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THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – CONSIDER YOUR VERDICT

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CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CONSIDER YOUR VERDICT

“Then they all took Jesus to Pilate and began to bring up charges against Him. ‘We found this man undermining our law and order, forbidding taxes to be paid to Caesar, setting Himself up as Messiah-king.’

“Pilate asked Him, ‘Is this true that you’re ‘King of the Jews’?’

“‘These are your words, not mine,’ Jesus replied.

“Pilate told the high priests and accompanying crowd, ‘I find nothing wrong here. He seems harmless enough to me.'” Luke 23:1-4.

Pilate had no idea, when he opened his eyes that morning, that for him it was judgment day. A routine day, a few more Jewish prisoners to sentence; he’d done it all before. It was an unpleasant part of his role as governor and he did it with indifference. Judah had always been a troublesome province and he was quite glad to sentence a few more rabble-rousers to death.

But this man seemed different. He didn’t have the same insolent attitude. His face wore an expression of serenity, an eerie calm that disturbed him. There was none of the bravado that aroused his rage and gave him a feeling of sadistic pleasure to see condemned prisoners walking towards the execution site, backs bent under the heavy load of the crossbeam.

The mob that crowded the courtyard was in ferment. Led by the high priests, they were yelling out the charge, ‘Treason! He calls Himself ‘King of the Jews’! He’s inciting rebellion!’

Pilate looked at Jesus. Flanked by two soldiers, hands tied so tightly behind his back that dried blood stained His wrists and hands, He stood unmoved, looking steadily into his eyes, almost challenging him to consider his own verdict. ‘Pilate, you decide whether I am guilty or not guilty.’

Just as the Jewish leaders were put on trial that day, so was Pilate. He was a man to be most pitied. He had an unpleasant job to do in Jerusalem. It was Passover and the city was filled with volatile Jews from all over Israel. Although the Jewish leaders had not planned it this way to avoid a riot, Jesus had inadvertently fallen into their hands at this inopportune time through the conniving of Judas.

But it was the Father’s time. Jesus had to fulfil the role of Passover lamb, to be sacrificed for the sin of the world at the precise moment when the high priest spilt the blood of the first lamb in Jerusalem.

Pilate still had to face his own responsibility in this drama. He had the final say regarding Jesus’ guilt or innocence. He alone decided whether He lived or died. His honest verdict, even after a perfunctory examination of the prisoner was, ‘Not guilty.’ It was glaringly obvious that the charges against Jesus were trumped up.

“Is it true that you are the King of the Jews?” In answer to Pilate’s question and in true “Jesus” fashion, Jesus turned the question back on Pilate. ‘It’s not my responsibility to tell you. It’s your responsibility to make your own decision. On that rests your own fate.’ Pilate’s verdict was ‘not guilty’, but that was not the end of the story. The deciding factor would be what he would do about it.

Our Buddy, Pilate

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OUR BUDDY, PILATE

“Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning and, to avoid ceremonial uncleanness, they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, ‘What charges are you bringing against this man?

“‘If He were not a criminal,’ they replied, ‘we would not have handed Him over to you.’ Pilate said, ‘Take Him yourselves and judge Him by your own law.’ ‘But we have no right to execute anyone,’ they objected. This took place to fulfil what Jesus had said about the kind of death He was going to die.” John 18:28-32 NIV.

John said nothing about Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas. According to the other three gospels, it was this trial that revealed the Sanhedrin’s true colours. Caiaphas allowed false witnesses to testify without suffering the penalty for lying. The men of the Sanhedrin behaved in a disgraceful way, using verbal and physical abuse against the prisoner and allowing the soldiers to mock Jesus by ramming a crown on His head woven out of twigs covered in vicious thorns.

Having satisfied themselves of Jesus’ guilt, the Jewish leaders marched Jesus to Pilate to have their verdict ratified. They had decided that He was guilty of blasphemy because they refused to accept His claim to be the Son of God. They did not bother the test His claim by listening to the testimony of reliable witnesses. As far as they were concerned He was guilty and that was that.

Although it was illegal to condemn a man on his own testimony, Caiaphas put the question to Jesus, ‘Are you the Christ?’ to which Jesus replied, ‘You have said it.’ Triumphantly proclaiming Him ‘Guilty!’ they bundled Him off to Pilate to ratify their verdict and sentence, only Pilate would not buy the charge of blasphemy. That was an internal, religious matter. Pilate didn’t give a hoot about their religious squabbles. It was His job to protect Rome’s interests and nothing else.

They thought that they had Jesus in the bag. Charge Him with treason because He claimed to be the king of the Jews and Pilate would be a pushover. After all, they were buddies, and he would go along with them as long as they did their job to keep the peace. Since they insisted that Jesus was a rabble-rouser, Pilate would surely rubber-stamp their verdict and condemn Him to death.

They did not bargain on Pilate’s resistance to their straightforward scheme. Pilate had to be sure that this man’s so called “treason” was in fact a threat to Rome. He couldn’t just go crucifying people left, right and centre just because the Jewish high court insisted they were guilty. It may have been true that Jesus claimed kingship over the Jews but what evidence was there that He was planning to overthrow Roman rule and drive them out of Israel? What sort of king was He?

Friend though he might have been, Pilate was not ignorant of the nature of these Jewish leaders. They could be conniving and unscrupulous to get their own way. Most of them were drawn from the wealthy political party of the Sadducees who did not have much interest in religion. They did not believe in the supernatural and rejected the Pharisees’ belief in the resurrection.

In spite of the coalition in the Sanhedrin, there was a deep divide between the two groups. Many years later, Paul would exploit this divide to turn the heat of their hatred off him.

Pilate had a responsibility to exercise Roman justice, even towards Jewish prisoners. Therefore he questioned Jesus’ accusers. ‘What’s the charge against Him?’ he demanded. The Jewish leaders shrewdly turned his question back on him. They dodged the question by trying to make Pilate look foolish. ‘Don’t be silly, Pilate! Do you think we would have brought Him to you if we hadn’t already found him guilty?’

‘Guilty of what?’ No answer! Pilate was also shrewd. ‘You take Him and try Him,’ he replied. He knew that they had no power to execute anyone. Only he could do that. This would turn into a running battle between Jewish and Roman authorities with Jesus as the prize. Who would come out tops?