He Suffered under Pontius Pilate…

Was crucified, daed and buried, he descended into Hell

Matthew 27. 11-26; 32-37; 45-54

The Story

In Jesus, the Word – who was God, in the beginning with the Father – became flesh. Fully god and fully human. So today we look at there that eventually led. It led to suffering under Pontius Pilate. It’s a very human story, full of very human. weaknesses. Pilate was the Roman Governor of Judea. Aristocratic, used to being obeyed; unafraid to use violence (he was eventually recalled to Rome for violently suppressing an uprising in Samaria); slow to understand to sensitivities of the Jewish religion: a pragmatist who was more concerned about what worked than about what was right.

Christ & Pilate by Nikolai Ge. PD Image

And around Pilate, were these Jewish leaders who had handed Jesus over for their own interests. Pilate knew about that – even if he didn’t understand the finer points of Jewish law. Then there was his wife – possibly a bit superstitious; when she had a dream about Jesus, she sent a message to her husband, warning him not to be involved in executing that innocent man.

So, for a few hours, this was Jesus’ world. He was the victim, in the petty world of political connivance, power-seeking, prejudice and crowd-pleasing. It’s not so different from our world today in the week when the inquest into the Tunisia shootings hears stories of victims; in the week when stories come to light of families split up by the USA’s ban on immigrants. Eventually Pilate gives in to the baying crowd, washes his hands of responsibility for the matter in a meaningless gesture, and hands Jesus over to be crucified. That, in the end, is the world of Jesus – the Word, who was in the beginning with the father, who was full of grace and truth, who brings life and light, who demonstrates God’s glory.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate. Was crucified, dead and buried. Like his deity, and like his humanity, his suffering and death were real and complete. He was really crucified: he suffered one of the most unpleasant forms of execution ever contrived. And he really died. Muslims believe that Jesus just passed out on the cross… blood and water suggest that Jesus had died before he was pierced by the soldier’s spear.

But we can’t just leave it there. As he died, some things happened.

1. Shortly before he died, he said “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
2. Then, Matthew tells us that as Jesus died, there was an earthquake;
3. the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom
4. and tombs were opened. Some dead bodies were raised and in the tumult after the resurrection of Jesus, they appeared to people in Jerusalem.

The point:

So what is that all about? These verses tell us that

1. Jesus suffered the hellish experience of separation from God the father. Sin separates us from God. Sin separates you and me from God. It separates our kids from God; it separates our neighbours from God. It means we live our lives, out of touch with God. And if we die with our sin still attached to us, we remain separated from God forever. Jesus was carrying our sin, when he died on the Cross. So as he died, the Father turned his face away. As he took our sins, Jesus experienced the separation from god that we all experience as the result of our sins.
2. The earthquake tells us that Jesus’ death had truly cosmic significance. He died for our sins, but he died to undo the damage the fall has brought to the whole of the universe: to heal a broken world and bring God’s Kingdom. With the death of Jesus, the new age of the Kingdom is breaking into our world.
3. There was a curtain in the temple – as there had been way back in the days of the tent in the desert – that separated the Holiest place, from the rest of the building. The curtain represented the separation between God and people. Coming to God was a matter of fear and formality: Israel understood the otherness of God and the seriousness of sin and the only way past that was through detailed sacrifices. The tear from top to bottom opens the way up – starting from God’s end not from ours – for people to be in God’s presence.
4. And death itself is beaten. It has no sting any more. It can’t hold the saints – people who have faith – any more. Eternity, eternal life, a future and a hope with God, are now a possibility. Jesus has opened up the future, a bright and good and living future, by his death on the cross.

The Creed sums that up in the statement that Jesus “descended into Hell.” Eph 4. 9 says “He descended in the the lower parts of the earth”. That doesn’t only mean that he suffered but that he triumphed and conquered: he led captivity captive (Eph 4. 8). He preached freedom to the souls held in prison. (1Peter 3. 19) The Christian group Phatfish sing “I thank You, for the cross, where You bled, for the cross, where You died, for the cross, where You've broken Satan's back.” Charles Wesley put it “Christ has burst the gates of hell! Hallelujah.” Christus Victor. Christ the Conqueror. Remember that when he broke bread with his disciples, Jesus declared himself to be not the scapegoat or the sin-offering, but the passover lamb. His death on the cross, his descent into hell, was a victory of even greater magnitude than the victory over pharaoh in he days of Moses. It deals with our sin; it opens God’s presence to us; it seals the triumph of God’s Kingdom and gives us everlasting life.

The problem

Jesus said “I will build my church and the gates of Hell (Hades) shall not prevail against it.” But look at us. And look at our world. Oppression, violence, inequality, greed, selfishness, are everywhere. As they were in Matthew’s world. And as they were in the world of the early compilers of the Creed. The earliest creed “Jesus is Lord” had to be asserted against the backdrop of an empire that demanded “Caesar is lord!”.

The Difference

But Matthew tells us the earth shook and the tombs were opened. The early Fathers said “We believe..” And to believe is to act.

1. It is to face our struggles with courage and dignity. Jesus knows what it is like to be struggling, to be a victim, to be misunderstood, mocked, misjudged. He knows what it is to suffer, and to die. And we are to have the same mind, the same way of thinking he had; although he was God he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself. (Phil 2. 5f) Psalm 73 wrestles with the problem of why the the world is full of injustice. And in verse 16 the writer says “W

   

   Christo Crucificado by Velaquez. PD Image

   hen I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task until I went into the sanctuary of God. For us, looking at what Jesus suffered puts our problems into a different perspective.
2. It is to receive forgiveness and grace. A few weeks ago I was messing around at home imitating Edith Piaf singing “non, je ne regrette rien...” and John said to me “Dad, she sang it so you don’t have to!” Jesus cried out “My God, why have you forsaken me?” so you don’t have to. To believe it is to put your trust in him today.
3. It is to come with thanks and trust, through the veil, into Gods’ presence. “Bold I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown though Christ my own!” Enough of hanging our heads in shame and embarrassment. Enough of distance between ourselves and our heavenly father. Jesus’ death makes us god’s children. We approach with boldness the throne of grace.
4. It is to seek the Kingdom, in our world. It is to be people who pray, not just pathetic, insipid little prayers that nobody would notice whether they got answered or not; but big prayers, prayers of faith. Prayers for the sick. Prayers for revival. Prayers for the lost. Prayers for peace and reconciliation among the nations. And in these days I need some of that. The world is looking increasingly messy. But We are called to live for the Kingdom, until the Kingdom comes. And we continue to pray for the coming of that Kingdom.
5. It is to have the perspective not only of the Cross but of eternity. We fear nothing. Not even death. Death itself is defeated.

© Gilmour Lilly February 2107