Scandalous Injustice

The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and said, “Prophesy to us! Who hit you that time?” And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him. At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?” But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.” They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?” And he replied, “You say that I am.” “Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.” Then the entire council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. They began to state their case: “This man has been leading our people astray by telling them not to pay their taxes to the Roman government and by claiming he is the Messiah, a king.” So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “You have said it.” Pilate turned to the leading priests and to the crowd and said, “I find nothing wrong with this man!” Then they became insistent. “But he is causing riots by his teaching wherever he goes—all over Judea, from Galilee to Jerusalem!” “Oh, is he a Galilean?” Pilate asked. When they said that he was, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas, because Galilee was under Herod’s jurisdiction, and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time. Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer. Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations. Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. (Herod and Pilate, who had been enemies before, became friends that day.) Then Pilate called together the leading priests and other religious leaders, along with the people, and he announced his verdict. “You brought this man to me, accusing him of leading a revolt. I have examined him thoroughly on this point in your presence and find him innocent. Herod came to the same conclusion and sent him back to us. Nothing this man has done calls for the death penalty. So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.” Then a mighty roar rose from the crowd, and with one voice they shouted, “Kill him, and release Barabbas to us!” (Barabbas was in prison for taking part in an insurrection in Jerusalem against the government, and for murder.) Pilate argued with them, because he wanted to release Jesus. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” For the third time he demanded, “Why? What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to sentence him to death. So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.” But the mob shouted louder and louder, demanding that Jesus be crucified, and their voices prevailed. So Pilate sentenced Jesus to die as they demanded. As they had requested, he released Barabbas, the man in prison for insurrection and murder. But he turned Jesus over to them to do as they wished. As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women. But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.’ People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘Bury us.’ For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!” But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle. Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last. When the Roman officer overseeing the execution saw what had happened, he worshiped God and said, “Surely this man was innocent.”

SERIES CONTEXT

As we move through the Lenten season towards Easter our goal will simply be looking at JESUS; HIS character, HIS works and HIS heart. We have come out of an application heavy series (A Kingdom Ethic) and now it is time to sit at the SAVIOR’s feet and marvel at WHO HE is and what HE has done!

ROAD MAP:

WEEK 1: Luke 22:14-23 (The Lord’s Supper)

WEEK 2: Luke 22:1-6, 31-34, 47-62 (Two Betrayals)

WEEK 3: Luke 22:35-46 (Man of Sorrows)

WEEK 4: Luke 22:63-23:47 (Scandalous Injustice)

PASSAGE CONTEXT

Tonight we look at JESUS before the rulers and the most scandalous miscarriage of justice the world has ever seen.

SCANDALOUS INJUSTICE | 15m

JESUS BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN COUNCIL (22:63-71)

Who is the Sanhedrin council?

The highest judicial body in the land, which under Roman authority controlled all Jewish internal affairs.

It was simultaneously a judiciary, a legislative body, and, through the high priest, an executive; and all of this authority was perceived to rest on a theocratic basis.

Theocratic: a system of government in which priests rule in the name of GOD.

It was made up of mostly Sadducees with the Pharisees making up an influential minority.

Sadducees: conservative Judaism, no resurrection of the dead, no sovereignty of GOD.

Pharisees: progressive/liberal Judaism, resurrection of the dead, sovereignty of GOD.

Sadducees and Pharisees were quite hostile towards each other but excitedly came together in opposition to JESUS.

John 11:47-50 gives us insight into the motive of the council and exposes their fears that were rooted in politics and personal power.

John 11:47–50 NLT

Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.” Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”

The truth is they are prompted less by dispassionate concern for the well-being of the nation than for their own positions of power and prestige.

D.A. Carson writes:

“The execution of JESUS is indicated. And so HE died—but the nation perished anyway, not because of JESUS’ activity but because of the constant mad search for political solutions where there was little spiritual renewal. Justice is sacrificed to expediency.”

JESUS becomes an innocent victim.

The bullying begins…

Luke 22:63–65 NLT

The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and said, “Prophesy to us! Who hit you that time?” And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him.

Injustice is executed…

Luke 22:67–71 NLT

and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?” But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.” They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?” And he replied, “You say that I am.” “Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”

N.T. Write comments:

“It wasn’t just a theological transaction; it was real sin, real human folly and rebellion, the dehumanized humanity that has lost its way and spat in GOD’s face.”

