Encounter with The Innocent Part III

We have been in a series through the gospel of Luke that I have called Encounter with The Innocent. Through out Jesus’ 3 1/2 year ministry many people have encountered Jesus. His encounter with these people has left an unforgettable mark not only on those people but on the religious leaders and also now on the civil leaders as well. The Encounter with The Innocent One always demands a response. The religious leaders in their encounter with the Innocent One found that their sin was exposed. Pilate’s encounter left him confused and indifferent. Herod’s encounter left him misguided, manipulated and with a malicious demeanor toward Jesus. A person who encounters the true Jesus never walks away without being affected by the encounter whether positive or negative. There is never a sitting on the fence when it comes to an encounter with Jesus. You will either believe the truth of who He is or you will believe the lie the world is spewing.

Now when the evidence of the true Jesus is before you what is your verdict of who He is? Is He just a sage, a great moral teacher? Is He a rebel who stirred up trouble for the Roman Empire? Is He a myth in the way of Greek and Roman Mythology? Is He a man, or is He a God, or is He the God who took on flesh? Is He sinless or was He able to sin? Your verdict on who Jesus is says a lot about what you think of Him and it is says a lot about what influences your thinking. This morning we will see Pilates verdict concerning Jesus based on Pilates examination of the evidence. We will see this in Luke 23:13-25, Luke 23:13-25

Luke 23:13–25 NASB95

Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. “No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. “Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner. But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted. And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.

Now we have seen the religious leaders have convicted Jesus of blasphemy and they want Jesus killed but they don’t want to do it themselves because they are afraid of the backlash that will be caused by the people. So they bring Jesus before Pilate the governor of the region. As they bring Him before Pilate they also accuse Jesus of causing a stir in the nation of Isreal against the Roman Empire. Pilate sees right through this and he also sees a way out, Jesus is from Herod’s district so Pilate sends Jesus and these leaders to Herod in hopes that Herod might help alleviate the decision the religious leaders have placed on Pilates head.

Herod has been waiting to see Jesus for a long time and now he has received his chance. He is hoping Jesus will perform some miracle for him. The problem is Jesus was never one to put on a dog and pony show for anyone. Herod demonstrates for us that it takes more to know the real Jesus then some hearsay and truly knowing Jesus is to meet Jesus on His terms not on ours. Herod had a misguided understanding of who Jesus is and because of that Herod was easily manipulated by the world and Herod’s demeanor toward Jesus became malicious.

Now Luke makes it a point to tell his readers something no other gospel says. In verse 12 Luke writes for us, “Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other.” Now we don’t know what the animosity was between Herod and Pilate but what is for sure is there was something their. They served as rulers in the Roman Empire together and Pilate had authority over Herod. Still no one is sure why they were enemies but notice what brought them together. It wasn’t a common bound against an enemy. This wasn’t “the enemy of my enemy” is my friend kind of an idea. That is uniting together to rid themselves of a common enemy and Jesus was not the enemy.

No what brought them together was Jesus and what they saw and knew of Jesus. Each of them witnessed the religious leaders bring accusations against a man who posed absolutely no threat to the Roman Empire. The both examined Jesus and now they had stories to exchange. It was Jesus’ submission to the will of God that brought these men together. The affect Jesus by being silent caused these world leaders to unite in friendship. Jesus has an affect on everyone who encounters Him. Even if people don’t come to saving faith people have a verdict and an opinion as to who Jesus is and in some way or another people either unite for Him or unite against Him. These two men united with the world against Jesus and that brought them together.

I also believe Luke said this for an even more power reason which I will get to very soon.

Now after Luke provides for us this statement about the relationship between these two world leaders we get right back to the trial. Jesus has know gone from before Pilate to going before Herod and now He goes back to Pilate. In verse 13 Luke picks right back up again. “Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people.” Pilate takes his sit again as judge over this matter. He is calling the court into session so to speak. Notice he calls the chief priests and the rulers and the people. This is the entire Sanhedrin and also the people. Listen it wasn’t just the religious leaders who were there. There were people there as well. Now I am sure there were some there who believed in Jesus who were there. Some of His disciples were at this trial. But there were also those who were sympathetic to the religious leaders within this group of people as well.

