Luke 23:6-12
Well, we return to Luke 23 this morning, Luke 23. You can turn there in your Bibles. And today we are continuing with the Gentile prosecution of the case against Jesus. The Jewish case against Jesus is recorded in Luke 22. We’ve already been through that material. We saw that that was prosecuted by the Jewish religious leaders. Of all people who should know who this Jesus is and what he means, his significance, his great glory, that he is the Christ of God, they should know. They had the Scriptures, they studied them thoroughly, and yet they were blind to his glory.
Let that be a warning to all of us. Let that be a warning to all of us. Good theology, while it is good and it’s necessary and it’s needful, if you’re not born again, good theology condemns you. If you’re born again, it causes you to grow and bear fruit, and that’s what we want to see in all of our lives.
We see the opposite, though, in the Jewish religious leaders. They didn’t have any graces, virtues, sanctification at all, as we see in Jesus’ ministry. All through his ministry, they are dogging his steps, pursuing him, trying to entrap him, trick him, condemn him, malign him, and make him look foolish before the people. And we wonder at that, but then their full heart is revealed at the very end when they conspire to commit murder. The pages of Scripture tell us that they met, and they agreed to have him killed. So they collaborated with a man of no virtue at all, a traitor, Judas Iscariot.
And then they conducted none of their actions in broad daylight, in full view of all the people, in public, but rather they arrested him covertly under the cover of darkness and snuck him into the high priest’s palace. They brought him directly to the house of the former high priest, Annas. That was for the initial questioning. John 18:19-24 gives us that whole questioning of Annas, the former high priest. He’s the real power in Israel, the, the one who’s pulling all the puppet strings over the temple.
He didn’t question Jesus to learn anything about Jesus’ teaching, but rather to further entrap him, to develop a strategy for religious and legal entrapment of Jesus. That was unfruitful though. He got nothing out of Jesus that he’d hoped to get. So Annas sent Jesus to his son-in-law Caiaphas, the acting high priest, for further questioning, for further inquisition. Matthew 27:57 and following, Mark 15:53 and following, both record this informal trial of Jesus.
Caiaphas led the way. He tried to find justification for the death penalty in the wee hours of Friday morning. They paraded false witness after false witness after false witness before the assembly, all of them having contradictory testimony, none of them getting to any heart of the issue that they could condemn him for. So because of that, Jesus stayed silent. He didn’t answer a word in any of these false charges. It’s a clown show, bringing in every single fool before him. He did not speak a word. He only spoke when the high priest finally was exasperated enough to call out, “‘I put you under oath by the living God.’”
So in his high priestly role, and with that high priestly authority conferred on him by God, he adjured him, “‘By the living God, tell us whether you’re the Christ, the Son of God.’” And so he answered then. There he had something to say. He said, “‘I am the Christ, the Son of God, and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.’”
Rather than carefully considering three years of evidence, rather than thinking about his character, his life, his teaching, his doctrine, all backed by powerful miracles that validated divine authority speaking and working through him, rather than, as they should have, bowing before him in repentance worship, they instead rejected Jesus, sealed their own faith. They condemned him as a liar. Why? Because any of the evidence truly was against him? No, not at all. They had determined their conclusion about him from the very beginning. It was a predetermined outcome. All they’re looking is for evidence to backfill so they can justify their condemnation of him.
In their view, Jesus is a liar, so everything he says or doesn’t say, everything he does or doesn’t do, everything is going to be twisted to fit their fraudulent case against him. That’s all they have, is fraud, deception, deceit on their part. They, being liars, try to make him into a liar.
So right after daybreak on Friday morning, they gather the entire, sad, Sanhedrin together for the official indictment in the official assembly of the Sanhedrin. The Jewish position, the official position, is that Jesus is a liar, he’s a false Messiah, he’s a false prophet, he is an unrepentant heretic and therefore dangerous to the people. He must be put to death, and that must be done quickly.
Now at that point, ending chapter 22, as we saw with the religious case closed and the books closed, the Sanhedrin takes their case to Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate is the Roman governor of Judea. They’re coming before him because they, as a people under subjection to Rome, had no authority to carry out execution sentences. So they had to go to the Roman governor of Judea to secure this sentence of execution.
There’s a false, in their view, a false messianic fervor in the land that has gone on long enough. It’s interrupted temple operations not once but twice. Disrupted their business. It threatened their cash flow. So the Jews intend to press the Romans into executing him right away. So they rise up, as we saw, the beginning of chapter 23, they rise up as one man, the entire Sanhedrin. They bring their case and their prisoner over to Pontius Pilate. Pilate is in Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread. He’s living in the palace of, the former palace of Herod the Great, which is located along the western wall.
Pilate is not in town at this occasion because he loves Jewish festivals and customs. He’s not into Seder meals. He’s not into finding Christ in the Seder and in the Passover. He has no interest like that at all. His job as governor is to keep the peace. It’s to keep an eye on the all the dissident factions that like to visit Jerusalem in times like this and stir up the trouble and foment rebellion against Rome. He has command over the soldiers that are stationed in Judea. They’re there to ensure the enforcement of Rome’s judiciary decisions through him, as the governor. He’s there to quell unrest. He’s there to keep the peace. He’s there, really, to keep the taxes flowing, the money flowing back to Rome.
Pilate would rather be at his primary residence, also built by Herod the Great, which was over on the Mediterranean coast, enjoying the sea breeze, a little salt in the air. It’s good for his skin, likes the palace at Caesarea Maritima. But duty now calls him to Jerusalem, to come and do his job, to adjudicate the problems that the Jews bring to him, whatever they are, including the Jesus problem.
