Read
63The men who were guarding Jesus made fun of him and beat him. 64They put a blindfold on him and said, “Tell us who struck you!” 65They kept on insulting Jesus in many other ways.
Jesus Is Questioned
(Matthew 26.59-66; Mark 14.55-64; John 18.19-24)
66At daybreak the nation's leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses got together and brought Jesus before their council. 67They said, “Tell us! Are you the Messiah?”
Jesus replied, “If I said so, you wouldn't believe me. 68And if I asked you a question, you wouldn't answer. 69But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right side of God All-Powerful.”
70Then they asked, “Are you the Son of God?”
Jesus answered, “You say I am!”
71They replied, “Why do we need more witnesses? He said it himself!”
Pilate Questions Jesus
(Matthew 27.1,2,11-14; Mark 15.1-5; John 18.28-38)
1Everyone in the council got up and led Jesus off to Pilate. 2They started accusing him and said, “We caught this man trying to get our people to riot and to stop paying taxes to the Emperor. He also claims that he is the Messiah, our king.”
3Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Those are your words,” Jesus answered.
4Pilate told the chief priests and the crowd, “I don't find him guilty of anything.”
5But they all kept on saying, “He has been teaching and causing trouble all over Judea. He started in Galilee and has now come all the way here.”
Jesus
6When Pilate heard this, he asked, “Is this man from Galilee?” 7After Pilate learned that Jesus came from the region ruled by Herod, he sent him to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at that time.
8For a long time Herod had wanted to see Jesus and was very happy because he finally had this chance. He had heard many things about Jesus and hoped to see him work a miracle.
9Herod asked him a lot of questions, but Jesus did not answer. 10Then the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses stood up and accused him of all kinds of bad things.
11Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and insulted him. They put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. 12That same day Herod and Pilate became friends, even though they had been enemies before this.
Reflect
Have you ever been given the runaround? Have you ever been passed from one customer service agent to another with no one willing or able to satisfy your question? That happened to me just recently. I called one of our suppliers to get an answer to what I thought was a simple question only to be transferred from one agent to another with what appeared to me to be a strategy to wear me down. By the time I talked to the fifth customer service agent I must admit it was a struggle for me to act like a Christian. With each minute on hold I grew more impatient and thought of more things I could say – none of which would have led people to Christ.
Can you imagine what Jesus was going through at the hands of these religious and political leaders? I love the way Jesus responded. Instead of allowing their taunting and abuse to cause him to get angry and retaliate, he acted as if he hardly heard them. As if he was preoccupied by something else. As if he was having a secret conversation in his head with his father God.
The Scriptures here in Luke cause me to pause and wonder how I would react in similar circumstances if, during these situations, I too was having secret conversations with God. What if my spirit was so attuned to God’s spirit that the circumstances around me seemed almost trivial? Instead of feeling a need to defend myself or to set the record straight, I could simply speak truth and let God’s Spirit manage the circumstances.
This may sound a bit super spiritual but as I look at Jesus something inside of me says that’s a good example to follow.
Respond
Dear Lord, forgive me for my impatience. Help me to be so tune in to the frequency of your Holy Spirit that your voice becomes the dominant voice in my mind.
Barry Slauenwhite
Dr. Barry Slauenwhite is Canadian Regional Director for Best Christian Workplaces Instiute. He is also President Emeritus of Compassion Canada where he has served since 1983. Barry's advocacy for the poor has taken him to 61 countries. From his experience as a pastor and a ministry leader, he passionately works to promote holistic child development through the local church as being the most effective kingdom-building strategy available to the Christian world. Barry's latest book, Strategic Compassion, addresses the theological implications of poverty and draws a conclusion that the gospel is the most effective tool the church has to eradicate poverty.