Sermon Nugget Mon Nov 10
Theme: The Trial
Verses- John 18:12-14 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.(NIV)
Religious Leaders
Robert M. Kachur wrote an article on “Why I’m not a Christian” in HIS magazine. He went out on three different universities asking that question. The answers were interesting, but I shouldn’t say they were surprising. They fell into three main categories. First, “I am not a Christian because Christians are hypocrites. People do not practice what they preach. There are too many hypocrites in the church. One person said, “Christians are suppose to care for each other—too often I see people stab each other in the back the moment they walk out of church.” A sophomore identified as an atheist, “I used to be involved with my church, but as I got more and more involved, I found out what was goes on at church and what goes on at home are two different things.”
The second common reason for not being a Christian is that Christian are stuck-up. They are too judgmental to others. They look down on others. They think they are better than the rest. A freshman said, “Many Christians seem to think that anyone who does not exactly agree with them is a heathen and not worth respecting.”
The third common reason many reject Christianity is what is perceived as intolerance. Instead of accepting people of all faiths they are narrow-minded thinking theirs is the only correct one. One man verbalized it “It seems that a loving God would not exclude more than half of the world to Hell just because they didn’t accept Jesus.” Or another, “You’ve got to be nuts to go through life believing that this is the only way to heaven.” What about all the other good people?
But as we look at the passion of Jesus Christ one of the scenes that makes people angry is the scene where the religious ruling body is condemning Jesus to death. The trail of Christ is a farce and full of hypocrisy. It was designed by the religious leaders of that day to begin with. Their main struggle was to keep people following them instead of Jesus.
Last week we looked at the arrest of Christ, and this week I want to look at the trial of Christ. If we combine the records from all four Gospels you will understand that Jesus had at least 5, maybe 7, times to stand before His judges. He had the trial before Annas, the trial before Caiaphas the ruling High Priest, another trial before the Sanhedrin. Then they take him before Pilate and who sends him off to Herod and returns him again for a sixth time before some leadership as he stands again before Pilate. Some even say Pilate had three parts of his trials, first to listen to his crimes, secondly, letting the people chose who should be released in honor of the Passover; The people picked Barabbas, and so he had Jesus flogged to satisfy the crowd, but in the end the last meeting was when Pilate condemned him to be crucified.
This week I am focusing on the sham of the trials of Jesus.
Leadership results in different ways. Some are born into the position like many Kings. Others are elected as we experienced this week in the United States. Some win their leadership in countries by sheer power or military might, as in Cuba. Some are promoted by friends and relatives who have power, as in the new President’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Others earn leadership by their achievements as in the sports world.
But the leadership that we see in Scripture is either by Gods anointed, or man’s decisions. This week we will see man made religious leaders who felt like they succeeded in what they wanted to accomplish, while next week we will look at Peter, who was appointed by God and felt like a failure in his coming up short. As we read the passion story one slowly becomes aware there is only one true leader in spite of what we think.
Pastor Dale
