Jesus' Trials (2)

Unlike during Jesus’ trials, today everyone seems to want Jesus on their side, even if otherwise they don’t worship him. It’s interesting to me that even other religions have relatively positive opinions on Jesus - of course, only Christianity recognizes he is God, but everyone wants him. But it’s not enough to want Jesus. What kind of Jesus do you want? Because the real Jesus will not consent to being whatever you want him to be. He is a real person with real opinions. If you want him to be what he does not want to be, you’ll find he will refuse to have anything to do with you.

Neutrality is not an option; one way or another you are going to make a decision about what you will do with Jesus. Pilate tried to be neutral and found out to his cost that doing the right thing took courage - and was unwilling to pay that price. Over and over Jesus’ innocence was proclaimed - the religious leaders had great difficulty inventing any charge against him; when they did even Pilate easily saw through it. The Romans repeatedly said that he was innocent, and even when Pilate caved, the judgment wasn’t guilty, it was “Ok, you win.”

There is nothing more important that what you do with Jesus. He warned the women of his generation that his own unjust execution was a bellweather for coming punishment. The punishment he warned about is now history, but there is a much worse one coming. If the world punished the guiltless one, how much pain when the world deserves it and God has finally had enough?

Not Just a Miracle-Worker

Now Pilate is trying to get rid of Jesus; he does not want to kill an innocent man, but neither does he have the courage to do the right thing if it costs him his position, but something the religious leaders said caught his ear - Jesus has been teaching in Galilee. Is he a Galilean? Upon learning that he was, he thought he found the solution to his problem - Herod Antipas was in town already.

Now the best palace in town was the Palace of Herod the Great; which was the residence of the governor when he was in town. But there was a second, slightly smaller one built by the Hasmoneans just west of the Temple; this was likely where Herod was staying; still, it wasn’t far. When I say smaller I don’t mean it was poor; it was still lavish just not as great as Pilate’s house.

But what’s important is not where Jesus went; but what happened when he got there. Herod had wanted to see Jesus. He did not hate Jesus nor did he feel threatened. However, what he wanted was a sign. He was hoping for a good show. But he was disappointed. Herod grilled him trying to get him to perform, but Jesus just wasn’t interested. Some have seen a fulfillment here of

Isaiah 53:7 NKJV

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.

And while this is part of it, I think instead that Isaiah is saying that the Messiah will not try to defend himself, which is exactly what Jesus did the entire time of the trial, not just this part. How do most people act when they are being falsely accused and executed? They thunder, “I’m innocent, it’s not fair.” They present evidence they argue their case. Jesus only spoke when it was necessary, only gave evidence when he was required to say something; he did not avoid saying incriminating things if they happened to be true.

Instead, Jesus’ silence before Herod is for a different reason. Jesus has no interest in putting on a performance. He refuses to perform a miracle just to satisfy Herod’s curiosity. Even when impressing Herod could probably have got him released. Jesus will not be your performing artist; he has no interest in trying to wow you. He demands to be your Lord, not your entertainment.

But what happens when someone who wants a show doesn’t get the performance they want? They turn on you. If Herod was convinced by the arguments of the chief priests and scribes he would have taken the case and executed Jesus himself. But unlike Pilate, Herod does not have to listen to the chief priests; he is from a different province, so they really can’t touch him. But Herod is disappointed because he didn’t get a show, so he joins the soldiers in mocking Jesus.

This mockery is very different from what the Jews had done to Jesus earlier. These men don’t hate Jesus, they are just bored, so if Jesus won’t provide them the entertainment they want, they will entertain themselves by making fun of him. Herod is emotionally immature, and the soldiers are rough men doing what rough men do. Of course, if they knew who Jesus really was, they would still be mortified. Their guilt may be less than those who beat him earlier, but it’s still really, really bad to make fun of the King of the Universe.

After having their fun, Herod refuses to actually make a judgment about the problem, and would rather be neutral; so he sends Jesus back to Pilate. And this causes Herod and Pilate to mend their differences. One commentator suggested that these differences might have been because Pilate had killed some Galileans

Luke 13:1 NKJV

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

Herod would have been upset because that was intruding on his turf; those were his people! But Pilate had given Herod jurisdiction about someone who was from his territory when he didn’t have to.

The Prince of Peace

And here we see that Jesus really is the prince of peace. Even when tried and convicted, he brings peace to those who hated each other. Among Jesus’ own disciples there were people who really should not have gotten along - Simon the Zealot and Matthew the Tax Collector - A Zealot was a Jewish nationalist. A Tax collector had betrayed his country to work for the Romans. These two should have hated each other but here they were both following Jesus. And even today you often find a diverse group of people in the church - people of wildly different interests, personalities, cultures, ages, and stations in life. People who ordinarily would not socialize together, and sometimes people who would otherwise be hostile to one another, but in the church they are brothers and sisters in Christ.

