WHO IS ON TRIAL?

Have you considered that Jesus is still on trial today?

“Jesus Christ stands on trial, not now before the Sanhedrin, before Pontius Pilate the procurator or Herod Antipas, but at the bar of world opinion. The ‘world’, which in biblical language means secular, godless, non-Christian society, now uncommitted, now hostile, is in the role of judge. The world is judging Jesus Christ continuously, passing its various verdicts upon Him. The devil accuses Him with many ugly lies and musters his false witnesses by the hundred. The Holy Spirit is the Parakletos, the counsel for the defense, and He calls us to be witnesses to substantiate his case.” (John Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait, p.54)

What is the bar of world opinion today? Who is trying Jesus and seeking to condemn him? The prosecutor may be the devil but who is the judge and jury, and who are the plaintiffs in this court of world opinion?

First of all, there are the religious authorities who see Jesus as a rival to the claims of their faith. They consider him a blasphemer for claiming to be the Son of God. They are willing to tolerate him as a good man, a prophet, a moral teacher, even a spiritual director, or a reformer. As long as Jesus can fit into their religious scheme of things, and become one of many in the pantheon of gurus, avatars, or mystics, he can be assimilated. Jesus may be honored, even worshipped as one of many manifestations of deity in the course of human history but, they argue, he is not unique. We are a pluralistic world with many claims to truth. Leaders of other religions say, “Who is Jesus, to claim to be the way, the truth and the life?”

There are the university professors of religious studies who teach that the New Testament was written many years after Jesus died by followers who wanted to create a religion based on the myths about Jesus, who was only a social and spiritual revolutionary. Non-Christian professors of religious studies reject the supernatural elements in the Gospels and Acts, the miraculous and the resurrection, as myths designed to market the Galilean sage or peasant as an object of faith. They do not accept as accurate the eyewitness accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus, and as reliable the historical evidence.

Secondly, there are the secular authorities who resent the claims of Christ to be a king, a ruler, who invites all people to follow him and enter into his kingdom of grace, and love. This call to discipleship and loyal allegiance to righteousness is a threat to the realm of political and moral expediency, where rewards are given to those who support the ruling party’s program and the personal ambitions of the power brokers. Jesus is a nuisance to those who are primarily devoted to their own career paths, their own business successes, and their own single-minded commitment to wealth and power. Jesus appeals to their virtue, to their honesty, to their authenticity and integrity, to the better angels of their nature, but they are embarrassed, defensive, and like Pontius Pilate, seek to compromise, do not have the courage of their convictions, and end up trying to please everyone. They do not want to be troubled by conscience, or duty, or honor, for they do not believe in absolutes, but take the path of least resistance. They look for ways to avoid appearing to be biased or prejudiced against Jesus, but they end up allowing justice to be perverted and criminals like Barabbas, and all that they stand for, to be released back into society. They are tolerant of vice and what contributes to the decay of family and home life, and intolerant of the proclamation of the kingdom of goodness, purity, faithfulness and self-control. They are ruled by opinion polls, by the lowest common denominator, by the mob, who cry out for the anointed one, the Messiah, to be crucified, the one whom Pilate examined, and found no basis for the charges against him. What a travesty of justice? Yet Jesus is still on trial, and still justice is denied and delayed, and the postmodern secular world is indifferent to him and what he came to establish: the kingdom of God, which will outlast every other government, party, ideology, or program.

Thirdly, there are the celebrities, like Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, who ridicule and mock Jesus by their immoral and dissolute lifestyles. Their narcissism inflates their egos and they worship themselves. They cannot bear Jesus calling them to humble themselves. They are sybaritic in their extravagant lifestyles and resent Jesus calling them to deny themselves and to follow him. They are self-indulgent and insecure, and seek refuge in drugs and recreation to deal with their anxieties. They are prisoners of their selfish natures, abusive, violent, and cannot escape the superficiality of their lives to heed the warnings of Jesus that they will one day be held accountable for how they have spent their time on earth. Desperate for love, they go from one thing to another for acceptance, and cannot hear the good news from Jesus that he came to bring them God’s love and forgiveness, if they will have faith in him.

            Jesus said, “They hated me without reason” (John 15:25) “The world hates, the world persecutes, the world ostracizes, the world kills. This is the antagonism of the world” (J. Stott).

Who is on trial? Jesus, or the world? Whenever we see Jesus on trial we know that it is the work of the devil, accusing with many ugly lies, and mustering his false witnesses by the hundreds. The outcome is inevitable because the world is the secular, godless, non-Christian society, which is uncommitted, hostile, and is in the role of judge. But there is another trial going on in heaven, and the verdict is long delayed, because the Righteous Judge is giving all people enough time to change their minds, and their lives about Jesus.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” (John 3:17-21)

On the Cross, even the devil will be judged. Jesus said, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:31,32) What we are doing now determines what will happen when we stand before the Lord on judgment day. For it is we, who are on trial, not Jesus. How we pass judgment on Jesus is how we will be judged ourselves.

In the church which I first served in London, a famous painting hangs on the east wall behind the Communion Table. It measures about twelve feet by nine and dominates the interior of All Souls Church, Langham Place. It was painted by William Westall and was presented to the church by King George IV when it was opened in 1824. It depicts the Lord Jesus, manacled but majestic, surrounded by evil-looking priests and coarse soldiers who mock at him. All round his head are the hands of these men, pointing out the object of their derision. It is entitled, Ecce Homo, “Behold the Man” – the words of Pontius Pilate to the crowd at the trial (John 19:5).

We know what happened to Pontius Pilate, the religious leaders and the celebrities in the trial of Jesus. They were on the wrong side of history and eternity. Let us not make the same mistake. What those soldiers and priests in the painting did in scorn and hatred as they pointed to Jesus let us do in love and worship as we look to him and are drawn to him.