WASH BASINS
TEXT: Matthew 27:22-24
Matthew 27:22-24 -- Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
l. INTRODUCTION -- GRANNY’S WASH BASIN
Though time and space have carried me many years from the place, it still lives on in memory. I can still hear the hiss of the water in the old pipes, I still remember drinking from the old dipper on the back porch, I can still remember how cool the water was out of the spigot, with the mind’s eye I can still see the old towel hanging on the peg on the wall, I remember that the only kind of soap was Dial soap, and most of all, I remember the silver wash pan in the bottom of the sink. That was how you washed your hands at my Granny’s house. Run some water (or draw as she would say) into the pan and fill it and then wash your hands in the basin. Little boys hands seem to get cleaner in a basin of water rather than under the running water.
I can remember how that she would scrub our hands before going into the kitchen to eat. Under the observing eye of my Papa, my Granny would relentlessly scrub away all of the grime of little boys business and rinse away all of the cooties that little girls are so careful about. There in that wash basin nothing stood a chance at resisting cleanliness. If it was dirty, exposure to my Granny=s wash pan would eradicate any sort of even the most resistant of grime.
On the other hand, out in the barn there were some old wash basins that had been retired. Having been used so much, time had worn them down. Holes appeared in the lining of some, rusted away areas were now present, and those made of porcelain had so many chips that water now leaked from them. These wash pans were no longer effective in their struggle against dirt and grime. No longer any good for anything except laying about the barn. Perhaps good for table scraps for the dog or corn for the chickens, but their usefulness for their purpose had been destroyed.
-That was Pilate’s trouble on that Passover morning, he was trying to use a wash basin that wasn’t effective.
ll. MATTHEW 27
A. Jesus and Pilate
-The contrasts between Jesus and Pilate on that Passover morning are striking:
Pain vs. Luxury
Selfishness vs. Generosity
Arrogance vs. Humility
Sin vs. Holiness
Power vs. Weakness
-There stands Jesus in front of Pilate. Even though Pilate is the man whom controls the country, he appears confused. Confused that a King would attempt to set up a kingdom in the manner that Jesus has pursued. Confused that the religious leaders are still fighting against their prophets. Confused about the religious leaders who make long speeches about the sovereignty of God and then beg for tax breaks.
-He notices the mob that seems to be restless on that morning. They are howling about something and they are quite serious about their requests. Again, Pilate retreats to the recesses of his mind and tries to recall what he knows about this up-country preacher.
-Of all the problems and perplexing issues that have come to him during his tenure in Jerusalem, none are so troubling as his review of this hoax of a trial. Pilate is taken out of his element in trying to understand what it is that began with John of Jerusalem and now has progressed to Jesus of Nazareth.
-The words in the heart are as of yet unspoken, "I find no fault in this man." But before he states the objective, he again reviews the last three years:
A widow’s son is miraculously called from the casket.
The bride whose wedding almost went bad had more wine than she bargained for.
The cripple who walked out of the house with his bed.
The parents who rejoiced over their daughter’s restoration to life.
The thousands who were fed with just a small amount of fish and bread.
The sermons, the parables, and the teaching that flowed was cut of such wisdom.
-All of this Pilate remembers. Yet, he recalls hearing of how this country prophet had entertained some midnight guests. Some of the upper echelon in the religious world had been curious but embarrassed to approach so under the cover of night Pilate had knowledge that Nicodemus had come to Jesus. That was what he remembered most.
