PASSION WEEK – Friday morning
Jesus, Herod & Pilate
(But first, Judas)
Remember how Jesus quoted Psalm 41:9 about Judas?
“Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”
Psalm 41:9 ESV
This is from a psalm of David.
And this particular line was probably written about this guy:
“And it was told David, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.””
2 Samuel 15:31 ESV
Ahithophel had been on King David’s staff. He was a royal advisor. He was close David. And then he betrayed the king when he went along with Absalom’s coup attempt. He even suggested that Absalom send 12,000 soldiers to go after David when he was weak and tired and KILL HIM.
Guess how Ahithophel died.
🤓 David ran him through with a spear?
No. He hanged himself. (2 Sam. 17:23)
Ahithophel had been a trusted friend then he betrayed David and hanged himself.
Judas had been a trusted friend then he betrayed the Son of David and hanged himself.
And Jesus quoted the line that David wrote about Ahithophel and applied it to Judas.
This is a fantastic example of how the Bible has these rhyming moments. Ahithophel is a prophetic picture of Judas.
And this is paired with the other prophetic picture where Zechariah is paid 30 pieces of silver for being a shepherd, Zech. 11:12-13. The LORD told Zechariah to throw the money to “the potter” so he throws the money into the Temple to the potter. How odd! The money paid for the rejected shepherd was thrown into the temple and also went to the potter. And this strange foreshadowing was fulfilled when Judas threw the money into the temple and the priests used it to buy “the potter’s field” for burying strangers.
You can’t make this stuff up.
There’s no way the Bible ISN’T a supernatural book.
Jesus, Pilate, and Herod
This bit of the narrative gets a little tricky.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke record the big group of priests, scribes, and elders bringing Jesus to Pilate and Pilate asks Him “Are you the king of the Jews?” And Jesus answers, “You have said so.” The group continues to accuse and Pilate asks more questions but Jesus refuses to answer.
But in John 18:33-38, Pilate and Jesus have a whole private conversation. The accusing group is outside. The best I can figure is something like this:
- Priests bring Jesus to Pilate. Pilate comes out to them. They accuse Jesus. Pilate asks Jesus “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus says, “You said it” but won’t answer anything else. The group mentions that Jesus is from Galilee.
- Pilate sends Jesus to Herod. Herod sends Jesus back and the soldiers take Jesus inside to Pilate but the Jews stay outside this time.
- Pilate questions Jesus and this time Jesus talks to him and answers his questions.
So that’s the outline I’m going to follow.
Here we go…
The chief priests let it drop that Jesus was from Galilee. That’s Herod’s jurisdiction. So Pilate sent Him over to Herod.
This Herod is Herod Antipas (grandson of Herod the Great), the guy who married his brother’s wife (Herodias) and had John the Baptist beheaded.
🫤 Not a very nice guy.
No. But he was in a good mood when he got to see Jesus.
“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. So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.”
Luke 23:8-11 ESV
Herod was hoping for miraculous entertainment. Jesus refused to be a circus act. So after a little joking and mockery, they send him back to Pilate.
I suspect that the “splendid clothing” was the famous “purple robe” that Jesus wore. Pilate was a Roman governor, not royalty. Herod was probably the only person in all of Judea who had the extravagant wealth to throw away a purple robe on a criminal for pure entertainment.
This is the beginning of the mockery of Jesus’ Kingship. Mark, Luke, and John describe Jesus as draped in “purple” while Matthew calls it “scarlet.” Look at this color and you tell me if it might not be rightly described by either word:
🤓 Kinda like that internet debate over the dress… Was it blue or gold?
Tyrian Purple was a color combination of blue, purple, and scarlet…
🤔 That sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before?
That would be back in Exodus 26-28, 36, and 39. Those were the three colors of the Tabernacle curtains, the veil, and the priest’s garments.
Jesus is being attired as both king and priest because He is being tried as the King of Israel and He is doing the redemptive work of the Great High Priest.
Jesus & Pilate
The mob of priests, scribes, and elders haul Jesus back to Pilate, but they do not go inside the Governor’s headquarters because it’s Passover and they don’t want to defile themselves.
They have arrested the sinless Son of God and are seeking the death penalty but they “don’t want to defile themselves.”
😒 I can see why God was fed up with them.
Pilate doesn’t want to deal with Jesus. He sent Him to Herod. Herod sent Him back.
“So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.””
John 18:29-31 ESV
Pilate begins to question this man who was brought to him dressed as a king. He asks 4 questions. Let’s look at the exchange.
- Are you the King of the Jews?
- “Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?”
- ““Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?”
- “Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”
- So, you are a King then?
- “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”
- What is truth?
Jesus does not answer the last question. He Himself was the answer. HE is Truth.
Pilate does not find Jesus guilty of any crime. This is the civil trial, informal though it may seem to us without judge or jury. The Jewish authorities could not find Jesus guilty of breaking any actual law either. This is important. There was absolutely no legal reason for Jesus to be executed. None. He HAD to be utterly innocent. And He was.
Pilate may have been a hardened Roman, but even he did not feel right about executing an innocent man.
Herod did not take Jesus off his hands.
The priests wouldn’t get rid of Jesus.
Pilate has one more option to try.
“Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd—anyone they wanted. This year there was a notorious prisoner, a man named Barabbas. As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” (He knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.)”
Matthew 27:15-18 NLT
To add to Pilate’s discomfort of condemning an innocent man, his wife warns him to have nothing to do with Jesus. She had some kind of bad dream that involved Jesus and she took it as a sign. So Pilate tries to make it an easy choice for the crowd: a harmless rabbi, or a violent criminal. Should be a no-brainer.
The name Barabbas is Aramaic. It’s like Simon Bar Jonah or Bar Timaeus. “Bar” means “son of.” Bar (son of) Abbas. I’m sure you know that Abba is Aramaic for father.
🤔 So Bar-Abbas means “Son of Father?”
Yes.
There were TWO men offered to the crowd. BOTH of them were the Son of Father.
Pilate has questioned Jesus. Now he questions the crowd that has assembled just outside his headquarters. And he asks them the question that every person must answer:
“…what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Matthew 27:22 NLT
The disciples are nowhere to be found.
Herod – the recognized King of the Jews – thinks Jesus is a lame joke.
The religious leaders want Him dead.
Pilate is between a rock and a hard place.
And the crowd calls for Him to be crucified.
😐 Wow. That’s pretty….extra.
Right?
Nobody wants to deal with Jesus. They all, in their own ways just want Him to go away. It’s not very unlike our world today.
Pilate’s final question to the mob shouting for death:
“Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?” But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!””
Matthew 27:23 NLT
No one can come up with a legitimate reason to kill Jesus but they are all willing to do it. It makes me think of this quote by American author and comedian Christopher Moore:
“Nobody’s perfect.
Well, there was this one guy,
but we killed him.”
Pilate is no fool. He knows a miscarriage of justice and political intrigue when he sees it. He washes his hands of the whole thing and hands Jesus over to be scourged. He will try one more time to have Jesus released. We will look at that in the next post.
