Jesus Before Pilate & Herod (2)

Well, we are seeking to investigate that old old story again talking about the story of our Savior and his love for us. And we are in that part of his life that demonstrates to the greatest degree possible his love for us. And that is the trials and crucifixion of our Lord. We, for those of you who are not typically with us on Wednesday night, if you're usually downstairs in a water or one of the target ministries and you're with us this evening, let me just kind of set the table for where we are. We are right in the middle of the trial of Jesus or the trials, depending on how you look at it. There are six trials of our Lord before he's crucified or six phases of the one trial, depending on how you look at it. Three of them are religious, and we've already looked at those. Three of them are civil. The religious trials are before the religious leaders of Israel and the civil trials are before the Roman governors and king. And so we've been looking at those over the past actually for several weeks now. I think this is maybe our fourth week on the trials of Christ. Let's take a look at the map again, just to remind you of where we are. Jesus is arrested. Garden of Gethsemane taken across the Kidren Valley into the city of Jerusalem over to the palace of the high priest where the first three of those trials and all likelihood took place first before the former high priest, Anus, then the current high priest, Caiaphas, and then finally the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin had kind of been involved through the whole process, but they waited till six o'clock on Friday morning to make an official declaration of guilt because that gave the trial some semblance of legitimacy and authority. So those three parts of the trial take place there. Then last week we saw that Jesus was transferred to the Praetorium, the palace of Herod the Great, which was actually the palace of the Roman governor, where that's where Pilate is. This is the Roman seat of authority in Jerusalem, not in the whole land. Cessaria is the Roman capital, but this is where Pilate would be. And so we are just finishing up the first trial before Pilate, that's where we are now. So let's take a look at John chapter 18. And as we're looking at the trials of Jesus, we are looking at Jesus himself. We're not concerned so much with the details of the trial, though we're looking at all that, but we're seeking to, as we do that, look at who Jesus is and how he is portrayed. We have seen through this whole process, through the arrest, through the first part of the trial that Jesus is absolutely in control, that he is not out of control in any sense. He is in control of the direction of the events. He is in control of his own emotions of all that's happening, even the legal proceedings and some of the things we've seen, Jesus was calling to the high priest attention that he violated some of the rules and laws. But before Pilate, we have already seen that Jesus is a prophet in John chapter 18 verses 28 to 32. And what we call a glimpse of there was the first insight into the battle between Pilate and the religious leaders. And you remember that Pilate is doing everything he can to get rid of this case. At first, it's just an inconvenience to him. It's early in the morning, he's roused and then these fairsackel Jews, these hypocritical Jews, self-righteous Jews don't want to come into his palace because it's a feast day and they don't want to defile themselves. He's fed up with that kind of stuff and he walks out and says, okay, what charges do you have? And they're kind of playing the sparring game with him and they say, well, if you weren't a criminal, we wouldn't have brought him and Pilate is ready to throw the whole case out then. And he says, will you take him and judge him according to your own laws? I'm basically, I'm not going to have anything to do with him. Then remember they said, but we cannot execute a prisoner. And so that forces the ball back into Pilate's hands. Pilate as the Roman authority must carry out any capital punishment that must be done. But the Bible makes it very clear in verse 32 that this took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die. Jesus had prophesied and we looked at three of those prophecies last week, very clearly that he would die by crucifixion. He used the word crucifixion and he also talked about hanging on a pole. So he clearly identified how he would. And that was the Roman form of execution. Even if the Jews were allowed to carry out capital punishment in certain cases by the Romans, their method was as we saw last week stoning, not crucifixion. So the Romans did crucifixion. So all of this is happening again under the direction and authority and guidance of the Lord Jesus to carry out exactly what has been prophesied. So we saw that it was a prophet. Then we see that he was a king. They bring up the charge to give it some legitimacy among the Romans of treason. Remember in the religious trial, the charge was what? Blasphemy. That was what Caiaphas and Anas and the Sanhedrin ruled on was the charge of blasphemy that he claimed to be the son of God. Well, that's not going to stand before the Roman authorities. They don't care about blasphemy. They got a million gods. They don't care. They don't care about blasphemy. So it's got to be something that will stick with them. And so the charge has