Tag Archives: Herod

LUKE’S GOSPEL…NO TIME FOR NONSENSE – 62

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“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 a sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭23‬:‭8‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Herod and Jesus facing off…this Herod Antipas, son of the great Herod who built the temple…the ruler of Galilee, the playboy ruler who thought he could play games with Jesus. 

Pilate saw a gap, a way out of his dilemma. Herod just happened to be in Jerusalem, so Herod would be a good excuse for Pilate to pass the buck because the accused was a Galilean. 

It seems that Herod loved entertainment, so he decided that, since Pilate tried to pawn Jesus,  this “hot  potato”, on him, he would use this opportunity for a little “fun”.

Together with the Roman soldiers guarding Jesus, Herod attempted to coax Jesus to do a little miracle or two. Maybe, just maybe he would release the offender if the show was good enough. Didn’t work! So, they turned the heat up! What about a little “friendly persuasion?”  

Egged on by the audience of bystanders, the ever-present, rulers of Israel, Jesus’ tormentors…Herod and his cronies, the soldiers…began to attack His person, the real Jesus, with mocking and insults. 

That didn’t work either! Jesus was selectively deaf to their taunts. His mind was elsewhere, on His Father and His mission. All their efforts to degrade Him, to lure Him into retaliating or defending Himself, fell on deaf ears, did nothing but boomerang back on them!  

Why did Jesus not take the bait…Why did He not react to this onslaught on Him? He was fully human, fully aware of what they were doing to Him…but He was also fully aware of His mission. He was being shaped into the perfect atoning sacrifice for sin. Had He in any way reacted in “the flesh”, in His humanity, He would have failed the test. 

What was Jesus’ greatest test, His most dangerous moment? He had two choices…fight back and follow the path of fallen humans…or absorb the worst of unjust suffering without retaliating…and win the war.  

Peter understood!

“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬ NIV‬‬

The secret was out! Jesus trusted the Father for the victory! He won the war!

Whoever did the devil’s dirty work…whatever they did to inflict the worst they could think of, it didn’t work because…with His heart and mind on accomplishing the Father’s will, as Isaiah predicted centuries before…

 “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

And the outcome?

“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭10‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

With His eye on the eternal prize, Jesus remained silent. They could ridicule His name, mutilate His body, ruin His reputation in the eyes of man…but they could not turn Him from His purpose…to fulfil the Father’s will. 

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

1 Peter 2:24 NIV

What purpose! What resolution! Jesus had a mission and, come what may, He would do it!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We, too, as children of God and followers of Jesus, have a goal to reach and a mission to fulfil…and an example to follow. 

“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭3‬ NIV

To be continued…

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – WHOM DO YOU FEAR?

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WHOM DO YOU FEAR?

17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Mark 6:17-20

There is something about Herod that fascinates me. He was a tormented man, caught between two worlds and torn between two compelling forces in his life. His fleshly appetites were powerful, pulling him towards the woman who temporarily satisfied his lust; but there was another equally strong pull in him towards a higher spiritual dimension triggered by his own conscience. He had a love/hate relationship with John. He was drawn by John’s powerful godliness and integrity and loved to listen to him but, at the same time, John’s words drove home his guilt and aroused fear of its consequences which he chose to ignore. He would not turn from his immoral behaviour and chose, rather, to suffer the pangs of conscience his choices provoked.

To make matters worse, his relationship with an evil and conscienceless woman, whose hatred for truth brought to the surface her true nature, tipped him towards fearing her rather that fearing God. Herod’s first step towards the evil deed he became embroiled in was to have John arrested to satisfy Herodias’ persistent nagging. He was not strong enough to stand by his conscience. He was not the perpetrator of this sequence of events but, at the same time, he did not have the strength or resolve to withstand Herodias. He chose to silence John rather than Herodias and that poor choice eventually had serious consequences for him.

My mind takes me to Moses who also had a significant choice to make. Where Herod was driven by the physical and the present, Moses saw something in the unseen realm that became more compelling than the pull of his human appetites. “He persevered as seeing Him who is invisible.”

