Day 109

Day 109 -110

Take two days to do this one

Luke 22:63–23:23 (NIV)

⁶³ The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. ⁶⁴ They blindfolded him and demanded, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” ⁶⁵ And they said many other insulting things to him.

⁶⁶ At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. ⁶⁷ “If you are the Christ,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, ⁶⁸ and if I asked you, you would not answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” ⁷⁰ They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied, “You are right in saying I am.” ⁷¹ Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”

¹ Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. ² And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.” ³ So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. ⁴ Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.” ⁵ But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.” ⁶ On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. ⁷ When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸ When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. ⁹ He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. ¹¹ Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. ¹² That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

¹³ Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. ¹⁵ Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. ¹⁶ Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.” ¹⁸ With one voice they cried out, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” ¹⁹ (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.) ²⁰ Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. ²¹ But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” ²² For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.” ²³ But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.

Pray for God to show you something to use from the passage

Read the Passage

Who is in the passage?

What action verbs do you see?

What other words stick out in your mind

Questions

The Sanhedrin, Pilate, and Herod are involved in the trial of Jesus. What roles do the play? What is their motivation in the decisions they make? Think back to what we have read in Luke. How do their motivations fit the parables and words of Jesus in Like?

Why do the people want Jesus dead? What has changed in a week? What does the rejection of the people say about God and forgiveness?

Notes

vs 63-65 Part of the reason for Jesus' weakened condition when trying to carry the cross is the extra beatings he takes. It was supposedly against the Jewish law to beat someone before their trial.

There is four parts to Jesus' trial

· Before Jewish Leaders (Sanhedrin) 66-71- these leaders could discipline anyone who was Jewish but could not order anyone’s death

· Before Pilate 23:1-1-7- Pilate was over the Roman army in the region. He had the authority to decide life or death, He appointed the High Priest and controlled the temple and its funding.

· Before Herod 8-12 He is the one who had John the Baptist killed. And he also was over the province of Galilee where Jesus was from. His father was the Herod of Jesus' birth.

· Sentencing 13-25 Pilate had the choice of whether to agree with the sentence recommendation of the Sanhedrin or not. Being during the Passover, the crowds in Jerusalem were large. Pilate may have relented to killing Jesus to keep a riot from occurring or the Sanhedrin may have threaten to take the case to Rome if Pilate didn't follow through with killing someone claiming to be a king.

Sanhedrin- What Jesus had said in 9:22 now comes true. We know the leaders have tried to trap Jesus. They need to come up with something that would make Pilate rule that Jesus needed to be crucified for breaking the law of Rome. For them Jesus' admission that He is the Messiah is all they need. For them it meant that Jesus had uttered blasphemy to God and deserved death. For Rome it meant that He was a king and there could be no king other than Caesar. Jesus in his statement is saying you really don't care to know whether I am the Christ or not. You have already made up your mind. But no matter what you say it doesn't stop the fact that I am the Christ. Remember the parable in 20:9-ff, it is now coming true.

Ironic that what most of the Sanhedrin thinks is blasphemy is really true. They are the ones committing blasphemy against God by denying Jesus is the Christ.

Pilate- The Sanhedrin puts the trumped up charge of not paying taxes to Caesar (20:25) as well as the claim that Jesus is king to Pilate. While Jesus admits to being "king of the Jews" Pilate is unimpressed. He sees no threat in Jesus. Probably heard from his people that He is not seeking war with Rome. Jesus claims He is a King but not in this world (John 18:36) Pilate probably believes it is an internal matter of the Jewish leaders and not of importance to Rome. (also in Matthew 27:19 Pilate's wife says “don't kill Jesus I had a dream about His innocence.”) Pilate knowing Herod is in town thinks Herod may take the burden of dealing with Jesus away. Since Jesus is from Herod's portion of the Judea, Jesus is sent to see him

Herod- Herod had heard about all the miracles that Jesus had done and had wanted to see Him. In 11:29 Jesus had scolded the people for just wanting miraculous signs and not caring for His message. Herod's desire to see a miracle was also treated the same way. Jesus refuses to play the magician role that Herod wanted. Herod seeing no signs tires of Jesus, has Him beaten again (probably for not talking), mocks His Kingship by putting a "royal robe" on Him and sent back to Pilate.

The Sentence- Pilate wants nothing to do with the killing of Jesus. He first states that the charges aren't worth Jesus' death and will beat him then release Him thinking that would appease the people. But the people will have nothing short of Jesus' death. What changed from Jesus being so gloriously welcomed in 19:36-38? Why the change? Had the betrayal by a disciple lost the people's confidence in Jesus? Were they disappointed in Jesus' refusal to stand against Rome (20:25)? Did they not like His attacks against the Jewish leaders? Jesus' support seems to have been a mile long but and inch deep. In other words the people's opinion of Him quickly changed.

Pilate also uses the goodwill release of a Jewish prisoner as his way out of killing Jesus. But once again the people choose a man, Barabbas, who had been part of a revolt (probably against Roman rule)

Pilate again seeks just to flog Jesus and release Him but the crowd is in a furor and Shout “Crucify Him!” They have rejected Jesus (19:14) but more than that they want Jesus killed by the harshest means possible. Luke 20:13-15 becomes true. (see John 1:10-11)

It is important to see how much God loves His people. Even though we are cruel and worship the wrong things God still gives us an opportunity to turn and repent. (the prodigal son, Rom 5:8, John 1:12, Hosea 1:2, 3:1) God seeks to bring us to Him but it is ultimately our decision.

Luke 18:32 becomes true