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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Richard Walton

A Call To Greatness

It was a sheer cliff at the end of a barren plain in the middle of an island no 1 had ever heard of.

To that cliff at that time and that place, Soldiers of the 370th, 307th Infantry Regiment, United States Army 377th Infantry Division had come to do battle.

On that tiny island, 2 great nations found themselves at war.

As they came over the top of that 400 foot cliff, the soldiers, combat regiment team of the 307th infantry, found themselves facing a barrage of machine gun fire, artillery fire, and direct mortar fire.

In the face of an enemy counterattack against an entire regiment, he methodically treated and lowered to safety over 75 of his wounded comrades.

For his actions that day and for later actions on that island, he received the following citation from a grateful nation.

Private First Class, United States Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry Division, 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division.

Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions, Private First Class Desmond T.

His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry, above outstanding gallantry above and beyond the call of duty.

Our topic this morning is called to greatness and I ask you what is your name remembered for?

And in that moment that every person will ultimately face, the moment or 2 that defines an entire life, a career, a series of choices, sacrifices and achievements, what cable of character are you weaving?

It will not be a decision based on the moment.

It will be a decision based on a lifetime of choices.

From the earliest moments of our lives, we are faced with opportunities to choose.

My grandmother once told me, habit is a cable, we weave a thread of it every day until at last it becomes so strong we cannot break it.

In school, the decision to Be honest on exams or not.

In practice, the decision to go back and maybe do a little retroactive doctoring on charts or not.

The decisions that we make in patient care.

Each 1 of these decisions, the decisions that lead to a character of integrity and courage, are a cable woven from the youngest and earliest points in our lives until it becomes so strong we cannot break it.

Private First Class Doss, on that cliff that day, did not suddenly decide to be brave.

He made that choice from the first moment of his association with the US Army when he was drafted.

He had the courage to say, my religious convictions prevent me from carrying a weapon.

He had the courage throughout training to put up with insults and jeers from his peers.

He had the courage time after time to move forward under heavy enemy fire with no weapon in hand, unarmed, in the face of the enemy, to save lives, to fulfill the greatest commission that others may live.

And so when it came to that day on a 400-foot sheer cliff face, The decisions that he had made throughout his career ultimately and inevitably led him to do what he did.

60 years later, shortly before he died, I had the privilege of seeing, and there is a tradition in the United States military, that a soldier, airman, or sailor, or marine that wears the Congressional Medal of Honor is entitled to a salute regardless of rank.

So as I came to attention and I saluted that man, he reached into his breast pocket and he pulled out a beautiful little blue and white ribbon.

That 1 moment that has defined his life, living and dead, was the result, I submit to you, of a series of choices.

Matthew 27 verse 22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I then do with Christ?

The story of this young man begins in the city of Seville, where a man by the name of Marcus Pontius, a renegade Spaniard who threw aside his loyalties to home and country to fight for the legions of Rome, left the plains of Spain, joined the Roman legions and rose through their ranks to become a general.

He helped the Romans complete the conquest of Spain and as a reward received what to the Romans was their equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

It was a special ceremonial javelin called a pilatas.

Well, he was so proud of that award that he changed his name to Marcus Pontius Pilatus, which we have today anglicized to Pilate.

He had a young ambitious son, also with stars in his eyes, who thought that if it worked for dad, he'd try it himself, joined the legions, headed East to fight on the frontier in Germania.

He fought brilliantly in the German campaigns, and when the peace was won, he headed south to Rome.

Rome, the great capital of the world, is a place where dreams were made.

In that beautiful city, on its 7 hills, he did find his dream and the fulfillment of his ambition.

A young lady by the name of Claudia only 15 years old he met her he fell in love and at their wedding ceremony, her grandfather showed up, Augustus Caesar, The great emperor of Rome.

So young Pontius Pilatus had really fallen upstairs, married into the royal family, and as a wedding present, Augustus gave him the procuratorship, the governorship of 1 of the Roman colonies in Judea.