So when the Sanhedrin comes to Pilate, they know that this governor is not sympathetic to the Jews. He’s not really that concerned about their causes. In fact, he’s caused a lot of conflict in the past because he doesn’t really, he doesn’t really consider them as important. He considers them as low-lifes. He’s in a backwater province of, or a province of, of, of Judea, of the Roman Empire. He really doesn’t want to be there. He wants to be back in the glory of Rome. He’s paying his dues. He’s biding his time. He’s trying to check all the boxes on his CV. He’s not sympathetic to them at all.
And so the Sanhedrin, knowing this, they designed their case in such a way as to leave no out for Pilate. They designed their case to put maximum pressure on Pontius Pilate to persuade him to use Roman authority to execute Jesus. If you’ve got your Bibles open to Luke 23, look at verses 1 and 2. “Then the whole assembly rose up and brought him before Pilate, and they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man,’” won’t even say his name, “‘we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.’”
Very well-crafted set of accusations, there, specifically designed for Pilate to leave him no other option than to crucify Jesus. They portrayed Jesus, there, in these accusations as really a, a clever manipulator of common, unlearned people, ignorant people, the hoi polloi, the masses. What do they know? He was leading them astray. Jesus had just admitted in their presence, they’ve got it in the notes, he admitted he’s Christ, which by the way, Pilate means he’s a king. You get it? Christ, he’s a king. He’s the anointed one of God. He is a king. That means he is a rival to Caesar.
You need to understand what this means, Pilate. In Jewish thinking he is a rival to Caesar. He is over Caesar. More to the point, he is a threat to your taxation. Once he comes to power, he’s going to start diverting tax funds due to Rome into the messianic coffers for his messianic kingdom. Pilate, you’d better act now. You’d better act now. Look at verses 3 and 4. “So Pilate asked him, saying, not “are you the Christ?” Notice what he says, “‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ And he answered and said, ‘You yourself say it.’” Pilate came back out of the Praetorium and “he said to the chief priest and the crowds, ‘I find no guilt in this man.’”
You might think, wow, how did he come to so quick a decision based on a sentence? Well, he seems, according to Luke’s account, here, to conduct what is the briefest examination of Jesus possible. We need to remember, though, this is only a summary from Luke, and the fuller conversation, part of which is recorded over in John 18:33-38, which we went through last time, Pilate had a further interaction with Jesus. Part of it’s recorded there. We understand that this conversation can take a little bit longer. There could be more interaction back and forth, but John really got to the heart of it, summarized it for us in John 18:33-38.
Pilate knows what he’s looking at. He’s not ignorant, completely of Jesus. He’s been watching him for some time. He’s informed by an intelligence network. He’s got spies out in town. He’s got informants. He’s got people watching the streets for him. He knows that Jesus came in just less than a week before, riding on the colt of a donkey, coming in kingly, a kingly fashion, according to the customs of the Jews.
He’s also backed up by years of his own governance and experiences. He’s got a shrewd political instinct and intellect. He knows what’s going on, here. He can take the measure of this man. He can take the measure of the situation. He knows, as Matthew 27:18 tells us, that the real issue the Jews have with Jesus, this is all about their jealousy. They’re envious of him. They’re jealous of the sway that Jesus has over the people. They want to get rid of him.
They don’t like people’s attention turning from them and their temple and all that’s important to the Jews. It’s got to be the temple. It’s got to be, continue buying sacrifices at our markup, continue exchanging money at our markup. All their attention is now diverting from them over to Jesus, and actually he is critical of them. He’s cleared out the temple twice, calling it a den of robbers. This is not good for business. They want to get rid of him. And so Pilate, knowing all this is going on, he calls his shot. He comes out and says, no grounds to condemn, no grounds to condemn. What are you going to do now?
Pilate knows Jesus is innocent. He knows the charges that the Jews brought against him are baseless. He knows that this man has done nothing deserving of death. And if it were only a matter of pragmatism, political expediency for Pilate, he may have granted their request, but he is caught, here. He sees it very clearly. He’s caught on the, on the horns of a serious dilemma. Pilate knows that these Jewish leaders, in condemning Christ and wanting him dead, he knows that they’re making a very unpopular move because Jesus is widely favored, he’s highly regarded among the people.
So whoever is the one who makes the decision to condemn him to death, that guy had better be ready for the inevitable political fallout. Mayhem will ensue. Social unrest, rioting in the streets, sparking perhaps a widespread Jewish revolt. I mean Pilate’s not above shedding blood. Luke 13 talks about how he mixed the blood of the Galileans in with their sacrifices, just a reference to the fact that he slaughtered them in the temple precinct. He has no problem, he’s not, he’s not squeamish about killing, but he is concerned that he’s going to do more killing with such a popular figure as Jesus Christ, cause great mayhem in Judea, Jerusalem, perhaps sparked a revolt in the region.
And you know what happens to his governorship? Gone. Will the Jewish leaders, when any of this happens, these men standing here at his doorstep, banging for Jesus’ blood, are they going to back him up? When the people react negatively at this condemnation, are they going to be there? Are they going to be there when he sentences Jesus, when he executes their Messiah. No, not likely. So Pilate’s no fool. He knows the Jews are going to leave him high and dry.
But at the same time, as I said, this is horns of a dilemma. That’s one horn. On the other side, Pilate cannot so easily sidestep the charges that the Jews are bringing against Jesus. He’s pressed into making a decision, here, how they’ve constructed their case. They painted Jesus as a rival to to Caesar, threatening Roman taxation, having a widespread sway over the people. If he’s to ignore this, if he’s just going to dismiss the Jews, dismiss their case against Jesus, well, he really does run the risk of his own political ruin, demotion, losing his governorship, being reported to Caesar Tiberius.
So here is, Pilate is considering what to do, what to do, as he hears the mounting and increasing pressure from the Jews as they speak. And we see this in verses 5 to 7. They say in this next round of pressure against him in pressing their case. They say something useful. They give him a very possible way out. His keen political instincts discern the opportunity.
