The Trial - Luke 22:63 - 23:25

The Trial - Luke 22:63 - 23:25

Jesus accepted the arrest, the beatings, the   mockery, the insults, the accusations, the questions, and the miscarriage of   justice that were all heaped upon him. He did not try to defend himself, did   not try to remove himself from the situation, did not try to lessen the   humiliation in any way. He took what he knew was coming to him, willingly,   though he did not deserve any of it. In the previous passage Jesus said that   he would be “numbered amongst the transgressors”, quoting Isa 53, and this is   happening in this passage. Jesus identified utterly here with sinful humanity   and took upon himself the consequence of sin, though he himself had never   sinned.

 

After the story of Jesus’ arrest and Peter’s denial,   we catch a glimpse of the mockery and physical punishment Jesus had to   endure. The soldiers blindfolded and beat Jesus in order to make it clear   they did not accept him as a prophet.    This was all part of the rejection of Jesus’ identity that would   happen throughout the trial and execution. What Jesus experienced here was in   a way totally unique, but in another way it connects him to all those who   have suffered at the hands of violence. Anyone who has ever been beaten or   abused or falsely convicted by those in authority can say that Jesus, the Son   of God, has also been unjustly beaten and abused and falsely convicted.   Anyone who has ever been mocked, ridiculed and rejected can say that Jesus,   the Son of God, has also been mocked, ridiculed and rejected. Anyone who has   ever faced imprisonment, torture and execution at the hands of the state can   say that Jesus, the Son of God, also faced imprisonment, torture and   execution at the hands of the state.

 

Jesus was taken before the Sanhedrin, composed   of the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law. There he was   questioned about being the Messiah. Jesus could not answer no to this   question, but also knew that his questioners’ understanding of what the Messiah was and   his own were very, very different. So he answered in a way that pushed the   inquiry in a new direction. In calling himself the “Son of Man”, and speaking   of being seated at the right hand of God, he directed the Sanhedrin towards   the realisation that he was claiming not just to be the Messiah, but to be   the Son of God. The right hand is a place of honour and glory, and it   indicated a much higher position than just that of Messiah. To claim to be   the Messiah was one thing; you might be wrong, but you would not be   blasphemous. But to claim to be the Son of God was certainly blasphemous, and   it signalled the end of the Sanhedrin’s questions. They did not need any more   evidence to find Jesus guilty.

 

So Jesus was taken to Pilate, because Rome had not   given subjected people (as the Jews were in Judea) the right to execute   criminals. Only the Roman authority could have someone put to death. But the   Roman authority would not see blasphemy in the Jewish religion as the kind of   offence that should lead to execution, so Jesus was accused of subversion and   refusing to pay taxes to Caesar, charges that would weigh more heavily in the   Roman court. But Pilate could not apply these charged to Jesus, and thus did   not want to find him guilty. So he passed the buck to Herod, in whose   territory (Galilee) Jesus had begun his ministry (this was acceptable to do   under Roman law, but Herod could not give an order to have Jesus executed).

 

Herod (one of the grown children of the King Herod   who featured in Jesus’ birth story), was known as a frivolous man, not a   serious-minded ruler. He was happy to meet Jesus because Jesus was famous,   and he wanted to see a miracle. When Jesus would not answer his questions,   let alone produce a miracle for him, Herod became disinterested. He was only   interested in Jesus for the novelty factor, for something exotic or unusual   that he could show him. Many people today are still only interested in Jesus   for the miraculous that might occur, or for the benefit they might get, not   for the actual Kingdom he brings. In the presence of true royalty, in the   presence of the Son of God, Herod could only make jokes and mockery.

 

So Jesus is returned once again to Pilate, who still does not wish to find Jesus guilty. This is not because Pilate was some kind and enlightened ruler, or that the Romans were more humane. Pilate proves his character later by agreeing to torture and execute a man whom he believes to be innocent, in order to make life easier on himself by giving the angry crowd what they wanted. But Pilate did not want to execute Jesus because the charges laid against him, those of subversion and undermining Rome, clearly did not fit. Those charges did, however, fit when applied to a man like Barabbas, who was facing execution for insurrection and murder. Here was a man who deserved to die, according to the law. And yet when given the choice, the crowd in the square asked for Barabbas to be released, not Jesus. (This was due to the influence of a small number of people in authority who had chosen against the Kingdom of God and who therefore wanted Jesus to be killed, no matter what). Barabbas, a guilty man whose name means “son of the father”, was therefore released, and Jesus, an innocent man who really was the Son of the Father, was sentenced to death. Barabbas was, in a way, saved from the consequences of his sins by the presence of Jesus. This can be seen as a symbol for the greater salvation Jesus was about to effect upon the cross.