Neutral you cannot be

So much to Pilate’s dismay, Jesus is sent back to him. Pilate makes a second attempt to get Jesus released, pointing out that not only has Pilate himself already rendered a verdict of innocent, but Herod did as well. He tries to appease their bloodlust by offering to punish him. That’s the famous scourging that Jesus received. Of course if Jesus is innocent then even this is quite unjust; but Pilate hopes that by making this compromise, they can at least agree not to kill an innocent man.

But Pilate greatly underestimates the hatred the religious leaders have for Jesus. Now some translations do not have v.17 “Now he was obliged to release one man to them at the festival.” Now before I even try to figure out whether that verse ought to be included, I first ask how much it really matters in the scheme of things; and the answer is, not that much. This verse was probably added by a scribe based on Mark 15:6 or the equivalent passage in Matthew,

Mark 15:6 NKJV

Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested.

because without this, it is difficult to understand why they would come up with a random name to be released instead. Why not just get Jesus crucified without releasing anyone? And whoever first inserted this verse probably wasn’t even trying to add a line to Scripture. Remember that the Bible was written a millennia and a half before the printing press, so everything was handwritten - the main text as well as any extra notes in the margin; furthermore, since the New Testament was largely copied not by experts but by ordinary folk who wanted a copy, they would sometimes accidently leave something out, and rather than waste paper and ink which were expensive, they would insert the missing words. So the next scribe who came along sometimes wasn’t sure if the words were just an explanatory note added by the previous guy or if the previous guy messed up and added in what he missed. So to make sure he didn’t accidently leave out a verse of Scripture he included it.

Now we don’t have the original manuscripts for any book of the bible. All we have are copies of copies of copies. God preserved his Word not by making the copyists infallible, but by producing 10x more copies than any other ancient document. Some copies are older than others, and all else being equal, the older the manuscript, the better since it has fewer copies than more recent manuscripts. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but you get the idea. There are a lot of early manuscripts that don’t have v.17, so it is probably not original to Luke. But the idea it expressed is found in Matthew and Mark, and as I preach I find myself needing to make use of it for the same reason as that unknown first scribe added his note in the margin. It is needed to make sense of why they had to have Barabbas released.

At any rate, Pilate had a custom to release to the Jews one prisoner at Passover to appease them; whoever they asked for they could get released. Pilate realized that he hadn’t done this yet, so he set up a situation that was designed to make them choose to release Jesus - since Jesus was being accused of being a dangerous revolutionary, Pilate selected someone who was an actual dangerous revolutionary. Barabbas had actually done what the chief priests and scribes claimed Jesus was doing. If they really cared about insurrection as they claimed to, they would have to choose to release Jesus; he was obviously the less dangerous of the two.

However, as usual he failed to understand how much they hated Jesus. It was never about insurrection. It was about feeling entitled to the position they held and this position was threatened by the rise of Jesus. As for the crowd, this particular crowd would have been made up of those who were loyal to the chief priests, so when the chief priests stirred them up, they would say what the priests wanted them to say.

Pilate was baffled. Why were they so intent on killing this random peasant? He was losing control of the crowd, fast. He begged them to listen to reason a third time to no avail. He saw that a riot was starting and he couldn’t have that. So rather than be courageous and release someone he knew was innocent, he granted the demand of the crowd. Notice that the verdict wasn’t “guilty.” it was “their demand should be granted.” Barabbas went free; Jesus was condemned.

Pilate discovered that you cannot be neutral with Jesus; you must choose for or against him. And still today there are many like Pilate. Many who don’t hate Jesus or the church, but would rather not make a choice about Jesus. They think they can just live their lives and do their thing without making a choice about the Savior. They are wrong.

When the Wood is Dry

Now as they lead Jesus away, Jesus would have ordinarily been compelled to carry the crossbeam of his cross, which could weigh as much as 75-100lbs; certainly a healthy man in his 30s could carry it, but not one who had been dehydrated, sleep-deprived, and scourged. The only reason they would compel someone else to carry it for him is if he was unable to carry it himself. So the Romans did what they always did in that case; they picked a random dude who looked strong enough to carry it and made him carry the beam to the execution site; this guy happened to be a Simon from the city of Cyrene. Cyrene is in modern-day Libya in north Africa west of Egypt, so this guy was either a Diaspora Jew or a Godfearing Gentile. It’s most likely the poor guy didn’t intend to get caught up in a crucifixion procession and wasn’t too happy about being diverted from wherever he was supposed to be going.

