As we try to wrap our minds around this whole Easter thing this week, here's the question: What was Pontius Pilate thinking when he set the murderer, the insurrectionist Barabbas free, yet ordered Jesus the Son of God to be crucified? What in the blazes was going on here? 

Look, Pilate was no fool. As Roman governor, he was well-versed in judging guilt and innocence. And when Jesus stood before him, Pilate saw straight through the trumped-up accusations.

John 18:38 I find no basis for a charge against him. (NRSV)

In fact, he declared Jesus innocent three times. He knew it. He even tried to set Him free. But in the end, Pilate bowed to pressure. He allowed his fear of the surging, angry mob to override the plain truth.

That's incredibly tragic, but also rather familiar. Like Pilate, how often have we known the right thing, yet shrunk back under pressure; weighing public opinion, fearing rejection, remaining silent when we should have stood firm?

And yet, Jesus didn't flinch. His integrity, His profound decency, His commitment to the task before Him, stood in stark contrast to the hypocrisy and manipulation that surrounded Him.

John 18:37 Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. (NRSV)

Jesus was condemned not because He was guilty but because His goodness exposed the darkness of those in power. He didn't resist. He didn't beg because He was standing in for you and me.

The only truly innocent man that the world has ever known was judged guilty not by truth, but by fear. And He allowed it… for you.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

When faith feels heavy, we've forgotten how loved we are.

Back in those few days leading up to that very first Easter, the Disciples were afraid. Petrified in fact. There was a plot afoot to assassinate Jesus. That was bad enough. But were they in the firing line too? Were they going to die too? And into that little mess, Jesus spoke to them about joy and peace.

The days leading up to that first Good Friday, which incidentally at the time must have felt anything but good, they were frightening days. Not for Jesus. Of course His impending crucifixion weighed heavily upon Him but He didn't seem to be afraid since He knew where He was going and what He had to do.

But His disciples, they were very definitely afraid. Why? Not just because they felt the plot to assassinate Jesus, not just because they were aware of the under currents and the plotting and the scheming and the conniving that was afoot to rob them of this amazing Jesus but because their lives were under threat too.

I mean they were His disciples, they were widely recognised as being the inner circle of Rabbi Jesus followers. That's why Peter ended up denying Jesus three times because he feared for his own life.

So while on these days leading up to Easter you and I may well be looking forward to a long weekend and a rest and having just a bit extra chocolate that frankly our waistlines and cholesterol levels just don't need, these disciples of Jesus were living in fear.

Fear not just of losing Jesus but fear of losing their own lives, fear of their whole belief system collapsing. Everything they'd dedicated their lives to these last three and a half years and fear for their own skin. No, that Friday looked anything but good and it's into this reality, this fearful reality that Jesus speaks these words to His disciples. John chapter 16 beginning at verse 16:

'A little while and you won't see me any longer and again a little while and you will see me.' Then some of His disciples said to one another, 'What does He mean by saying "In a little while you'll see me no longer and again in a while you'll see me, because I'm going away to the Father?"' They said, 'What does He mean by this "a little while"? We do not know what He's talking about.'

Jesus knew they wanted to ask Him so He said to them, 'Are you discussing amongst yourselves what I meant when I said "A little while and you'll no longer see me and again in a little while you'll see me?" Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn but the world will rejoice and you will have pain but your pain will turn to joy.'

When a woman's in labour she has pain because her hour has come but when her child is born she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you.

On that day you'll be asking nothing of me. Very truly I tell you if you ask anything of the Father in my name He will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive so that your joy may be made complete. I've said these things to you in figures of speech but the hour's coming when I'll no longer speak to you in figures but will tell you plainly of the Father.

On that day you will ask in my name and I do not say to you that I'll ask the Father on your behalf for the Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into this world. Again I am leaving the world and going to the Father.'

His disciples said, 'Yes now you're speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech. Now we know that you know all things and do not need to have anyone question you. By this

As each Easter week comes and goes year in, year out, it's so easy to grow numb to the cross of Christ, bloody and brutal though it was. We know the story. Jesus died. He rose again. But have you ever really stopped to feel the injustice of it all?

The innocent man, Jesus, was condemned. The guilty man, Barabbas, went free. This is what the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, said to the angry mob about Jesus:

John 18:38 I find no basis for a charge against him. (NRSV)

In fact, Pilate declared Jesus innocent three times. Yet still, they cried, "Crucify him!"  In a shockingly ironic twist, they chose Barabbas — a criminal — over Jesus. The One who'd done no wrong was beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross. The murderer was set free.

What should shake us to the core is this? Jesus didn't resist.

1 Peter 2:23-24 When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (NRSV)

Jesus absorbed the cruelty, entrusted Himself to the Father, and bore your sin and mine in His body. He didn't just suffer an incredible injustice at the hands of that crowd; He suffered your judgment, your consequences, and He did it willingly.

That's the scandal of the cross. Nothing else in history compares - there's no injustice more outrageous, no love more undeserved. Let that sink in: The worst injustice in history was also the greatest act of grace.
He took your place — not because you deserved it, but because He couldn't bear eternity without you. That's love!

