Secular Justice

Luke 23:1-16

¹Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. ² 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.” ³ And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” ⁴ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” ⁵ But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.” ⁶ When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 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. ⁸ 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. ⁹ So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. ¹⁰ The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. ¹¹ And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. ¹² And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other. ¹³ Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. ¹⁶ I will therefore punish and release him.”

Long ago, when I was a young mother, I used to listen to my girls at play just to keep track of what was going on and provide a modicum of safety from the distance. Every now and then voices would rise between them as things got heated over some toy or how some game should be played. Eventually I would hear, “I’m gonna tell mom!” And then one of them would come running to my side to explain how she had been wronged by the other and I should come and use my parental authority to make things right again. Usually, I told them to “work it out”.

Jesus now faces the authorities of the time – Pontius Pilate and King Herod. While the Sanhedrin desperately wanted Jesus killed they had no authority to get that done. They were beholden to Pilate, who was appointed by Rome to rule the region of Judea, or by Herod, appointed to rule the region of Galilee. So Jesus had to stand before these two men to be judged by them. The Sanhedrin levels three charges against Jesus: “perverting our nation,” “preventing the giving of tribute taxes to Caesar” and “saying that he himself is Christ, a king”. While all three of these charges were fabrications on the secular level (while still being true on a spiritual level) they were issues that only a civil leader could adjudicate. All three were also capital offenses. Jesus could be sentenced to death on any one of these charges. Jesus stands basically silent during all three of these trials. He engages in some brief exchanges with Pilate, but for the most part He is not there to defend Himself. That would run counter to His final goal. In a world where we spend huge amounts of time defending ourselves that silence is stunning. Herod is particularly vile. He wants to see Jesus do a few tricks as he had already heard of Jesus and His reputation as being a miracle worker. But – neither of these men find a reason to kill Jesus and thus at this point the Sanhedrin is hearing “work it out” from their political leaders. The depth of the Sanhedrin’s hatred for Jesus is played out in the next few verses as they do not accept that “work it out” command from their leaders. They will continue to press their point until they get what they want.

We are grateful that neither the Sanhedrin nor these two leaders were actually in control of this situation. Jesus was. His goal of securing our salvation through His suffering and death could not be deterred by politicians. The Lord of the Universe had a plan and that plan is in full swing.