The Days & Nights of His Passion, vol. 2
ARE YOU THE KING OF THE JEWS?
Luke 23:1-12
Intro: God has friends and enemies. There are no neutral persons who fall into a different category. In Luke 23, Jesus is on trial for His life, and three groups of enemies emerge. This passage is a clear caution for each of us to examine our lives to see if what kind of spiritual fruit we are bearing. Is there evidence we are God’s friends? Or do these profiles of God’s enemies look like us? May we hear heaven’s warning and surrender!
Luke 23:1 Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate.
Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”
Luke 23:3 Then Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He answered him and said, “It is as you say.”
Luke 23:4 So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.”
Luke 23:5 But they were the more fierce, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.”
Luke 23:6 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the Man were a Galilean.
Luke 23:7 And as soon as he knew that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
Luke 23:8 Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him.
Luke 23:9 Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing.
Luke 23:10 And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him.
Luke 23:11 Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate.
Luke 23:12 That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.
v.1 “…the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate”
The Sanhedrin was usually so sharply divided between the Pharisees and the Sadducees that they almost never did anything together. But their furious vindictiveness is on full display in this verse.
All of the different splinter groups of the Jewish Council had come together as one to have Jesus executed. All they wanted was for someone to ratify the verdict they had already reached (Luke 22:71). So they tell Pilate that Jesus was some kind of political terrorist.
vv.3-4 “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered, “…you say.” “I find no fault in this Man.”
The examination before the Roman governor had taken an orderly and lawful course. The prisoner was accused of high treason, the judge had investigated the matter and acquitted him.
Pilate was notorious for being callous towards the Jews and their religion.
illus: On one occasion he introduced military standards into Jerusalem bearing the bust of the Emperor Tiberius, violating the Jewish ban on images (2nd commandment). The Jews were offended and marched en masse to Caesarea, nearly 70 miles away. They staged a 5-day nonviolent protest at Pilate’s residence. Initially, Pilate gave orders to slay all of the protesters in the stadium, but when “they bared their throats, welcoming death rather than transgression of their law,” he withdrew the images from Jerusalem.
Pilate does not want the Jewish leadership to accuse him before Tiberius Caesar who was suspicious by nature. So he passes the buck to someone else to make the difficult ruling. Whatever Herod’s verdict may be, it should exempt Pilate from responsibility.
v.7 “And as soon as he knew that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.”
Herod was pleased to have Jesus appear before him. For a while he had wanted to see one of Christ’s famous miracles. But when he questioned the prisoner, Jesus said nothing.
When Jesus refused to perform any tricks, Herod used him for sport. One way or another, he would have his fun. If Jesus would not dazzle him with signs/wonders, then for the sake of his own cruel laughter, Herod would expose him to vulgar mockery.
This was cruel irony. Jesus should be adored, not abused. He should be treated with reverence, not contempt.
Yet just as the temple guards had mocked Jesus earlier as a prophet (“prophesy who hit you!”), so now Herod’s soldiers mocked Him as a king.
This is the same attitude many have toward Jesus Christ today. They want God to entertain them, or they will mock Him or blaspheme Him if He fails to give them the pleasures they want out of life.
If Jesus truly is our King, then we will show His gentleness in our homes. We will show His patience in our trial, His diligence in our work, His faithfulness in our marriages, His steadfastness in our friendships, and His forgiveness towards those who wrong us.
Are we living for the King, or are we mocking Him by living as if it hardly matters whether He is the King or not?
The claim of kingship is not just a claim that Jesus makes about Himself, but it is also a claim that He makes on us.
The Jewish religious leaders put more pressure on Herod to sentence Christ to death, knowing that Herod had weak character.
Instead of ordering His death, Herod lowered himself and led in a schoolyard bullying session with his soldiers. Surely if Jesus has committed any crime, Herod (of all people) would not hesitate to put Him to death (ex. John the Baptist, James in Acts 12).
Instead, he sent Christ back to Pilate.
v.12 “That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.”