Look at it there, starting in verse 5, “They kept on insisting, saying, ‘He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this place.’” What are they trying to show? He’s got the entire land eating out of his hand. And in verse 6, “Now when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem in those days.”
You see what went on there, don’t you? At the mention of Galilee, Pilate hears a solution. Herod! Perfect! This is the political cover he needs. Herod will slow the demand for a decision. Herod will share the responsibility for any decision, either to dismiss or to condemn. This is really, really good for Pilate, exactly what he needed.
Now all this so far is from Pilate’s perspective, but in the transition that takes place that Luke so skillfully, concisely crafts, here, under the genius, the divine genius of the Holy Spirit, the divine author, there’s a transition that takes place in verses 6 and 7 because Luke is shifting his focus from Pilate to Herod, from the Praetorium to the Hasmonean palace where Herod Antipas stays when he is in Jerusalem. And we’re going to see this situation from Herod’s perspective.
Luke is, by the way, he is the only Gospel author to record Jesus standing before Herod. You won’t find it in the other three Gospels. And that tells us something important, here, that formally Herod’s role is vital, crucial for narrating the totality of the rejection of Jesus Christ.
Luke has shown us that, as he’s moved through three phases in the Jewish trial, three phases in the Roman trial. He shows Jesus condemned by the totality of the nation, both by religious authority and by political authority, both Jew and Gentile. And when he dials in on the Gentile rulers, Pilate governing Judea, Herod governing Galilee, it’s really in all places where Jesus lived and ministered and moved. In all these places, he was rejected. He was condemned both informally and formally, unofficially and officially. All the powers that be align against Jesus as the Christ.
We’re going to get in this a window into the soul of Herod. And what’s interesting in this section, we don’t get the benefit of hearing Jesus say anything. Once again he goes silent. Proverbs 26:4-5 tell us to “not answer a fool according to his folly.” Jesus taught in Matthew 7, “‘Do not throw your pearls before swine or give what is holy to dogs.’” Instead, better to be silent, because whether a fool rages or laughs, in the end there will be no peace.
There are times, dear Christian, and I’m sure you’ve experienced this in your evangelism, or in your discipleship, in your truth-telling, in your speaking, in your way of life, there are times when it is better to say nothing at all, to just clam up. Let people think what they think, let them malign, let them accuse, let them post what they want, let them ridicule, let them laugh, let them mock, let them do whatever they want to. It’s better sometimes, for the sake of the dignity of the Gospel, that you do not stoop to the level of a dog or a swine, that you do not play the fool’s game and that’s what we see, here, in Jesus, in his presence before, as he stands before Herod.
It’s a hard thing to do because we’re so desirous of justice, aren’t we? We can’t stand the false accusation. We can’t stand to be misrepresented and maligned and scorned and disdained. But it is the better part of wisdom, and it is righteous, and it is dignified for a Christian to follow the Lord’s example at times and say nothing at all. And so even though he does not speak in this text, which makes my heart grieve a bit, I love hearing the Lord Jesus speak, I love meditating on his words, here is his silence that instructs us.
Got four points for this morning. We’ll begin at verse 7 with the first point, what we’ll call, number one, Herod’s final opportunity. Herod’s final opportunity. So verse 7, when Pilate learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time. Now this Herod, there are, as you know from history, as you know from your reading of Scripture, man, there are a lot of Herods.
Herod the Great, the progenitor of this Herodian dynasty, he had like ten wives. Two of them were family relations. So ten wives, that’s a lot of kids coming out of that and a lot of opportunities to name your kid after yourself. So he did. But what has Luke told us about Herod? What do we know about this man in particular? This Herod is Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas. Luke 3:1 calls him “tetrarch of Galilee.” What’s a tetrarch? It’s not a guy who plays Tetris really well. It’s a guy who is tetrarch, he is literally, rule by four. Tetra, tetra is, refers to four; arch refers to rule, so rule by four.
During the Roman rule of Judea, this referred to the region north of Jerusalem and Judea, the south, Jerusalem and Judea, ruled by Rome directly through a governor, but the region north was divided four ways between three rulers. Two regions, Iturea and Trachonitis, were under the rule of Herod Philip II. He was the half-brother of Herod Antipas; and as I said, Herod Antipas had quite a few half brothers and quite a few half sisters.
There’s another region, Abilene, not Texas. Abilene was under the rule of Lysanias. But Galilee, where Jesus was raised, where he ministered the longest, was under Herod Antipas. So since Jesus is a Galilean raised in Nazareth, since he lived and paid taxes in Nazareth and Capernaum, that is the jurisdiction of this Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. And how convenient it is that this Herod is in town for the Jewish feasts. Pilate can send Jesus over to Herod Antipas, and whether he’s in cooperation with Herod or receiving his judgment and counsel, Pilate can provide himself with some political cover as he adjudicates this case. He doesn’t need to do this alone. He doesn’t need to stand alone any longer. He can involve Herod.
And by the way, as we read in the text, we find that there was a, an ongoing conflict, a seething contention between these two rulers. Oh, and this might, by paying attention and doing, kind of bowing to his jurisdiction, even though Pilate is an authority over Herod, well, this could be a good political move. This could win a friend. This could throw him a bone. This could extend the olive branch. That’s Pilate’s point of view.
What about Herod’s? We need to understand, just backing up from the text, this is really Herod’s final chance to believe, isn’t it? This is his last opportunity to repent of his sin, his many sins, to bow before this Jesus and worship him as Christ, the Son of God and Jesus had ministered in this man’s region for most of the last three years. Herod had never met him before. He’d met his cousin, John the Baptist, cut off his head. That’s a problem. But here he is, now is his chance to meet this Jesus, to see him face to face. What an incredible privilege. What’s he going to do with the opportunity?
