Luke 23:1-25 "God on Trial, Part 2"

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You'll open your Bibles again to Luke.

We are in Luke 23.

This morning we are looking at, again, the trial of God, round two.

I'm going to be reading Luke 23, verses 1, all the way down through verse 25, so you can follow with me as I read.

Luke 23:1

Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate.

And they began to accuse him, saying,

We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar,

and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.

And Pilate asked him,

Are you the king of the Jews?

And he answered him,

You have said so.

Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds,

I find no guilt in this man.

But they were urgent,

saying,

He stirs up the people,

teaching throughout all Judea,

from Galilee,

even to this place.

When Pilate heard this,

he asked whether the man was a Galilean.

And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction,

he sent him over to Herod,

who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

When Herod saw Jesus,

he was very glad,

for he had long desired to see him,

because he had heard about him.

And he was hoping to see some sign done by him.

So we questioned him at some length,

but he made no answer.

The chief priests and the scribes stood by,

vehemently accusing him.

And Herod with his soldiers,

treated him with contempt,

and mocked him.

Then arraying him in splendid clothing,

he sent him back to Pilate.

And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other

that very day,

for before this day,

they had been at enmity with each other.

Pilate then called together the chief priests

and the rulers and the people,

and said to them,

You brought me this man

as one who is misleading the people.

And after examining him before you,

behold,

I did not find this man guilty

of any of your charges against him.

Neither did Herod,

for he sent him back to us.

Look,

nothing deserving death

has been done by him.

I will therefore punish him

and release him.

But they all cried out together,

away with this man

and release to us Barabbas,

a man who had been thrown into prison

for an insurrection,

started in the city,

and for murder.

Pilate addressed them once more,

desiring to release Jesus,

but they kept shouting,

Crucify!

Crucify him!

A third time he said to them,

Why?

What evil has he done?

I have found in him no guilt deserving death.

I will therefore punish and release him.

But they were urgent,

demanding with loud cries

that he should be crucified.

And their voices prevailed.

So Pilate decided

that the demand should be granted.

He released the man

who had been thrown into prison

for insurrection and murder,

for whom they asked.

But he delivered Jesus

over to their will.

Let's pray that God would send his spirit

to give us understanding

of this portion of his word.

Father, we pray that you would speak to us.

We need your spirit to speak.

It's not just in our minds

that we need understanding.

We need hearts that are receptive

to what you would speak to us.

So would you pour out your spirit,

soften our hearts,

that we might have a clearer understanding

of Jesus and all that he is.

So come, teach us.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So as I said,

this is the second trial

that Jesus undergoes.

The Jewish leaders

that we saw last week

have already found him guilty.

but they are under Roman rule.

And being under Roman rule,

one of the privileges

Rome has kept for themselves

is the power of execution

of criminals.

So the Jews

can pronounce him guilty,

but that's as far as they can go.

So they have to.

If they're going to get him

put to death,

they've got to have Rome do it.

So now they come to Pilate.

And the question

before this court

is the same as the last court.

It's not about things

that Jesus has done,

but it's about who he is.

Who does Jesus claim to be?

Is Jesus the king of the Jews?

That is the question

that Luke highlights for us here.

And it's the question

that Pilate

and really everybody involved

has to deal with.

And so what we're going to do

this morning is look

all through this.

The way that Luke writes

is that he's really good

at highlighting

characters in his story

and holding them up

sometimes in contrast

and comparison to each other.

But here,

in this story,

he kind of shines the light

on about six different people

and groups

and how they respond

to this question.

But first,

let's take a brief look

at just exactly

what's going on

in this trial.

Pilate,

we were introduced to him

back in Luke 3.

Pilate is introduced

as Luke begins

to set the stage

at the beginning

of Jesus' ministry.

He gives us a date,

basically,

when Tiberius was emperor,

Pilate is governor,

Herod we're going to see

in just a minute.

Pilate is a time

of beginning

of Jesus' ministry.

But Pilate,

his tenure

in Jerusalem

was brutal

and the Jews hated him.

Well,

he didn't like

the Jews either.

Because we see

back in Luke 13,

as we've already seen,

we hear that

there were a group

of Galileans

that were slain

by Pilate

and then their blood,

he mixed

into the blood

of the sacrifice

in the temple.

Totally defiling

the worship

in the temple.

that's what

he thought

of the Jews,

which led to

what the Jews

thought of Pilate.

But now the Jews

have to come

to Pilate

with this issue.

So they come

and notice

how they frame

their charges.

It's a different

issue

than what they

dealt with before

because they know

that just dealing

with these

religious

controversies

is not going

to prick

Pilate's interest.

And so they

frame it

in such a way

that he will

see Jesus

as not just

a threat

to the Jews

but actually

a threat

to Roman

rule itself.