What an unholy alliance! Rather than believing in Jesus and being reconciled to God, these men were reconciled to each other by mistreating the Lord Jesus.
Here was a perverse friendship based on the one thing unbelievers can always agree on: that they will not put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Psalm 2:2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed.
Three kinds of enemies of the Son of God:
(1) Religious leaders (vicious accusers)
HOSTILE AND CLOSED TO THE TRUTH
Luke 8:11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Luke 8:12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Luke 23:10 And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him.
We have no evidence of any of these chief priests/scribes ever seriously considering that Jesus might be the Son of God.
Matt 10:14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.
(2) Roman governor Pilate (attempting neutrality)
CURIOUS ABOUT TRUTH IF NOTHING IS REQUIRED
John 18:37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
John 18:38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.”
Luke 23:3 Then Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He answered him and said, “It is as you say.”
Luke 23:4 So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.”
Pilate was glad to examine Jesus if he did not have to make a decision about the Lord. He did not mind being around Christ, but he did not want to be in Christ.
Luke 23:7 And as soon as he knew that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
In effect Pilate was saying to Herod, “I don’t want to deal with Jesus; you deal with him.”
(But Herod will eventually send Christ back to Pilate without rendering any verdict).
The Lord Jesus is like that: if you try to push Him out of your life, hoping you will not have to make a firm decision about Him, He keeps coming back!
You cannot simply decide to do nothing with Jesus.
He claims to the Son of God. He claims to be the Savior of the World (the Lord Himself). If He is, then we should worship Him.
If Jesus is not the Son of God, then he is either a liar or a lunatic or a legend someone made up, and we should have nothing to do with Him.
But the one thing we cannot do is simply leave Jesus alone.
If the Scriptures are correct that believing in Jesus is the difference between living forever with God or suffering judgment forever in hell, then what we do with Jesus Christ is the most important decision we will ever make.
This is why Jesus keeps coming back (to Pilate and to us): He wants us to make the right decision about Him.
(3) Local king Herod Antipas (mocking indifference)
INTERESTED EARLIER BUT DISMISSIVE NOW
Herod’s spiritual profile:
Interested in truth
Mark 6:18 Because John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
Mark 6:19 Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not
Mark 6:20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
Here was a man who heard the gospel and almost wanted to believe it, but never did.
In fact, this may have been what made him so dangerous – he dabbled in religion without ever committing his life to Christ. This failure to launch made him even more resistant to the gospel in the end.
Troubled by conscience
Luke 3:19 But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,
Luke 3:20 also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.
Word for “rebuke” is equally translated “convict” in the NT.
Luke concludes the story of John the Baptist in ch.3 with a note that Herod Antipas was “convicted” by John’s preaching about his adultery with Herodias, and about “all the evils which Herod had done.”
Herod clearly suffered from a disturbed conscience. When he heard people speak of the supernatural preaching ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, Herod thought it must be the ghost of John the Baptist returning to haunt him.
Mark 6:14 Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known. And he said, “John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.”
Mark 6:15 Others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets.”
Mark 6:16 But when Herod heard, he said, “This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!”
Why would Herod suppose John the Baptist had returned from the realm of the dead? Almost certainly because his guilty conscience cried out against him for putting an innocent holy man to death.
Trapped by reckless commitments
Mark 6:22 And when Herodias’ daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”
Mark 6:23 He also swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
Mark 6:25 Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
Mark 6:26 And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her.
His exceeding sorrow for ordering the execution of John the Baptist is proof that he felt trapped by his own careless promise he made to his stepdaughter.
Conclusion:
Luke 23:9 Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing.
Herod had completely surrendered himself to spiritual blindness and moral decay. Since he only wanted to meet Jesus out of curiosity and not to know truth or life, Christ remained silent in his presence.
Herod made no use of the opportunity given him to repent and believe, so the Savior no longer had a word for him.
This is a warning to anyone who rejects the free gift of God’s grace: eventually the day will come when Christ will have no more gospel to give to you.
