Tried by Gentiles

Scripture Reading

We turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Mark, chapter 15, Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15, and this morning we'll be looking at verses 1 through 15. Mark chapter 15, if you're using the Pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 900. Mark chapter 15, before we start, I'm just going to say, last Sunday I lost my voice and I've been struggling to get it back all week, so if there's more pauses and water breaks, or just sounding like I'm a teenager again, be patient with me. So, Mark chapter 15, beginning at verse 1.

Immediately in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole church, and they bound Jesus, led him away, and delivered him to Pilate. Then Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? He answered and said to them, It is as you say. And the chief priests accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. Then Pilate asked him again, saying, Do you answer nothing? See how many things they testify against you. But Jesus still answered nothing. So that Pilate marveled.

Now at the feast, he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. But there was one named Barsabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels, They had committed murder in the rebellion. Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them.

But Pilate answered them, saying, Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. Pilate answered and said to them again, What then do you want me to do with him whom you call king of the Jews?

So they cried out again, Crucify him! And Pilate said to them, Why? What evil has he done? But they cried out all the more, Crucify him! The pilot, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them. And he delivered Jesus after he had scourged him to be crucified.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have preserved for us a historical truth. That you have given us insight into what was going on in this time and in this historical story. Father, we pray now that your Holy Spirit would please help us, 2,000 years removed, to understand what's going on in this story, but that also you would take the truths of this story and the implications of this story and that you would apply it to our hearts. Please, Lord, give us eyes to see, minds to understand, hearts to believe, and spirits to live it out.

Sermon

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Sometimes life throws out us politics and events that we just don't understand. I mean, there's time and time again in the stories when we read through the stories of the Bible that we're like, you know, this must have been how Joseph felt.

As he was sold into slavery by his brothers, as he's thrown into the prison by Potiphar, I don't think that as he was sitting there he thought, I know exactly what's going to happen. I know that God's going to use me to redeem all the people of Israel. I think he's probably scratching his head. I think this is what Esther was doing too, right? As she's brought into the king's harem and as the decree goes out from wicked Haman that all the Jews are supposed to be killed, I don't think she's sitting there going, oh man, I don't have any stress about this. I know exactly why all these politics are in play. I know what's going on here.

No, I think the Bible gives us realistic events in people's lives to show us that we don't know the end of the story, but God does. How many times in your life have you gone through something that's tremendously difficult for you, and you didn't understand when you were going through that hardship or that trial in your life, and you might have even cried out, God, why is this happening to me? And you don't get an answer. But then years and years later, you look back on that event and you realize, the Lord had a plan for why that happened in my life. The Lord had a purpose for why these things were occurring to me.

We don't always know the end of that story, but what we find out here in Mark chapter 15 is this was no accidental story happening to Jesus. God had a plan, and Jesus knew what he was doing. So there's a proposition I have for you from this historical narrative, and that is the king of kings is the silent lamb who was unjustly condemned to death. But when you walk out of here today, and you go home, and the sermon's long gone, and it's Wednesday, what I hope you'll take home and remember is that God's plan was for Jesus, your King, to die for you. God's plan was for Jesus, your King, to die for you.

And so as we get into this passage and we look at chapter 15, we're going to just be hit right dead in the face with politics and power. There's nothing new under the sun. So we come into a situation that's really foreign to us in some ways because we're dealing with people we don't really know in an empire that apparently men think of a whole bunch, but we don't know much about the Roman system and what's going on here. So who is this pilot guy and what's going on?

Herod the Great had been king of the Jews, right? This is why he wanted to kill all the little boys, right? Because he didn't want anybody to take that title from him. But that title, king of the Jews, was given to Herod by the Caesar himself in Rome. But when Herod died, Caesar said, I'm not giving his boys that title.

That's why you have all sorts of different mini-Herods throughout the New Testament. You have to go, OK, is this Herod Antipas, or is this Herod the Agrippa? What Herod is this? We don't know, right? Because there's all sorts of Herods, because the guy was really humbled and named all of his kids Herod. And so you got all these different Herods.

