1. Albrecht…Lent Midweek 5…March 18,19 2026…John 18:10-16…Pilate Wants Jesus to Die…

¹⁰ Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” ¹¹ Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” ¹² From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.” ¹³ When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. ¹⁴ Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” ¹⁵ But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” ¹⁶ Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.

Grace, Mercy, and Lenten Peace be yours from God the Father and our crucified Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

INJ Who consigned Himself to His Father’s will to die, that we may be redeemed from sin DFR:

The Asch Conformity Experiments, conducted by Solomon Asch in the 1950s, were designed to see how much social pressure from a group could cause a person to ignore the evidence of their own senses. In a typical session, a single participant was placed in a room with several “confederates”—people who were secretly working for the researcher. The group was shown a series of cards with lines of different lengths and asked a simple question: which line on the second card matched the length of the “standard” line on the first card? The answer was always obvious, yet the confederates were instructed to give the same wrong answer out loud before the actual participant had a chance to speak.

Asch found that a surprising number of people went along with the group’s incorrect choice, even though they knew it was wrong. While most participants didn’t conform every single time, about 75% of them gave an incorrect answer at least once just to fit in. When interviewed afterward, many people admitted they conformed because they didn’t want to be the “odd one out” or feared being ridiculed, while a few actually started to doubt their own eyesight.

Long before Solomon Asch, was Pontius Pilate. Pilate wasn’t part of some social experiment, nor did the other participants in Jesus’ trial “switch up” their answers in order to trick Pilate. As we near the end of our series: “Who Wants Jesus to Die?” we see the parameters of Jesus’ trial were straightforward. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent beyond a doubt. The Chief Priests and the people called for Jesus to be crucified out of envy. The final verdict? Pilate Wants Jesus to Die. Not because new evidence came to light, but because Pilate conformed to the desire of the crowd. And yet, as Christians, we look at the battle going behind the scenes. Satan who used Pilate, hoping to make Jesus die in the wrong way at the wrong time; and God, who sentenced Jesus to die in the right way and at the right time to destroy the power of Satan.

Pilate is in a unique position among those who want Jesus to die, because he originally wants Jesus to live. Three times, the Gospels record Pilate declaring his intent to release Jesus because He is innocent of all charges brought against Him. Even when addressing Jesus, he stresses his desire to make Jesus go free: “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Pilate knew the right, legal answer to the question of Jesus deserving death.

On the spiritual battlefield, however, sparing Jesus’ life would thwart God’s intention that Jesus must die to pay for the sins of the world. So when Pilate tried to postpone death or stop it altogether, he actually fostered Satan’s plan. But God ensures that His plan is carried out. We read in John 18: Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” ³² This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

Later in our text, we see Pilate begin to change and his desire shift from wanting to free Jesus to wanting Him to die. Pilate’s final consent and desire to have Him die was for his own selfish motive, not to fulfill God’s will, nor did God’s will force Pilate to change his mind. John tells us when this change happened: ¹² From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.” ¹³ When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. ¹⁶ Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.

Pilate feared the crowd, specifically their riotous influence that could cause Rome to depose him. Putting one innocent man to death, seemed to Pilate, like the expedient thing to do in order to save his political office. He needed to maintain a good self-image and an attitude of self-acceptance by the Jews, lest they send a delegation to Caesar and cost Pilate everything.

The sad part is, Pilate was so close to Jesus. He had the opportunity to talk to Jesus about His death – why He had to die and permit all this to happen. He asked rhetorically, “What is truth?” But he failed to see Jesus as the way the truth and the life. Jesus testified that Pilate’s authority over Him came from above, but Pilate never sought to figure out how that explains Jesus’ passive posture. The kingdom of heaven lay at his finger tips, but Pilate didn’t take the time, nor have the interest to see what Christ was about until it was too late.

It should bring great shame when we find ourselves treating Jesus much like Pilate. For we do know who Jesus is, what He stands for, and what He expects from our lives. And yet, too often we conform ourselves to the wicked majority around us. If Solomon Asch did a similar experiment among Christians regarding the Christian life…how many times would we conform to what we know is wrong just to fit in? Unfortunately, too often. Dare we rationalize that as long as I don’t openly deny Jesus, my other actions don’t matter? Paul answers that question for us in Romans 6: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Our sinful flesh desires to put Jesus to death in our heart, to live in sin with the illusion that we are still innocent – much like Pilate tried to be innocent of Jesus’ death. It doesn’t work that way. Pilate rejected Jesus, succumbing to the pressure of the crowds, and sentenced Him to death. When we let sin rule and dominate our lives, we are casting Jesus out, denying Him and His sacrifice.

Despite Pilate, God relentlessly pursued the goal of Good Friday. And there lies the answer to our wandering heart. For Scripture clearly proclaims that through the cross we have reconciliation with the Father, forgiveness of sins, and the promise of eternal life. The writer to the Hebrews declares, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has power over death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (2:14-15).

On Good Friday, Jesus showed that his actions did matter. He fulfilled all that God has required of us, all that we cower and fail to do as Christians.

And through the death of Jesus on the cross, we have forgiveness for every time we cower from our faith. We have restoration and reconciliation through his blood, so that we are no longer slaves to our sinful flesh, but slaves to righteousness. And this is brought to us daily by the gospel in word and sacrament.

Tonight, we rejoice that God remained in control of our redemption day, and that his will was done. For through Jesus, we are fortified with these promises of God, and are able to live confidently for him in peace and joy. Amen.