So they now come before the judgment seat of Pilate and Pilate prepares his verdict. First he Examines the Evidence;

Examine the Evidence

We see as Pilate continues in verse 14; “and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him.” So here we have Pilate repeating to Jesus’ accusers the charge they have brought before him. He has weighed the evidence against Jesus by His accusers and Pilate has found Jesus with absolutely no guilt. Remember the religious leaders brought Jesus to Pilate and said Jesus was stirring the people up against the Roman Empire. He was causing a coup in Pilate’s region and Pilate had to take care of this.

Now I want you to notice when Pilate says he has examined Him before you. Pilate is telling them it has been a public trial you are witnesses to my own interrogation of the accused. I have hid nothing from you. Luke provides just a brief look at this exam but John provides for us a little more detail of the conversation. Let’s go ahead and look at John 18:33-38.

John 18:33–38 NASB95

Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.

Notice how Jesus responds, Jesus is not responding as a man who has been stirring up the people against Rome. Now here is the deal people who want power, people who want control they fight for it especially on human terms. Jesus’ description of His Kingdom in John’s gospel is far from a narcissistic mad man who is causing a coup, I am sure to Pilate, Jesus sounded more like a mad man who then an insurrectionist.

Pilate has weighed the evidence and listen to both sides of the argument and even though the religious leaders are bring these accusations before Pilate there is no real witnesses or any true evidence against Jesus. He sees this. Pilate has determined his opinion of Jesus and his opinion is Jesus is an innocent man.

When a person encounters Jesus there is always evidence. We spoke on Thursday night about how people want concrete evidence. People want something tangible to hold before they can truly believe Jesus is who He says He is. Look Pilate had Jesus right before him and heard it right from Jesus’ mouth and he believed Jesus was innocent of the accusations of being a rabble-rouser but he still didn’t believe Jesus’ Kingdom was not of this world. There is a great deal of evidence in this world that God exists, you can look out the window and see His glorious creation.

Go to the beach sometime and sit and watch the sunrise over the ocean. You can see the glorious colors and the way the sun peeks out and hit the water and gleams off the surface. As the light dispels the darkness you begin to see the waves more clearly and the color of the water goes from a black to a beautiful blueish green. You see the foam of the wave heads become a clearer white. All of that is evidence there is a glorious and powerful creator there is no way that what you just saw happened by accident.

Now there is evidence of a Creator but does that mean then Jesus is real. Well if you believe in a Creator then that begins the question Who is He, Why has He created me and this world, and what is my role in this world and who is Jesus and why did He walk the earth? We will not just find the answers to those questions just sitting on the beach, not unless you have a Bible with you.

The Bible is our only concrete evidence into who Jesus is. It is our only concrete evidence of why we were created and how we are to live. I just thought about it this morning how people like to say well the Bible is written by men. I said last week the Bible is written by men’s hands carried along by the Holy Spirit, man didn’t just write this God wrote this. Now even if you want to argue that men wrote the Bible fine, but didn’t man write history books and science books, the same people who use that stupid argument will listen to what is written in a history book or science book and not bat an eye. The Bible is not just written by men.

Look at what Peter says to the church;

2 Peter 1:16–21 NASB95

For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Peter, himself, was a witness to God’ announcement of Jesus being His Son and Peter also tells us the prophetic word is made sure, meaning the prophecies which we have in the Old Testament are made sure are realized are fulfilled in Jesus Christ Himself. These prophecy are not up for our own interpretation, we can’t just make it say what we want it to because it was not written by man’s will, it is not from the mind of man but from the mind of God written by the Holy Spirit. That is why when you read through the passover account in the book of Exodus and then study Jesus’ crucifixion which happened about 3000 years later we find the connections to be incredible. No way a man thought that up.

The evidence of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done is scattered throughout all of the Bible from the Old Testament to the New.

