So we want to backtrack just a little bit into chapter 22 and pick up the last couple of verses because it's going to set the table for where we're going to be studying the last three trials that Jesus is going to go through on his way to the cross. Chapter 22 gave us the first three of those, and so verse 70 reads: "So they all said, 'Are you the Son of God, then?' And He said to them, 'You say that I am.' Then they said, 'With what further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from His own lips.'" And so, that's where we left off, so we need to understand the setting of the culture at this time. It is Passover in Jerusalem; a lot of people are in Jerusalem for Passover, and for the Roman government, what is most important for them is maintaining the peace.
One of the things that we're going to take away from this is that, typically in the Jewish culture, when somebody was worthy of death for blasphemy or some other offense, they would pick up stones and stone them to death. But that's not what happened here. Instead, they go to the Roman officials, and there's a reason behind that because of what was happening in Rome. Rome needed to be the ones to carry out the execution, and some 20 years earlier, a rule had been passed by the Roman government that the Jewish leaders were not allowed to put people to death—only Rome could put people to death. Now, we know that that's not the way it always happened because we saw with the woman caught in adultery, immediately everybody's grabbing stones. We see it with Stephen in the book of Acts; they grabbed stones and they put him to death. But in this case, they go to the Roman government. Now that's their reasoning, but the reality is the prophecy of Scripture—the Messiah had to be crucified. Had He been stoned to death, Jesus wouldn't be the guy. So these things are all according to God's plan, and I want us to see them.
Starting in verse 1 of chapter 23, the whole company of them, all these Jewish leaders, arise and they bring Jesus before Pilate. And so let's stop there because we need a little introduction to who is Pontius Pilate. Kerry says Pontius Pilate is his favorite word in the Apostles' Creed, but it's deeper than that. Who is Pontius Pilate? He is the Roman governor who has been instituted into this normally his seat of rule is Caesarea, but he's in Jerusalem because of the Passover. Now the thing we don't know about Pilate from the Scripture, but we do know from historians of that time, is Pilate was on the bubble with Rome. When Pilate first came to town, he came marching into Jerusalem with the Roman gods and was going to establish them in Jerusalem. And the leaders of Jerusalem said, "Oh no, you're not." And Pilate said, "Oh yes, I am. If you don't get out of my way, my soldiers are going to kill you." So the leaders of the city kneeled down before him and bared their necks and dared him, the great, "Kill us." And Pilate backed down—strike number one. The Romans don't back down from anybody.
So then we get to strike number two. Pilate decides he wants to build a water system into Jerusalem, and his way of paying for it is to steal from the Temple Treasury. And because there's opposition to that idea, he sends spies into the midst and they begin to assassinate key leaders. Rome wasn't thrilled with that one either, and so Pilate is fighting for his survival. What we find out about Pilate is he ruled for 10 years, he was eventually recalled to Rome, and he committed suicide once he returned to Rome. But as we find him today, he's made a few uh-ohs, Caesar is watching him, and now here comes the mob bringing Jesus.
And so in verse 2, 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." So remember, their whole deal is, well, he's blaspheming; he's saying he's God. Well, Rome is not going to put anybody to death because they say they are God, and they violated Jewish law, so they have to change the charges to offenses against Rome. The first one being that he's misleading our nation, he's creating an insurrection, he's trying to raise up an opposition. The second one is that he's forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, he's telling us not to pay our taxes. And then saying that he himself is a king. So we need to dissect those for a minute. First of all, as we've studied Luke, there were many times where the crowd wanted to get Jesus and elevate him and make a king out of him, right on the spot. And Jesus said no and would withdraw. So that charge doesn't hold. He says we shouldn't pay taxes. Well, two chapters earlier, these same leaders came to Jesus and said, "Jesus, is it right for us to pay taxes to Rome?" And Jesus said, "Let me see a coin. Whose picture is on that?" "Caesar's." "So render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." So that charge is false. Finally, he's uh, saying he himself is Christ, a king, king of the Jews. Okay, well, that one's an issue because there's no ruler other than Caesar.
Now let's make no mistake; these leaders aren't interested in pledging greater allegiance to Caesar either. They just want to get rid of Jesus. So here's a charge, and what would happen is if he's found guilty of that charge, then he's convicted of high treason, and crucifixion was reserved for those who committed treason against the Roman government. It was the most cruel form of punishment that could be exacted on a criminal, and we'll talk about that more here in a few moments.
So verse 3, Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And we need to understand the shape that Jesus is in at this point. In the garden, he was praying, sweating blood because of the angst in his spirit. He has been kept up all night being questioned and being hit and spit on and having his beard pulled. He's not in good shape. And so here he is standing before Pilate, and Pilate's looking at him, "You're the king of the Jews? Where's your people? You don't look like a king." And Jesus answered him, "You have said so." Same answer he gave the Jewish leaders, "Am I the king of the Jews? You said so."
