Sermonstudio

Let me begin this chapter on Jesus, the Suffering Servant, with the story of a French Bishop. The Bishop was addressing a large crowd. He began by telling them about a group of teenage hoodlums who stood out in front of a great cathedral and taunted the church members who were standing in line to make their confession to a priest. "So, you believe in God, do you? There is no God. So, you believe that Jesus died for your sins, do you? Jesus was just a man like us," the boys said. "Do you believe that your sins were covered by Jesus' death on the cross? It is all a lie. You are blind fools."

One of the boys decided to challenge the ring leader. "I dare you to go into the church and tell the priest what we have been doing," he said.

"I like a dare. I will do it," said the ring leader.

The young man stood in line. When his turn came, he went into the confessional booth and said to the priest, "We have been standing outside telling your members that there is no God and that it is foolish to believe that Jesus died for the sins of the world. One of my buddies dared me to come in and tell you. I have told you. Good-bye."

The old priest replied, "So, you like a dare, do you? I have one for you. Go to the altar, look up at the crucifix and say, 'Jesus died for me and I don't give a damn.' "

"Is that all?"

"Yes," said the priest.

The boy ran down the center aisle of the old cathedral. When he got to the front of the church, he looked up at the life-size crucifix and shouted, "Jesus died for me and I don't give a damn."

He ran down the aisle, stopped at the confessional booth, and said, "I've done it, old man. Now I'm going to go."

"Do it again," said the wise priest.

"I don't want to do it again," the boy protested.

"Not afraid, are you?"

"Of course not."

The boy walked down the aisle of the church. He stopped at the front of the chancel, looked up into the face of Jesus, and said slowly and softly, "Jesus died for me and I don't give a damn."

When he got back to the priest, he said, "I've done it. I'm leaving."

"One more time and you may leave," said the man of God.

Slowly, the boy walked down the aisle of the old cathedral. He stopped at the foot of the altar, hung his head, and said slowly, the words choking in his throat, "Jesus died for me...."

The Bishop who told this story ended it by saying, "I am that boy."

The Suffering Servant has the power to convert a person from self-centeredness to being centered in God. The Suffering Servant turns people back to God today, just as he did when he was living in the holy land.

In this chapter, we will look at the Suffering Servant in the profound prediction of the coming Messiah in Isaiah 53. In addition, we will look at the foolish and weak response of Governor Pontius Pilate as recorded in the Gospels.

The Profound Prediction

Isaiah 53:1-12 describes the suffering of the coming Messiah in stark, shocking ways.

Despised and Rejected
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
-- Isaiah 53:1-3a


The Messiah was pictured by many as a conquering hero, the one who would throw off the yoke of the Roman Empire, the new King David who would again establish the kingdom of Israel. Instead, as predicted, the Messiah came as a man of sorrows, familiar with the heart of darkness because he entered it and established his kingdom in the hearts of receptive people.

We Esteemed Him Not
Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
-- Isaiah 53:3b-6


Jesus was utterly alone in his suffering. People who lived in Jesus' time did not understand what his suffering meant. Many do not understand it today. Many esteem him not.

He carried our sorrows and burdens and we pay little or no attention to what he was doing. God struck him down for our sakes and we ignore what he was going through, each of us turning to our own ways and priorities as if this terrible thing had never happened or did not concern us. Like sheep who go astray, not remembering the directions of our shepherd, we wander off and pay no attention to how it hurts our God that we leave him. All human self-centeredness and iniquity were laid on one man's back at one point in time. The Savior suffered by carrying all of our sins to the cross with him.

Sometimes, as in the case of the French Bishop, a life gets completely turned around by the Suffering Savior. A person can be converted and see things as they really are. A person can go through a complete change of life. When you see the Suffering Servant and what he has done for you, you want to give your life back to him.

A young man I shall call Dennis Miller was a rather dull student in a confirmation class I taught many years ago. Dennis was occupied with sports and friends but had little interest in Christianity. Like many confirmation students, he was in class because his parents said he should be there.

I was trying to explain to the class what it means that Jesus died for us on the cross. How do you explain that kind of suffering to a group of thirteen-year-olds? I used an illustration of a man who had committed a crime being caught and tied to a post where capital punishment would be administered. The officer who captured him drew the arrow of justice back and let it fly. The crowd cheered. The criminal was getting what he deserved. Justice was being administered. But before the arrow of justice hit the criminal, the officer who shot it ran in front of it and received the punishment that was aimed at the criminal.

"Something like that is what Jesus did for us," I told the students. "He died in our place." Dennis Miller never said a word. At the time, he did not tell me that anything had happened to him. He did not say that the crude illustration had gotten through to him or that it had moved him. Shortly after Dennis' class was confirmed, I was called to be pastor of another church. I lost touch with Dennis.

Thirty years later I received a letter from Dennis. He said that he had just read one of my books and thought that I should know that it was my story of the arrow of justice and the Suffering Servant Jesus Christ that had changed him and given him a purpose in life. He signed the letter, the Reverend Dennis Miller.

