Holy Week 2022 Day 4: Luke 22:66-23: 5

Day 4: Luke 22:66-23:1-25

This is part of the passion of Jesus is where it begins to hurt.

Peter denies Jesus before the rooster crows and weeps bitterly. Jesus gets mocked and beaten. He’s blindfolded and hit, while people are taunting him. “Prophecy! Who hit you?”

The day breaks, and Jesus’s trial begins. He was arrested at night, so as to not stir anyone up, but in the morning, stands at trial. They say to him, “If you are the Christ, then say so.” He says back, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask, you will not answer. From now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” They push further: “Are you the Son of God then?” Jesus retorts,

“You say that I am.” 

This was a false political charge, mainly that Jesus is trying to make himself an earthly king and blaspheming by not paying taxes. Normally, religious charges are not handled by the Roman prefect, and is therefore not Pilate’s concern. But right now, in efforts to kill Jesus, they fashion the truth that Jesus is the Son of God into an earthly offense— and they are triumphant that they have won the final say. They snarl back at him, “Why do we need any more testimony? For we ourselves have heard it from his own lips!” 

Jesus gets brought to Pilate, who, as prefect, as all authority over who gets to live or die in his province. Jesus was not a Roman citizen, so this hearing was outside of Roman law; namely, the prefect has total control over what happens and was free to make his own decisions about what was right and wrong. In this trial, they paint him as a fiery leader for a revolt against authorities to take Israel back. 

These are serious charges. No Roman prefect or power would be able to stay silent in the face of a possible revolt, especially in Judea, a turbulent province barely under Roman control on the very edge of the roman empire. To risk revolt or uprising is to potentially lose Judea as a province. Jesus would surely be killed. 

In the trial, Pilate asks Jesus, 

“Are you King of the Jews?” To his question, Jesus retorts, 

“So you say.” This is equivalent to “whatever,” or “What does it seem like to you?”

Pilate basically looks to the Jewish leaders and say, “I don’t get it. There’s no reason to charge this man.” The leaders continue to accuse him of stirring up the people of Judea with his teachings, and upon learning that Jesus is a Galilean, sends him to Herod. Herod, who wanted to see his sign or wonder for a long time and tries to get him to do something, but Jesus stands still. He then mocks him with contempt, puts shining clothes on him, and sends him back; to Herod, Jesus was a fool, but no criminal. Pilate then underscores this to the leaders, saying:

“You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people, and behold, after examining him before you, I do not find your charges against this man to be valid. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Behold, he has done nothing worthy of death. Therefore, I will have him chastised with blows before releasing him.”  This isn’t they wanted, and they cry out all together: 

“GIVE US BARABBAS INSTEAD!” 

Barabbas was an insurrectionist that ended up killing someone in the process. He started an insurrection with violence and ended up ending someone’s life in the process of being hungry for power. He is someone who has truly committed the crimes that Jesus is accused of. Yet the people, filled with intense hatred for Jesus, cry out in unison to Pilate, 

“CRUCIFY HIM!” 

Pilate tries again, a third time. He says, “Why? What has he done? I don’t see reason to kill him. I’ll beat him and release him.” But the Jews don’t take this well. Scripture says their voices get “overpowering;” in other words, the force of the Jews was not normal. It wasn’t clear whether or not the Jews would stay still if Pilate didn’t give them what they wanted, and the end product would be the same: a riot would occur. Pilate, wary of this, concedes and gives them what they want. Their words prevail over justice, and the one who actually committed the crime gets released, while the man that did nothing gets sentenced to death. 

I used to think that I was one of the accusers, just like the song: “Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers…” 

But I realize today that in this scene, I am not the priest; I am not the crowd. I am the man released while Jesus goes to death for his crimes. I am the man released— I am the trouble maker, the one stirring up people to revolt, the one who murders another in my own thirst for power, my own sense of justice and what is right. I am the one that gets released while Jesus dies on my behalf. I deserve it. He doesn’t. But He takes my place. 

The priest, the crowd, they are all me too. We are all Barabbas, putting Jesus on trial for our crimes. We are the ones power mongering, we are the ones who want to be God of our own lives, crucifying Jesus so that we wouldn’t have to face the truth. And he- he chooses to stay silent. He doesn’t fight back, He doesn’t prove innocence. He, in his silence, actively takes on the price we would have to pay, the price we accuse him of. 

And he does this for you and me, for the priests, for the crowd, for Barabbas. His children, His kingdom. 

This Maundy Thursday, can we remember Him and take him off the trial of our hearts? Can? we receive him instead- can we remember Him?