Based on what Luke has written, based on what we know from biblical history, extra-biblical history, we are entitled to have, as we do, some pretty low expectations for Herod Antipas and his repentance. Just to give you the punchline, get to the end, he does not repent. He doesn’t repent. Still, it’s instructive to get to know this fascinating and thoroughly corrupt figure because we can take some warnings from his ways. We can grow more discerning in our own dealing with others.
As I said, Herod Antipas was one of the sons of Herod the Great. Herod the Great was son of a man named Antipater, the Idumean, and Idumean is another word for an Edomite. Edomite is, means a descendant of Esau, not Jacob. So what does that mean? Not Jewish. Herod the Great’s mother was a Nabatean Arab. So if you’ve ever, maybe you’ve visited for yourself the land of Jordan or seen photos of the city of Petra online, carved into the rock of the country of Jordan, that is the ancient capital of the Nabatean kingdom. That’s where the king of Nabatean, the Nabatean kingdom, lived, in Petra.
So there’s no Jewish blood in Herod the Great, and yet he is the king of the Jews. He’s married, as I said, ten times. One of Herod’s many sons is Herod Antipas, named Herod after his father, and Antipas after his grandfather, Antipater. Herod Antipas’ mother was a woman named Malthrace. That’s a Samaritan woman. So any trace of Jewish blood has been lost by the time it gets down to this man.
The Herodian clan, the subsequent dynasty, courted favor with Roman power, starting with Herod the Great’s father, Antipater the Idumean, and then continuing on down the line. They were very shrewd political operators, very wise at how they used their wealth, their money, to court favor with Rome and to gain power from Rome as they went in to go and rule in the land of Galilee and Judea.
So Herod the Great’s father Antipater, down through Herod the Great, down through his sons, they were all political operators. They were all very skilled, very clever, and they tried at the same time of courting favor with Rome and maintaining loyalty with Rome, they maintained favor with the Jews, all to stay in power. Though they were not ethnically Jewish, loyal to Rome, they were culturally Jewish. They practiced Jewish religious customs. They befriended Jewish nobility. They were friends with the high priest’s family.
They ingratiated themselves to the Jewish people by building cities, by funding public works, building projects, beautification projects, beautifying the temple. The temple was Herod the Great’s long-term project to make it beautiful and glorious and one of the wonders of the ancient world. They made votive offerings, they were generous, they knew how to use money, that money is not an end in and of itself; it’s for the purpose of influence and power. That’s how they used it.
If the Herodians loved anything, and by the way, they loved power. All their wealth they used to purchase and maintain power. And people like that think that the rules do not apply to them. They’re corrupt to the core. These guys were in league with corruption, at times favoring pagan Romans, but at other times favoring Jewish nobility, the Sadducees, the corrupt high priests and chief priests at the temple. They were totally bought in to the whole temple enterprise.
One characteristic example of this in the life of Herod Antipas kind of sets the backstory for what Luke tells us about him. He married a Nabatean Princess named Phasaelis, daughter of Aretas, who was king of Petra. And so Herod Antipas, married to an Nabatean princess, he visits his half-brother Philip I, who lived in Jerusalem. Herod Antipas became infatuated with his brother Philip’s wife, whose name was Herodias.
She was technically niece to the man she was married to and niece to the man that she was infatuated with. It’s a very confusing, very confusing family tree. But her father was half brother of Antipas and Philip II. It’s very confusing, I know, but stay with me. So Philip married to his niece Herodias, living in Jerusalem. Here’s Herod Antipas coming into Jerusalem, visiting his half-brother Philip I, meets his wife Herodias, they hit it off, they both decide to drop their spouses, commit adultery and marry each other.
They just got this little problem with marriage, spouses, covenants: easily made, easily broken. Antipas and Herodias try to keep this thing secret, but Phasaelis, that’s Herod Antipas’ wife, she found out. This is the Nabatean princess. She didn’t like that. Princesses don’t like being treated like this. Remember, they’re the princess. They’re to be idolized. They’re to be put in Disney movies and to be run around in pink. This is her, Nabatean princess. She does not like this.
Since she knows the Herodian penchant for murdering family members, she kept very quiet about this, but she made her way home to Petra by way of the Machaerus castle where John the Baptist was imprisoned and killed. And when this little Phasaelis, the little Nabatean princess gets home, she tells daddy what happened. Aretas isn’t too happy with how Antipas treated his little princess, and by the way, he didn’t forget it. Keep that in mind as we come to the end. Herodias, she drops her husband, Philip I, a hapless man, in a heartbeat, marries his half-brother, the Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee.
And that’s when the scandal broke. Josephus writes about this in Antiquities, and John the Baptist publicly rebuked Antipas, as the record of Scripture tells us. He said, “‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’” I’m not keeping this quiet. Talking about it, and I’m talking to you, Herod Antipas. You need to repent. Luke’s summary back in Luke 3:19-20, if you’d like to see it there, says, “Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by John the Baptist for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, he added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.”
He locked one of God’s prophets up in prison. You think God took notice? We know, according to the record of Scripture, this led to John’s execution by beheading. You can read about that whole ordeal, vile ordeal, in Mark 6:17-29. You may remember that Herodias, she’s now the wife of Herod Antipas, she didn’t appreciate John the Baptist calling any attention to their adultery and betrayal, so she crafted a devious plan.
They’re there at Herod Antipas’ birthday party in the presence of his great men, military commanders, the leading men of Galilee. So he’s got all the bigwigs there, all the people of power, all the money in the region there before him at his birthday party. And so she, Herodias, gets her daughter Salome to dance, and she dances in such a way that she pleases Antipas and his guests so much that they are intoxicated with the performance. And Herod, before all of his guests, told her publicly, out loud, “‘Name your gift. Up to half my kingdom, name it.’”