We get to verse 4, and then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no guilt in this man." He makes a ruling. He's not guilty. "You haven't proved your case. I don't find any guilt in him. He shouldn't be here." But notice what happens. They were urgent, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea from Galilee even to this place." The crowd begins to oppose Pilate. Look at what he does; he stirs up everybody everywhere he goes, all the way from Judea to Galilee, and even here to Jerusalem. All of a sudden, Pilate, the bright light goes on. Boom! Galilee—that's Herod's place. Let me kick the can down the road. And that's what Pilate does, even though he's declared him innocent. He's giving in to the crowd. Okay, well, let's turn him over to Herod. Let's make it Herod's problem. Sometimes we're guilty of the same thing. We know the right thing to do, but because of the opposition we face, we kick the can down the road to somebody else instead of doing what we know is right.
So now it's Herod's turn. When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. Verse 7, 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. So because of Passover, because everybody's in town, Herod is also in town. And we find in verse 8 that Herod was really excited; he was going to get to see Jesus. Verse 8 tells us this: 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. Herod wants to see Jesus for entertainment. And you have to remember there's a little backstory to Herod as well. We go back several chapters in Luke, and you remember he was hearing about Jesus, and everybody was saying Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected, and Herod was like, "Yeah, that can't be. I beheaded John the Baptist." But he kept hearing about Jesus; he's this miracle worker; crowds want to go see him. And so Herod joins that crowd. "I want to see him do something cool. What are you going to do for me today, Jesus? What party trick, what favor are you going to do because I'm the king?"
Sadly, there are people today who look for Jesus for the same reason. "What are you going to do for me? How are you going to entertain me today? Will you be my genie in a bottle? Will you give me another miracle?" They don't want to grow; they don't want to follow him; they don't want to serve him; they just want him to be up to be a performing circus monkey, doing tricks for favors. And it's all Herod wanted; he just wanted to be entertained. But we see in verse 9, he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. Was Jesus just being silent? Well, when we study Scripture, we know it's more than that; that was always the plan. If you'll turn with me for a minute to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53 describes the suffering servant, Messiah to come, the things that he would endure, and in verse 7 it says, "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth." That was always the plan. Jesus was never going to say anything; that was the plan. He remained silent. We talked about this last week; if Jesus was just kidding, if he was false, it's probably be a good time to say, "Yeah, really, this is a big mistake. I'm not really the Messiah," because he knew what was ahead. He knew the cost. That's why he was sweating blood in the garden. He remained silent, knowing where his silence was going to take him. That was always the plan. And because he's silent, the chief priests and the scribes filled that void. See this in verse 10; they're vehemently accusing him. Yes, hurling accusation after accusation after accusation.
So Herod and his soldiers join in, and they treat him with contempt, and they begin to mock him. And then, as part of their mockery, they put this beautiful robe on him. "No, he's a king; let's make him look like a king." And what does he do? He kicks the can down the road, sends him back to Pilate. Now here's what's interesting, verse 12, "And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they'd been at enmity with each other." Oh, your enemy is my enemy; we can be friends. It's one of the interesting things about traveling through India right now; some interesting bedfellows who have come together just because they hate Christianity. And that's what's happening here. It's their mockery of Jesus, it's their disdain for Him, it's their disdain for God's plan that brings them together. Now they're friends.
So verse 13, back in front of Pilate. 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 was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him." So Pilate says, "People, I've examined him; he's not guilty. The charges that you've accused him of, I find no evidence to support that. You've not proven your case." Not only that, "I sent him to King Herod." Verse 15. "And he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him." Remember, the Roman government crucified people for insurrection, for treasonous activity. It was the worst form of punishment the government could mete out. And he says, "Listen, you haven't proven anything that would even make that justifiable." So verse 16, "I will therefore punish and release him." So Pilate decides, you know, what if I make him suffer a little bit, and a little bit's not really a good description. So in Roman flogging, so when you we read this, you know, "I'm going to punish him a little bit," it's more than a spanking with the twig off the tree. There were three levels of flogging that the Romans would mete out. The flogging, the punishment that he's talking about, uses a tool called the flagellum, also known as a cat of nine tails. It's a whip that has lead balls on it and shards of bone. So that when it hits, the lead ball bruises, obviously, but the shard of bone hooks into the skin, and then the guard pulls back on it, and it rips the flesh open. So for a criminal who is going to be crucified, that was always the last step. But in certain cases that didn't rise to the level of crucifixion, they would sometimes use that one as well, and sometimes it killed the person receiving the scourging. So, when Pilate is saying, "I'm going to punish him and then kick him loose," this isn't a light punishment. What Pilate is hoping is that that will satisfy the bloodlust of the crowd. Hopefully, that's bloody enough that they'll be okay with that. That's the plan.
