Our Autumn Festival (Mark 15:1-20)

On Thursday night, I got to speak at an ANU International Focus event that was related to the Autumn Festival that some overseas students would celebrate. It was a real fun night. I met people from New York, Canberra, Fiji, the Philippines, Singapore, and various other places. Below is more or less what I said (I was a bit casual with the script as I was aiming for a bit more casual engagement). I approached this as more of a youth group talk, and tried to keep the language easier, but afterwards I think during the Q&A I failed in trying to speak in a simpler way.

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Two scenes

In our story, there are kind of two scenes: there is Jesus standing trial with Pilate releasing Barabbas. And the next scene is the soldiers mocking Jesus.

Jesus’ Trial

So in the first bit, Jesus has been taken to stand trial, and did you notice what the charges were? In verse 2, they want to know if Jesus is a king. Being another king under Ceaser, the ruler of the Roman Empire, was not a good position to find yourself in. Rome wanted complete allegiance, and so anyone who wanted to set up their own kingdom within the Empire they would face the full force of the government.

Throughout the trial, charges were brought against Jesus, but he kept His mouth shut. This was not some sort of American pleading the fifth thing going on. Jesus didn’t want to defend Himself. Jesus was silent because he didn’t want to deny the charges. He was a king, but not how they thought.

But you might also notice that the trial wasn’t going as planned. However, there was another loophole the smart teachers of the law could use by putting pressure on Pilate. For they knew how to pull Pilate's strings.

Pilate and Barabbas

Now Pilate was the governor of the area, and his one job was to keep the peace. When he first moved into Jerusalem in 26 AD, he caused a riot by putting up flags with Caesar's picture on them all over town. The riot lasted 6 days, and news went back to the Emperor in Rome, causing Pilate to back down. A bit later, Pilate clashed heads with the Jewish leaders for using temple funds to build a water system for Jerusalem. People died over it.

All in all, Pilate's relationship with the Jews was a little tense. And the senior Jewish leaders knew that on Pilate’s back was Emperor Tiberius, who wanted peace at all costs. If Pilate couldn’t maintain order, he would be removed, and later he was in 36 AD.

One of the ways Roman would show good favour to the Jews was to release one of their political prisoners on a festival day, as a sign of good will to the people of Jerusalem. So Pilate offered to release either Jesus or Barabbas.

Barabbas had caused an uprising, was a robber and had killed people, maybe even Roman soldiers. Barabbas was for the freedom of Israel, and he was against Rome. Releasing this prisoner might show the people that Rome wasn’t all that bad, that they were merciful to those who rebelled.

Jesus, on the other hand, hasn’t really been found to be guilty of anything. Except, it is very obvious the chief priests simply did not like Him. They wanted Jesus gone, as Jesus was causing their religion all sorts of headaches.

So with this choice of who to release, the chief priests stirred up everyone to bid for the release of Barabbas, and in doing so, Rome got to keep Jesus. This plan was how Jesus would get sentenced to death. Pilate even asks, “Why? What crime has he committed?” but there was no answer, and the crowd was getting a bit too noisy, so to settle everything down, Barabbas was set free, and Jesus was handed over to be crucified. Peace had to be maintained, even if justice wasn’t.

Soldiers Mock

In our second scene, in the preparation for the crucifixion, the soldiers got to have a bit of fun with Jesus. The charges were that Jesus was a king, so if he was a king, they would give him the royal treatment. They dressed him up in a purple robe. Purple was the royal colour, and they gave him a crown and hailed him as a King. But it was all a messy mockery. The crown was made of thorns. Their homage came in the form of fits and spit. They were just there for a laugh, and when they were done, they sent Jesus off to be killed.

Which character are you?

These two scenes are a bit messy, aren’t they? They have messy characters in them. I want to spend a little time thinking about them and what the characters thought about Jesus, and if maybe one might be a bit like you.

There is Pilate. He doesn’t think Jesus has done anything wrong, but goes along with the powerful and the crowd. He is persuaded by what everyone else thinks, and is out to protect his own job. You might think with people in this room that Jesus was a good guy, but when you are with other people, you might think along with them that Jesus isn’t relevant. Seeking the truth about who Jesus is might cost you something in your life, so you just go along with everyone else.

Or you could be like the teachers of the law. They are against Jesus. They have their own systems. They think they are right and Jesus is upsetting them, so they are hostile to what Jesus is doing. You might think Jesus was wrong. That Jesus was mistaken in who he is, and if that is the case, we shouldn’t listen to him. If someone is mistaken in who they are, they are wrong and not worth listening to, or even opposing.