And that's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

There is no place that you are that God is not.

Just before He was betrayed, Jesus got down and washed the dirty, smelly feet of His disciples. Have you ever wondered how you'd react if He knocked on your front door tonight and offered to wash your feet? I'm not sure I'd be that keen to let Him do that … but as it turns out, that's exactly what He came to do!

An amazing week coming up this week. Not just here on the program but in life generally as we head towards Easter. Here we are on the Monday before that Friday where we celebrate, oh maybe celebrate isn't quite an apt choice of words here, when we remember that Jesus was nailed to that cross.

We call it Good Friday but back then it didn't look too good, it didn't feel too good and those days and weeks leading up to that fateful day, a day on which the whole of the history of humanity pivots. They were tense and dangerous days and for the disciples it was quite a frightening time.

And so today and over the coming days we're again going to spend some time just travelling alongside the disciples, seeing what they saw, hearing what they heard and hopefully feeling what they felt. Why? Well that's simple. Because I for one am sick of kind of just zooming through Easter as though it's just a long weekend and a religious celebration, a time for some extra chocolate which truly I just don't need.

No this Easter thing is huge, I mean it's huge and my hunch is that as we walk beside the disciples, as we're going to do by recounting the Apostle John's account of events through the Gospel, my hunch is that Gods Spirit will touch our hearts with a fresh revelation and what it is that our mighty God was up to. And today we're going to take a look at this thing that Jesus did of washing His disciples feet, what was that all about?

John chapter 13 beginning at verse 1:

Now before the festival of the Passover Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world and to go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world He loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Him. And during the supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off His outer robe and tied a towel around Himself.

Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciple's feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around Him. He came to Simon Peter who said to Him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" And Jesus answered, "You do not know what I'm doing but later you will understand". Peter said to Him, "You'll never wash my feet" and Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share in me".

So Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not just my feet but also my hands and my head'. Jesus said to him, 'One who has bathed does not need to wash except for the feet but is entirely clean and you are clean though not all of you', for He knew who was about to betray Him and for this reason He said, 'Not all of you are clean.'

After He'd washed their feet and He put His robe back on again and He returned to the table He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done for you? You call me teacher and Lord and you are right for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example that you also should do as I have done to you.

Very truly I tell you servants are not greater than their masters nor are messengers greater than the one who have sent them. If you know these things you are blessed if you do them. I'm not speaking of all of you, I know whom I have chosen but it is to fulfil the Scriptures that "The one who ate my bread has lifted his h

As we roll into yet another Easter week, I wonder, in your scheme of things, how important this whole Easter thing actually is. Though it may come and go in a blur of chocolate, long weekends, and family lunches, if we race past it, we miss the very heartbeat of God. Because Easter is God's way of saying: You're worth dying for.

So, let's begin our week together by taking a step back to look at the broad sweep of what it's all about. Psalm 139, where the writer records his prayer to God, begins to paint the picture for us:

Psalm 139:13-14 For it was you who formed my inward parts… I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (NRSV)

In other words, God handcrafted you. He knit you together in your mother's womb. You're no accident. You're not some random product of chance. You were made in love, for love, to know Him and to walk with Him. But here's the tragedy:

Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (NRSV)

Each one of us, in our own way, has turned our back on God. We've missed the mark. And that rebellion comes with a price.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death. (NRSV)

Yet God, knowing that, still chose to step in.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin..." (NRSV)

He laid our sin — yours and mine — on Jesus. Why? So that we could have what we never deserved: forgiveness, freedom, eternal life.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NRSV)

Easter isn't just a quick drive-by or take-out; it's not even merely about remembering God's sacrifice — it's about responding to the One who gave His life for you. The One who saw your failures and said, "Still, you're worth dying for."

So, please, don't rush past Easter. Tarry a while. Let His love sink in deep, because Jesus didn't just die for the world; He died for you.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Hey, welcome to Sunday. If you've joined me through Fresh over this past week, you'll know that I've been banging on about the somewhat depressing subject of … sin. Well, today it's time for some good news.

Yep, I've very deliberately used the word "sin" rather than shortcomings, failures or foibles, because that's the word God uses for it. It literally means to miss the mark - and it's something that He takes very seriously indeed.

Romans 6:23 When people sin, they earn what sin pays—death.

"Sin" here doesn't merely refer to doing the wrong thing once or twice, but rather a power, a condition that besets the whole of humanity. You, me and everyone else; we're all in the same bucket.

And just as Roman soldiers earned their daily rations, sin dishes out rations too: death, both physically and through eternal separation from God. But I've only shared the bad news part of that verse so far. Here's the second part, the good news part:

Romans 6:23 But God gives his people a free gift—eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Though sin ruins our lives, Christ redeems. The cross breaks the power of it, it restores our relationship with God, it offers a new life of freedom.

Look, sin may always appear attractive but it ultimately leads to destruction. It ruins lives—not because God's cruel, but because sin cuts us off from the very source of life: God Himself.

But the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, is that no sin is too great for God's grace, God's mercy, God's forgiveness. That's not just Good News, it's fantastic news! Jesus.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.