And they're kind of kings, but they're more like, you can rule over Galilee. but you're not allowed to rule over Jerusalem. You're allowed to rule over Perea on the other side of the Jordan River, but you're not allowed to rule over Judea, you know, the heart of Israel.

Because Rome, after Herod, decided that they were going to put in their guy, their prefect. They were going to put in their governor, who is going to rule the capital city. They were going to make sure that Rome was represented and Roman law was going down in the city. And so we know from historical records from Josephus that around year 26 AD, Pilate is put in power. Pilate is put in power.

He doesn't actually live in Jerusalem. His main residence is further north up in Caesarea. But every time that there's a big feast in Jerusalem, people would start making their annual pilgrimage. And they would come from thousands of miles away. The people from where is now today Turkey would come all the way down to Jerusalem. The people living in North Africa who were Jewish, maybe down in Alexandria in Egypt, they would travel all the way to Jerusalem. The city would swell in size. And whenever there's a mass gathering of people for a government, that means there's possible danger. And so guess who shows up in Jerusalem every feast time? Pilate shows up in Jerusalem just to make sure that everything is going to stay on an even keel.

These Jewish people who are so prone to rebellion and sedition aren't going to start acting up. So he shows up with his five to six hundred, seven hundred guards. And he's there, and there's a Jewish guy down in Alexandria in Egypt, his name is Philo, and he describes Pilate this way, he says, how would you like these adjectives for you? He's inflexible, stubborn, and cruel. Pilate is so bad to the Jewish people, so poorly treating them, that in AD 37, when he actually gets removed from his post, Caesar himself pulls him out of being governor and exiles him from the empire for how poorly he treated the Jewish people. That's the type of governor who's in Jerusalem at this time.

So we come into our story with that new character walking in. We've examined the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders before. And Mark just gives us a summary of this, right? If you want a longer version of this trial, you can go especially read the book of John and Luke.

But they deliver Jesus in verse 1. Immediately in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and the scribes and the whole council, and they bound Jesus, led him away, and delivered him to Pilate. I'm going to lean in real quick and just give you a Greek word that becomes very important as we go on. That word at the very end of the verse there, and delivered him to Pilate. This is the Greek word, paradidomi. to deliver or betray.

This is the same word that was used for Judas in the previous chapter, when he delivered Jesus over to the high priests, when he betrayed Jesus. And notice what Pilate immediately asked Jesus in verse 2. Then Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? Now, how did Pilate know that this was the charge against him?

Well, Luke is actually helpful here. Luke tells us in his expanded version of this, in Luke 23, verse 2. And they began to accuse him, saying, 1. We found this fellow perverting the nation.

2. He's forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar. And 3. Saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Right? So these are the charges they bring about Jesus to Pilate. These are political charges. This is not just stuff dealing with the Jewish people. This is dealing with Roman law. And so they got to bring Roman charges. And Pilate just asks him, are you the king of the Jews? And interestingly, if you notice in the New King James, there's kind of italics here. It is as you say, the it is as isn't in the Greek. He just says, you said it. It's from the horse's mouth. You're the one who said it. You know the truth here. You are saying the truth.

And Pilate's frustrated. The chief priests keep piling on accusations, they're throwing spaghetti at the wall, trying to see what's going to stick. And Pilate's just amazed at him. Verse 4, then, Pilate asked him, saying, Do you answer nothing? They're hurling all these accusations at you and you're not saying anything. It's different than in our day when you can plead the fifth and you're going to not self-incriminate. If you're not answering your objectors in Roman law, you're saying what they're saying is true. And so Pilate gets kind of frustrated with Jesus. And notice verse five, but Jesus still answered nothing. We don't like double negatives in English. I love double negatives in every other language, right? In English, double negatives means it's a positive. It's like weird algebra in English.

I don't understand it, right? But in the Greek, it's, he didn't answer him nothing. He just kept his mouth shut entirely and Pilate's jaw is on the ground. What in the world? Why won't he say anything to me? And then he's got this weird custom. I did a whole bunch of research to try to figure out and there's nothing I can find and nothing that I can read elsewhere that this is practiced anywhere else in Roman society where they would just annually pardon one person. It's almost like a blank check. Whoever you want, that person is going to get off scot-free.

