There was no love lost between Governor Pontius Pilate and the Jewish Sanhedrin.  For the first several years of his reign as governor of Judaea, the Jewish religious leaders had no use for this Roman appointee, and clashed with him regularly.  The religious leaders hated having a Roman presence in their sacred cities, and had a particular disdain for Pilate and his actions intended to Romanize the region of Judaea.  One particular story emerging from that era had Pilate bringing images of Caesar into Jerusalem, only to have the Jewish religious leaders vigorously protest.  They were willing to die at the end of a Roman sword to have the images of Caesar removed from their capital city.  Pilate relented that day and had the images removed, but the friction between the Jews and their Roman Governor continued throughout the time of Jesus’ public ministry.

Given this contentious relationship, it is odd to see (in John 18:28-40) the Jews seeking Pilate’s help after their arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  They hated everything Roman, but Pilate had something they needed … the ability to order a public execution.

The Jewish leaders were not seeking a quiet disappearance of Jesus, or merely a silencing of His message.  No, they were seeking a public humiliation of Jesus of Nazareth to create the appearance that He certainly was not the Messiah many believed Him to be.  If the Jewish religious leaders had stoned Jesus (like they did Stephen in Acts 7), Jesus would have died, but they would have appeared to be responding only in a fit of anger and rage.  The Jewish religious leaders wanted the Jesus movement to end in a public spectacle where Jesus would be hanging from a tree in crucifixion.  This punishment was only carried out by the Romans, so they needed Pilate’s help.  In the Old Testament text, it is written that “cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”  The Jewish leaders believed that a public execution, hanging Jesus from a tree, would let the world know that God was NOT with Jesus.

2,000 years later, and with billions of converts and counting, the Jesus movement has NOT been humiliated or stopped.  In fact, the Jewish leaders insistence on the crucifixion of Christ actually helped demonstrate the curse Jesus removed from sinners like you and me!  Galatians 3:10 says “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by the works of the law.”  Since we have all fallen short of God’s glorious standard, we are under a curse.  Galatians 3:13 continues, though, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’”

The Jewish leaders were jealous of Jesus and wanted Him humiliated and killed.  Pilate wanted to save face and hang on to political power.  But our God is so sovereign that He can use the sinful, selfish decisions of others to accomplish His glorifying ends.

This Sunday, April 6 at Wildwood Community Church, we will be in part 4 of our “Trial to Triumph” sermon series as we look at John 18:28-40.  In these verses we will see Jesus standing trial before Pilate, and what that means for you and for me.  Hope to see you Sunday in our 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00 services.  We will worship, pray, read Scripture, share the Lord’s Supper, and even hear the update on our Deep + Wide capital campaign.  Hope you see you there … and bring friends!

Have you ever accidentally purchased a car?  Ever unintentionally bought a house?  Ever mistakenly flew to Timbuktu, when you planned to drive to Noble?

Didn’t think so.

Why?  Well because in all of these scenarios, we have the ability and agency to effect the outcome … and many steps are involved.

To purchase a car you have to drive to a dealership, select the vehicle, negotiate the price, sign the contract, produce the funds, THEN you have bought the vehicle.  After that many decisions stacked together, it is not an accident but a process of your will.

To buy a house, you have to find the property, make an offer, schedule lots of inspections and tests, arrange financing or save the money in advance, THEN you have bought the house.  After 30-60 days of work, it is hard to call that a surprise purchase!

And with so many options on where someone might travel and how someone might travel there, no one mistakes their hatchback for an American Airlines flight!  You can’t trick someone into making that big of a vacation vexation.

Now, why do I go through these examples?  I am simply trying to point out that there are things we do in life that we do on purpose … then there are things that happen to us in life that we cannot stop.

I cannot control if a wildfire will burn my house down tonight.  I cannot control if hail will destroy my roof this spring.  I cannot control the day of my birth or the day of my death.  These things are above our pay grade!

Some things we seem to influence, while others are beyond our reach.  This is true for us as people because we are finite limited beings.

With this backdrop, I want us to turn to John 18:1-11 … the passage of Scripture we will be studying Sunday morning, March 16 at Wildwood Community Church in part 1 of the “Trial to Triumph” Easter series.  In this passage we see Jesus arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and taken to a set of trials that ultimately would culminate at the cross.  Far from presenting Jesus as Someone stumbling His way into a tricky spot or being overcome by a superior force or freak accident, Jesus is the Sovereign in John’s account, demonstrating clearly that Jesus’ life was not taken from Him, but that He freely laid it down.  Jesus made so many intentional decisions that led Him from Heaven to Bethlehem to Galilee to Gethsemane to Calvary, that we must conclude that Jesus knew what He was “buying” during His earthly life.  His cross ransom was no surprise purchase.  And since Jesus is God, we are reminded that no force existed that could overcome Him … not the Romans, not the Jewish High Priests, not the Temple guard, not a betraying friend.  For Jesus to go to the cross, He needed to ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN … to lay down His life for the sheep.

And why?  Out of His love for us, and fidelity to His Father’s will, Jesus laid down His life for both God’s greatest glory and our greatest good.

For the next 6 weeks at Wildwood we will be walking with Jesus to the cross to see the triumph Jesus delivered for you and me through the tomb.  See you Sunday in part 1 in our 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00 service … and bring friends!  This is a message we all need to hear.