See what

they said?

He said

he's an

insurrectionist

basically.

He's forbidding

us to pay

tribute to

Caesar

which he

never did

but they're

building this

case

so that if

Pilate sees

that Jesus

is a big

enough threat

that he'll

deal with

him.

When Pilate

hears

that he is

a king

he kind of

takes him

off to the

side.

We see in

some of the

other accounts

if you pull

all four of

the gospel

accounts

together

that this

is a

longer

conversation

than what

Luke

has here.

Luke only

is focused

on one

question.

Is

Jesus

king

of the

Jews?

And so

Pilate

that's the

only thing

he was

interested in.

Jesus

doesn't

answer

any of

the

accusations

of the

Jews.

He just

stands there

kneels

down

and you

know

he's

been

beaten

to

within

a

hair

of

his

life.

I'm

sure

he looked

very

impressive

before

Pilate.

But this

is the

only question.

So when

Pilate

asked him

are you

the king

of the

Jews?

He

answers

using

the same

phrasing

that he

did with

the Jewish

leaders.

Basically

saying

yes

I am.

in John

we see

he

expands

that a

little bit

but it

says

it's not

a political

kingdom.

It's a

spiritual

kingdom.

And so

hearing that

Pilate

sees no

threat

to Rome

and so

he

attempts

to

dismiss

him

but then

he hears

that Herod

is in

town

or he

hears

that Jesus

is a

Galilean

and Herod

oversees

Galilee

so he

sends him

to Herod

to let

him question

him and

maybe

we'll

make

further

progress

here.

Well

Herod

doesn't

find out

anything

so he

sends him

back.

The

amazing

thing

in this

story

here is

three

times

Pilate

attempts

Jesus.

Maybe

not with

all the

gusto

he

should

have

but he

attempts

to release

Jesus.

He

sees

there's

no guilt

here

and so

he's

trying to

release

him.

He just

wants this

problem to

go away

but the

Jews will

have nothing

of that

they want

Jesus

dead

period.

Nothing

short of

that is

acceptable.

And so

they put

pressure on

Pilate.

They get

the crowds

involved

and with

that

threatening

a riot

Pilate's

had enough.

He said

okay

have it

your way.

and he

relents

and turns

Jesus over

for execution.

Now as

we look

at this

scene

again there

are six

characters

here or

groups

that Luke

mentions

and we're

going to go

through and

look at them

because it's

interesting how

each of them

responds

to

this king.

And as we

look at

them I

think it

could be

insightful

for us

as we

consider how

we should

respond

to this

king.

And whether

you're a

believer

and or

whether you

are here

just examining

or curious

about Jesus

about

Christianity

here's

the question

for all

of us

what are

you going

to do

with Jesus?

So again

there are

six here

don't worry

even though

there's six

I'll get

you to

work on

time

tomorrow.