And so this is where Pilate starts doing a little bit of political maneuvering, right? He's going to put Barabbas here and Jesus here, and he's going to make the Jewish people decide who they want. Who is this Barabbas guy? Well, Mark is actually the most helpful here of all the Gospels, and he tells us Barabbas is an insurrectionist.

He's been part of a rebellion. He's probably one of the zealots, and they've even murdered people. So do you want the insurrectionist, the murderer? Or do you want Jesus? He knows he's a shrewd politician. He can see through their jealousy and their envy, and he knows why they brought him there.

The priests won't move. Actually, the priests stir up the crowd more and more. You have to understand. The priests have a lot of power. If you go against the priest, you could be the high priest. You could be removed from your synagogue. You could be taken out of the community. You could be worse than excommunicated. You're totally shunned. People will treat you like a Gentile. They won't eat with you. They'll turn their backs on you. They want nothing to do with you. And so to go against the priest when he says, Jesus, we want Barabbas, kill Jesus, right?

If they go against him, there's a lot at stake here. There's manipulation and there's power and there's politics going on. And there's an increasing tone. The multitude began crying aloud and began to do justice he had always done for them. Pilate answered them, right? Which one of these two do you want? He knows it's just out of their envy in verse 11, but the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that they shouted, rather, release Barabbas to them. But in verse 13, they cried out again, crucified him.

This is an intensive. They cried out. You can imagine their brows furrowing. Their voices getting louder, spittle coming out of their mouth as they're screaming at the top of their lungs that they want Jesus dead. John tells us that they even tried to back Pilate into a corner. Pilate tried to seek to release Jesus.

That's what John 19.12 says. From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews kept crying out, saying, if you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Imagine how that would have sounded in a Roman governor's ears.

And then they say in John 19.15, when he asked, shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar. Whoa. the Jewish high priest's mouth. Who's supposed to be the only king of the Jews? It's God himself.

And here, for the sake of what they want to get done, they put Pilate in a corner, because if he does go against what they're demanding, what does it mean for Pilate's political career? His loyalty to the Caesar is questioned. His efficacy or his ability to manage the Jewish people is moot and gone. And he's going to either be killed or he's going to be exiled. Pilate wants to stay in power. The priests want to stay in power. And each of them are playing political games and they're playing political games with Jesus's life.

We know what it's like today, don't we? This idea of politics and power isn't foreign to you. I was just talking to a lady a couple weeks ago. She wanted to talk to me about the Tucker Carlson interview with Vladimir Putin. And she's like, I don't know what to believe. You got this guy over here who's a KJB former thug, who's a former communist, supposedly, and he wants to say what's going on in the truth. And then I don't believe the Western media because half of what they say, I don't know what the truth is. I don't know what the truth is. And why don't we know what the truth is?

Because people want their power. And they're willing to twist stories and manipulate and do whatever they want to try to get you to believe their narrative. That's what's going on in this scene with Jesus. Neither of them are actually about the truth. Neither Pilate nor the high priest are trying to do what's right and what's good and what's just. But they're just trying to stay in power. People's lives are on the line, though, when we think about power plays. There are political hit pieces in the news, and there are political hit jobs on the battlefield.

I'll never forget one of the biggest distrusts of mine that has ever happened was watching one of my former captains on the ship having his career literally ruined. Because 10 years after an incident, the political agenda police moved the goalposts, drug up evidence from 10 years previous, things that were totally okay for him to say during that time, and 10 years later, They blasted him on the newspapers, demoted him, and put him in an office job where he would never see a ship again, would never command anybody again. Because he had said things that were politically inappropriate according to a decades later. Ruined his career, ruined his reputation. Said that he had diminished the sailors' ability to follow their leader.

And then there rises up a Facebook page with like 10,000 of the former sailors saying, what you guys have done is stupid. This is unjust. All of us trusted this guy. He was the best captain we ever had. And this was a political hit job, and you know it.