It was not my story that changed Dennis. It was the suffering of the Savior that had converted him to a new way of thinking about his life. The Suffering Servant changed Dennis when for the first time he esteemed Jesus for what he had done.

He Was Oppressed And Slaughtered Like A Lamb
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
-- Isaiah 53:7-9


Jesus was the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. He was stripped and killed like a sheep at the slaughter. He accepted his assignment. As his adversaries asked him questions he answered with silence. "What do you have to say for yourself?" his accusers asked time and again. He did not defend himself. He did not explain himself. He did not ask for someone to speak up for him. He suffered in a dramatic silence that shouted to the world to look at what was happening. He was crucified between two thieves and put in the borrowed grave of Joseph of Arimathea.

The man who had violated no one was violated by everyone. No one did anything to save him. Most of his best friends ran away with fright when he was arrested.

He Was Crushed For A Purpose
Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his day, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life, and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
-- Isaiah 53:10-12


From the cross Jesus cried out, "Father forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." What were they doing? They were killing the Son of God who was dying to accomplish what no mere man could do -- to take away the sins of the world. Jesus was crushed by the sins and burdens of all people everywhere. The purpose of this unimaginable suffering was that we might be reconciled to God through Jesus' death on the cross. He died for everyone, but not everyone receives the benefits of what he has accomplished.

From the cross Jesus cried out, "It is accomplished." The purpose for which he had come had been followed, even unto death. His purpose was to save us. It is as if from the cross Jesus says, "I'd rather die than let you go." But in order to receive the benefits of what he has accomplished, we have to appropriate those benefits by faith.

Imagine that I am putting a $1,000,000 check in your hand. It is a gift. It is yours. You can light up a cigar with it, place it in a drawer and forget it, frame it and put it on the wall, or you can turn it over, sign it, and cash it. The trouble with many is that they never receive the benefits of what Jesus has done for them because they do not endorse the gift by faith. Jesus has made intercession for all transgressors, but some transgressors ignore what has been accomplished on their behalf.

How deeply does this refusal to endorse the gift hurt the Suffering Savior? Luke 19 tells us that on Palm Sunday, as Jesus approached his crucifixion in Jerusalem, he wept over the city and the people in it because they did not know the day of their visitation. That is how much he cares.

The compassionate Jesus cried out, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing" (Matthew 23:37-38). The profound prediction of Isaiah 53 was being fulfilled and no one noticed. To add insult to injury, the Jewish leaders manipulated Pontius Pilate to do their bidding and have Jesus crucified.

The Foolish, Weak Response Of The Vacillating Governor

Millions upon millions of times every Sunday, Christians of every land confess the Apostles' Creed and say, "Suffered under Pontius Pilate." No other evil ruler has his name mentioned more often. Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini did dastardly deeds, but only Pilate condemned the Son of God.

The response of Pilate to the wild crowd that demanded Jesus' death was, "I find no basis for a charge against him" (John 18:38). The weakness and foolishness of the man was that he did not have the courage of his convictions. Pilate knew that the trumped-up charges of the Sanhedrin and the crowd were false. He knew that Jesus did not deserve death, but he had him crucified.

Let's go back to the beginning of the trial of Jesus to get the full picture of the vacillating governor. The Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court, met in the middle of the night to hold trial for Jesus. They found him guilty of charges that he claimed to be the Son of God. According to their laws, they condemned him to death, but there was a problem. The Roman conquerors had taken away their right to execute anyone, so they had to take Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. This took place early in the morning of the day we have since come to call Good Friday. The charge that the evil leaders cooked up was that Jesus claimed to be king of the Jews.

"Are you king of the Jews?" Pilate asked Jesus. Silence. "Don't you hear the testimony against you?" Jesus made no reply. Pilate was amazed at the fact that Jesus made no denial, no pleas for his life, no defense against the charges.

Pilate went out of the palace and talked to the Jewish accusers. "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law," he said (John 18:31a).

"We have no right to execute anyone," the leaders objected (John 18:31b). Pilate knew that these leaders were bound and determined to see to it that Jesus was killed. We pick up the story in John 19:7-12.

The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. "Where did you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"

Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be king opposes Caesar."


We see Pilate's problem as we consider the biblical account. He is caught between what he knows is right and what the mob demands. He has convictions, but he lacks courage to execute those convictions. He tries to wiggle his way out of the situation, but eventually he must make a decision about Jesus.

The governor went back into the palace and asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"

"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it that you have done?"

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But my kingdom is from another place."

"You are a king then!" said Pilate.

Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

"What is truth?" Pilate replied. Then he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him" (John 18:33-38).

The crowd continued to insist that Jesus be put to death. When Pilate found out that Jesus was from Galilee, he sent him to Herod, the Jewish ruler of that area who happened to be in Jerusalem (Luke 23:7). Herod asked Jesus many questions, but getting no answers, put a purple robe on him to mock his claim of royalty, and sent him back to Pilate.

