Mark 15:1-15

We know what to do with a mighty Jesus. We know what to do with His glory. We know to bow down in worship. We know to respond with obedience. We know enough to at least WANT to obey His commands, if not out of love, then at least out of fear. We know what to do with the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. We humble ourselves and serve the mighty Jesus.

But what in the world do we do when Jesus is humble? What do we do with a Jesus who serves? How do we respond when Jesus bows down before us and offers Himself as our servant? We’re not comfortable with this picture. We want Jesus on the throne where He belongs, not kneeling before us, not washing our feet. For this season of lent, we have squirmed as we’ve seen Jesus kneeling and washing our feet, serving us in His humility, serving us with His life. We haven’t always liked this understanding of Jesus. And then, when He tells us to join Him down there, to wash one another’s feet, well, we’re not sure which makes us more uncomfortable, Jesus serving us, or us serving others, especially in certain situations. We don’t know what to do with Jesus as our servant.

And neither did the religious people 2000 years ago. And neither did the government. And neither did, to a certain extent, the disciples know what to do with Jesus the sacrifice. A powerfully Jesus, a conquering Jesus, even a demanding Jesus they could handle. They would either fight Him or join Him. But a silent Jesus, a meek Jesus, a servant Jesus utterly confounded them.

And the religious rulers had had enough. For three years now they had tried to get their minds around this Jesus. They had been watching and waiting for the Messiah. Every week in church they talked about God and doing God’s will and obeying and being holy. For a thousand years they had been expecting the Messiah to show up. And now here comes Jesus. And He says He’s the Messiah, but He’s not fixing anything. He says He’s God, but He sure looks human. He says that He is the fulfillment of the law, but He eats and heals on Sunday.

And finally, He had pushed their buttons and caused enough frustration that they created a plan to take Him out. They arrested Him in the garden and put Him on trial. But even then, they didn’t know what to do with Him. They haggled and argued over the best way to get rid of Him, and finally they decided. They had finally figured out what to do with Jesus. Verse 1:

Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision.

They decided to condemn Him. They decided to reject Him. Jesus the servant was not the Jesus they were hoping for, so they threw Him away

They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

The religious people rejected the servant Jesus.

And now it was the governments turn. The government was all about law and order, or at least they talked about laws. They understood authority, majesty. They knew a king when they saw one, or at least they should have.

But when they saw the King of kings, appearing before them as a servant, they were confused. And Pilate asks the question, in verse 2:

“Are you the king of the Jews?”

They had heard the rumors. Jesus had had some influence on the people. He had attracted some political zealots. But He wasn’t acting like a king. He said that the Kingdom of God had arrived with Him, but He talked about forgiving enemies. He spoke with His own authority, He commanded demons to come out of people, and then He turned around and told His disciples to pay their taxes, to give to Caesar what was Caesars. And the way He walked around, dusty feet, followed by this motley crew of fisherman, tax collectors, and other odds and ends. It just didn’t add up. So Pilate asks the question directly:

“Are you the king of the Jews?”

And just as directly, Jesus answers:

“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

Okay, so there it is. The truth. Jesus says He is the king. But again, He doesn’t look like a king. He doesn’t act like a king, at least not what they thing He should look like. So, verse 3:

The chief priests accused him of many things.

And Pilate continues the questioning. He had his answer, but Pilate’s not accepting the answer. So rather than Pilate believing and accepting Jesus’ reign as king, Pilate goes back to the questions. Verse 4:

So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

And this time Jesus doesn’t reply. He has given enough evidence for who He is. He has answered the question directly, and they haven’t believed Him. Whatever He says now will not convince them, so He stands there regally, poised, silent.

So Pilate turns to the people. And now it’s their turn to decide what to do with this confusing king. The people had certainly heard about Jesus, and many of them had witnessed His power. Many had seen Him heal. Many had heard His the authority in His words. They had received the benefit of His miraculous power. They had heard the hope of His powerful words.