So we shouldn't be surprised when power plays happen in Washington. We should be saddened, but we shouldn't be shocked when the city council has people trying to get over on one another. We shouldn't be caught off guard when politicians in Des Moines spin things towards their own political goals. You shouldn't be surprised, sadly, when you see these types of things even happen in the church.

Because people are sinful. People fall in love with their power. People love playing politics. And that's what we're finding here in Mark 15. But we also find a truth. Something we hold near and dear, justice. And justice is twisted here. Make no doubt about it. What's going on in this story is evil. We should not whitewash it. This is injustice being played out.

Some people actually have been so shocked by the injustice of this that there are certain skeptics who will look at the Gospels and say, this can't actually be true because this isn't what Roman law prescribed. Well, I hate to tell you, it is true, and Roman law was broken.

What we find here in Mark 15 completely lines up with what we learn about Caiaphas by Josephus. What we learn in the ancient writings by Philo and Josephus, this is exactly how Pilate would operate. And so we're not actually surprised by it. But the case was prejudged.

In John 11, verses 49-50, were told, and then one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, you know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish. Caiaphas had made up his mind months ahead of time.

Jesus needed to die. If Jesus didn't die, the whole nation could end up suffering under Romans. The chief priest was motivated by envy and by his power. And Jesus is sentenced to death without a firm charge. Mark 15, verse 14, what does Pilate say? When they're demanding that Jesus be crucified, he says, why? What evil has he done? You've thrown all sorts of accusations against Jesus, but what evil have you done? And what is their answer? Do they kind of calm down, take a drink of water, put their heads together, come up with a formal?

No, they just start screaming even more, crucify him! The only thing that's going to satisfy the demands of the mob is for Pilate to capitulate. Verse 15, So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and he delivered Jesus after he had scourged him to be crucified. Now we find out that, again, as we read the different Gospels, that this happened in multiple stages. Mark has shrunk it down for us.

But even this scourging was an attempt by Pilate to possibly get Jesus out of being killed. D.A. Carson writing on this, he says, Since flogging did not necessarily precede crucifixion, Pilate was still hoping he could dissuade the crowd from their demands for Jesus' crucifixion. John 19 verses 1 through 7. where after the flogging Pilate tried to persuade them against crucifixion by administering a severe flogging instead. He didn't want to crucify him. Pilate didn't want to crucify him. He was trying to find a way out. And so what did he do? He handed him over to the Roman soldiers.

And this idea of flogging him instead, just to make sure you understand, most people didn't actually live from flogging. In the Jewish custom, you could only be flogged or whipped 39 times because after 40, the likelihood of you dying was really high. Flogging under the Romans was just another form of torture where they would take a leather whip and at the end of the whip, they would embed either lead balls or spikes or sharp bones from animals. I'm going to read to you, and this is gruesome, and I understand, but I think we need to get this picture in our head. This is from a medical doctor's description of what was going on in this flogging. The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again against Jesus' shoulders, legs, and back. At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then as the blows would have continued, they cut deeper into the deeper tissues of the flesh, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles.

Final Point

Finally, the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons, and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue."

That's what Pilate had done to Jesus, and he said, what do you want me to do with him? He was hoping that that would satisfy them as they saw Jesus ripped apart. But it didn't. It's a miscarriage of justice. We know miscarriages of justice. We ought to be able to call them out when we see them.

I was just reading a little bit ago about a man who had been put in prison for 38 years because he was accused of murdering someone. And for 38 years, he sat in prison praying that someday he would somehow be exonerated because he knew he had not committed this crime. And 38 years later, DNA evidence is finally examined and it shows that he's not the person who had murdered this woman. Instead, that person had died in prison for another murder 10 years beforehand.

And we rejoice when those types of news come out because a righteous man has gone out of jail who should have never been put there. But then we also know injustice when we see it. But I'm just going to read to you about this other dude that I just can't believe about. We can. A man who is named Albert Flick.

