Speaking truth to an empire.

The Good Friday message from the gospel of John 18 and 19 on the daily Bible refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

Hello good people.

Welcome to Daily Bible Refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

Thank you for joining me on this odyssey.

This quest to put the audible word of God into two million ears, a million people, by the end of 2028.

We do that by daily reading of the New Testament.

We use the Revised Common Lectionary.

That's a three year cycle of reading through the entire Bible.

And we're in year C of that process.

We are actually on Good Friday in the Holy Week.

In that process, we make the reading of the word both understandable.

We read from the New Testament from the message version relatable.

We give you some points to ponder and Apocalypse will give you an action step to follow.

It's all brought to you by voiceofgoddaily.com which is our website and that's where you can find our resource the ABC 123 Bible Study Method.

Invite you to go and pick that up.

Our reading today is from the Gospel of John, chapters 18 and 19 from the message.

This is the Good Friday story.

It begins this way.

Seized in the garden at night.

Jesus, having prayed this prayer, left with his disciples and crossed over the book Kidron at a place where there was a garden, and he and his disciples entered it.

Judas, his betrayer, knew the place because Jesus and his disciples went there often.

So Judas led the way to the garden and the Roman soldiers and police sent by the high priests and Pharisees followed.

They arrived there with lanterns and torches and swords.

Jesus, knowing by now everything that was imploding on him, went out to meet them.

And he said, who are you after?

And they answered, jesus the Nazarene.

And he said, that's me.

The soldiers recoiled, totally taken aback.

Judas, his betrayer, stood out like a sore thumb.

Jesus asked again, who are you after?

And they answered, jesus the Nazarene.

I told you, said Jesus, that's me.

I'm the one.

So if it's me you're after, let these others go.

This validated the words in his prayer.

I didn't lose one of those you gave.

Just as Simon Peter, who was carrying a sword, pulled it from his sheath and struck the chief priest's servant, cutting off his right ear.

Malchus was the servant's name.

Jesus ordered, peter, put back your sword.

Do you think for a minute I'm not going to drink this cup the Father gave me?

Then the Roman soldiers under their commander, joined by The Jewish police seized Jesus and tied him up.

They took him first to Annas, father in law of Caiaphas.

Caiaphas was the chief priest of that year.

It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.

Simon Peter and the other disciple followed Jesus.

That other disciple was known to the chief priests.

And.

And so he went in with Jesus to the chief priest's courtyard.

Peter had to stay outside.

Then the other disciple went out, spoke at the doorkeeper and got Peter in.

The young woman who was the doorkeeper, said to Peter, aren't you one of this man's disciples?

And he said, no, I'm not.

The servants and police had made a fire because of the cold and were huddled there, warming themselves.

And Peter stood there with them, trying to get warm.

The interrogation.

Annas interrogated Jesus regarding his disciples and his feelings and his teachings.

And Jesus answered, I've spoken openly in public.

I've taught regularly in meeting places and the temple where the Jews all come together.

Everything has been out in the open.

I've said nothing in secret, so why are you treating me like a traitor?

Question those who have been listening to me.

They know well what I have been said.

My teachings have all been above board.

When he said this, one of the policemen standing there slapped Jesus across the face, saying, how dare you speak to the chief priests like that?

Jesus replied, if I said something wrong, prove it.

But if I spoke on the plain truth, why this slapping around?

Then Annas sent him, still tied up, to the chief priest, Caiaphas.

Meanwhile, Simon Peter was back at the fire, still trying to get warm.

The others were there, said to him, aren't you one of his disciples?

And he denied it.

No, not me.

One of the chief priests, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, didn't I see you in the garden with him?

Again, Peter denied it.

And then the rooster crowed, the King of the Jews.

They led Jesus then from Caiaphas to the Roman governor's palace.

It was early morning.

They themselves didn't enter the palace because they didn't want to be disqualified from eating the Passover.

So Pilate came out to them and spoke, what charge do you bring against this man?

And they said, if.

If he hadn't been doing something evil, do you think we'd be here bothering you?

And Pilate said, him, you take him, judge him.

It's your law.