JESUS, in quiet but active submission to the FATHER, endures the scandalous injustice.

John 11:47–50 NLT

JESUS BEFORE PILATE PT. 1 (23 VV. 1-5)

Who is Pilate?

The fifth magistrate of Judea, and who served in that capacity from a.d. 26–36.

He appears in a variety of extra-Biblical sources as a dispassionate leader who relentlessly pursued Roman authority in Judea.

He also had a very contentious relationship with the Jewish people.

The Jews in the time of JESUS had no power to carry out the death sentence.

Such sentence had to be passed by the Roman governor and carried out by the Roman authorities.

It was for that reason that the Jews brought JESUS before Pilate.

Nothing better shows their evil intention than the crime with which they charged HIM.

In the Sanhedrin the charge had been one of blasphemy, that HE had dared to call HIMSELF the SON of GOD.

Before Pilate that charge was never even mentioned.

They knew well that it would have carried no weight with him, and that he would never have proceeded on a charge which would have seemed to him a matter of Jewish religion and superstition.

Their charge before Pilate was really threefold.

They charged Jesus…

with rebellious agitation;

with encouraging the people not to pay tribute to Caesar;

with assuming the title of king.

Every single item of the charge was a lie, and they knew it.

They resorted to the most calculated and malicious lies in their overwhelming desire to eliminate JESUS.

Pilate asks JESUS if HE is indeed the King of the Jews to which JESUS replies in similar fashion as he did before the Sanhedrin, “You have said so.”

Pilate pronounces JESUS innocent for the first of four times in this narrative and the crowd is sent into a frenzy.

Pilate, fearful of the hostile Jewish crowd, sees a way out on a technicality of jurisdiction.

JESUS, again in quiet but active submission to the FATHER, endures the scandalous injustice.

JESUS BEFORE HEROD (23 VV. 6-12)

Who is Herod?

Officially his name was Herod Antipas and he was the political representative for Judaism.

Any Jewish person that was Galilean or Perean fell under his jurisdiction.

It was this Herod that executed John the Baptist.

It was his father, Herod the Great, who just before his own death attempted to execute JESUS as a child by the execution of all the Jewish males two years of age and under after a visit from the wise men looking for the “newborn King of the Jews”.

Herod (Antipas) has been in the background of JESUS’ story throughout the Gospels. He is much like the looming villain we see in so many stories.

Luke 13:31 NLT

At that time some Pharisees said to him, “Get away from here if you want to live! Herod Antipas wants to kill you!”

Only Luke gives us this scene where they meet at last, the present and precarious ‘KING of the Jews’ face to face with the real and coming King.

Herod had longed for this moment.

He saw JESUS as a combination of John the Baptist, who had fascinated him with his talk but frightened him with his warnings, and a kind of circus artist who can do magic tricks on command.

JESUS disappoints him. HE says nothing, and does no miracles.

Quite the opposite of Moses before Pharaoh.

Why did Herod noticeably not agree to the chief priests’ accusations?

Partly, it seems, because it was obvious that JESUS was not leading the sort of revolution normally spearheaded by would-be ‘kings of the Jews’.

HIS few close followers were only lightly armed, and had in any case run away.

JESUS made no threats, offered no resistance, and said hardly anything.

Herod could see that the main reason JESUS was before them was because the chief priests and their associates wanted to get rid of HIM—and both Herod and Pilate disliked them and tried to run them down, as part of the power struggles that carried on throughout this period.

Once again, JESUS was caught at the point where competing interests and agendas met. Not only the sins, but also the petty aspirations, of the world conspired to put HIM on the cross.

Then we see a wonderful irony in the newfound friendship of the Jewish king and the Gentile ruler.

Luke’s whole book has spoken of the Gospel reaching out into the lands beyond, beyond official Judaism, beyond the racial and geographical boundaries of Israel, beyond prejudice and blindness, bringing together Jew and Gentile, young and old, the hated Samaritan, the tax-collector.

Now, even without believing in JESUS, Herod and Pilate are reconciled.

It is as though, with JESUS on the way to the cross, reconciliation cannot help breaking out all over the place.

Luke is alert, and wants us to be too, for every sign that the world is becoming a new place through JESUS and HIS crucifixion.