In 1979, when his wife Sandra divorced him, he killed her. He spent 21 years in prison. And after that, they let him out for good behavior, even though he had murdered his ex-wife. Then seven years after his release, he goes and he starts stabbing his girlfriend. He's put back in prison. But then three years later, he's let out. And guess what he does? Goes and attacks another woman. He's released again in 2016 and then in July of 2018, I'm guessing you can guess where this story goes. He murders another person and he's put in prison at the age of 75 for 25 years.

And we're able to look at that and go, what in the world is wrong with our judicial system? We ought to be able to look at what's going on in Mark chapter 15 and say, what in the world is going wrong with Pilate's judicial system? Everything about this is wrong. This should not be happening.

We are to be those who, when the evidence is clear, we're able to point out injustice and say, that is wrong, no matter how unpopular it may be. You have been made in the image of God, and there is both in you your conscience and natural theology. When we just look around the world, we're able to see, no, there is right and there is wrong, there is injustice and there is justice, and we as Christians ought to be those about justice. We live in a day of relativism, where we're told not to judge, and yet we look around and the goalpost for what is right and what is wrong is constantly being moved underneath our feet. Cancel culture tells us now what's right and wrong in the political moment, but we must be able to stand there and say, no, this is what God has said is evil.

And we're able to look at Mark chapter 15, and we're able to say what happened by both the Jewish and the Roman leaders is wrong and evil. What happens to Jesus in this story is, humanly speaking, a miscarriage of justice. This is not justice. And if you were standing there as Jesus' mother, as one of His disciples, you might sit there and scratch your head. God, what are you doing? What is going on?

He was our Messiah. He healed the blind. He fed those who were hungry. There were lepers and He touched them and they were clean. How is this happening to the Messiah? Yet it is exactly at this point we have to come face to face with God's wisdom. Because there's far more going on here cosmically than Peter, than Pilate, or any of the leaders of Israel understand. God is at work here.

Remember I pointed out to you that weird Greek word parodidomy. That's what Judas was called. in Mark 14, 42. Jesus says, let us rise up, see my paradidamus, my betrayer is at hand. Judas had made plans with the high priest that he would deliver or betray paradidus, Jesus, with a kiss, Mark 14, 44. Now in verse one, the leaders of Israel deliver or betray paradidomi, Jesus, to Pilate. Pilate knew the reason they had delivered or betrayed paradidomi, Jesus, to him. And Pilate, trying to appease the crowds, released Barabbas and delivered or betrayed paradidomi, Jesus, to be flogged and crucified.

I gotta tell you, as I was working through this sermon, this is the point at which in my office I wept. Because in Isaiah 53 verse 6, what Elder Turner read for us today, all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And the Lord has, parodidomide, delivered him for our sins.

See, we didn't understand as we were working through Mark chapter 15. that what was going on here, even though it seemed like it was unjust, even though it seemed like everything was wrong, even though it seemed like it was the darkest day in human history, Jesus was holding all the power.

Jesus had all the plans, and Jesus had you in mind. Jesus was tried, but He knew that the crown was on the other side of the cross. Jesus endured the flogging, his flesh being torn apart by flagellation of the Roman whips, because he knew that he was a lamb who was to be slain. Jesus, the King of Kings, was allowing himself to suffer under Pontius Pilate, nothing more than a backwater governor. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was going to be slaughtered that we may have peace with God.

Jesus, the eternal High Priest, was being betrayed by the High Priest Caiaphas because he knew that there was an eternal priesthood waiting for him. God had raised up Caesar knowing he would appoint Pilate. God had, in the fullness of time, put Pilate in Jerusalem at this time for this trial. God had chosen in His wisdom to allow Caiaphas to chase down his own power in order that his priesthood might be eclipsed by the better priesthood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was in control here. Jesus, our King, willingly suffered for us, which is why He willingly kept His lips shut. Jesus In this story of Mark chapter 15 is defeating the powers and principalities of this world. Jesus would rise victorious over sin and death. And here we find Jesus who is our Lamb, who is willing to suffer for our sins.

The morning sacrifice was about to happen. The trumpets were about to blow. Jesus would soon walk up to that hill of the skull, and he would be crucified as our sacrifice. And he had to be found spotless for what wrong is there, what evil is there that you condemn him? But there isn't any. He just has to die.