There are huge benefits that go with the choice to deny the flesh and to pursue the prize that is only handed out at the finish line. Along the way, which demands self-discipline and self-denial, and sometimes a lot of pain and suffering, my heart is being sustained by Jesus’ gifts which cannot be bought with money – His love, His joy and His peace.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – IF ONLY HE HAD KNOWN!

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IF ONLY HE HAD KNOWN!

King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

15 Others said, “He is Elijah.”

And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”
16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!” Mark 6:14-17

What a stir Jesus was causing throughout the whole country. From north to south, east to west, everyone was talking about Him. They did not know what to make of Him. Never in their lifetime or on the 400 years since the last prophet spoke authoritatively from God, had anyone arisen in Israel like Him! It’s no wonder they thought He was Elijah or one of their great prophets returned from the dead. The last thing on their minds was that He was their long-awaited Messiah.

Herod’s conscience was his biggest enemy. He knew he had murdered John the Baptist through Herodias’ trickery and he must have been haunted day and night by the memory of John’s head on a platter, sightless eyes staring at him, silent lips accusing him, and he knew he was as guilty as if he had swung the sword that severed John’s head from his body.

Was it comforting or terrifying for Herod to believe that Jesus was the resurrected John? John had once indicted him for adultery. What would he accuse him of now? He knew he was a murderer and nothing could erase his guilt. His very conviction that John had come back was an admission of guilt but that brought him no relief.

One of the most comforting statements of Scripture is this: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” John 3:17. If only Herod had known that his desperate feeling of guilt was God’s merciful way of alerting him to his need of forgiveness. The very one who terrified him because he thought Jesus was John, was the one who could offer the forgiveness he craved, that could release him from his burden and give him peace.

This is the wonder and the miracle of the one who came from God to declare to the world that God is not angry with us. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s sins against them.”  2 Corinthians 5:19.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – PARTNERS IN CRIME

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PARTNERS IN CRIME

“Herod was delighted when Jesus showed up. He had wanted for a long time to see Him; he’d heard so much about Him. He hoped to see Him do something spectacular. He peppered Him with questions. Jesus didn’t answer — not one word. But the high priests and religion scholars were there, saying their piece, strident and shrill in their accusations.

“Mightily offended, Herod turned on Jesus. His soldiers joined in, taunting and jeering. Then they dressed him up in an elaborate king costume and sent Him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became thick as thieves. Always before they had kept their distance.” Luke 23:8-12 (The Message).

Now it’s Herod’s turn — the other authority figure responsible for justice in the land. It took a run-in with the truth to show his true colours. He emerged as an even more unsavoury character than Pilate, who was at least honest enough to consider the accusations and acknowledge Jesus’ innocence.

To Herod, Jesus was nothing but an object of amusement and a plaything. When Jesus refused to dance to his tune, he tossed Him aside with contempt. It was not justice he was after but entertainment for his own pleasure. He led the way, giving the soldiers permission by his own attitude, to humiliate Jesus by their words and actions.

It was also the soldiers’ turn to confirm their guilt in this saga. By their behaviour, they condemned themselves to the same fate as all the others. They had no personal axe to grind with Jesus and yet they treated Him like an enemy, cornered prey that they could torment before killing because, for a short time, they had Him in their power, so they thought.

Always, in the background, the religious hierarchy pranced around like hyenas, there in force to ensure that the prey did not escape.

Each one in this unfolding drama reveals his true self and confirms his culpability before God. And so with us. The value of this record would be lost to us if we did not place ourselves somewhere in this story. We may not occupy a seat of justice or rulership but we have to face the same Jesus and make a decision regarding who He is.

Like the people directly responsible for His death, we have to come up with a verdict. Was He an imposter, guilty of blasphemy or treason, or was He the Son of God and King of kings? If we declare Him guilty as charged, we have not honestly evaluated the evidence. If we declare Him innocent, we stand guilty with those who condemned Him to death unjustly, because all humanity was represented in that act.

The sequel to this bizarre chain of events was the unlikely alliance that came about that day. In their unwillingness to fulfil their duty to serve justice on a condemned man, Pilate, the arrogant and ruthless representative of Roman government and Herod, the half-Jew playboy ruler of Galilee, joined hands in condemning Jesus to death and became partners in the worst crime ever committed by human beings. Pilate, by handing an innocent man over to the will of a religious mob and Herod, by his callous indifference, washed their hands of God then, but have to face Him again.

