Bethel Lutheran Church - Pastor Luke Bernthal Crossroad 6 –- Pilate to Herod and Back ; Luke 23: 4 - 12; 2008-03-12
The Bulletin (order of service) Text: Luke 23: 4 - 12;
I. From Pilate to Herod—Jesus the Rebel That’s the way the Jewish chief priests and teachers of the law presented Jesus. At dawn, this group had assembled and found Jesus guilty of blasphemy—a crime worthy of death according to Jewish law. But there was one problem: This court didn’t have the authority to issue the death penalty. And so, they had to appeal to the Roman governor named Pilate, who was visiting Jerusalem to oversee the large crowds that had gathered for the Passover. Pilate did not top any popularity polls with the Jewish people. Historians describe him as being a harsh, spiteful, and brutal man. A thug. From the time he stepped into office about five years prior to this, he had antagonized the Jews. He desecrated their Holy City, Jerusalem, with images of the emperor, whom the Romans revered as a god. He used the temple treasury to finance a new water supply to Jerusalem. He even slaughtered Jews while they were worshiping (Luke 13:1). Now with this mind-set toward Jews, you can bet he wouldn’t care one bit if Jesus broke some Jewish religious law! Therefore, the Jewish leaders who wanted to get a death warrant would have to paint a more threatening picture of Jesus. Initially the Jews levied three charges against Jesus: (1) subverting the nation, that is, he was undermining the government; (2) opposing the payment of taxes; and (3) claiming to be a king. Based on these charges, Pilate conducted an interview with Jesus and came up empty. Which is where our lesson begins. Pilate said, “I find no basis for a charge against this man” (Luke 23:4). But the chief priests and accompanying crowd wouldn’t take no for an answer, which shows their passionate hatred for Jesus. Think about it: Would you challenge someone who had a reputation of being a thug and the had the kind of record for brutality like Pontius Pilate? Yet these Jews didn’t fear what Pilate would or could do to them. They simply focused on getting Jesus killed. Therefore, they emphatically insisted that Jesus was indeed a criminal. A rebel. They nagged at Pilate, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here” (Luke 23:5). Listen to that charge again: “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching” (Luke 23:5). There’s an element of truth in that statement. The whole land was buzzing with heated discussions on the question of whether this Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Christ. But Jesus didn’t just stir up conversations at the office watercooler. He stirred up his listeners’ hearts. And that shouldn’t have been condemned. It should have been branded as a blessing. These people were in dire need of being stirred up out of their idolatry and spiritual lethargy. Their souls needed to hear Jesus’ cry, “Repent, the kingdom of God is near” (cf. Matthew 4:17). Yet they wanted nothing of it. His heart-stirring message simply infuriated them. Can’t the same be said about our world today? Can’t the same be said about us at times as well? When Jesus sounds his stern warnings through his church and stirs up our consciences, don’t we at times resent his Word? Don’t we want to haul him off and charge him with putting his nose where it doesn’t belong? Brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to remember and understand that Jesus’ warnings are prompted by an overflowing love. Just like the wife who notices her husband dozing off at the wheel and shouts, “Watch out!” Does she not love her husband? Does the husband yell back, “Let me sleep!”? No, he might jump and be startled, but he’s grateful that his wife loved him enough to wake him up. So too Jesus’ warnings may “startle” us and stir us up. They may cause us to jump. But if they awaken us from sin and its accompanying death, must we not praise Jesus as our Savior rather than regard him as an agitator? Of course. But that’s not what happened in the hearts of these Jews. The more they heard Jesus, the more provoked they were to get rid of him. Jesus’ message had stoked such a fire of hatred in their hearts that they called his work evil and cunningly charged Jesus with being a rabble-rousing Galilean. And that was the magic word to Pilate’s ears. When Pilate heard Jesus was from Galilee, he saw his way out. Galilee was out of his jurisdiction. Pilate was the governor of Judea and Samaria. The northern region of Galilee fell under the rule of Herod Antipas, who just happened to be in town for the Passover. How convenient! So Pilate sent Jesus, the “rebel,” to his Galilean counterpart. Thus Jesus walks another road, another “Crossroad,” from Pilate to Herod.
II. From Herod to Pilate—Jesus the Reject Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great, the brutal Bethlehem baby slayer who had killed all baby boys two years old and younger when the wise men had asked him about a newborn king (cf. Matthew 2:16). Herod Antipas, the ruler in our lesson, doesn’t seem to have that degree of cruelty in him. Let’s not be mistaken, however, he was no angel either. In fact, Jesus had once referred to him as a “sly fox” (cf. Luke 13:31-32). Herod had John the Baptist imprisoned when John confronted him about his sinful marriage to his former sister-in-law, who also happened to be his niece. And at one of his birthday parties, his wife’s daughter danced for the king. He was so pleased that he promised to give her whatever she wanted in return. When she asked for the head of the imprisoned John the Baptist on a silver platter, Herod followed through (Mark 6:14-29). So, you might say, he was not a guy you necessarily would want to meet. But Pilate “served” Jesus to Herod. The ball was now in Herod’s court. Herod wasn’t looking to necessarily harm Jesus. In fact, our text says, “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” (Luke 23:8). Herod wanted a private magic show. For Herod it was like having David Copperfield in your living room, only better. But Jesus didn’t leave the golden streets of heaven to walk the dusty “Crossroads” of earth as an entertainer; a court jester; or a clown! He came to be a Savior! Therefore, no bunnies were pulled out of hats in Herod’s living room that day. Even after Herod and his soldiers interrogated him, “Jesus gave him no answer” (Luke 23:9). And it’s the silence of Jesus that shouts out his love to us on this crossroad. If Jesus would have pulled a few miracles out of his sleeve and entertained Herod, he might have been set free. Herod had the authority to let him go. But “as a sheep before its shearers is silent,” (Isaiah 53:7) Jesus did not open his mouth, thus insuring that he would stay his course on the “Crossroads.” And that’s what happened. Upset at Jesus’ lack of performance, “Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked [Jesus]. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate” (Luke 23:11). Herod sent Jesus back on the same road, the same “Crossroad” he had just traveled. But this time he wasn’t traveling as a “rebel.” Jesus was traveling as a “reject.” This was also what the prophet Isaiah had predicted some 700 years earlier when he wrote by inspiration, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, allowed himself to be dressed up, ridiculed, and mocked. As we see Jesus walking down these humiliating “Crossroads” from Pilate to Herod and back, join me in admiring the immensity of our Savior’s love. Join me in appreciating what he was willing to endure so he could do his job. Join me in being proud of our humble Savior. He traveled the road to the cross, bearing the punishment of our sins so that we will never have to. Amen. |