In high school I spent four summers working in a restaurant, three of them as a server. I worked at Victoria Park Restaurant in Niagara Falls Ontario, next to the illumination station that lights up the Horseshoe Falls so strikingly each evening. It was a great experience for me as I learned how to serve and interact with people from all over the world who had come to see the Falls. It was on this job that I learned first hand of the global reach of Coke. And I learned the hard way, for our restaurant didn’t serve Coke, the only cola option was Pepsi. It was surprising to me the number of people that would change their order for all manner of drinks – cold and hot – just so long as they didn’t offend their cola taste buds with the second rate second place Pepsi! Accept no substitutes! was their collective cry. As the slogan said: Coke was the “real thing”!
This weekend, Pastor Andrew will be preaching from the first half of Mark 15 where we find Jesus before the Roman Governor Pilate on charges brought against him by the Chief Priests of the Sanhedrin Council. The Chief Priests would liked to have brought a theological charge of blasphemy against him, but knew that would have no traction with a Roman Governor. Thus, several false charges were trumped up against him, the main one being sedition. Pilate saw through the Chief Priest’s charade, perceiving that it was because of their envy that an innocent man was standing accused before him. Authority is on the minds of all of Jesus’ accusers: the Chief Priests the evening before asked: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”, and Pilate asks: “Are you the King of the Jews?” The Priests envy the One who walks and speaks in and with the authority of the Father. In Mark’s first chapter he quickly asserts the stark difference; “Jesus taught as one who had authority”! Pilate’s concern was for people pleasing and thus feared the man for whom the crowds had just days earlier proclaimed, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
Of course for the sake of greater purpose, Jesus lays down his authority and says not a word in his defense. Pilot schemes and sees a way out; he reasons that he can use the traditional release of one prisoner during the Passover to his advantage. Surely, between the Jesus, “King of the Jews”, and Barabbas, an insurrection leader and murderer, the crowd would demand Jesus. The crowd demands the release of Barabbas, whose name ironically means “son of the father” (Bar-abbas).
Regardless of your cola flexibility, there is a substitute we desperately need. We see evidence of humanity’s sinful tendency all around us and everyday – even when we look in the mirror! The Apostle Paul says starkly to us “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked … having no hope and without God in the world (Eph 2:1-2a, 12b)” An alienation from a Holy God that required a savior, a substitute for us. The crowd had a choice: the son of the father who sought for rule by force, or the Son of the Father that ruled on earth by serving and served in eternity by ruling. We also have a choice; for this substitute, there is no substitute – choose the true Son of the Father!
Much love,
~ Pastor Gary