1. Pilate’s Letter
-He remembered when his turn came. He remembered the letter that he wrote back to Rome:
Divine and Most Illustrious Tiberius, all is quiet here. I have mad my troubles with this insufferable and ungovernable people, but neither watchfulness nor firmness has been wanting on my part. Only, the former matter of Jesus the son of David still perplexes me. I sometimes wish that a wiser man than I am were in my place, so that he might better report to you about this mysterious movement among this people. Had this Jesus been an ordinary Jewish zealot, or an insurrectionary of an everyday order, my duty to my master would soon have been fulfilled. But, as a matter of fact, Jesus the Christ, as he is called, is worth more to my administration than any legion of my armed men. He is the most peaceable and inoffensive of men. I know what I say, for I have had him and his discipleship watched and reported on in all places and at all times. Not only so, but it was only last week that I determined to be a spy upon him myself, so perplexed was I with all that I had heard about him. I accordingly most effectually disguised myself, a thing I had never done before, and went to where he dwelt and told him that I had for long been a secret disciple of his. I am come by night, I told him, for fear of his enemies and mine. But instead of his royal descent from David, or his Hebrew Messiahship, or any pretensions or expectations of his of any kind, he would speak to me about nothing and no one--David, nor Solomon, Caesar nor Caiaphas--but only about myself. Jew or Roman, or whatever I was, I must be born again, he insisted. I must be baptized in Jordan, confessing my sins. Till I was so born again, I, like all men loved the darkness rather than the light, because my deeds were evil. And, that the only way to know the truth, and to be sure of the truth, and not to be afraid or ashamed of the truth, was just to do my duty to the truth and to do nothing else. And when I asked him why he did not leave this so untruthful and unfriendly land, and go and open a philosopher’s school about all these things in Rome or Athens or Alexandria, his only reply to me was that he was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And, then, his eyes and hands as he dismissed me from his presence were absolutely the eyes and hands of a king. I shall not lift a single finger against this "King of the Jews," as his disciples call him, till I am commanded by Caesar so to do. (Bible Characters from the Old and New Testaments, Alexander Whyte)
-It was while this letter was on the way to Rome that the whole matter came to a head. This Jesus was thrust into the courts of Pilate by the religious leaders.
2. The Actions In the Wrong Direction
-It was here that things began to go wrong for Pilate. He violates the voice of his conscience. Instead he orders Jesus to be whipped. The Sanhedrin gets tattered nerves and lacerated muscles and blood but that is not enough. They want Him crucified.
-Pilate can no longer stand this. In the brilliance of his mind, he vaguely remembers one of the Hebrew laws and he will attempt to further plead with the rulers. He calls his servant and orders a basin of water to be sent.
I. The Sacrifice of Deuteronomy 21:1-9
-In the Old Testament Law (Deuteronomy 21:1-9), if someone was slain and there was no one who witnessed the crime and the murderer was not found, a sacrifice was to be offered.
-In this process of the sacrifice being offered, the hands of the elders of the city were to be washed. Hand-washing was a particular ritual among the Jews. The Mishna gave specific orders on the order of hand washing:
The hands had to be thrust into the water three times up to the wrist.
The palm of each hand had to be rubbed with the closed fist of the other.
-By doing this, the elders were cleansing themselves symbolically of any guilt on their own part. As they washed their hands they would state: "Our hands have not shed this blood and our eyes have not seen. Grant forgiveness to they People and give not innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel and the blood shall be forgiven them."
3. The Wrong Wash Basins
-Pilate’s wash basin was a dead failure because he was a man who proposed to wash away his guilt of sin which he does not recall and of which he does not make any repentance.
-Ceremonies may be beautiful and appropriate but if there is no power in them, nothing is gained. A series of revival services are uplifting, but if there is no power in them, nothing is gained. Dedication is wonderful, but if there is no element of sacrifice in devotion, nothing is gained. One may kneel without praying. One may bow without reverence.
-The wash basin leaving the room in the hands of Pilate’s servant took none of the indecision or guilt from the heart of Pilate, it was just empty ritual. Outward must be symbolic of inward. Ceremony is but the sheath to the sword, the shell of the kernel, the lamp to the flame.
-Wash the hands, but more importantly wash the heart. There are literally millions of people who use inadequate wash basins in an effort to remove the stains of guilt from their lives.
A psychiatrist’s couch.
A numbing drink.
An illicit relationship.
A mind-altering drug.
An affair with gambling.
The party life.
Pursuit of affluence.
A career that consumes all energy.
