The World on Trial

Series on Luke

VI The Invincibility of the Kingdom

F The Trials

Text: 22:63-23:25

Introduction

Here in this Scripture we see our sinless Savior indicted, we see God in the dock, and truth on trial. The incongruity of it should overwhelm us. How can a wicked world put a sinless Savior on trial? But they did, and as is the case with all false judgment we end up putting ourselves on trial. The fault we find is not in Him but in us. We may read the gospels and come to the conclusion that the trial ended. Jesus was condemned, crucified and resurrected victorious over sin and death. This is what we read, however, the trial goes on. The world still summons God to the bar of justice and questions his authority every day. When in the 1960’s the liberal theologians concluded that God was dead it was just another trial and another condemnation. When today in the nineties we do what we want and ignore what God has said our justification must be that we have put God in the dock and found him guilty so we do our own thing. I want you to see today that we are the ones who are wanting. As we look at the trial of Jesus, we see three places where we are condemned: in the house of the Bible, in the house of bondage and in the house of bigotry.

I Jesus on Trial in the House of the Bible

The mistreatment that Jesus is receiving in verses 63-65 is being administered by the temple guard that arrested him, The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and demanded, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” And they said many other insulting things to him. In other words these are the employees of the high priest of Israel and the Sanhedrin. This sets the scene. Jesus will first appear before a church court. He is in the house of the Bible, and his inquisitors are the high priest, the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They are the theologians and Bible students of his time. The great tragedy of our day is that Jesus is still put on trial first in the house of the Bible. All the ignorance and antipathy to Christianity and Christ is aided and abetted first by the failure of the church to take a firm stand on the Scriptures. According to other gospel accounts the witnesses said that Jesus had declared, that He was able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. The high priest knew that Zechariah had prophesied, 6:12 and 13, Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two. The issue here is not that they don’t know the Bible, but that they don’t want the Bible. At the birth of Jesus the scribes in Herod’s court knew that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, but you see no priests or scribes coming to Bethlehem. You see shepherds, you see wise men, but none of the Jewish rulers. And now they will finish what Herod started when he slew all the babes of Bethlehem. We will not have this man to rule over us. It is the unwillingness of the Church to submit to the Scriptures, to the authority of God, that is a major cause of the rejection of Christian principles in our life today. Jesus later swears that he is truly the Son of God in 22:70 and 71 but this is exactly what they don’t want, They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied, “You are right in saying I am.” Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips. They call him a liar and blasphemer.

II Jesus on Trial in the House of Bondage

And now they move to the Roman procurator’s court. This part of the trial is interrupted by a visit to Herod since Pilate would like nothing better than to avoid a confrontation with the Jewish leaders. The Jewish people were in bondage. They were a conquered people enslaved by the Roman government. Generally the frame of mind was one of rebellion. There were also those who favored compromise. The point is that in this situation they resort to their slave masters. Like Israel in the wilderness these men would return to Egypt. They prefer the leaks and garlics of slavery to the manna of freedom. Pilate can find no wrong doing so he dumps the responsibility on Herod in 23:4-7, Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.” But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.” On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. But in the end after Jesus is sent back by Herod, Pilate gives in to the crowd and condemns Christ anyway. God is here to take care of His people to deliver them but they choose slavery. They say to the government, “You are our god,” but the government is a god with feet of clay, an idol which must be carried. It cannot carry you. So in the same fashion in twentieth century America, the noose tightens around our neck. Everybody wants a piece of the action. Everyone wants an entitlement, a break, a special favor, and we wonder why we’re in such trouble. False messiahs always lead you to destruction. The Bible says in Psalm 2 that the kings and rulers of the earth have set themselves against the Lord and against his Anointed. Whether it’s the first century or the twentieth, the government always wants the same thing, power. The government always uses the same technique, expediency. Here absolute truth is crucified and power is deified. Listen again to Pilate, in the gospel of John we read in 18:37 and 38, “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him” What is truth is the question of our time. Our culture answers that nobody knows, but Jesus knows. Wake up everyone. There is only one person who will not let you down in this picture, the one on trial, Jesus Christ. He came to save you and He undergoes this humiliation ending in the cross to deliver you.

III Jesus on Trial in the House of Bigotry

And now in 23:8-12 Jesus is sent to the puppet king, Herod, who is greatly pleased, When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies. Why? Herod is filled with superstition and fear. Herod is the man who murdered John the Baptist because John criticized him. Herod lives in fear and murdered at will to protect his dominion. He was an Edomite, but he courted the favor of the Jews. He thinks that Jesus might be John risen from the dead, but ever the opportunist, he longs to see Jesus perform some wonder. All his focus is on the miraculous, the power. The chief priests and scribes want exactly the opposite. They are happy when Christ is silent and performs no wonder. Jesus is refusing to titillate Herod with a sign that would prove nothing of value. And so we read that his soldiers ridicule and mock Jesus, in 23:11 and 12. To them He is a joke. They make him into a caricature of a king. Herod and his court are perfect representatives of the world. Indeed they are the world. The unthinking, uncaring jibes reveal a deeper need. If they cannot see they will not believe. All of the emphasis in our society on devil worship; on the occult; fortune telling, and astrology; all of the teaching of the new age movement about reincarnation and living other lives in the past; all of the practice of spiritism and communicating with the dead; all of the speculation about contact with aliens and close encounters of the third kind; and worst of all the misplaced zeal of people in the Christian Church for signs and wonders to verify their faith feeds unbelief. All of this superstition proves that people will believe anything except the gospel just like Herod. Such people mock our Savior. For them nothing is ever enough. make no mistake about it, Jesus is still on trial and if he doesn’t do a sign they want nothing to do with him. But as the Lord Himself indicated in His parable in Luke 16:31, if he did a sign they still wouldn’t believe, “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” The reason is that, like the Sanhedrin and like Herod, what they want is a god they can control.

Conclusion

Satan has not changed his strategy and Jesus has not changed his response, a response which is for us today. Before the Sanhedrin Satan says again to Jesus if you are hungry, speak to this stone so that it may become bread. Jesus reply to the Sanhedrin is that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. In the house of the Bible he condemns it by saying obey the Bible the whole Bible and nothing but the Bible. Before Pilate Satan says again to Jesus bow down to me and all the kingdoms of this world will be yours. Jesus reply to Rome and to Pilate and to every citizen is that we should worship the Lord God and serve Him only. In the house of bondage he condemns it by saying, if the son shall make you free you will be free indeed. Before Herod Satan says again cast yourself down from the summit of the temple and the angels will hold you up. Jesus reply to the superstitious bigots of all time is do not put the Lord your God to the test. Acknowledge his lordship and serve and obey him. We have been to the trial as spectators today. The problem is we’re not spectators. we think we are judges, but in reality we are defendants. The judge is that solitary figure who refuses to save Himself. in Him is all our hope; not in the church which will always wander, not in the government which will always oppress, not in the world which will always mock-but in Him.