Here is more evidence of the Innocent One, 1 John 1:1-3

1 John 1:1–3 NASB95

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

John was an eyewitness to Jesus living actually walking among them and not only did He walk among them John know for sure Jesus is the Son of God who was with God at creation and Jesus came so that we may know God.

The author of Hebrews also points to who Jesus is;

Hebrews 1:1–4 NASB95

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

See this the author is pointing to God’s active work through the prophets of old and how God carried them along to teach people and to call people back to Him and in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, Jesus the last true prophet has come and told us to turn back to God and to follow Him. The Evidence is here we just need to examine it for ourselves. Just as the Reformers did 500 years ago. Men like Martin Luther and John Calvin who investigated the actual word of God and saw for themselves the evidence of who Jesus is.

Pilate examined the evidence before him, the evidence declared Jesus innocent of the accusations by the religious leaders, and now we find that not only does the evidence weigh in Jesus’ favor but we also see that His innocence is validated

Innocents Validated

Verse 15 Pilate continues and says this, “No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him.” Look at this, Luke is the only one who has provided for us the story of Herod and even provided for us verse 12 which points to the fact that these two men now have become friends. They have become friends because of the commonality of what has happened with their encounter with Jesus and with these religious leaders.

Luke also demonstrates one other very crucial element in telling us the story of Herod. By Jewish law you need to have two or more witnesses to bring charges against someone. Here we have two of the Roman officials who have both examined Jesus and both have found Him to be innocent of all charges. There is no evidence provided that warrants a death penalty. Pilate didn’t come to this conclusion on his own but Herod corroborated it.

That is to fulfill what scripture teaches about Jesus as a sacrifice for all mankind. We need a perfect sacrifice to take our place. It is ironic at this very time the nation is preparing to sacrifice lambs as a commemoration of when the Spirit of death passed over the nation of Isreal and delivered the nation from death. The lamb had to be without any blemishes and it actually had to be inspected by the priests to be without blemish. The religious leaders had nothing against Jesus except their own jealousy and the gentile leaders found nothing wrong with Him at all deserving death. All of this fulfilled what the scriptures teach.

First Isaiah prophesied this;

Isaiah 53:9 NASB95

His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

See that Jesus did nothing wrong, He didn’t cause any violence or lie in any way. Peter even quotes this same passage when talking about Jesus and His Innocence and what that means for us.

1 Peter 2:21–25 NASB95

For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

He is the innocent One who died, who had to die to take the penalty for all of our sins. Through His unjust death we are now made just.

All of the evidence is in and the both of the civil leaders have corroborated on His innocence. Now the Verdict is Cast.

Verdict Cast

Pilate seeing that there is no reason to put Jesus to death decides to pass a verdict of innocent but He will receive a punishment and be released. He says this in verse 16, “therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” Now Luke doesn’t use the same word here as the other gospel writers in the sense of the scourging we all know about. The word here for punish is a word that deals with disciplinary action utilized to train or educate someone. Some believe Pilate’s intent was not to scourge Jesus with the same brutality as He receives which is done with a whip that has its end covered in broken pieces of bone so that it tares into the skin and rips it to shreds. They believe Pilate is only trying to discipline Him to appease the religious leaders and also to teach a lesson for Jesus and others not to stir up trouble.

Luke lesson this because he is showing us how the Gentiles were actually very sympathetic to the Christians. Pilate was sympathetic but it doesn’t mean he was a believer. Still encountering Jesus demands a verdict, it demands an opinion. The evidence of who He is has been revealed to us in His Word, the evidence points to His innocence in His trial. By all accounts He should have been released but as because of God’s great providence He will still go to the cross. Yet as an innocent man, sinless and Holy and Righteous. Even though the Gentile rulers so no guilt in Him they never truly believed in Him and their indifference caused them to follow after the ways of the world and not after the Word of God.

How does the evidence stack up for you? Is Jesus who He says He is? Is He the Innocent One who has taken away your sins? If He is then how are you living as an ambassador of truth to those around you, how do you help provide evidence of His Innocence?