Luke 22:63-23:25 The Two Trials of Jesus
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 23:63, that’s on page 883 in the pew Bibles.
We are going to do this a little different today. My hope is to do a sort of running commentary as we read through the text of Luke 22:63-23:25 piece by piece and hopefully conclude with some personal application at the end. Hopefully…
Let’s pray.
Before we begin, I would like to remind you all of the last words of Jesus before His arrest in verses 52-53.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
The hour of the power of darkness, that is the context of our account for today.
After He said these words Jesus was seized and led to the house of the High Priest that night where Peter would deny Him three times.
Our text for today will focus on two trials of Jesus, one before the Jews and one before the Romans. But this meeting at the house of the High Priest was not a legal trial because it was unlawful for the Jews to hold a trial at night. That doesn’t mean their decision wasn’t made then, but it would have to wait until morning to be made official.
But in the meantime, in the words of JJ VanOosterzee, “The council of blood is changed into a theatre of insult and cruelty.”
63 Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. 64 They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” 65 And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.
If you look carefully, the threefold office of Jesus is under attack, the office of Prophet, Priest, and King.
Here in these opening verses those who were holding Jesus challenged His office as Prophet by blindfolding Him and challenging Him to tell them who hit Him along with many other blasphemies.
It’s ironic that those who would charge the Lord Jesus with blasphemy were guilty of blasphemy themselves.
Matthew and Mark were more detailed in their accounts of this kangaroo court but sufficed to say here in this moment Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 50, verse 6.
I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
This undiluted hatred testifies to the words of Isaiah 53, that Messiah would be despised and rejected by men.
The next morning the Sanhedrin could finally hold its official trial. And like any trial based on false premises they asked questions they knew the answers to, but they didn’t ask them because they wanted to know the truth, they only asked them to get Jesus to say what they wanted Him to say.
66 When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, 67 “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, 68 and if I ask you, you will not answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” 70 So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” 71 Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.”
Jesus’ submission to this mockery of a trial is further evidence of His grace. He could have wiped these guys off the map but He endured the shame of this trial out of obedience to the Father and the hope of another, greater trial.
Jesus was brought before this unjust tribunal so that, by faith in Him, we would be able to stand before a tribunal that is just at His Second Coming.
In Jesus’ brief response to their questioning, where He states that from now on the Son of Man would be seated at the right hand of the power of God, is an echo of the words of Psalm 110:1, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’” And would be echoed back in Acts 2:33; 5:31; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; and 1 Peter 3:22.
Jesus focused on future glory and joy over the present with all its horror. We could learn a lesson from that.
It is Messiah’s place to sit at the right hand of God, it is the place of the Son.
So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.”
“You say that I am.” This is such a cryptic response to me. I looked at the Greek to see if there is any clue that makes this statement any more clear. The best that I could find is that the word translated, “say,” can also be translated, “to speak,” or, “to tell.”
I’m not going to claim that this is authoritative, only that it’s possible, that Jesus meant, “You tell that I am Messiah… by your treatment of me.”
Either way, they had the answer that they wanted, that Jesus claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God. And what we know to the truth, to their ears was blasphemy. But here they ran into a problem. Blasphemy was a Jewish capitol offense but not a Roman one. The Jews had no authority to execute anyone without permission from Rome. So now the council went to work twisting the words of Jesus to fit the Roman crimes of insurrection and sedition.
Look at chapter 23.
Then 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.”
Pilate was not just some Roman, he was the governor of all of Judea for Rome. He represented the highest authority in the world at that time. As far as they were concerned, he spoke for Caesar. And Pilate was no dummy, he was an intelligent and ambitious man, although our text will show he was a bit of a coward.
The Jewish council accused Jesus of misleading the nation, which really meant that He stood opposed to their authority and influence over the people because He taught the Word of God more accurately than they did. They also lied and said that He forbade paying taxes to Caesar, when He did exactly the opposite not three chapters earlier in Luke 20:22-25. Remember the spies sent by this council asked:
22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” 23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” 25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Finally they charged Him with insurrection because He claimed to be the Christ, a king. This was the one they really hoped would stick but Pilate didn’t buy it.
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.”
Pilate has a dilemma on his hands. The council has gathered quite a crowd and it’s getting pretty tense. In his mind the worst thing to happen would be a riot because if there was a riot the authorities over him would think that he couldn’t control his district and it would look really bad on his resume.
But the council gave him an out. “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.”
“Galilee, you say?” Pilate was in charge of Judea, Galilee was Herod’s district! This could be my way out of this mess! Pilate’s cowardly nature is starting to show.
6 When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.
Now, we know that Jesus was in fact born in Bethlehem, but He grew up in Nazareth which was in Galilee.
7 And when [Pilate] learned that [Jesus] 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.
Here again before Herod we see Jesus fulfilling Scripture. Isaiah 53:7, He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
Herod and his soldiers dressed Jesus in a purple robe, the color of a king, and sent Him back to Pilate with no judgment of guilt, just mockery.
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.”
Pilate didn’t stand a chance. He was not just facing a potential riot and damage to his political aspirations. He was facing down the power of darkness even though he wasn’t aware of it and probably wouldn’t care even if he did know. More importantly, Pilate didn’t stand a chance against the almighty, eternal purposes of God. He tried, he tried to just punish and release Him but the people wouldn’t have it.
18 But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”— 19 a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. 20 Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, 21 but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” 22 A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” 23 But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. 24 So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. 25 He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.
The tradition was that Pilate would release a prisoner on Passover as a peace offering to the people of Israel, and though he tried to free Jesus even on those grounds the voices of the people prevailed and Pilate’s strength gave in.
The people would rather have the sinner Barabbas than be confronted with their own sin that was exposed in Jesus. They would rather be in the presence of sin than admit their own sinfulness.
The same is true today. The same will be true until Judgment Day.
I guess that is perhaps where the personal application comes in because it answers the question, “why?”
Why did they want to kill Jesus? It’s the same reason that people reject Him today, because Jesus exposes our sinfulness. People are fine with Jesus as a historical figure, or as a moral teacher, but to admit that He is in fact the Son of God, that He is the Messiah, that He is Lord, means that they have to admit their own sinfulness before God.
Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:15, “This saying is trustworthy and true, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief and principal.”
That’s the answer to the other question, “why?”
Why would Jesus submit to humiliation, torture, and death?
Hebrews 12:2 says, look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
For the joy set before Him, that’s why, the joy of reuniting fallen mankind with our loving heavenly Father through faith in Him.
And I believe that He would say that it was worth it.
Amen.
