Sermon Details
- Pastor Name: Jonathan Cornell
- Date & Time: March 30, 2014 | 10:00am
In these last few weeks, we’ve methodically walked through the final hours of Jesus’ life. And one of the questions laid before us is, what and where will we place our trust? Who is this man Jesus? Not only historically, but cosmically, eternally.
You know, we live in an era that, on the one hand, might be the most exciting and innovative in all of human history. In the last century, the rate of development in our world has left every previous era in its dust. In an article quoting former Microsoft CEO and founder Bill Gates, he says, “a full 40% of the world’s population is alive today because in 1909 a German chemist named Fritz Haber invented synthetic ammonia. The rate and instance of Polio is down 99% not because the disease is going away, but because Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin invented a vaccine and the world rolled out its distribution.” Communication that once took days and weeks now happens in milliseconds. Just think how something like the Revolutionary War would have happened differently if Paul Revere could have just sent a text message up to the folks at Lexington and Concord, “BTW guys, the Red Coats are coming…LOL.”
Now more than ever, if you are not riding the wave of innovation, you are left behind. This brings great new advancements, but the side-effect is literally killing those who are caught up in it. As a culture, we suffer from an identity crisis. Now more than ever, the pressure many of us face is to locate our identity in what we are able to do and produce for others. The jury in front of us is the jury of our peers.
Pilate was not that different from us. He had a tough job, he worked hard at it, and he wanted to succeed. For seven years, Pilate was the Roman administrator of Judea. Certainly, Pilate had higher ambitions than being stuck in the dusty crossroads of Judea, but he would never make it to a better job back in beautiful Rome unless he succeeded here. Pilate’s king was Emperor Tiberius. But as far as we know, Tiberius wasn’t even aware of Pilate since he was too far down the ranks of civil servants. So Pilate had to do well here in order to get noticed.
Download the entire transcript here: Luke 22-23 The Trial