changed before the Roman authorities to one of basically treason. So they mentioned that he is claims to be a king and pilot asks him about that. And we saw last week that Jesus, Jesus basically admitted to being a king, verse 36. Is it hard to see in this light here? Yeah, 36. My kingdom is not of this world. And we remember we saw that that does not mean that it is not an earthly kingdom. To be of this world means it did not originate in this world. That's not where it comes from. And he goes on to say that if it were my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders, but now my kingdom is from another place. So pilot says, well, you are a king then. So you are admitting to be a king, right? And Jesus says, you say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. Now that's where we stopped last time. We didn't really make, we didn't get to make the point that Jesus identifies his kingdom. First of all, is the heavenly kingdom, heavenly in origin, heavenly in nature. It will have an earthly manifestation, obviously, in the millennium. But it's heavenly in nature comes from heaven. But it's also a kingdom characterized by truth. And Jesus saying, my kingdom is one of truth. And when he says everyone on the side of truth listens to me. He's basically saying, if you want truth, you come to my kingdom. That's where you'll find it. And then pilot asks this infamous question that he's so well known for in verse 38, what is truth? Retorted pilot. Now, let me ask you, how do you think he asked that? What is the nature of his question? What do you think is behind his question? How's he asking it? Is it sarcasm? Okay. Is it sarcasm? Let's hang on to that thought. Is it sarcasm, you think? I think these are racial sins and they're done. But not because the case that he still attacks you is a Aware of the real truth. I can motion as to how long he has done that for you and that had taken up the course of your work to take us directly. So it could be that he's asking what is the truth in this case? I can't figure out yet what the accusation is or whether or not there's any credence to it. Okay? Possibly so. Okay. All right. Everyone had a different definition of truth and so, part of the saying truth is a for grabs. You know, what really is it? All right. That's possible. Okay. So possibly asking the question out of despair. He has searched and his history would bear this out. He has searched in a lot of different ways for meaning and purpose and truth in life. And so maybe that's coming from an emptiness and he's soul. I would really like to know you mentioned truth. I would really like to know what truth is. Any other thoughts? I have no clue who's right. Absolutely no clue who's right. And I don't think anybody else really does either. If you read commentators on this, there are lots of different thoughts as to how Pilates is asking this question. Is he being sarcastic? There are some who say, yeah, he's just being sarcastic. And that would fit his nature, by the way. That would fit his nature. He was a hard man. Remember I told you about how he hated the Jews and the things that he had done to kill so many of them and to violate their customs and their laws and religious rules and so forth. So that would fit his nature. So maybe he is saying, truth. What is truth? Who cares what truth is? It may be. That fits his nature. I don't think he was being sarcastic on it. I think it was that he was frustrated because he felt like he wasn't doing the right thing and so I'm doing it. Okay. And that kind of goes along with what Sammy said that maybe he's looking for the real truth in this case and he's frustrated trying to figure out really what is the accusation here? What have you done? What's the truth in all this? And that could be. We don't know enough. We can't really read into his motive as to what's behind the question. It could have been very local as to this case. And some believe he was being philosophical. That in kind of a despair. He was really seeking to know what is truth. And that's probably the most common view. I tend to think it's one of the others. I tend to think he was not being philosophical either. His nature and his history does not strike you as being a philosophical kind of guy, a deep thinker. But who knows? It's an interesting arena for speculation is about the best I can say. Who knows why he asked that question or in what frame of mind he asked that question really kind of hard to know. But I think it's one of the reasons why that question has kind of rung down through the centuries. Because it can't have so many different shades of meaning that it kind of finds common ground with a lot of different people who are looking at that question from different perspectives. Okay. If it does tie to that and it may, it may well, then that would seem to fit. I'm trying to get at the truth of this case. Could be. Sammy? Yeah. It obviously disturbed him. We saw last week that Matthew 27 and only in Matthew's account is the little statement that his wife comes to him and says, don't get involved with this innocent man. I have suffered much because of him in a dream today. And that we know from historical records that his wife Claudia, who was the daughter of a Roman emperor, was very superstitious. How much that affected pilot? Who knows? He may have, you know, the whole Roman religious system was very superstitious. The whole Roman