The Jews said, we're not allowed to kill anyone.

This would confirm Jesus word indicating the way he would die.

Pilate went back into the palace and called for Jesus.

He said, are you the king of the Jews?

Jesus answered, are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you this about me?

Pilate said, do I look like a Jew?

Your people and your high priests turned you over to me.

What did you do?

My kingdom, said, jesus, doesn't consist of what you see around you.

If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews.

But I'm not that kind of king, not the world's kind of king.

And Pilate said, so are you a king or not?

And Jesus answered, you tell me.

Because I am king.

I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth.

Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice.

Pilate said, what truth?

Then he went back out to the Jews and told them, I find nothing wrong with this man.

It's your custom that I pardon one prisoner at Passover.

Do you want me to pardon the king of the Jews?

And they shouted back, no, not this one, but Barabbas.

Barabbas was a Jewish freedom fighter.

The thorn crown of the king.

So Pilate took Jesus, had him whipped.

The soldiers, having braided a crown from thorns, set it on his head and threw a purple robe over him and approached him with, hail, king of the Jews.

Then they greeted him with slaps in the face.

Pilate went back out again and said to them, I present him to you, but I want you to know that I do not find him guilty of any crime.

And just then, Jesus came out wearing the thorn crown and the purple robe.

And Pilate announced, here he is the man.

When the chief, when the high priest and the police saw him, they shouted out in a frenzy, crucify.

Crucify.

Pilate told them, you take them, you crucify him.

I find nothing wrong with them.

The Jews answered, we have a law.

And by that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.

When Pilate heard this, he became even more scared.

He went back into the palace and said to Jesus, where do you come from?

And Jesus gave no answer.

And Pilate said, you won't talk.

Don't you know that I have the authority to pardon you and the authority to crucify you?

Jesus said, you haven't a shred of authority over me except what has been given to you from heaven.

That's why the one who betrayed you has committed a far greater fault.

At this, Pilate tried his best to Pardon him.

But the Jews shouted him down, if you pardon this man, you're no friend of Caesar's.

Anyone setting himself up as a king defies Caesar.

When Pilate heard these words, he led Jesus outside and he sat down at the judgment seat in the arena in the area designated stone court.

In Hebrew, Gabbatha.

It was in preparation for the Passover.

The hour was noon.

And Pilate said to the Jews, here is your king.

And they shouted back, kill him.

Kill him.

Crucify him.

Pilate said, I am to crucify your king.

And the high priest answered, we have no king but Caesar.

Pilate caved in to their demand.

He turned him over to be crucified.

The Crucifixion.

They took Jesus away carrying his cross.

Jesus went out to the place called Skull Hill.

The name in Hebrew is Golgotha, where they crucified him.

And with him, two others, one on each side, Jesus in the middle.

And Pilate wrote a sign and had it placed on the cross.

It read, jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.

Many of the Jews read the sign because the place where Jesus was crucified was right next to the city and was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.

The Jewish high priests objected.

Don't write.

They said to Pilate, the king of the Jews maketh.

This man said, I am the king of the Jews.

And Pilate said, what I've written, I've written.

When they crucified him, the Roman soldiers took his clothes and divided them up four ways, to each soldier a fourth.

But his Rome was seamless, a single piece of weaving.

So they said to each other, let's not tear it up.

Let's throw dice to see who gets it.

This confirmed the scripture that said, they divided up my clothes among them and threw dice for my coat.

The soldiers validated the Scriptures.

While the soldiers were looking after themselves, Jesus mother, his aunt, married the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene, stood at the foot of the cross.

Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her.

And he said to his mother, woman, here is your son.

Then to the disciple he said, here is your mother.

From that moment, the disciple accepted her as his own mother.

Jesus, seeing that everything had been completed so that the scripture record might also be complete, said this.

I am thirsty.

A jug of sour wine was standing by.

And someone put a sponge soaked with the wine on a javelin and lifted it up to his mouth.

And after he took the wine, Jesus said, it's done complete.

Bowing his head, he offered up his spirit.

Then the Jews, since it was the day of Sabbath preparation, and so the bodies wouldn't stay on the crosses over the Sabbath.