Pilate examined Jesus further. Then he went before the crowd and said, "I have examined him in your presence and found no basis for the charges against him ... Therefore I will punish him and release him" (Luke 23:14-16). The crowd continued to insist on severe punishment for Jesus.

Pilate then hit on an idea that he felt would allow him to set Jesus free, but still save face with the Jewish leaders. It was the feast of Passover. During this feast, it was the custom of the Romans to set a prisoner free. "Which of these criminals do you want," he asked the crowd, "Jesus or Barabbas?" Barabbas was an insurrectionist and a murderer.

"Barabbas," the stirred-up crowd shouted.

"What shall I do with Jesus?" Pilate pleaded.

"Crucify him! Crucify him!" the frenzied crowd shouted.

To further complicate the tense situation, Pilate received a note from Procula, his wife. The note read, "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him" (Matthew 27:19).

Pitiful Pontius Pilate was caught between his own judgment of Jesus' innocence, now confirmed by his wife's dream, and the demands of his subjects. Political expediency won out. Pilate caved into the demands of the mob. Pilate's secret question was not, "What is right?" It was not, "What is my duty?" It was, "What is in my best interest?" That secret question tells us a lot about the cowardice of the man.

Pilate set Barabbas free. Then he once again faced the crowd. He asked for a bowl of water and a towel. Dipping his hands into the water, he said, "I am innocent of this man's blood. It is your responsibility!"

"All the people answered, 'Let his blood be on us and on our children!' " (Matthew 27:25).

Pilate had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified with directions to his soldiers to place a sign on the cross saying, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." When the Jewish leaders objected, "It should read, 'He said that he was King of the Jews,' " the stubborn but vacillating ruler responded, "What I have written, I have written" (John 19:19-22).

Pilate knew that there was a conspiracy to kill Jesus. He knew that there was intrigue and plotting going on behind the scenes. He knew that Jesus was innocent. He was filled with anxiety about his authority and position. He followed what he believed would serve his self-interest.

One tradition says that Pilate was later fired as governor because he was incompetent. He took early retirement and moved to Switzerland where one day he wandered off into the mountains and committed suicide. Mount Pilatus is named after him.

In the Apostles' Creed Christians confess that "Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate." It will be so until the end of time. The ruler who lacked the courage of his convictions and caved into the crowd in Jerusalem is convicted for his evil deeds by millions of believers each Sunday.


Questions For Personal Consideration And/Or Group Discussion

1. What happened to the boy who later became a bishop when he went to the foot of the cross?

2. Read Isaiah 53:1-12 out loud. If you are in a group, discuss this passage.

3. How would you describe the personality of Pontius Pilate?

4. It is easy to fall into the trap of just reciting, instead of confessing, the Apostles' Creed each Sunday. What can be done to make the words more meaningful so that we are more thoughtful in the way we say them?


Digging Deeper

Biblical And Historical Background

1. Jesus' suffering and death took place in history when Pilate was governor of Judea. Pontius Pilate was the fifth procurator in Judea after the deposition of Archelaus in A.D. 6. Through the influence of Sejanus, he was appointed procurator by emperor Tiberius about A.D. 26 in succession to Valerius Gratus. He arrived in Judea that same year. He was accompanied by his wife.

2. In A.D. 37, many complaints were filed against Pontius Pilate with Vitellius, the legate of Syria. Vitellius appointed a new procurator and ordered Pilate to proceed to Rome to answer to the emperor for his conduct. Before he arrived, Tiberius (who had appointed him) died. Pilate was banished to Vienne, on the Rhone, in the south of France. Various ideas of what happened to him after that exist, including that he moved to Switzerland and committed suicide. Another tradition among Coptic Christians is that the wife of Pontius Pilate converted him to the faith. Coptic Christians call Pilate a saint.

3. There were some stories then current about gods who died and were resurrected, but they were offered quite frankly as myths, as non-historical stories symbolic of renewal of the vegetation every spring after seeming death in the winter. That Jesus died at a particular time in history, under the jurisdiction of Pontius Pilate, contrasts significantly with these stories.


For Further Insight

1. Jesus' suffering means that there is always someone who understands our suffering and stands with us in it. If you are in a group, discuss the positive aspects of his presence in our suffering.

2. At a funeral people sometimes say to the survivors, "I know exactly how you feel." What is wrong with saying this? Consider what a wise Christian said to a widow at a funeral, "Frankly, I do not know how you feel, but I know someone who knows how you feel."


For Further Application


Try these two spiritual exercises. If you are in a group, discuss them.

1. Stand and hold your hands out as if you are being crucified. Keep your feet together as if they are nailed to a cross. Hold this position for six minutes. Then meditate on the fact that Jesus died on the cross for you. It took six hours.

2. Have a friend hold onto your shoulders and gently pull you backwards while you resist. Can you go forward? Now think about Jesus carrying the weight of all of our sins and burdens on his back at one point in time.