There are others.
-These are the things that come to mind when we began to look at the world. But what about when the wrong wash basins encroach on our worship.
The destroying root of bitterness.
A lack of forgiveness.
The rivalry of competition.
A lack of sacrifice.
Lifeless and meaningless church attendance.
No daily relationship with the Master.
No Bible reading in personal devotion time.
Busy-ness for the work of the church.
-They are the wrong wash basins. Pilate=s conscience was pursuing him or else he would not have requested the basin. He could have washed his hands forever and they would not have been cleansed.
-There are no prisoners more miserable than those who are prisoners to their conscience.
Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves from the world then they were the only ones in the world.
Cain’s conscience made his punishment greater than he could bear.
Ahab’s conscience made him cry to the prophet, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?"
Felix, the great ruler, trembled at Paul’s words. His conscience was embodied by Paul.
Belshazaar’s teeth rattled when he saw the finger writing on the wall. The finger came out of the black sleeve of midnight and confronted him.
-The conscience is always working toward a confrontation. It keeps the score, it keeps the total of squandered opportunities, of unforgiving sins. It is a living voice from a dead past.
-When God starts calling me, there are times that I escape His requests. Life is a series of choices.
Witness to your co-worker. . . . . . But I call for the servant, instead.
Fast today and tomorrow for spiritual breakthrough at church. . . . . . but I look for the servant instead.
Pray for those that I know who are discouraged. . . . . but I dip my hands into the water.
Read the Word of God. . . . but I smugly scrub my hands a little harder.
Pray with your family at home. . . . . . but I ask for the towel to dry my hands.
Teach a home Bible study to someone. . . . . . but I hear only the retreating steps of the servant.
Intercede for lost men who are unaware of their fatal plight. . . . . but again I call for the basin.
-Improper basins squeeze the life out of my devotion to God.
lll. CONCLUSION -- THE RIGHT BASIN
A. The Brazen Laver in the Tabernacle
-The Brazen laver in the Tabernacle was a small affair. It held water for the priest to cleanse away any of the spattering from the bearing of his sacrifice. Being made of the mirrors of the women it also had a capacity to serve as a place of examination.
-It was located between the altar and the door of the Tabernacle which is not without significance. Before entrance into the Tabernacle one had to insure himself to be clean.
-Time after time the priest would have to wash himself in the laver to be presentable to God. Because of the apparent small size of the Brazen Laver, the priest had to spend time at the place of outward washing.
B. The Brazen Laver in the Temple
-However, when Solomon built his Temple, one discovers that it was much larger:
I Kings 7:23-26 -- And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast. It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.
-This gigantic laver for the priests washing was ten cubits (14 2 feet) across when measured from outside rim to outside rim, but the inside measurement was two handbreadths less (6 inches). This inside measurement was apparently used when calculating the circumference as 30 cubits (52 2 feet). It contained 2,000 baths (a bath was 6 gallons, totaling 12,000 gallons).
-There are a thousand lavers that we may use but there is only one that is effective.
Psalm 51:6-12 -- Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
-I am aware of all of the old stories that circulate about the demise of Pilate and about speculations of his own suicide. But I would lay hope against hope that was not the case with Pilate. If my sale of my Savior, and of my own soul, has so often chased me to the Cross of Christ, so I think Pilate=s remorse must have endeavored to pursue him also.
-On the Passover morning, instead of calling on the grace of God, on the love of God, he merely called for the basin of water. As he washed his hands in the water that morning, so I will hope that he has washed his heart ten thousand times in after days in the Fountain for sin which he had such an awful hand in opening.
-The world would not contain the books if all the names of all the chief priests, and scribes, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; and all the governors, and centurions, and soldiers of Rome, who can find relief in that fact that Pilate washed his hands that morning in the wrong basin.
-Our own actions mirror that of Pilate, but listen to what Peter preached after the lame man was healed:
Acts 3:12-20 -- And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
-Times of refreshing always come with repentance.
Philip Harrelson