Luke 23:9–11 NLT

He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer. Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations. Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.

Herod rules JESUS innocent for the second of four times in this narrative.

JESUS, now in silent but active submission to the FATHER, endures the scandalous injustice.

JESUS BEFORE PILATE PT. 2 (23 VV. 13-25)

JESUS is then brought back before Pilate where HE is declared innocent for the third time in this narrative and the frenzied crowd boils over into violent mob.

While Pilate offers to punish and release JESUS the mob screams out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas!”.

Pilate pleads a case for JESUS once more to which the mob shouts all the louder, “Crucify, crucify HIM!”.

One last time Pilate pleads with them that this JESUS has done nothing deserving of death only for the cries to continue, “Crucify, crucify HIM!”.

Luke intentionally draws our attention to Barabbas at this point.

As if there were not enough injustice being thrown at JESUS already, the man (Barabbas) they want pardoned in JESUS’ place has already been convicted of a crime that JESUS has been falsely accused of.

Barabbas was a violent (murdering) revolutionist.

Here, or after verse 19, some manuscripts add verse 17: “Now he was obliged to release one man to them at the festival.” (not originally in Luke)

JESUS is given the death sentence meant for the violent rebel.

Again we see a foreshadowing of the mighty work of the cross as a man’s sin is substituted for the righteousness of JESUS!

JESUS, again in silent but active submission to the FATHER, endures the scandalous injustice.

JESUS BEFORE THE PEOPLE, RULERS AND SOLDIERS (23 VV. 32-38)

Now we see JESUS nailed and lifted up on a cross, horrifically displayed to a mixed crowd.

There were those that were sympathizers to JESUS and who's hearts were in utter agony.

There were those who came simply out of curiosity and a perverted sense of entertainment.

There were those who may have cared less what was going on but saw an opportunity to cast lots for HIS clothing.

There were the religious rulers who have fueled this entire scandal yelling out words of mockery to JESUS and saying loud enough for everyone to hear, “HE saved others; let HIM save HIMSELF, if HE is the CHRIST of GOD, HIS CHOSEN ONE!”

There were the soldiers, also mocking HIM, coming up to JESUS and offering HIM sour wine and saying, “If you are the KING of the Jews, save YOURSELF!”

N.T. Write describes it this way:

“At the heart of Luke’s picture of the cross is the mocking of JESUS as king of the Jews, which draws into a single stark sketch the meaning expressed by the various characters and the small incidents elsewhere in the narrative. JESUS has stood on its head the meaning of kingship, the meaning of the kingdom itself. HE has celebrated with the wrong people, offered peace and hope to the wrong people, and warned the wrong people of GOD’s coming judgment. Now HE is hailed as king at last, but in mockery. Here comes HIS royal cupbearer, only it’s a Roman soldier offering HIM the sour wine that poor people drank. Here is HIS royal placard, announcing HIS kingship to the world, but it is in fact the criminal charge which explains HIS cruel death.”

All to which JESUS pleads with GOD the FATHER, “FATHER, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

And lastly we see our JESUS mocked by a convicted criminal hanging on a cross next to HIM, crying out, “Are you not the CHRIST? Save YOURSELF and us!”

But then a scandal greater than any we have seen thus far happens.

SCANDALOUS JUSTICE | 2m

JESUS BEFORE THE CRIMINALS (23 VV. 39-43)

JESUS, for the fourth time, is declared innocent.

This time not by a ruling judge, politician or national ruler but by the criminal hanging on the cross on JESUS’ other side.

This criminal, now acting like a prophet full of faith, rebukes the other mocking criminal saying, “Do you not fear GOD, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

He then looks to JESUS and says, “JESUS, remember me when you come into YOUR Kingdom.”

…and JESUS, with all authority and power, having absorbed all the injustice dealt to HIM scandalizes the very notion of justice as HE turns to a man convicted and rightfully dying to tell him that instead of dying today, truly, “you will be with ME in paradise!”

This is our JESUS!

We were once sinners but have been made saints because JESUS, in taking upon HIMSELF what appeared to be the most scandalous injustice the world could throw at HIM, in fact took upon HIMSELF the most scandalous justice that GOD the FATHER could throw at us.

And like the convicted, sentenced to death, criminal we have been made children of promise. Children of the Kingdom of GOD!