and Greek religious system, the gods and how they controlled the affairs of men and men's battle with the gods. There was a lot of superstition involved. So we're going to find out later in the trial that when he hears that Jesus claimed to be the son of God, that he becomes, the Bible says, much more afraid, which indicates he's already battling some fear about this whole case. Probably as a result of his wife's dream and warning to him. So yeah, there's a lot of that going on too. And that may influence what he's saying. I'd like to get to the truth of this thing because I'm scared of what's happening. At this point, I don't think he's too far down that road, but he'll get there pretty quick. Somebody else, did I see another hand? Yes, Bob? I think it's Bob. He's joking. He's just doing all kinds of things. So I'm going to have to hold that. I don't know what to do. Yeah. That's very true. He dealt with these people day after day. And... Exactly. He'd probably seen him do it many times. And probably had literally gotten fed up with their little debates over intricacies of the law and twisting the law to get what they wanted. And again, you know, you people don't know anything about truth. That could be part of it as well. Yes, Kelly? I've always heard you've had a few of those things that I've seen. You've had a few of those things. Yeah. Yeah, that... Yeah, that... There are certain things that I've seen. Yeah, certain could be a factor as well. Yes, Ben? There are certain things that I've seen that I've never been told to say. The reason is there is the reason for changing them. And maybe... Yeah. Maybe they're the reason why they're doing things. Yeah. I think that is very true. And a lot of these other things may have entered into it as well. It's hard to tell how many factors were influencing him. But certainly he would have recognized... He's been around, you know, in the Roman... He's been in the Roman army. He has married the daughter of a Roman emperor. So now he's a politician. He's been on both sides of the fence. He's seen it all. And he knows that the whole religious system is a sham. And here are religious people accusing this man, Jesus. And so he just is fed up with the whole concept. There is no truth in this religion stuff. That's probably a lot of that too. There are a lot of factors that could be included here. If you will take all of those ideas and distill them and figure it out, write the book and let us know. Okay? Let us know exactly what the exact answer is. And that'd be great. It is interesting to think... Try to think through what's going through Pilots Mine. He is a very interesting character. Remember I told you that he was already in the middle of some investigation by Rome. He would be called back to Rome and exiled to Gal because of the way he treated the Jews and would commit suicide in Gal. So he was a very troubled man, a very troubled man. And the events of this day will probably haunt him and trouble him more the rest of his life. He is a very interesting character to think about. But anyway, let's move on. He says, what is truth? And then he says, with this, the text says, with this he went out again to the Jews, gathered there and said, I find no basis for a charge against him. Now this is going to be the first of three times he will say that. And there are other attempts we will see very clearly he does not want anything to do with this case. He is trying to get it off his hands as quickly as he can. So right now, again, he's ready to end it. I find no basis for any charges against him, which basically means the Roman trial is over. Where I have to push this any further, but notice what happens. Actually, some of the details, the gospels compress things and you have to put as it is the case with the life of Christ, you have to put all four of the gospel accounts together to get the full picture. And so what happens next, at least it appears, in the sequence of events, is covered better by Luke. So let's hold your place here and flip back to Luke 23. And this is where we move into the trial before Herod. But look at how this happens, how this takes place. Luke 23 verse 4, we pick up with what we just saw in John. Verse 4 says, then pilot announced the chief priest and the crowd. I find no basis for a charge against this man. And Luke adds this, but they insisted he stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here. The sparring continues. Pilot is ready to throw the case out. There's no reason to even bring an accusation against this man. And his Jesus persecutors press the issue a little further. This give and take will happen a half a dozen times in a couple of hours in this morning. Not even a couple hours. But this very same thing will happen at least a half a dozen times. So he's ready to throw it out, but they push. They press. They insist. His teaching disturbs the people. He's stirring up people. Remember what I told you last week that one of the reasons he was being investigated by Rome was because there are too many riots down there in Judea. You're offending the Jews over too many things. Remember some of the ones that we talked about. And so the last thing pilot wants to hear is the potential for another riot. That's already gotten him in trouble with the Roman authorities. And so the Jews know this and they are going to work him. They're going to work every angle with pilot. And