But the religious authorities had gotten to the people. And in spite of their love and amazement for Jesus, they turned away. Whether out of fear of their religious leaders, or because they were just weak-minded, they turned on Jesus.

Pilate asks them, point-blank, what are going to do with Jesus. Verse 12:

“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?”

It’s the question that the religious authorities had answered with condemnation. It’s the question the government answered with execution. And the people, they answer with murder. Verse 13:

“Crucify him!” they shouted.

What do we do with the one called the king of the Jews? What do we do with Jesus? We know what to do with His power, His authority, His majesty, His beauty. We know what to do with His commands. But what do we do with His humility, His servant hood? What do we do with His death?

There are times when we ignore Him. We move past. We get a little bored with all this talk about Jesus dying on the cross and everything, and we move on to more important matters. At other times, we underestimate the cross. Sure, we know that Jesus died for us and everything, but we still feel the need to carry our guilt. It just doesn’t seem right to be guilt-free, especially considering the things we’ve done. And sometimes, sometimes we don’t really know what Jesus is offering as He serves us with His death. We don’t like the idea of Jesus serving us, but that’s just because we don’t know how desperate we need His service.

We need His service, we need His death, we need Him to put to death the broken, sinful, filthy, painful parts of us. The broken, sinful, filthy, painful parts that just won’t seem to die. It doesn’t matter how bad you want them gone, it doesn’t matter how much you try, it doesn’t matter how painful they feel to you, you just can’t get rid of them. The thoughts that go through our brains. The words that come out of our mouths. The things we do to each other. The things we do to ourselves. No, don’t be thinking about what other people do. This is about you and me right now. This is personal. It doesn’t matter how old we are. It doesn’t matter how young we are. We’re in trouble. We have sin.

And the only cure, the only solution, the only way the words and thoughts and sinful deeds will ever step is when they are hammered right there with Jesus to the cross. Nothing else is ever going to work. Which brings us to the question that everyone is asked, What will you do with Jesus? You’ve heard about Him. What will you do? You’ve heard Him speak. You’ve seen Him heal. You know about the King. What are you going to do with Him.

Don’t ignore Him. Don’t grow bored with Him. Don’t underestimate Him. Instead, first, believe in Him. The Heidelberg Catechism explains what that means. Believing means two things:

It’s a knowledge and conviction that everything God reveals in his Word is true. And it’s a deep-rooted assurance, created in you by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, so that, out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ, not only others, but you too, have had your sins forgiven, you’ve been made forever right with God, you’ve been granted salvation.

So, first, believe the fact, be assured of the fact, be deeply convinced that you have been made right with God, forever, and that can’t change, because Jesus served you with His death.

And then, when we’re assured of what Jesus did by dying on the cross, then we have to join Him up there. That’s what He meant when He said to take up our cross and follow Him. It meant we have to die along with Him. Those parts, those painful, sinful parts, have to be nailed to the cross so that they die and stay dead. Tell Jesus to nail that temper to the cross, so that it dies. Tell Jesus to take that pride and spear it to death, through His death. Tell Jesus to take those thoughts, every single, nasty thought, and kill them, as He was killed.

And finally, finally, the sin will begin to die. Jesus’ death will bring your death, the death of your and my sin. And then you know what happens, right? You know what happens after you die with Jesus. After you die, then you rise again. You and I, we rise together with Jesus to a new, holy, pure, joy-filled life. Our temper is dead, our kindness comes to life. Our pride is crushed, our humility is blooms. The thoughts drop as soon as they’re thought, and in their place comes thoughts of whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, whatever is excellent or praiseworthy.

When we face temptation, when we face regrets, when our sin stares us in the face, we believe and our assured of God’s forgiveness, and we ask Jesus to kill the temptation and regrets with His death. Then, only in this way, do we come to life.

This evening, we join together with Jesus in His death, as we eat His body and drink His blood. Allow His death to bring purity, healing, holiness, and life. Ask Him to kill your sin. Allow Jesus to serve you, to serve you with His death.