There are the soldiers who I think are a bit like Australians. They aren’t thinking very much. All they are after is a good laugh, so they mock, as that is easy and fun. The importance of Jesus to them doesn’t matter. They are just here for a good time. You might have known this event was like a Christian thing, and you can put up with this, but you're just here for the free food and some nice company.

And finally there was Barabbas. He was rebellious, a murderer, and he gets to go free. Are you like him, the criminal? Ouch, certainly not! I mean, I don’t want to put you in the same category as the bad guy. He was a criminal who should be in prison.

I wonder if you could relate to any of these characters?

Our Autumn Festival

Tonight was advertised as being about the Autumn festival. Because I am culturally ignorant, I hadn’t really heard about this festival before. But in the lead-up to this event, I have been asking others if they have heard about this Autumn thing. I talked to one guy who was originally from Singapore [this guy turned up to this event!. I randomly met him about three weeks ago, thinking I will never see him again, and then he sat across from me over dinner.] He said he can't really remember the reason for the celebration, but the one thing he remembered was these special cakes that had, like a moon on them with some other designs around it. Is that right?

But I hate to be that guy, but I need to tell you something. Just quietly, in Australia it is Spring right now. You are celebrating an Autumn Festival in Spring. And yeah, I know the seasons are swapped, in China it is their Autumn and our Spring.

But did you know that in Australia we have our own festival in Autumn? And it is about this very passage we are looking at. It's Easter. In the Northern Hemisphere, Easter is in Spring, but it is our Autumn. And one of these festival days in Easter is called Good Friday, which is all about our passage in Mark 15.

They call this day from our passage Good Friday. That is a bit of a crazy title, right? And if you were to read the rest of this chapter, the story doesn’t get any better. Jesus dies, bloody and painfully. This doesn’t sound very good at all. On Good Friday we remember when a political leader lets a guilty person go free, and an innocent man is mocked and beaten and killed. How is any of that good?

It reminds me of a comic...

The first guy says, “I hate the term Good Friday”

The second ask: “Why?” And he says, “My Lord was hanged on a tree that day”

The other guy says: “If you were going to be hanged on that day and he volunteered to take your place, how would you feel?”

He says, “Good”. “Have a nice day”

At Easter we remember this story when Jesus was mocked and killed because Jesus came to die in our place for us. Jesus came to save those who were guilty and enslaved.

And you might not think you are guilty or enslaved or in need of any help, but the truth is that we are all in need of help. All of us have done wrong and are all guilty before God. We are all criminals, every single one of us is tainted by sin, and this goes right back to our first parents.

Back to where we came from

My mother is Australian. Someone in her family traced our family tree back to a guy who came on the Third Fleet as a convict. Someone in my past committed a crime in England, and so because of their actions, my family tree got relocated to Australia. Their crime has affected my identity. I am now Australian.

And you guys, more than others, will know about visas and how tricky they are. Now that I am Australian, I can’t just go back to England and immediately claim citizenship. I’m too far down the chain to claim citizenship of England. The past crime has separated me from my heritage.

And this is the story of all of us. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, broke God's rule, and their sin has affected all of their children, which includes us. Because of their rebellion, and our imitation of them in our own rebellion, we are no longer in a right relationship with God. God is just and fair, and we have broken His rules, so we are deserving of punishment.

So how can we be in a right relationship with a God who we have rebelled from?

How can we go back to where we came from?

Well, I married an English woman. Through our marriage, because of who my wife is, I can more easily become a citizen of England. And my kids automatically are citizens. My wife is from that land, and so I can return to the place of my ancestors, not because of my family tree, but because of hers.

For us to come back to God, we need Jesus. We can not be citizens under God by ourselves. We need Him and His heritage to get us back. Jesus came as a King to bring us back into His kingdom. Jesus came to draw people from every nation to Himself, to make a new people group, so we can go back to God. It is only through Jesus that we can get into God’s kingdom.

Now, you can ignore this message, you can disagree with it, not be interested, but that doesn’t avoid the truth that we are all enslaved to sin. The fact is, we are not perfect. We can not always do right, and we all face death, which is the punishment for sin.

But Jesus, who was perfect, came and died in our place. Like Barabbas, Jesus took our place. He took our penalty, so that we can be set free.

To enter Jesus’ kingdom, you have to see yourself as Barabbas. This might mess up your systems. This might mean you will have to think a bit more deeply about Jesus. But if you see that you are in need of rescue, you will be able to see that Jesus took your place for you, so that you can go back to God.

So is Jesus your king? Do you trust Jesus and what His death accomplished for you? Will you live under His rule?


Questions for discussion:

Do you think you are like Barabbas? Why/why not?


Do you think Jesus is a King? If so, what kind of King is He? If you don’t think He’s a King, how should we respond to someone who misunderstands their own identity?