So when you're wanting to find a kingdom on earth here and now, remember that the kingdom of God comes in his timing and in his way. We so often find ourselves like the Israelites in 1 Samuel 8. We want a king like all the other nations. We want a champion. We want somebody who's our strong man, who's going to fight for our causes now. If we're honest, it's often because we're impatient with the Lord's plans. We don't like the fact that he says his kingdom is going to grow by us suffering. We don't like the idea that there's always going to be a need to send out those to preach the good news to the ends of the earth, because it's easier to just elect somebody who's going to champion our causes.

And I got to tell you, brothers and sisters, politicians know this. And they will often use your religious sensibilities to manipulate and twist you. To take your eyes off of Jesus and to just put your trust in them. And somehow they'll make your life perfect. Promise you all sorts of laws and victories that they could never enact or win. Some politicians will try to get you to place your trust in them by saying they will be the champion of your religious causes and render justice the way you want it. But they will also be those same leaders who will demand of you a level of commitment and loyalty that belongs to only God himself. I'm not telling you don't be engaged in politics. I'm saying you must know who your king is. And do not place your hope or your trust in earthly princes or presidents or politicians.

Our hope is in God and His plan. Have faith in the Lamb. Trust in the plan. Have faith in the midst of pain. Have faith in the midst of the storms of your life. Trust ultimately in Him, because it's God who's bringing about His kingdom. Remember that God is in control in the darkest hours of your life. When you hear the bad news that cancer is there again, your king reigns. He has a plan for you. When you go in the fall and you have to put a ballot in for whoever you're gonna vote for, Remember that's the Lord who raises up and tears down rulers and principalities. When you watch the news and it seems like the world is just going crazy, remember that God is in control and does have a plan.

When there are troubles in your family, brothers and sisters fighting against one another, children dishonoring their parents, discord and division. Remember that God is in the game of redeeming even families. When you see your children behaving in ways that make you scratch your head or want to weep, remember that God is sovereign even in their lives. When you don't understand why in the world your parents are making you do things, kids, You might really scratch your heads, I don't know why mom and dad want me to do X, Y, or Z. Remember that God is the one who put them in their place.

When your car breaks down, again, maybe the Lord is teaching you something. When finances are tight, it seems like the bills just multiply. Don't give up hope. When you fail with sin and wonder why God won't finally allow you victory over this besetting sin in your life, remember that maybe He's doing it to make you cling to Him even more.

We believe that God is in control because this means, this is what it means to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. It is by faith that we believe and follow Jesus. We look to Jesus by faith. We trust the historical reality of this event. We trust God's plan. We believe that God is making no accident here in Mark 15. That the Lord was in control. And he was willing to offer his only begotten son for you. We rejoice and the King of Kings who was the lamb slain to take away the sins of the world, even though it happened by wicked and unjust means.

The religious leaders of Israel had no clue what God was doing through this event. They were just playing power games. Pilate didn't understand what was at stake when he tried Jesus. He was just playing politics. Justice was twisted. And yet Jesus, the King of Kings, endured it so he might be the lamb slain, so he might bear our iniquities. God had put this plan together in his infinite knowledge and brought all of this about for our salvation. Make no doubt about it, Jesus was the one in control here. And Jesus died so you might live.

Closing Prayer

So have faith, even in the dark hours. Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would please help us to be those filled by your Spirit, that we would believe. Lord, this has been a long sermon, maybe a confusing one. No doubt there were errors and stumbles in it. Father, I pray that where there is truth, it might grow like a seed planted in fertile ground, bearing much good fruit. And where there was error, Lord, I pray that it would be blown away like the chaff in the wind. Lord, we pray that you would teach us to rejoice in the good news of Jesus Christ dying for us, but also that we would have hope in the darkest hours of our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Jesus knew that dark hour.

Psalm 22 is the psalm that Jesus had on His mind when He was hanging on that cross. We know it because Psalm 22, verse 1, that we will sing right now, is what Jesus said from the cross. Psalm 22, selection A. Please stand together. We'll sing together Psalm 22.