Salome runs back to get advice from mom. Mama Herodias tells her, Go get the head of John the Baptist for your Mama. So sweet. And Herodias had her revenge. Obviously, it’s a, we can’t imagine this. I mean, remember the birthday parties you go to? But this is disgusting. It’s gruesome. What a vile scene at a celebration. But believe me, folks, in a land where life is cheap and where power is so corrupt, people can lose their head like that, and people cheer.
What’s interesting in this account though, is that there’s a key insight into Herod Antipas, a key instance of the opportunity that he had and then squandered with John the Baptist. Yes, he arrested him. He put him in prison, but you know what that means? Close proximity to the prophet of God. Close proximity to the Word of God, the Word which does not return void, the Word which is life-giving, the Word which communicates forgiveness, the Word that communicates salvation.
Mark tells us in Mark 6:20 that Herod was afraid of John. You might think, Good on you, Herod. Listen to the man, listen to his message. Sit at his feet and be a learner. Humble yourself before the Word of God, the prophet of God. Herod was afraid of John. He knew that he was a righteous and holy man, and he was trying to keep him safe, Mark tells us, from Herodias’ murderous grudge. You can imagine her walking through the castle, muttering under her breath, downcast face, scowling all the time, not happy.
Herod Antipas knows this. He keeps him safe. When he used to hear him, hear John talk, Herod was, says Mark, Mark tells us, very perplexed. His mind is scrambled. He’s not, he’s not assimilating the truth. He’s not apprehending what is being said. But he used to enjoy listening to him. Are there any people here like that, who just enjoy listening, that find teaching interesting? Maybe it’s intellectually stimulating to you, but you do nothing with it. You live your life the way you want to live it. You live under no accountability.
Well, you’re in league with Herod Antipas. It’s not a good place to be. He has no moral conviction. When the pressure comes, he caves. When the request came for the head of John the Baptist, Mark tells us, “the king was very sorry.” Oh, that’s comforting. And yet, because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he didn’t want, not want to refuse her. Oh, he is a man of his word. And so at the end of the day, his curiosity about the prophet was not enough to keep him from doing something vile. Finding truth, righteousness, holiness intriguing; turns out that is not enough to prevent an unjust and cold-blooded murder.
History is going to repeat itself with this man. As goes the forerunner, so will go the true king of the Jews. As goes the herald, so will go the king. What is amazing to consider, here, is the privilege that God gave to Herod Antipas in spite of his adultery, in spite of his treachery, his injustices, his, his capitulation to revenge and murder, to not just give him the one opportunity, but to give him another one.
At a few places in his narrative, Luke tells us how God placed godly witnesses in very close proximity to Herod Antipas such that if he would listen, if he’d listen, he’d be forgiven. According to Luke 8:3, we find out that one of the women who helped to fund and support Jesus’ itinerant ministries and his, and the, the Apostolic band, who none of them were working, either, but there were women who were wealthy and had means, and they gave and they supported and they tended to.
It’s a woman named Joanna. She’s the wife of a man, Chuza C-H-U-Z-A. You could pronounce it Chuza. It’s Huza. But he’s the the manager or the chief steward of Herod Antipas’ household. In fact, Chuza may mean, it actually means little pitcher. So it may mean little in stature, but he pours out great blessings; or just could mean he’s the fount of blessing for Herod, little pitcher, Herod Antipas being the big pitcher, right? So, pouring out. Joanna, wife of Chuza, she’s there in Herod’s household. She’s a believer. She’s a supporter of Jesus’ ministry. She’s an evangelist for his teaching, his doctrine. She’s spreading the truth around the palace.
Another one who’s in close proximity, one of the prophets and teachers in Antioch, according to Acts 13:1, is a man named Manaen. And the little note, there, that Luke gives, which gives us insight into how he got some of these stories in the first place, Manaen is a guy who was raised with Herod Antipas. So he’s of nobility. He’s a man who’s come from means, from wealth, and he’s been raised with little Herod Antipas, before he was a great killer all the way up until he’s an adult.
These witnesses were strategically placed within the orbit of Herod Antipas, so that when Jesus’ ministry became more prominent, they were there in place already to interpret and explain and teach. But Antipas, he’s only half listening to any of this. After all, he’s got a kingdom to run, he’s got stuff to do, he’s got a to-do list, he’s got an empire, he’s got aspirations and ambitions, he’s got other interests, worldly interests, sensual interests.
So all the truth that he heard, not being interpreted and explained through God’s servants, God’s people, all the truth that he heard is confused and mixed in with his superstitions. According to Luke 9:7-9, in fact, you can flip back there if you would, read it for yourself, but Luke chapter 9 verses 7 to 9, this language tells us exactly what Herod Antipas was like.
We know that Jesus and the Twelve were, you know, Jesus had just named and sent out his twelve disciples, gave them power and authority over demons and to heal diseases, sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. So he’s sending them out. They depart, they go out, verse 6, go throughout all the villages, and they’re proclaiming the Gospel, they’re healing everywhere. This is, is all through the land of Galilee.
And then we read this, “Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, by others that one of the prophets of old had arisen.”
Remember when Jesus asked his disciples, he took them away? He said, “‘Hey, guys, who do people say that I am?’” These are the answers. This is the common popular opinion. Oh, but Joanna is in the household. He’s got a buddy named Manaen who’s a follower of Christ. He could dial them up, couldn’t he?
He remains in perplexity and confusion. He thinks that John has risen from the dead. And Herod says, “‘Wait, I myself had John beheaded, but who is this man about who might hear such things?’ And he kept trying to see him.” Folks, he’s a seeker. He is a seeker. He’s interested in the truth. He wants Jesus. He’s got an interest in Jesus. He’s perplexed by Jesus. At the end of the day, he remains in confusion. Why is that? Is that somebody else’s fault? No.