First

let's look

at the

Jews

and we'll

look at

them briefly

because we

saw them

last week

the Jews

note

here

one of the

things that

Luke brings

out when he

talks about

the Jews

is that

they're not

only angry

they're

passionately

angry

they are

in a sense

in a froth

over wanting

Jesus

to be put

to death

and I've

said

you know

this is

kind of a

clue for

us

and I've

said

probably

many

times

if you

want to

know

where your

particular

idolatries

are

there's a

trail you

can follow

first

look at

the anger

and that

anger is

probably going

to lead

you to

something

you fear

and that

fear

is going

to tell

you

what it

is

that is

threatening

you

but where

your idols

probably

can be

found

so what

did the

Jews

fear

they feared

exposure

they feared

exposure

if they

were to

respond

properly

to

Jesus

what

should

they

do

they

needed

to get

naked

now I

had a

lady

sweet

little

lady

named

Louise

in my

very

first

church

that

told

me

you

can

never

use

the

word

naked

from

the

pulpit

you

can

do

it

in

the

fellowship

hall

but

not

in

the

pulpit

which

is

why

I

stood

over

here

they

had

to

get

naked

you

know

there's

a

story

in

2

Kings

5

and

it's

a

story

of

a

Syrian

general

named

Naaman

Naaman

was

the

big

dog

in

Syria

only

second

to

the

king

himself

but

Naaman

had

a

problem

he

had

leprosy

and

Naaman

heard

in

Israel

that

there

was

a

guy

that

could

cure

him

his

name

was

Elijah

and

so

he

went

to

be

cured

and

Elijah

wouldn't

even

come

out

and

recognize

him

he

just

said

Naaman

I

thought

was

hoping

for

him

to

come

out

and

wave

his

hand

over

the

spot

or

do

something

magical

but

all he

said

was

go

wash

in the

Jordan

River

seven

times

you know

what that

meant

for

Naaman

for him

to wash

in that

river

he had

to strip

down

all

that he

wore

that

designated

him

as

special

as

someone

high

above

everyone

else

had

to

come

off

and

a

naked

general

looks

just

like

a

naked

private

except

maybe

a little

older

but

something

else

that

leprosy

was

going

to be

exposed

and that

leprosy

was going

to cause

him

to be

alienated

isolated

rejected

and so

forth

but he

did

and he

was cured

the

Jews

had a

leprosy

that they

could not

cure

but it

wasn't a

skin

disease

it was a

heart

disease

the only

cure was

for them

to take

off

all that

they used

to make

them look

righteous

to make

them look

special

all of

their good

works

they need

to despair

of

all of

their rituals

that they

thought made

them good

they needed

to despair

of

and come

to Jesus

owning

their

sickness

so that

the

Savior

could cure

it

completely

and this

might be

some of

us

some of

us

it might

be time

for us

to strip

down

and then

come

clean

that was

the Jews

then there's

Pilate

Pilate

Pilate was in

a place he

didn't want

to be

he was in

Canaan

in Jerusalem

in a city

that was

notorious

for

insurrections

for

rebellions

and so

forth

and he

didn't

like it

the Jews

were extremely

hard to

govern

so he

just tries

to dismiss

this whole

thing

but he

can't

you know

maybe what he

fears here

that the Jews

are just

gonna again

here comes

another riot

another

resurrection

but Pilate

seems like

he just

wishes

things

would be

normal

quiet

let's just

get along

I know

we don't

like each

other

but we

can just

get along

it's kind

of like

families

at special

dinners

where the

matriarch

of the

family

typically

all she

wants

is everybody

just to be

happy together

and have a

good time

never mind

about

Uncle Ed's

addictions

never mind

about the

daughter

who's

covered with

ink

and wishes

she wasn't

there

never mind

about all

the relational

tension

that underlies

here

all this

matriarch

wants

is

to

look

let's

just

sit down

at the

table

let's

smile

eat

dinner

and be

happy

that's

kind of

the way

I picture

Pilate

here

in this

situation

all he

wants

is

normalcy

and peace

you know

just after

I came

to Christ

I remember

sitting on

the front

porch

of this

big resort

where I

used to

work in

Virginia

with a

friend that

was instrumental

in leading

me to

Christ

but we

were sitting

there together

with my

brother

and we

were talking

about

Jesus

and my

brother

as we

talked about

Jesus

and his

need for

Jesus

my brother

understood

something

very clearly

and his

response

to us

was

but

if I

come to

Jesus

then I'm

going to

basically

have to

give up

all my

friends

my life

is going

to totally

change

he said

I don't

know if I

want that

or not

my

brother

understood

Jesus

demands

that

we

turn

from

all

that's

normal

to

something

of

much

much

greater

value

because

see

in our

normalcy

our

pursuit

of

normal

we're

looking

for

security

we're

looking

for

predictability

we

we're

looking

to

appease

our

fears

and what

Jesus

tells you

is that

normal

will not

work

the only

thing

that can

bring

real

peace

or

shalom

is

Jesus

because

Jesus

does not

just keep

the lid

on the

pressure

cooker

he makes

all things

new

and this

is what

he comes

to do

your

normal

is a

facade

Jesus

is

everything

real

so

Jesus

comes

to make

everything

right

but

before

that

the

normal

has

to

go

what

about

Herod

our

next

character

here

Herod

Herod

was

ruthless

this

is not

the

Herod

that we

saw

at the

birth

of

Jesus

who

murdered

all

those

children

this

is

another

Herod

but

this

Herod

was

not

much

better

Herod

was

the

one

that

had

John

the

Baptist

arrested

and

eventually

beheaded

simply

to

please

this

tantalizing

young

woman

but

while

he

before

that

time

after

he

had

been

arrested

while

he

kept

John

in

prison

Herod

used

to

sneak

down

to

the

prison

and

listen

to

John

now

he

hated

what

John

had

told

him

because

John

said

your

current

marriage

is

unlawful

but

still

Herod

liked

to

listen

to

John

you

know

something

about

his

preaching

was

tugging

at

him

but

we

know

of

course

that

was

very

shallow

because

John

ultimately

lost

his

head

but

now

Jesus

is

around

Herod

thinks

maybe

this

is

John

raised

from

the

dead

he

doesn't

know

but

he's

heard

a lot

and

so

he

wants

to

see

Jesus

maybe

Jesus

will

do

a

trick

for

him

I

don't

know

Herod

seems

to be

dabbling

kind

of

skirting

around

the

edges

of

the

kingdom

has

a

little

bit

of

interest

but

that's

about

as

far

as

it

goes

because

see

Herod

really

was

all

about

himself

and

dabbling

in the

kingdom

would

never

penetrate

that

self

a lot

of

folks

dabble

in

religion

we

joke

about

priesters

you'll

see a lot

of them

in a few

weeks

priesters

are those

who show

up on

Christmas

and

Easter

Christ

sometimes

we show

up every

now and

then but

church

religion

seems to

be something

that we

tack on

to life

maybe given

legitimacy

to life

there's a

curiosity we

have about

it but

yet

it's

it never

gets

down

to the

core

we

cannot

come

to

Jesus

by way

of

dabbling

when we

come to

Jesus

it's

all

or

nothing

it's

like an

engagement

when I

got engaged

to

Gail

it was

37

years

ago

at

St.

