A Sermon on the Passion Narrative in John
The Cross Makes Us Whole Again | Good Friday | April 18, 2025 | A Sermon on the Passion Narrative in John | Evan McClanahan |
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sin makes us do crazy things. Irrational things. Senseless things. Perhaps you have had times in your life when you felt out of your head, because it was that crazy-making sin that was influencing you. And when you were not influenced by sin, but by the Spirit of God to pursue righteous and good things, it was then that you felt sane and normal.
When we sin, it is truly us who is sinning. There is no excuse. But it can feel like it is someone else. If we were showed a video replay of the idiotic and embarrassing things we do, we would surely all blush and we would say something like, „That wasn’t me! I was out of my head!“
Good Friday is not just about the way we are reconciled to God by His gracious offer of forgiveness. It is about how God sets all things right. It is how God answers our pitiable cries of suffering. It is about how God makes sense of a senseless world. It is about God gives us a singular answer to all that is wrong in this sinful world. The crucified Christ really is the answer to all that ails us, saddens us, depresses us, and alarms us. For if you recall the name we mention always at Christmas – Immanuel, meaning „God is with us“ – God is never MORE with us than when he is on the cross. If those silly „He gets us“ commercials simply showed an image of the crucified Christ, they would surely be improved quite dramatically.
In John’s Passion narrative, we see two specific examples of the maddening effects of sin. Pilate is generally criticized for being morally weak in this moment of extreme pressure. And so he is. But he is also senseless and irrational. Listen to what he says to the crowd: “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”
Pilate’s language is clear: „I find no guilt in him.“ This isn’t a borderline case. This isn’t a „Well, maybe this or maybe that.“ This isn’t a „one witness said this and one said that…who am I to say?“ Pilate interrogates Jesus and he finds no guilt in him.
Now, even in the rough and tumble ancient world, Pilate was obligated to release Jesus. The law demanded it. Justice demanded it. His role as arbiter demanded it. By his own words, it is Jesus who is innocent and Pilate is guilty. He finds no guilt in Jesus, and yet, punishes him anyway. He intended to „only“ flog him, of course, but flogging was a punishment so awful that in and of itself it could kill a man.
Pilate is out of his mind. His sin is not vengeance or anger or conspiracy to kill…but fear. And in a moment of fear, he did something that had no rational or legal defense: he punished a man he knew was innocent.
And then there is the crowd. They also had crazy things to say, but perhaps at the peak of their argument with Pilate, perhaps concerned that their mob tactics were not working, perhaps feeling the pinch of time, or perhaps finally just so overwhelmed with an evil spirit that they couldn’t reign their insanity in anymore, they blurt out, „We have no king but Caesar.”
Now, the best interpretation one could offer on words like this might be that the Jews are only speaking about the local political situation, and they are not speaking to a broader, metaphysical question of ultimate authority. That is to say, sure, these Jewish leaders recognize that, whether they like it or not, we are under the thumb of Caesar and we will acknowledge him as king.“
But this is coming from a people who would have done everything possible to minimize the authority that Caesar had over their lives. They fought his authority every step of the way and only begrudgingly did what he demanded through his proxy, Pilate. They regarded gentiles as sub-human. They called them „dogs.“ And Pilate, remember, had killed several Jews in the Temple and they surely hated him for that.
So for the Jews to parse out an acceptable, narrow role for Caesar in such a way is probably being far more charitable than this mob deserves. The first commandment is to „have no other Gods before me.“ And by this time in history, Caesar did indeed regard himself as a god. So when they make this comment, it is evidence that they are mad in their sin.
To give up all pretense of prosecutorial discretion and to throw the ultimate haymaker – „We have no king but Caesar!“ – the crowd now only reveals their own dark hearts, they also put Pilate between a rock and a hard place. He now had to prove to be even more loyal to Caesar than they were. They betrayed their first and foremost commandment as a negotiating ploy to force Pilate’s hand. Releasing Jesus now was not an option because the nuclear option had been used by the other side.
Sin had made both sides go out of their minds. They became someone else. If a video replay could be shown to them, I suspect they would all recoil in embarrassment. They may not even recognize themselves. For the sake of their souls, I hope so.
We must see ourselves in this crowd. It is imperative to our salvation. For while we may have never called for the execution of Jesus, we have surely found ourselves out of our heads, blinded by sin. We are irrational in such a state, driven by fear or anger to such a degree we don’t see straight.
And yet, Good Friday is good because when Jesus is sacrificed on the cross for our sake, it is for the forgiveness of even those sins. Even those who arrested him and tried him could have been freed from their sins. For no matter how crazy the sin, they can be forgiven by the death of Jesus. For is not just a murdered man; he is a sacrificed God, and his sacrifice is sufficient for the sins of the whole creation.
And when we are forgiven, we find ourselves in a wonderful state. Our sanity has been restored. Our minds are right. We see the world as it really is. And we are at peace.
So when you feel yourself thinking or acting in a way that is not like you, and is surely not like Christ, recall that you are in good company. Or bad company. You are in the company of Pilate and the mob, who both uttered unholy and unrighteousness things in the name of fear and anger. Let us in those moments, look to the innocent Christ instead, love him, and receive his forgiveness. And let our minds and our whole lives be made right. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
©Evan McClanahan
First Lutheran
Houston, TX, USA