What about us? If we choose to wash our hands of Jesus now, as Pilate did then, we too will have to face Him again, and this time He will be in the seat of justice. His perfect justice will be to give us exactly what we want – nothing to do with Him.

Peter and his fellow disciples were equally guilty on that day. One denied and they all deserted Him, but they came back and Jesus forgave them on the same grounds that He always forgives, “They do not know what they are doing.” They had no idea of the implications of their behaviour. Neither did Pilate or Herod but they never returned to receive the same mercy and forgiveness extended to the disciples.

How much better to return now and acknowledge your part in Jesus’ death. He was the sacrificial lamb put to death for you, blood for blood, so that you may receive the gift of His life, and never have to face the judgment that would sever you from Him forever.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – PASSING THE BUCK

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PASSING THE BUCK

“But they were vehement.’ He is stirring up unrest among the people with His teaching, disturbing the peace everywhere, starting in Galilee and now all through Judea. He is a dangerous man, endangering the peace.’

“When Pilate heard that, he asked, ‘So, He’s a Galilean?’ Realising that He properly came under Herod’s jurisdiction, he passed the buck to Herod, who just happened to be in Jerusalem for a few days.” Luke 23:5-7.

How convenient for Pilate! Herod was responsible for governing Galilee. Jesus was a Galilean. Herod “happened” to be in town. Pilate must have heaved a sigh of relief. Jesus was a “hot potato” and he did not want to handle Him. Was it “Providence” that organised the circumstances to let him off the hook?

How does one go about finding reliable witnesses in a crowd of volatile people who were so stirred up by their religious leaders that any tiny spark could set the whole mob on fire?

Their accusations against Jesus were touching raw spots in Pilate’s mind. His role in Judea was to keep the peace by enforcing Rome’s domination. The Roman overlords, represented by the military, did whatever was necessary to suppress rebellion by oppressing the people. The gospels give hints of Roman cruelty even at the instigation of Pilate. On one occasion he ordered the murder of worshipers in the temple. Any sign of insurrection was ruthlessly crushed. Jewish blood flowed for very little reason and yet, Pilate was reluctant to deal with Jesus.

What was it about the man that caused him to hesitate to pronounce Him guilty and pass the death sentence to appease the Jewish leaders? One more dead Jew would be one less troublemaker for him. But somehow he couldn’t do it because of the man!

He had never had a prisoner like Jesus. Every time he looked at Him, he felt guilt overwhelming him. The man’s eyes bored into him like a laser beam, exposing the deepest secrets of his heart, and yet he felt, not condemned but loved. How was it possible for a “rabble-rouser” to arouse such mixed emotions in him? He was drawn and repelled at the same time. He wanted to love Him in return but he was supposed to be indifferent, just there to do a job.

It was a relief to have Herod in Jerusalem as a back-up. Let him handle Jesus. After all, He was his responsibility because He was a Galilean. And so Pilate hoped that his brief encounter with this man would end and be forgotten.

Would Pilate be able to shake Jesus off that easily? He did not know that he had been brought face-to-face with the man who would one day be his judge. Destiny had caused their paths to cross for one brief moment but, unknown to him; it was a dress rehearsal for a much greater encounter in the future. Passing the buck seemed a simple solution to his dilemma but he was to learn that he could not evade his responsibility then, just as he would not evade his accountability on Judgment Day.

That was not only Pilate’s moment. It will be ours as well. “Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” Hebrews 9:27-28 (NIV).

To those who have recognised who He is and have willingly given Him the reins, His coming will be the most joyous occasion ever. For those who tried to get rid of Him, there will be the inevitable consequences of their rejection. This is not a threat to garner supporters. This is the sober truth that warns of the outcome of cutting ties with our Creator and trying to establish our own rebellious rule.

We have to learn, like Pilate, that we cannot pass the buck. Accountability is inevitable. There is no such thing as all religions worshiping the same God; all roads do not lead to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. There cannot be more than one Lord, and God has declared that the title belongs to Him alone. Jesus is Lord and to Him every knee will bow!