He was so happy with his award that he raced at once to Caesarea, left his young bride behind and moved in to the Imperial Palace in Jerusalem.

Now the award of Judea shows us that Augustus didn't think so much of this ambitious young Spaniard because it was at the time 1 of the most troublesome of the different Roman provinces.

At least 5 predecessors had learned that it was extremely dangerous to be a governor in Judea.

It took courage, it took skill, and it took discretion.

Well, Pilate clattered into Jerusalem at night, holding aloft the personal standard of Tiberius, the Roman eagle with the words underneath, SPQR, Senatus Populis Qui Romanus, the Senate and the people of Rome, and the city of Jerusalem went mad.

Freedom-loving Jews decided, based on their religion, and of course the 10 Commandments, that they could not have this idol, this symbol, inside their holy city.

The city rioted for 3 days and when it was finally done, Pilate had to take the standard outside of the city and re-entered the town.

A couple of other times Pilate found himself the butt of conflicts with the Jews.

And this brings us to the morning twilight of an April Friday in AD 31.

I can best tell the story in dialogue drawing from a book called The Lucifer Diary, written by a good friend of mine.

Pontius Pilate, who has been dreading the Passover weekend anyway, is roused by shrill voices that fracture the dawn.

A centurion reluctantly steps to his bedroom door and knocks discreetly.

The Hebrews have a man they want executed today.

Something to do with their peculiar beliefs.

What do you wish me to tell them?" Fuming, the youngish-looking governor thrashes loose from his linen sheets and sits up, his dark hair tangled from a restless night, his black eyes snapping.

I'd like to tell them to go burn, he replies, but we'll have to listen to their twaddle.

Tell them I will be there in an hour and have the chambermaid start heating water for my bath." The huge crowd is boisterous as they wait, they vent their frustrations on their prisoner, who has taken quite a battery.

He says nothing, just absorbing the punishment.

A judge's seat is set up on the raised hump of paving stones outside Pilate's palace, and moments later the governor strides out and takes his place on the curled chair.

He is anything but happy, and his manner is Curt.

What is your accusation against this man?

Pilate went out unto them and said, What accusation bring you against this man?

At this point, Pilate is acting exactly like a Roman judge, which is 1 of his jobs as governor, as procurator of Judea.

1 of the institutions of Roman government was that the conquered and occupied countries did not have the power to carry out a death sentence themselves.

All death sentences had to be approved and executed by the Roman governing authority.

So having convicted Jesus, the Jews had to bring him, the Sanhedrin having found him guilty to be punished by death, had to bring him to the Roman governor for the death sentence to be approved and to be carried out.

So Pilate takes the seat of judgment, sits down and demands to know what accusation is being brought against Jesus.

And let's turn to another gospel now we get a slightly clearer version of the story in Luke chapter 23 starting with verse 1 Luke 23 verse 1 And we pick up as the Sanhedrin has found Jesus guilty, the whole multitude arose, led him unto Pilate.

Again, because Pilate was the 1 who had to carry out the death sentence.

And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to...

To Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ...

You see, Pilate, as a Roman governor, could care less that Jesus has declared himself to be the Messiah.

That is a religious infraction, has nothing to do with Roman law and is not likely punishable by the death penalty under Roman law.

So what the Jews have done is to bring not a charge of being a false Messiah but a charge of being what?

A rival king to mighty Augustus Caesar, a charge of sedition, which is punishable by death in the Roman Empire.

In fact, what they have done is to appeal to everything that Pilate both loves and fears.

The Roman authority that protects him, that gives him synagge sheets, a beautiful palace to live in, on a spectacular hill, spectacular view of the city called Mount Zion, that same authority can also send Pilate to the dungeon and possibly to the death cross himself for failing to deal with the charge of sedition.

Remember who's on the throne back in Rome.

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A Call To Greatness

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