Patrick's

Day

I was

so glad

I did

that on

a holiday

that I

could

remember

when I

asked her

and she

said

yes

we

committed

ourselves

to each

other

that

meant

if I

had

any

all the

pictures

of the

other

girlfriends

would have

to go

no more

dating

around

no more

play in

the field

I

was

hers

and hers

alone

and that's

kind of a

scary thing

because you

know you

do you

shut off

everybody

else

but what I

found

was such

a treasure

this is

what we're

called to

it's all

or nothing

but what

you find

in

Jesus

what we

find in

everything

else

is just

a fake

plastic

pearl

but in

Jesus

we get

the pearl

of great

price

and there

will be

no regretting

coming to

Jesus

what about

the soldiers

well we're

not told a

lot about

these guys

they're just

in a sense

kind of

mentioned

here

but it's

Luke

draws our

attention to

particularly

what they

do

we do

know that

Roman soldiers

were

these were

men

these were

big

strong

probably not

real pretty

you wouldn't

want to meet

one of these

guys alone

they were

strong and

brutal

and obviously

from what

they're doing

here to

Jesus

weakness

was

despised

so now

before them

this so

called

king

who presented

this image

that was

just pitiful

he's

bleeding

he's been

beaten

he's

God

you're

nothing

and so

they begin

heaping

abuse

on this

pathetic

example

of a

king

and I

imagine

when Jesus

was silent

that just

inflamed

them even

more

being

strong

for a

lot of

us

is a

very

desirable

place

to be

it's

also a

very

insecure

place

to be

I think

this is

really at

the root

of a

lot of

what we

would

call

you know

spousal

abuse

physical

abuse

even

sexual

abuse

where the

strong

preys upon

those who

are weak

because

somehow

their sense

of manhood

or being

strong

is threatened

and they need

to prove

themselves

that they

are

somebody

I think

this is

also why

many of

us do

not come

to Jesus

we

are taught

to be

more applicable

to men

though I

don't think

it's

exclusive

we are

taught to

be strong

we are

taught to

be capable

we are

taught to

be sufficient

we are

taught to

be able

to control

and manage

everything

weakness

is not

acceptable

it's not

desirable

it should be

avoided

at all

cost

you know

I've known

men

who will

not come

to Christ

because

their idea

of

Christianity

is that

it's just

a religion

for weak

old

women

strong

men

don't need

a crutch

coming to

Jesus

is not

for

the strong

and that's

true

coming to

Jesus

is for

the weak

and for

us to

come to

Jesus

we need

to come

and embrace

our weakness

Jesus

is for

the weak

unless

we are

willing

to bow

before

the all

powerful

all sufficient

king

we cannot

come

because

Jesus

the king

wants to

be the

benefactor

he wants

to be the

source

of all

that we

need

all that

we would

ever

desire

he wants

to be

the good

giver

of all

things

and for

us to

receive

we can't

have clenched

strong fists

they need

to be

open

we need

to be

asking

this

is how

we come

to

Jesus

where we

despair

of our

ability

and we

turn to

him

for

everything

that's

the

soldiers

so the

road to

Jesus

the road

to glory

begins

at the

bottom

not the

top

all right

let's look at the

crowds

in verse 13

we finally see

that it's not

just the

Jewish leaders

in verse 13

we see

now that the

Jewish leaders

have gotten

everybody

involved

and the

crowds

are now

working with

them

and how

quickly they

have turned

because just

day or two

before

Jesus was

their hero

and now

they're declaring

him

the great

villain

who needs

to die

what happened

well I mean

it's

pretty amazing

how powerful

a force

is

public

opinion

psychologists

sociologists

have done

all this

research

they all

do these

tests

and they'll

show you

a picture

of three

lines

two of them

are the

same

and one

of them

is very

obviously

shorter

than the

other

and they

want you

to pick

out the

shortest

line

well if

it's just

an individual

they get

it every

time

but for a

lot of

them

they're

told

that people

have chosen

one of the

other two

and it's

amazing how

they will

turn

from what

they see

clearly

and agree

with the

majority