on a prearranged signal, the soldiers are to draw their swords, and if the crowd doesn’t disperse immediately, they’re to begin killing these monotheistic Jews.

The signal is given, the soldiers draw their swords, but the Jews, instead of running away, bare their necks, saying, “We’d rather die than back down and allow these images of Caesar to remain in our city.”

Well, Pilate decides that he doesn’t want to have a full scale revolution on his hands during his first 100 days in office. So Pilate backs down. The soldiers don’t butcher the crowd. The images are removed. But Pilate is embittered. He’s lost the first little skirmish. But he determines that he will never lose again; he will never again give in to these Jews. In fact, he’s going to do some things intentionally to provoke them, to demonstrate that he’s, in fact, in charge.

A short time later Pilate confiscates some money from the Temple treasury. He takes it because he wants to build an aqueduct system. Think of your tithes and offerings that we collect here every Sunday morning … imagine someone taking them to install pools and sprinkler systems over in Palatine. You’d be incensed by that, and so were the Jews. Pilate took their sacred gifts for the upkeep of the Temple, and used them for his own Roman projects.

So the crowds are riled up again. Another delegation is sent to Pilate to plead their case. And Pilate won’t hear a word of it.

This time he sends his soldiers into the crowd in plain clothes, hiding clubs under their robes. And at his signal they pull out their clubs and just begin beating to death the Jews who have gathered. Many, many died.

That was the kind of person that Pilate was. He embodies ruthless and greedy and oppressive and petty and vindictive worldly power. He is insistent on getting his own way because pride demands it.

We read of another instance in Luke 13 that Pilate was notorious for. He killed some Galileans “while they were offering sacrifices to God.” We’re not exactly sure what that’s all about. Pilate’s territory is Judea; Galilee is to the north. So apparently some Galileans came down into Jerusalem, probably for one of the festivals, and something happened, there was a skirmish, and they were killed. This was a wicked, evil man. And Jesus Christ was going to suffer under him.

Now Jesus was brought before this Roman governor under charges that are recorded for us in Luke 23. “We caught this man misleading our people, telling them not to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming that he himself is the Messiah, a king.” Now you don’t claim to be a king in front of a Roman powerbroker like Pilate … unless you have a death wish.

This was the kind of charge that the Romans looked forward to dealing with. If you’re a common criminal you might go to jail, commit a capital offense and you might be beheaded, but if you’re a revolutionary, if you are a pretender to Caesar’s throne, there was only one fate left for you … and that was crucifixion.

Crucifixion was the most humiliating, painful, degrading death imaginable. It was intended to not just to take your life, but to make an example of you before everyone who would witness it. Crucifixions were held in public places as a deterrent to other misbehaver. It was a symbol of annihilation. “We’re going to completely wipe you from the face of the earth. By the time you die you’re going to be totally unrecognizable. You’re a non-entity, you revolutionary.”

So Jesus is brought in … “here’s one who has been subverting the nation, opposing Caesar, calling Himself the Christ, a King.” What does Pilate do? He confronts Him. “Are you the king of the Jews?’”

“‘So you say,’ answered Jesus.” That’s unusual; if you’ve read the Gospels you know that most of the time Jesus never acknowledged that. Anytime people started suggesting that He was the Messiah … He’d say, “Shhhhhhhh, don’t tell anybody that. People will misunderstand what it’s all about.”

But now, when He’s standing before the one who can take His life, He freely admits it. It’s time. And that kind of makes it an open and shut case, doesn’t it? “Yes, I am a king. Yes, it is as you say.” Okay, so let’s crucify Him. … No, not so fast.

“Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no reason to condemn this man.’” … What’s going on? Well, the chief priests want Jesus dead … therefore Pilate doesn’t. He’s had his problems with these people time and time again. And so his standard operating procedure is now “whatever they want … I don’t. They want this guy dead … I find no reason to condemn him. And besides, when have the chief priests ever turned in their own would-be messiahs? I mean these chief priests want out from Roman rule as much as anybody else. Since when are they turning in their own? Why are they bringing this guy to me?”

Matthew’s account reminds us that Pilate “knew very well that the Jewish authorities had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.” So Pilate’s feels no obligation to crucify Him. A second reason why Pilate is concerned about crucifying Jesus deals with His popularity with the crowds. It was just 3 or 4 days earlier that Jesus had entered Jerusalem with huge throngs hailing Him as someone special … a Messiah, maybe, certainly a prophet. Obviously that would have captured Pilate’s notice.

If Pilate crucifies this guy, he could have a serious revolt on his hands; one far greater than any of the others that he has had to put down. And that would not be good for Pilate. He was already on thin ice with Caesar Tiberius. His attempts over the years to get Tiberius on his good side have always backfired. Now he has this would-be king of the Jews, and if he kills Him there would probably be a huge revolt and that would be the end of Pilate. Tiberius would think he couldn’t handle Judea. So Pilate attempts to wash his hands of the situation. “I find no reason to condemn this man.”

And when that doesn’t work, he learns that Jesus is from Galilee, and Herod, who’s in charge of Galilee, just happens to be in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover … “I’ll send Him to Herod. Let Herod deal with Him.” So Jesus goes to Herod … but Herod doesn’t want anything to do with Him, and sends Him right back to Pilate.

