There is no doubt whatsoever what Pontius Pilate wanted people to see when he had Jesus of Nazareth crucified.  Pinned onto the cross along with Jesus was a sign Pilate had prepared.  It said: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”  He had it printed on the sign in three languages.  It was written in Aramaic so the Jews could read it.  It was written in Latin.  Latin was the official language of the Roman empire.  And just in case there was anyone in town who didn’t know Aramaic or Latin, he also had it written in Greek, which was pretty much known throughout the Mediterranean world.

Last week we concluded our worship service by singing the hymn “The Church’s One Foundation.”  As we sang, one verse really grabbed me.  In verse 4 of that hymn, we sang this about the Church on earth:  “Though with a scornful wonder, men see her sore oppressed, by schism’s rent asunder, by heresies distressed.”

The matter at hand in our text this morning is a biggie.  In fact, it is THE biggie.  People can be busy and concerned about many things in life, but finally, this is the one every person must deal with.  There is no avoiding it.  In the end, this is the only thing that matters.

Our text for this morning allows us to review, at least in part, that event in the history of the world called The Flood.  Most of us have heard the story how after about 18 centuries of world history, humankind had become so corrupt and violent that God destroyed the world in a great flood. 

The story tells itself. As Jesus speaks, who cannot envision the rich man he describes? There he is. He’s got the big luxurious house in the gated community. He is described as wearing purple. Purple cloth was extremely expensive due to the painstaking way in which it was made. The purple dye was harvested from little glands on certain kinds of sea snails.