But we move here into verse 17. Excuse me, let me stop here too. Forgot to bring this up. Verse 18. There's not a 17 here, and you may be going, "Well, that's interesting." If you're in the ESV, which is what we're reading out of, it goes 16 to 18. So let me give you a quick explanation. What happened here is, so in some translations, verse 17 is there, and what verse 17 talks about is that it was tradition for the Roman Governor to release a prisoner at Passover for the sake of good relations with the Jewish people. The reason it's not in here is the earliest manuscripts don't have verse 17, but verse 17 is found in all the other Gospels, and so in some translations, they will add verse 17. The ESV being more of a word-for-word translation, they leave it out but make a footnote. So just so you know, why it jumps from 16 to 18. Verse 18, they all cried out together, so here's the crowd again, "Nope, that's not good enough. Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas, a man who'd been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder."
Barabbas had been convicted of the types of crimes that justified crucifixion under the Roman system, but I'm going to take you a little deeper into Barabbas because this is the only place in scripture he's mentioned, but we're going to study his name for a moment. In Aramaic, "bar" means "son." "Abbas" comes from "Abba," "Father." His actual name transliterates or means "son of a father." The crowd is requesting the "son of a father" as opposed to the "son of the Father." Don't miss that. It's no coincidence that Jim or Bob weren't the trade-out prisoners. The significance of his name, "son of a father," gives us a "son of a father" instead of the "son of the Father." Ful stuff when you look at God's plan. Why wasn't it Jim or Bob or Mike or Terry or whatever other name? Because of the plan. God was speaking through this. In fact, the first substitutionary sacrifice was Jesus for Barabbas, the Son of God. There's the son of a father, or the father for the son of a father, should have been on the cross. Jesus took his place. Now, that doesn't mean Barabbas got saved; doesn't mean Barabbas was a Christian. We don't know what happened to Barabbas, but we do know the symbolism, the importance of the name, the son of the father taking the place for the son of a father.
And I'm really thankful for that because I'm the son of a father who is condemned by his own actions, as are all of us. "Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas, a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city, for murder." Now, what we don't see in Luke but is recorded in the other gospels is Pilate was hoping to use this prisoner release as his out to release Jesus. The crowd knew that as well, and so they demand Barabbas. So at this point, verse 20, Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus. It's what he wanted to do. He's not guilty. I'm not going to put an innocent man to death. I've got to get him out of here. But notice what happened. "I will therefore punish and release him," back to what we talked about. "I'm going to scourge him. I'm going to bloody him up. I'm going to make an example of him. I'm going to make him hurt. That ought to satisfy you." But it didn't satisfy them. They were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified.
Now let's talk about crucifixion for a minute. Crucifixion was the ultimate death penalty for a Roman prisoner. The Romans really liked crucifixion because it was a slow death. It takes about three days to die. You don't actually die from being nailed to the cross; you suffocate to death. And so what happens is they pierce your feet and they pierce your hands, and the only way you can breathe is to push up with your feet, but that's excruciating. So you drop back down, and because they've already ripped your back to shreds with the cat of nine tails, your muscles, your tissue, is just rubbing up and down on that cross every time you push up or down. Ultimately, your lungs fill with fluid and you drown. Killed in a way to die, it took about three days, plus the birds would peck at you. The Romans were cruel; they were really good at cruelty; they specialized in it. And that's what the crowd wanted for Jesus. "Yeah, it's not good enough to rip him open; crucify him!" And that word is really important. "Urgent! Get it done quick! Now, put him to death!" And their voices prevailed, so Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man Barabbas, who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.
So, I was studying this; I was listening to another pastor's sermon on this passage, and he asked an interesting question: "If I had been in the crowd, would I have said 'Crucify him'?" And the truth is, I would, because I need a savior. The other interesting piece about this is why did Jesus go before Pilate and Herod? He needed to be condemned by both Jew and Gentile because he was going to die for both. God had a bigger plan; we can't miss the plan. Christ had to die for everyone; he had to be rejected by everyone. Truth is, there are days that I'm ashamed of every month where all I'm yelling is "Crucify!" because I want to do my own thing. How many times, because the voices are so loud, have we compromised on what we know as God's truth? I know better, but the crowd is just so overwhelming, and I want to preserve myself, so Jesus, you get to be the sacrifice. If we're truthful, we're all guilty of that at some point; we've all been there. But the good news is, the son of the father gave his life for the son of a father. I'm guilty as charged, and Jesus went to the cross for me. It's true for all of us.
This morning, I'm going to ask you just to bow your heads and close your eyes for a moment and, first and foremost, if you've never given your life to Jesus, this is what he's done for you. He was declared not guilty three different times by the government and still put to death, paying for your sin and my sin. See, the truth of the Gospel is there was a substitution that took place. You and I deserve nothing less than that punishment, an eternal separation from God, and Jesus took your place. So today, if you've not given your life to him, stop fighting it; just give him your life because the reality is, one day, we're all going to stand before God, and there'll be one of two things that happens: "Depart from me, I never knew you," or "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." But it all comes down to knowing Jesus. Who is Jesus? Don't let what he went through for you go to waste.