so one of the angles they're going to work is he's stirring up people. And there could be another riot in town. And so they say he started in Judea. He stirs up people in Judea. He started in Galilee's come all the way down here. And notice what verse 6 says. On hearing this, pilot asked if the man was a Galilee. And when he learned that Jesus was under herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. Now this is nothing short of another attempt for pilot to wash his hands of the whole thing. He doesn't want to deal with this. So he hears those words. He hears those words. He started in Galilee. And when he heard that he thought, oh, there's an out. There's a chance for me to get rid of this. He's not even in my jurisdiction. I mean, as the governor of Judea, if he started in Galilee, he's under Herod's jurisdiction. And you know what? Because it's the feast day and all the public officials are in town. He knows Herod's in town, so he sends him to off the Herod. We'll take a look at the map maybe next time, but the map shows, well, there it is. Wow, you guys back there are great. Pulling up all this stuff. So he sent from the palace of Herod, the Herod the Great. Okay, this is not the Herod that Jesus is going to see now. He sent to the palace of Herod Antipas, which is some distance away over toward the temple. Herod Antipas is one of the sons of Herod the Great. When Herod the Great died, he divided up his kingdom. His kingdom was divided up in four sections. And Herod Antipas, one of his sons, got Galilee and a little bit east of Galilee on the east side of the Galilee. And so he is the one that Jesus called that fox. He's the one that had John the Baptist beheaded. But he knows of Jesus, but notice what Luke says next. Verse 8, When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased. Because for a long time he'd been wanting to see him from what he had heard about him. He hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. Now this is almost circus-like. I don't mean to minimize at all what Jesus is going through, but Herod, this profane man, just wants to see a trick. He just wants to see a circus act. He wants to see Jesus perform some miracle. He's heard about him. I mean, remember Jesus, the majority of Jesus ministry was in Galilee. And that's where a lot of healings took place. Water turned into wine and cana. That was in Galilee. Lots of the stilling of the storm on the sea of Galilee. He's done all kinds of miracles up there. And Herod's heard about this man. So he wants him to perform a magic trick. I'd like to see you do something. Come on. Verse 9 says, he plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. What kind of questions he asked? What kind of tricks do you do? I mean, it may have been something like that. It may have been, did you really, I heard you, did you really do this? Obviously, his interest is not really in the judicial proceedings. The text says that. From what he heard about him, he wanted to see him perform a sign. So he's asking lots of questions. Jesus will not even dignify this kangaroo court with an answer. And so Jesus just remains silent. Verse 10, the chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there vehemently accusing him. Jesus is not saying a word. So verse 11, then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. Now just think of this for a moment. Just juxtapose these two characters in the story. Herod and Jesus. Jesus has all the power. Herod challenges him to display that power. And the incredible thing is that Jesus could have done it and ended Herod's life right there. Jesus could have done something. We know later or earlier he had said in the garden, I could have called 72,000 angels. They're waiting on the doorstep of heaven ready to come deliver me. All I got to do is say the word. Jesus could have done a number of things to display His power. And here's Herod who thinks he's got all the power mocking and ridiculing him. I think there are lots of things that Satan is attempting to do to get it Jesus through this whole thing. In the garden, as he's praying, and the Bible says an angel was sent to strengthen him. Through this whole sequence of events, if things had taken a different turn, Satan would have won. And it's exactly what he wanted. I don't know if you remember the Passion, the movie that Mel Gibson made about the Passion Week. And he has, at the scourging, he has Satan showing up. Just kind of, you know, egging things on, but also hoping Jesus will die there. Did you get that? I watched it again last night, just that section of it because I wanted to see whether or not I would show the scourging scene tonight. And I decided not to. I didn't know with Noah Wana if there might be some children in here. It's just, I mean, it shattered me again, washing it last night. But that is a gripping scene. I think it is very, very similar to Satan's desire to have Jesus fail at the end of the temptation. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he may have. I don't know. It's hard to know how much he had heard about him. Whether he knew that John the Baptist and Jesus had a relationship. I don't know. But yeah, John the Baptist had really tormented Herod. Okay. So they ridicule and mock him. Herod and his soldiers dress him in an elegant robe, sending back to pilot. Now look at the very interesting statement in verse 12. That day Herod and pilot became friends before this. They'd been enemies. Obviously they're enemies. One of them is a quasi-Jew. One is a Roman. They both have political power. They've vived for the spotlight. Yeah, they've been enemies. Probably their jurisdictions cross at times. Yeah, they've been enemies. Isn't it interesting that because of this they become friends? What do you think it was that? Why do you think they became friends? So we're on the same team. Yeah, against, against Jesus. There is something about a camaraderie of evil. Go back to Proverbs 1 and Solomon warns his son not to take up with sinners. Because they will entice you. Centres love company. And they love to drag other people down. And I think there was a sense in which both of these men are gratified that they have an opportunity to put Jesus down. And that in a sense bonds them in a bizarre kind of way. And they became friends over this particular issue. Well, that takes us back to John. And we'll go back to the second trial before Pilate. Because Herod, when Jesus will not do any miracles, just after he's had his fun out of him, sends him on back to Pilate. And back in John chapter 18, we pick it back up in verse 39. And again, if you put the whole gospels together, you realize that John is compressing statements here. Makes it sound like we're jumping right into the middle of a statement. But it's after he came back from Herod that Pilate introduces another way to get out of this. Okay? Verse 39. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release the King of the Jews? Now, this second trial before Pilate, what we will see Jesus as in these two verses is Jesus as a substitute. And I want us to see how that happens here. The other gospels tell us that Pilate actually mentions Barabbas as one of the options for release. Luke tells us that. And I think Matthew does as well, that Pilate mentions Barabbas. So again, Pilate is looking for a way out. He does not want to deal with Jesus. He's already tried saying, I don't find any just reason to accuse him. Let's throw it out. They keep pressing the issue. He's found out about, he's in Herod's jurisdiction. Oh, oh, this is a Herod deal with it. I don't want the Herod deal with it. But Herod's sending back. So, now Pilate is on his third try to get rid of this thing. And that is, okay, I know it's your custom for me to release a prisoner. So, I'm going to give you a choice. Barabbas or this Jesus. Verse 40 says, they shouted back, no, not him. Give us Barabbas. Now, Barabbas had taken part in an uprising. Which means he was an insurrectionist. He was, he was, he was, and get this, he was just like the other two that were going to be placed on the cross that day with Jesus. I think about this. It's quite possible that Barabbas was the ringleader of a group of insurrectionists. They'll be known as thieves, but that's not all they were guilty of. Thevery was not a crime for capital punishment in the Roman Empire. So, they were guilty of more than that. They were insurrectionists. And Barabbas may have been one that was intended to be crucified that day with the other two thieves. Because he comes to Pilate's mind very easily. So, it's quite possible, I believe, probable that he's on the docket for crucifixion that day, along with the other two insurrectionists. And maybe he was the ringleader and the reason he so comes, he comes to Pilate's mind because he's, he's the prominent one of the three. To me, it's very interesting Matthew's account of this. Again, hold your place and let's look back over at Matthew 27. Okay, it's back in verse 17 that in Matthew 27, that Pilate gives them the option of either Barabbas or Jesus and looked down at verse 20. But the chief priest and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. Do you remember the picture I showed you last week, two weeks ago maybe, of the way the crowd would have been stationed around. It's a huge open air court type situation, outdoor type thing. And crowds were around the outside edges. And by this time, while Pilate is bringing Barabbas out, sending for Barabbas, the chief priests and, you know, rulers of the law and so forth are going around persuading the crowd. Come on, if we're given an option here, let's choose whoever it is against Jesus. And so, verse 21, which of the two do you want me to release to use, ask the governor? Barabbas, they answered, what shall I do then with Jesus who is called the Messiah Pilates? They all answered, crucify him. Now, if Barabbas is somewhere in the back and is being brought out and he's just now coming up to where he can hear the crowd, he probably can't hear Pilate. He's coming from behind Pilate, Pilate speaking this way, all he can hear is the crowd. Okay, so what does he hear? Barabbas, crucify him. Barabbas, crucify him. That's all he can hear. So, he's coming out thinking, okay, you know, it's time, I'm going. I'm going to be crucified today. So, verse 20, 23, why? What crime is you committed? But they shouted all the louder, crucify him. So, in all likelihood, all Barabbas has heard is his name and crucify him. And then crucify him even louder. And so, he's convinced as he's being drug out to the podium that he's getting ready to go to his execution with the other two insurrectionists. And all of a sudden he gets out there. I can just imagine him being brought out, the way Mel Gibson portrays it is so graphic. Brought out in irons