Herod Antipas is content with his current proximity. He comes no closer. He seeks no greater knowledge. He makes no effort of his own to go where Jesus is, to sit at his feet and listen to him. He stays put. He has no hunger or thirst for righteousness. He has no driving, compelling interest in true understanding. Whatever conviction he has about his sin and his evil deeds, he suppresses in unrighteousness. He distracts himself with pleasures and entertainments and joys and sensual desires. He is very content, as many people are, to remain ambiguous about Christ.
Many people like that in our day, too. Respect for Jesus, yes, but from a great distance. Interested in the Bible, in doctrine, in theology, yeah, but more as a hobby than a religious practice, more as intellectual entertainment than as a driving, compelling force that sets the priorities of life, that renews the mind, that sharpens the character, that shapes the character, changes and transforms their life. They don’t want that. It’s going too far.
Many today are just like Herod Antipas, who, according to Luke 9:9, kept trying to see Jesus, but in the end, their carnal curiosity proves to be less compelling than whatever is in front of them at the moment, whether it’s busyness, whether it’s distraction, all, anything else occupies them. What happens, then, when Herod Antipas gets this final chance? What happens? We’ve anticipated this.
We come to a second point, number two, Herod’s carnal curiosity. Herod’s carnal curiosity. We see this in Luke 23:8-9, “Now when Herod saw Jesus, he rejoiced greatly, for he had wanted to see him for a long time because he’d been hearing about him, was hoping to see some sign performed by him, questioned him at some length, but Jesus answered him nothing.”
Luke helps us interpret this great joy of Herod Antipas, his desire to see Jesus, hoping to see him perform some sign. His feeling is quite intense. The word, greatly, there, is an intensifying adverb, exceedingly. He was really, really happy, extremely joyful. He’s got this pent-up desire over many years, and though it laid dormant, it did not abate. And now that Jesus is in his very presence, he’s overwhelmed with joy that he gets the opportunity. He sees Jesus; he’s eager to see one of the signs he’d heard so much about.
Now if we hadn’t read beyond verse 8, we might wonder if this would lead to Jesus’ release. Herod Antipas, friend of Jesus? Luke makes it clear, though, also in verse 8, that his excitement and joy is nothing more than carnal curiosity. Nothing, nothing but interest in a spectacle. Antipas treats Jesus like a dancing monkey, like a circus performer, a court jester. He’s, at the end of the day, Jesus is nothing more than the evening’s entertainment. Three times in verse 8, Luke uses the verb horao, referring to sense perception. It emphasizes physical sight.
Yeah, he’d been hearing about him, but what interested Herod in the reports? Not his teaching. It’s the act of miracles, acts of power, signs and wonders themselves, not what those signs signified, not what the teaching that those miracles validated. That’s not his interest. We can imagine, as J. C. Ryle says, that “Herod had an uneasy conscience.” Certainly. Lots of sin, very troubled conscience. But Ryle writes this, he says, “The blood of God’s murdered saint no doubt often rose before his eyes and destroyed his peace. The fame of our Lord’s preaching and miracles had penetrated even into his court, rumors that had made Herod restless and uncomfortable.” End quote.
Many people like that today. They’re troubled over their sin. They’re even sorrowing over it. They see their mistakes. They call them mistakes, not sins. If Herod was interested in the reports of Jesus’ teaching, Luke would have recorded Herod’s interest, not in seeing some sign, but in hearing Jesus’ teaching. There’d be a different emphasis, not on the eyes, but on the ears, on hearing, to feed the life-giving truth to the mind, so there’s understanding the forgiveness of sins and divine salvation.
We would read something like we read about the centurion Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 verse 33. He told Peter, Now then, we’re all here. I got my whole household here. I got my servants here, my family here. We’re all here, present before God. He’s the one we’re accountable to. We’re fearful of him, and in reverence to him, in honor of him, we’re here to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord to tell us. He didn’t get Peter there and say, Dance, monkey, dance. He said, Preach, Peter, preach.
Those who seek signs and wonders will never see beyond the sign. They get caught up in the spectacle of the wonder. They fail to see what the signs signify. They fail to see what everything points to. They confuse their carnality for spirituality, and for their curiosity is nothing more than religious sensuality.
That’s what’s driven the seeker movement of the ‘80s and ‘90s. It what, it is what drives much of modern ministry models today. It’s what drives celebrity culture. It’s what fills YouTube channels and so many podcast platforms. Yeah, I know, not seeking miracles per se, though there are still signs-and-wonder seekers. But today, carnal curiosity is all about intellectual stimulation, all about religious and cultural and political topics. Lots of talk about changing the world. Lots of talk about influencing the culture, redeeming the culture.
Very little interest in personal salvation. No interest, to speak of, of life change, sanctification, holiness, fear of God, reverence before him, true righteous transformation. No, they call that just pietism; a silly emphasis, forgetting you’re justified by God and just being so caught up in all the do’s and don’ts. Bunch of Pharisees. No interest in mortifying sin in today’s culture, manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, governing your speech and your life according to the truth.
No interest in identifying personal sin, a lifestyle of humble repentance, a lifetime of learning from pastors and teachers in sound local churches, submitting to the authority of God in the local church leadership, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ, as Ephesians 5:21 says. No interest in being fruitful, in making disciples to bring glory to God in Christ by the Spirit.
Lots of Herods today, some of them with very big platforms, persuasive voices, massive influence. And if they got their chance to encounter Jesus right in front of them, they’d pepper him with their carnally curious questions, but have no interest really in submitting to him, no commitment to follow and obey his Word.