So Pilate thinks, “I know how to get rid of this thing … it’s Passover, and I have this tradition of releasing a prisoner every Passover. I’ll offer them Jesus.” “Do you want me to set free for you the king of the Jews?” (That’ll make the problem go away.) But to Pilate’s surprise, they shouted, “Crucify him!”

In fact, here’s what they said, and it sealed Jesus’ fate. “If you set him free, that means that you are not the Emperor’s friend! Anyone who claims to be a king is a rebel against the Emperor!” That did it; more than anything else, Pilate is concerned about being a friend of Caesar Tiberius. So Pilate took a basin of water, washed his hands, and turned Jesus over to them, because in the end, worldly powers, no matter how ruthless, greedy, oppressive, vindictive, petty, and proud, will always act with total self-interest and self-preservation.

So, does Pilate win because Jesus is going to be executed? Not exactly. Next to American history, I love Roman history. Let me explain a little bit about a Roman Triumph. A Roman Triumph was a victory parade. And there were hundreds of them during the reigns of the Caesars. Conquering generals and armies would march into Rome, having won a battle, and a huge lavish parade would be held to celebrate their victory.

The parade consisted of several stages. First would come all the booty that had been won. Then came the enemy prisoners, who were on their way to death or enslavement. They were followed by the victorious soldiers. Then the winning general came in his chariot. And finally, Caesar himself, the grand marshal, who presided over it all. And his divinity would be reaffirmed in front of the crowd.

A Roman triumph began at the governor’s palace, where the elite Roman guard would gather. These were the soldiers who were most loyal to Caesar. And they would escort him in the parade route.

Mark 15:16 says, “The soldiers took Jesus inside to the courtyard of the governor’s palace and called together the rest of the company.”

When the Roman soldiers gathered at the governor’s palace, Caesar would be outfitted in lavish robes and a laurel wreath. In fact, there was a statue of Jupiter, which was human size, in one of the temples. It served as a mannequin for Caesar’s divine robes, which were purple because purple was the color of majesty. Purple was very expensive, and only the upper-class could afford to wear clothes made with purple dye. The soldiers took the robe off of the Jupiter mannequin and put it on Caesar. Caesar was Jupiter … the god of the sky, the god of light, the god of Rome … incarnate.

Jupiter’s face was red … a symbol of blood, life, and power. So Caesar’s face would be painted red. He’d be preparing for the parade, wearing the royal robes, and the laurel wreath. Mark 15:17 … “They put a purple robe on Jesus, made a crown out of thorny branches, and put it on his head.” When they stuck these thorns in Jesus’ head I’m sure blood poured down on His face, turning it bright red.

Now after Caesar was all made up and ready for the parade he’d come out before his palace guards who would salute him and bow down before him and ascribe to him titles of deity, “hail Caesar! Glory to the god of Rome.”

Mark 15:18-19 … “Then they began to salute him: ‘Long live the King of the Jews!’ They beat him over the head with a stick, spat on him, fell on their knees, and bowed down to him.”

Then it was time for the parade. The Roman Emperor has appeared in all his glory. “Hail Caesar.” It was only about ½ mile from the palace to the center of Rome, where the parade ended. ½ mile parade route … hardly enough time to celebrate a major Roman triumph. So they mapped out a route that took them all over the city. Scaffolds were built alongside the road; the people climbed up on them and cheered as the parade came by.

Once again, the first thing in the parade would be the objects of art and culture that had been captured … then displays of wealth, gold and silver items, treasures … then captured weapons, swords, shields, armor, spears, bows and arrows. That would be followed by bulls for sacrifices. One Roman victory parade had 120 bulls with their horns wrapped in gold, and laurels around their necks. After that came the king’s chariot, not the king who had been defeated, just his chariot, with his armor and his weapons. Then the king’s servants followed … pleading for mercy. Then came the king’s family, knowing that they were marching to their death. Then the defeated king was paraded through the streets wearing black.

Next were the victorious soldiers, and then the general. And finally, Caesar himself, purple robe, laurel wreath, red Jupiter face … the divine Caesar presiding over it all.

You see, Caesar didn’t just go out on parade … he was led out on parade. Mark 15:20 … “Then they led him out to crucify him.”

Borrowing from the Greeks, the Romans believed that their Caesar was a god incarnate. They believed that this god died in the heavenly realms and then had come back to life in the person of Caesar. So they would “reenact” what had taken place.

There was one special bull that was set apart to symbolize the death in heaven of this god. This bull was dressed up in a royal robe, just like Caesar, so it could be identified with him. Leading the bull down the street was a Roman soldier, who had the job of executing it. And that soldier carried a double bladed axe. In fact, every painting of a Roman victory parade shows, right in front of Caesar, a bull along with a soldier carrying an axe over his shoulder, which looked strikingly like a cross.

We read in Mark 15:21 … “On the way they met a man named Simon, who was coming into the city from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.”