It was a high holy day that year, petition Pilate that day their legs be broken to speed death and the bodies taken down.

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man crucified with Jesus and then the other.

When they got to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead.

So they didn't break his legs.

One of the soldiers stabbed him in the side with a spear, and blood and water gushed out.

The eyewitnesses to these things has presented an accurate report.

He saw it himself and is telling the truth.

So that you also will believe.

These things that happened confirmed the Scripture.

Not a bone in his body was broken.

And the other scripture that reads, they will stare at the one they pierced.

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he was intimidated by the Jews, petition Pilate to take the body of Jesus.

Pilate gave permission.

So Joseph came and took the body.

Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, came now in broad daylight carrying a mixture of myrrh and alloys, about £75.

They took Jesus body and followed the Jewish burial custom, wrapped it in linen with the spices.

There was a garden near the place where he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed.

So because it was Sabbath preparation for the Jews and the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it.

Well, my friends, what we shared here is one of the most powerful and pointed passages of scripture that we can have.

This is John's account of Jesus arrest and trial and execution.

It is an incredible story that speaks profoundly to power, resistance, and transformative love.

So let's get into some points to ponder, to consider here.

The first one is indeed about speaking truth to power.

Throughout this story, this narrative, we see Jesus consistently challenging the systems of power, both religious and and political power.

When he tells Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world, he's not speaking of otherworldly escapism, but rather announcing an alternative to the empire's violence and domination.

Jesus demonstrates a different kind of power, one that refuses to participate in this cycle of violence.

See, you know, this episode, for instance, with stopping Peter's sword.

And it does this while maintaining dignity in the face of oppression.

This challenges us to consider how we resist unjust systems today.

A second point is about the politics of crucifixion.

The crucifixion wasn't merely a religious event, but a political execution by the Roman Empire.

The charge King of the Jews was sedition and crucifixion was reserved for for threats to the imperial order.

When religious authorities say we have no king but Caesar, they reveal how the religious institutions often align with oppressive powers.

This invites us to examine how religious institutions today might be complicit in systems of oppression.

Another point is about creating a new family.

Even in his dying moments, Jesus creates a new relationship of care, telling his mother and his beloved disciple, his friend, to care for each other as family.

This radical reconstituting of family beyond biological ties offers a model for building a beloved community.

It challenges nuclear family supremacy and calls us to create networks of of mutual care and support, especially for those marginalized by traditional family structures.

Let's talk about some action steps that you can take based on the story of Good Friday.

Identify some system of oppression in your community or something you are aware of, that just somehow your community either participates of or condones, whether through action or silence.

Then take some concrete step towards resistance and building an alternative community.

This might mean some sort of aid network or neighborhood, or joining a movement against mass incarceration, creating chosen family spaces for LBGTQ people or folks excluded from traditional family structures.

Examine how your religious institutions might be aligned with with empire rather than justice.

We're going to pray here in just a minute, but I did want to remind you that we have a Bible study resource for you.

It's called the ABC123 Bible Study Method and it's here for you.

We invite you to go over to voiceofgoddaily.com and pick that up for your own Bible study.

Let's pray.

God of crucified peoples, we know what it means to face empire's violence.

Be with us now when we are tempted to choose empire's peace over justice.

Give us courage to speak truth to power.

When we see communities being crucified in systematic violence, help us to stand with them in solidarity.

When traditional structures fail, guide us in creating new forms of family and community.

Thank you for showing us that love is stronger than an empire, that truth persists despite power's attempts to silence it, and that new life can emerge even from death.

Help us be people who choose justice over comfort, community over empire, and love over fear.

In the spirit of Jesus who demonstrated power with rather than power over power with rather than power over we pray.

Amen.

Well, thank you for indulging me in this lengthy reading of the Good Friday story.

We all needed to hear it didn't we?

I hope that you'll join me again tomorrow as we continue the cycle here of Holy Week, leading us towards Easter.

A couple days from now when we will have another reading here from the New Testament.

Hope you'll join me and bring a friend.

Until tomorrow then, friends, My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

Encouraging you that God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up, it's created new every morning.