This wicked attitude, this carnal curiosity, is so prevalent today. And beloved, it is catered to constantly by false pastors, false preachers, false evangelists, who peddle a weak and transform-less, is that a word? Gospel, a gospel that does nothing, a gospel that has no change, leaves people happy exactly where they are. People are fed this kind of garbage regularly via all kinds of media, and now it’s fed automatically to them through algorithms, so they get a steady stream of what feeds and provokes carnal curiosity.
Herod questioned him at some length, back in Luke 23, imperfect tense, there. Questioned him over and over, portrays his questioning as persistent. He’s asked him over and over, extended over some time. It, it doesn’t appear to be a mild curiosity. It’s a strong curiosity, but it’s still carnal. He has no passing fancy, here. He’s really after it. He has an abiding interest, some degree of patience. He’s persistent in his will. I mean after all, he’s king. He wants to get what he wants, so he keeps on asking, pressing, seeking. But we notice “Jesus answered him nothing.” Not a word.
Jesus is not a circus sideshow. He faces death, here. Herod may think he’ll do about anything to save his life, have his life spared. Clearly, he doesn’t know Jesus. He doesn’t know what this man’s about. He doesn’t know his dignity, he doesn’t know his strength, he doesn’t know his royalty. If he did, he’d be bowing before him. First Corinthians 2, “If they knew what they were doing, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.” Oh, but they did. They didn’t know. They’re ignorant and blind in their dark sin and callous hearts. Herod has sorely misjudged Jesus, severely underestimated him. Jesus is not a performer of cheap tricks. He is prophet, priest, king, Messiah. He’s the true king of Israel. He will not dance to Herod’s tune.
Listen, when carnal curiosity isn’t catered to, when it’s not fed what it wants, when it’s not given room to explore and to enjoy, and to kind of have its own journey and experience of Jesus, it becomes hateful. The disdain that comes from regular people like me and you, doesn’t amount to much. Maybe a little bit of push-back, a little bit of scorn. When it comes from the heart of a king with wealth, authority, power, it influences others to join in cruel contempt.
Comes to a third point, number three, Herod’s cruel mockery. Herod’s cruel mockery. We see that in Herod’s courtroom, they’re, for moral support, quote-unquote, they’re to provide really legal justification and religious cover to Herod, verse 11. The chief priests and the scribes are standing there, and they’re vehemently accusing him. Makes sense that when Pilate sent Jesus over to Herod, the Sanhedrin sent some of their chief priests and scribes along with him to make sure Herod Antipas, with his background knowledge of the Jews, their scriptures, their customs, their messianic expectation, that he doesn’t inadvertently come to the truth. That would be a disaster for them, wouldn’t it? if, Undermine their case, if Herod listened to what the scriptures actually teach, examine the actual evidence.
Notice that Luke portrays him, here, the chief priests and scribes, not seated. They’re not sitting around. They’re at rest, patiently watching while Herod questions Jesus. They’re standing, they’re standing by, they’re leaning in, they’re waiting for the chance for Herod’s mouth to stop so they can jump in and say something. They want to exert influence, get this thing done and back to Pilate.
So at the first opportunity, they start blasting away with false charges, accusing, attacking, maligning Jesus before Herod. A. T. Robertson portrays them, I like how he puts it, “like a pack of hounds with full voice.” They’re baying, howling, maligning. They can’t allow any room for Herod’s conscience to act. They can’t allow his mind to think, so they play the role of hardening his conscience in the cement of all their false accusations.
And now, for Herod, with no qualms of conscience, in the company of other men without any conscience, and now, having wasted his time, he’s frustrated. He’s enraged at the impertinence of this man who refuses to answer his questions. He refuses to meet any genuine entrance with the acquiescence of performing just one miracle.
I mean, can’t he just do one thing? I’m genuinely interested. I mean, here I am. You see how full my schedule is? I’ve taken time with you. Come on. Just, just one little, just cause something. Make, make just one loaf of bread. Make me a sandwich.” Angry. It says, “Herod with his soldiers, after treating him with contempt and mocking him, dressed him in a bright robe and sent him back to Pilate.”
These soldiers, Herod’s personal bodyguard, they’re being led by Herod Antipas. He’s leading, he’s out in front, here. He’s being bolstered by the accusations of the Sanhedrin representatives. So he has religious cover, he has Jewish cover. If Jesus refuses to entertain them, they’ll turn him into their entertainment. They’ll make a mockery of him. You dare to make us look foolish not answering our questions, not doing what we want? All right. We’ll make you look foolish.
Member, members of the Sanhedrin, they’ve done this very thing just hours earlier. It was led by Caiaphas himself, spitting on Jesus, slapping in the face, blindfolding him, and then hitting him and telling him to use his prophetic sight to figure out who hit you. Officers of the temple guard, they followed suit. They kept that game going on Jesus until daybreak. More mocking, scoffing, disdain is going to follow from Pilate’s soldiers, from the Roman cohort.
When he hangs helplessly on the cross, when he’s exposed and humiliated before the world, utterly vulnerable, there, the robbers are, who are to be crucified with them, they start in on the game. Passers-by, too, reinforced once again, there, by the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of people, all them together heaping scorn and disdain upon this man.
So why should Herod, a gentile, and his soldiers be any different? If the people of the Book don’t treat their so-called Messiah with any reverence, holiness, just deference, why should we? Their contribution to the mocking game is dressing Jesus in a bright robe. Some translations indicate that it’s a, it’s a bright robe, like the same, it’s the same word lampros that’s used to speak of Jesus’ transfiguration, and Moses and Elijah and Jesus in brightness could be that kind of white.
Other translations indicate not the brightness of the robe, but that it was gorgeous, splendid, something luxuriant and expensive, one that would maybe be a purple in color, a royalty robe worn by kings in leisure times. We don’t know for sure. What we do know is that they draped it over the body of this bedraggled, beaten-down, bloodied, haggard shell of a man. This made their irony emphatic, as if to say, This man, a king? Indeed. A. B. Bruce says, “Herod, feeling slighted by Jesus, slights him in return, and so sending him back a mock king to Pilate, a man to be laughed at, not to be feared or punished.” End quote.
