The Trial of Good Friday
By Matt Watson
Mark 15:12-15
“And Pilate again 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 all the more, ‘Crucify him.’ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”
Early one spring morning in Jerusalem, the religious elite, tribal elders, and the city council brought a bound Jesus to the feet of the Roman governor named Pilate. They had had enough of this prophet and all the ways he challenged their identity as a people, and it was time for him to die. They accused Jesus of trying to usurp Caesar by calling himself the “King of the Jews.” Pilate could see that something was amiss. He saw that Jesus was at his court because the chief priests were envious of him (Mark 15: 1-3, 10) and that they had stirred up an outraged mob against him.
Pilate presented a bargain to the crowd. On one side was the spotless lamb, the King of kings, and the only Son of God. On the other side was a confirmed murderer and rebel named Barabbas. The crowd, stirred up by those threatened by Jesus, chose the rebel over their true King. Therefore, Pilate’s ploy failed, and desiring to appease the crowd, he released Barabbas and sent Jesus to be tortured and executed.
That morning so long ago saw Jesus on trial. The people demanded his death and chose evil over Jesus. Except, as the judge of all the earth (Gen 18:25), the King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev 19:16), and the only true Sovereign (1 Tim 6:15), Jesus was not primarily on trial before Pilate, but before his Father. He held obedience to the Father and was himself completely perfect (Heb 5:8-9), so if Jesus was only on trial for his own account, there was no violation of the law for which he could be found guilty.
He was not on trial before the Father only for his account but also for the account of those very people who were calling for his death. They were found guilty. And so too, are you and I.
When presented with the option, how many times have we chosen something else over following Jesus? If you hate someone, you are murdering in your heart, and if you lust after someone, you are committing adultery in your heart (Matt 5). The truck you are coveting, the full bank account you are longing for, the perfect house without foundation issues you are hoping for, the perfect kids with the perfect behaviors and grades you are desperately trying to raise, and the perfect lawn without weeds you are fruitlessly throwing money at are all poor substitutes for the love, joy, and satisfaction found only in Jesus.
Not only do we get so stirred up with the “I wants,” but, like Pilate, we also cave to pressure from culture and society. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent (Luke 23:4), but the crowd said if he didn’t execute Jesus, regardless of his innocence, then Pilate was a traitor to Rome (John 19:12).
This was a false dichotomy. It is a tactic which the culture continues to use against Christians even in our own day: It says that if you are not “woke,” then you are wrong; if you are not outraged by every form of inequity, then you do not, in fact, care about others. Maybe unmarried sex, porn, and homosexuality are not really against how God designed sex? Maybe gender is fluid, and it is ok to let eight-year-olds take puberty blockers and get gender reassignment surgery? Maybe it is ok to steal from people that have more than me so that I can be on more of an equal footing? After all, like Pilate, our society is asking, “What is truth?” (John 18:38), and it continues to define it on its own terms, rather than on God’s.
So, just like the stirred-up crowds that one Friday morning two thousand years ago, we too are on trial, we too have become rebels and morally bankrupt by making the wrong choice, and we too actually deserve the death that Jesus took. We deserve Good Friday.
But Jesus gets the final word. Though we are on trial in the court of God, we have a perfect advocate, a High Priest who intercedes for us on our behalf. He not only pleads for us, but he also took our place for us. Everything Jesus got, we deserve, but Jesus’ perfect works are exchanged for our wretched works. In doing this, we are rescued out of slavery to sin, we are declared justified from our crimes, and then God the righteous judge judges us on the works of Jesus rather than our own. As Jesus is perfect, our record is now perfect, and as Jesus is God’s Son, so too do we become sons and daughters of the King.
We deserve Good Friday, but because of Jesus, we get Resurrection Sunday. We deserve death, but we get new and eternal life. The only way this is true is if you have been saved by grace through faith, declaring Jesus Christ is Lord of your life. Follow him, trust him, love him, and obey him, and you will not be found guilty but adopted.
Join us at The Well Community Church this Friday at 7 pm at Northeast Baptist Church, 2930 MacArthur View, San Antonio, TX 78217, as we worship the true King.