a very rough man. And I can imagine as he's brought out, he's to whatever degree he would be, a frightened man. And then all of a sudden he realizes the crowd is crying for this other man to be crucified. And he's being set free. Someone is taking his place. Someone is being crucified in his place, in his stead, instead of him. Someone is a substitute for him and that's someone as Jesus. Now, here's the divine irony of the whole thing. And this is only God could arrange for this. Do you know what Barabbas means? If you know anything about the names and the Old Testament and the Bar, Abba. Bar is son of, Abba is father, son of a father. Who's taking his place? The son of the father is taking his place. The son of the father is dying for son of a father. Only God could arrange that. And it serves as an amazing object lesson of the substitutionary death of Christ. Yes, he would be dying for Barabbas not only in taking his place as being executed, but he would be dying for his sins that day. But he also was a substitute for you and me, wasn't he was dying in our place. And our name could be put there in Jesus' substitute for it. So Jesus is seen in this trial before pilot as a substitute as well. He's a substitute taking the place of Barabbas. The son of the father dying for a son of a father. Amazing scene. Again, you would love to know what happened to this man, Barabbas. Did he just walk off, find his buddies again, or did he stop and think about what had happened? And start asking questions. We can't say for sure. But quite a scene. So Jesus is a substitute. And then we get to chapter 19. Any questions before we jump into the next section? Okay, we get to chapter 19 and Jesus is seen here quite clearly as a sufferer. Verse 1, chapter 19 says, then pilot took Jesus and had him flogged. Now, the flogging is the scourging. It's the same thing. Luke's gospel tells us that this was another attempt on the part of pilot to get rid of Jesus and not have to put him to death. Because Luke tells us that he told the crowd, well, okay, his plan to have Jesus released has fallen through. They want Barabbas of all people. Pilot never would have thought that. Here's this terrible criminal. And here's a man that I can't find any just reason to accuse. And they're asking for the terrible criminal to be released. I thought for sure they'd say just go ahead and release Jesus. If that's our choice. But so now that plan has failed. So Luke tells us that he tells the crowd, okay, I'll flog him and then let him go. It's clear from Luke's gospel that pilots intent was to inflict severe enough punishment to break the will of the Jews for them to finally say, okay, that's enough. That's enough. We've gotten our justice out of him. What we wanted. Let him go. That's what pilot was hoping with the flogging, with scourging. We don't have time to get into this. So maybe we ought to just wait till next time to even start. But I do want to explain what the scourging was like. It was incredibly brutal and gruesome. I'll go into more detail when we have a little more time next week. But most people, it typically only lasted four minutes. And that's about all it was needed. Most people died from the scourging. Those who did not die usually went into some kind of shock because of the loss of blood and the ripping open of the flesh and the spilling out of organs and so forth. And would go into shock to where they were shaking and their teeth were chattering. And it's just a terribly gruesome form of punishment. Again, if you remember the scene in the Passion, it probably comes as close as possible to showing what it was really like. And it's hard to watch that. That's the scene of the movie. It's the hardest for me to watch. But it doesn't even touch what happened. Because the way it happened actually the body would be left in shreds and unrecognizable as a human body. And that's what Isaiah says. Jesus looked like. And we'll get to that next week. We don't have time tonight. But I think it's important to understand the depth of suffering to which Jesus went before he got to the cross. For two reasons. It is a part of his passion. It is a part of the shedding of his blood. It is a part of his death. And it also explains why he was so weak he could not carry the cross. And he only lasted six hours on the cross. When the other two on the cross, they had to break their legs so that they would suffocate quickly. Because they would have been there for days possibly. So it helps us understand physically what was going on with Jesus as well. So we'll talk a little bit more about when we pick up there next time. All right, let's pray. Lord, we are again in awe of you. We recognize that we are talking to the one who had sent his only son, his dearly loved son, to go through all of this for us. And there's a sense in which, even talking with you, Father, we feel so ashamed and humiliated at the fact that we caused this to happen. There is another sense in which we feel so amazingly grateful. That you did not do this on your part as the Father. And Jesus, you did not do this out of a sense of duty or obligation. You did it. The Bible says because you loved us. You were willing to go to the extreme amount of suffering to pour out your lifeblood for our salvation, so that we could be in your family. We could live with you forever. Oh, Father, help us never to take that lightly. Jesus name, amen.