The parade wound around the city and ended on a hill where the temple of Jupiter was located. Here’s the interesting thing about that temple. When it was first built, and its’ foundation was dug, the builders found a decaying human head (sort of gross). The priests saw that as some kind of omen. “The place where this head was found shall be the head of the Roman Empire.” And this is where the parades would end.

Mark 15:22 … “They took Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means ‘The Place of the Skull.’”

When the Roman parade arrived at its’ final destination a cup of wine mixed with myrrh was handed to Caesar. He didn’t drink it, but poured it on the bull because it was a symbol of blood. Then the bull is killed, god in heaven dies, and then is reincarnated in Caesar.

Mark 15:23-24 … “They tried to give him wine mixed with a drug called myrrh, but Jesus would not drink it. Then they crucified him.”

Immediately following this, Caesar would reemerge from the temple with his generals flanking him. Every picture of a Roman victory parade shows Caesar being flanked on his right and left by his chief generals. There’s a plurality of majesty implied by this. He’s showing himself to be powerful with men on both sides who support him.

We can picture the scene … when our President addresses Congress. He’s got the V.P. and the Speaker of the House on his right and left. It’s a picture of power. That’s the way Caesar emerged from the temple.

And that’s the way Jesus appeared on the place of the skull. “The notice of the accusation against him said: ‘The King of the Jews.’ They also crucified 2 bandits with Jesus, one on his right and the other on his left.”

Then, as Caesar climaxes the parade, the people worship him, not just as Caesar, they worshipped him as god. In fact, there was a special saying they would shout, “Triumph, god appears.”

As Jesus breathed His last, “The army officer who was standing there in front of the cross saw how Jesus had died. ‘This man was really the Son of God!’ he said.” Pilate could never have dreamed that his condemnation of Jesus would actually set up a kind of victory parade for the King of Heaven. But it did. In God’s mysterious way He providentially made Jesus’ execution a victory parade … a victory that came through death. What Pilate could never have imagined is that Jesus’ death would in fact be the defeat, not just of sin, not just of Satan, but all of worldly powers.

The cross of Christ is His victory parade over all powers. “On that cross Christ freed himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.”

So how does He have victory over them? How do you triumph over the bully who always wants to smash you down and degrade you? Well, the one person more powerful than the bully is the person who’s not afraid of the bully; the person who can take all that the bully can lash out … and not retaliate. And that’s exactly what Jesus did in defeating Pilate.

He took all the evil of the world, of the Romans, of the Jews and their hatred of Christ. He took it all and didn’t retaliate. He was like a sheep led to slaughter. He didn’t even open His mouth and curse His enemies. He took all the wrath of Rome. Actually, He took all the wrath of God against the sin of humanity. The whole goal of the Romans was to bring everyone under their control; every tribe, language, and nation, and make them their own. And here Jesus, by His death, has done just that. He has won to Himself people from every tribe, language, and nation, and made them His own. And He did it, not by overpowering them, but by saving them. He did it … not by force, but by love.

And they no longer say, “Hail Caesar;” they say, “hail Jesus.” They no longer say, “Caesar is lord;” it’s, “Jesus is Lord.”

This is Reformation Day for God’s people. It’s the day when we recognize God’s free gift of salvation given to all who believe. It’s our reformation from sin and death and self so that we no longer live for ourselves but we live for Christ, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried … for us.

This is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday and every Sunday thereafter. Every first day of the week is a mini-Easter, in which we celebrate our freedom; reformation from all the powers that be, that Jesus triumphed over in His parade to death.

“But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ’s victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance.”

God, through Christ, is sending us out on that victory procession, not as the victors in the back, but as those won over and defeated upfront. That’s the meaning of this passage.

We’re led out as prisoners. Why? Why not as those who have won the victory? Because that’s how God wins His victories … through suffering … through sacrifice … through the cross. The role of those who were defeated in the Roman victory parade was to glorify the one who captured them. That’s why they were paraded out there.

And now we have been captured by God. And everything we go through in life is to glorify God … to spread everywhere the knowledge of Him.

Paul says, “I have been put to death with Christ on his cross.” He says, “I will boast only about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He says, “I have made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross.”

Jesus said, “If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.” To follow Him in death, dying to the world, dying to self, dying to greed, dying to power, dying to vindictiveness, dying to pettiness, dying to pride, dying to all that kind of stuff … so that the world can smell in us the sweet fragrance of the selfless one, Jesus Christ, living in us.

What is the cross of Christ leading you triumphantly toward today? A satisfied, content suburban life? A life where you and your needs come first?

No, not if you’re in Jesus’ parade; not if you’ve taken up your cross and are following Him daily. It’s calling you to suffering, to sacrifice, to difficulty, to hardship, that you freely take on in order to spread the fragrance of Christ around.

What is God calling you to sacrifice over? What is He telling you to submit yourself to? What are the risks and chances He’s calling you to take? What’s the thing He’s asking you to do that’s going to be an unusual victory for God because it’s going to look like dying to all your friends? But in God’s economy it’s going to win over people in the world. What is it that He’s calling you to do? This is where this message gets personal. But it’s also where you will find joy and happiness.

“Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross.”

May we have hearts to do the same. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

MARANA THA