It’s possible that Simon later became a Christian;

Mark 15:21 NKJV

Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.

Mark tells us that he was the father of Alexander and Rufus. The only reason I can think of that this is relevant is if Simon’s sons became prominent enough in the church that dropping their name would help Mark’s audience identify who this Simon of Cyrene was. Perhaps only Mark’s audience knew them, and church tradition has Mark writing to Rome. At any rate Simon of Cyrene probably wasn’t a follower of Jesus at the time, or even really cared that much about all the hubbub about this Israelite teacher, but his experience might have been what God used to bring him to faith later.

But the main point of this section is Jesus’ reaction to the women who were mourning for him. Now it’s not that their weeping for him was a problem. They are watching the torture and execution of the Just One, the Messiah. Wouldn’t you weep? I would.

And I don’t think Jesus is trying to make them feel better either. Effectively Jesus’ counsel is that - you think this is bad? Just wait, it gets worse! But Jesus has a supernatural insight into human nature. If Jesus’ comment seems tone-deaf, it isn’t because Jesus doesn’t know what to say; it’s because he doing something other than trying to make them feel better.

John 2:24–25 NKJV

But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

So if Jesus wasn’t trying to comfort the women who were crying over him, what was he trying to do? What he is trying to do is redirect their sorrow in a direction that will help them. It’s fine to weep for Jesus when you’re looking at his pain, but it really doesn’t help you. But if they take Jesus’ words to heart, they will be put on a path to the kind of sorrow that will help them.

His reason for saying it will get worse is his proverb in v.31 - if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen in the dry? Anyone who has burned wood knows that green wood doesn’t burn well. When I used to burn wood, I had to stack it at least 6-9 months before I wanted to use it so it would burn well. But what does he mean by green wood? Well, Jesus was then being crucified. He doesn’t deserve it at all and this injustice is obvious to everyone not blinded by hate. Yet they are inflicting this suffering on him anyway. If this torture and pain happens when it is not deserved, what do you think the Romans will do when it is deserved?

Jesus drives the point home by describing the pain that will come. Normally, its the young men that die and suffer in war. Women, children, and the elderly are usually exempt. Not this time; there will be total war. The Bible has a strong emphasis on the blessing of children. Universally in the Scriptures, having children is a blessing from God.

Psalm 127:3–5 NKJV

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

But right here we have one of the only times when the Scriptures state that having kids is a curse. Why? Because those caught in the Wars of the Jews from AD66-70 would suffer much greater if they had small children. The Romans were killing everyone without distinction, so women who are slower anyway, would be slowed down even further by trying to carry their small children with them, and suffer much greater anquish if caught. So for this unique time of distress, it was better to be childless.

Paul had similar advice for the unmarried of his day

1 Corinthians 7:26–28 NKJV

I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress—that it is good for a man to remain as he is: Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But even if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you.

I think the “present distress” that Paul is talking about is persecution. A family man is going to suffer more from persecution than someone who has no family ties, thus, it would be better to wait until the wave of persecution has passed before getting married. But this is a matter of wisdom, not sin.

Thankfully we do not live in an age of persecution, so this advice is presently not necessary. Though there are a few other situations where this might apply. Someone going overseas into battle who isn’t married yet might be better off waiting until he or she comes home again.

But Jesus’ advice isn’t about marriage, since the event he is talking about does not happen for 40 years. Rather, he wants them to realize that Jerusalem is doomed and therefore they will be ready to join his disciples later. In other words, Jesus is trying to scare them into eternal life.

That’s why he adds that people in general will suffer so much they will want the mountains to fall on them. People will say that in the Tribulation period

Revelation 6:16 NKJV

and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

But I’m not sure that Jesus is talking about the tribulation here. He has specifically told them to weep for themselves and their children, but the tribulation did not happen either in their lifetime or their kids. No, he is talking about the War of the Jews in AD 66-70. The terrible suffering that happened likely did make people want to be buried alive rather than suffer as they did.

But, of course, the War of the Jews happened a long time ago. The point for us is that as terrible as those events were, there are even worse things coming. Jesus wanted the women of Jerusalem to be ready; how much more does he want us to be ready to avoid the wrath of God which will be poured out on the whole world?

Jesus does not need us to weep for him anymore. He is risen, and ascended to sit at the right hand of God. That’s why our cross over there does not have anyone on it. Weep rather for those who are not ready for his return, and will have to suffer through the Tribulation period even if they repent. Weep for those who do not repent and will die and receive the just reward of their actions.