So given one and final opportunity, Herod once again squanders it because of carnal curiosity. And his carnal curiosity was not satisfied. Jesus is not going to dance to that tune. He’s not a performer, he’s not a clown, he’s not an act. That carnal curiosity is never satisfied because it’s not, it’s not genuine. It doesn’t come from the real issues of the hearts. That carnal curiosity, frustrated, turns into cruel mockery. And here, in this case, so sad, in mockery of the Son of God himself. And when that happens, there’s only one destiny, only one destiny.
So last point, point four, Herod’s final destiny. Herod’s final destiny. The immediate result of Herod’s mockery seems to bear no negative consequence at all, actually. Instead, some, something quite positive, something unexpected takes place. Verse 12, “Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that day.” Awww, friendship. Before, they’d been enemies of each other. Now they’re buddies. Not told exactly what caused enmity between these rulers. We got suggestions from Scripture and history, nothing definitive, but we know whatever politics, whatever territorial jurisdictional tensions are in play, whatever power and money are at stake, especially among the unbelieving, there’s going to be conflict.
But amazing how a common cause unites people, joins forces, how a shared animosity and hatred, animates friendship, creates unlikely alliances. We see the Pharisees unite with the Sadducees and even the Herodians. We see the Sadducees conspire with Judas Iscariot, each of them using one another. We see the Jews go to the Romans, Pilate, and, and unlikely scene here at the court of Herod Antipas.
No one could ever predict this, with this bond between all these former enemies, chief priests and Herod, then between Herod and Pilate. In the end they’re all serving on the same side. How about that? If you want world peace, you want to unite the world, unite them all in opposition to God and his Christ.
Calvin writes, “The children of God and religion itself are,” he’s talking about true religion, biblical religion, “those are disdained by the world. Hatred of religion often produces mutual harmony among wicked men. So those who formerly had nothing in common unite together to extinguish the name of God.” End quote. J. C. Ryle adds his own comment on this. He says, “All hate each other very much, but all hate Christ much more.”
That’s the immediate result, as David wrote in Psalm 37. Though all these people unite, though they all seem to share the same hatred, animosity of Jesus, though they all oppose this righteous man, and it seems so discouraging at times, doesn’t it, how the truth gets so little opportunity. You probably heard the, the phrase that “a lie will make it halfway around the world before the truth can lace up its boots.”
But David wrote in Psalm 37, sympathetic with this concern, he says, “I’ve seen a violent, wicked man spreading himself out like a luxuriant tree in its native soil. Then he passed away, and lo, it was no more. I sought for him, but he could not be found.”
Within a few years, these two buddies, Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate, they’re off the scene forever, and in ignominy. Remember Aretus, the offended Nabatean king and his broken-hearted daughter, the princess? Aretus never forgave, never forgot, either. King Aretus marched on Herod Antipas. Public reason was a territorial dispute, dispute, but the real reason, and everybody knew it, personal vengeance. He’d been planning this since the offense and waiting until well after the crucifixion of Jesus. That’s just the when the timing happened.
But he wiped out Herod’s entire army. Josephus said, quote, “Some of the Jews thought the destruction of Herod’s army came from God, and that very justly as punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist, for Herod slew him, who was a good man.” End quote. Josephus has it partly right. He’s missing the Christ component.
A few years later, rather ironically, it was Herodias, his own, or I should say, yeah, Herodias, Herodias, the, the woman who committed adultery with him and married him, it was her own brother, Herod Agrippa I, not to be accused, confused with his son, Herod Agrippa II, the king who heard Paul’s case in Acts 26. Herod Agrippa I, the first one, the brother of Herodias, he betrayed Antipas before the new emperor, who came in after Tiberius: Caligula. Caligula deposed Antipas, removed him from power, and he gave all his money and his territory to Agrippa, banished Herod Antipas to Gaul, modern-day France, where he and Herodias died in exile. Isn’t it funny that that was a place to exile somebody and now everybody wants to go to Paris? I don’t understand.
Okay, so Pilate, he, like Herod Antipas, shared in ignominious fate as well. But there is a bigger story going on than just what happened in their political future, for both Pilate and Herod. And it’s the real reason that Luke has included this account in his record. He’s the only Gospel writer, as I told you from the beginning, who includes this account. Apart from Luke, we’d know nothing about this.
So as we draw to a close, I’d like you to turn over to Acts chapter 4. And this is where we read about yet another hearing before the Jewish Sanhedrin, another inquisition by the chief priests, Annas and Caiaphas, and now Caiaphas’ sons, John and Alexander. And they’re questioning Peter and John again about, guess who? Jesus. They thought killing him would solve the Jesus problem. Oh, no. By this point, they’ve really got to be questioning the wisdom in killing Jesus. They have made a real problem for themselves, their power.
Peter and John had, as you may remember, healed a lame beggar at the temple. And the attention that that miracle drew gave them a platform, an opportunity to preach the Gospel. It also landed them in jail at the hands of the priests, the Sadducees, and the temple guard. And these two Apostles, Peter and John, they’re there answering the questions of the Sanhedrin. And you know what they’re going to get when they ask questions of Peter and John? They’re going to get preached at. They’re going to get sermons, which is great for the record. We get to read their sermons.
And in the end, the temple authorities are perplexed and befuddled and confused. They decide to let them go with a warning. That’ll work. So Peter and John go back to their friends, and together these Christians, this early church group, this Bible study, this home group, they give thanks, and they give thanks like this.
I love this, in verse 20, chapter 4, Acts, verse 24 and following. “And when they heard this,” so Peter and John released, go back to their companions. They reported everything that happened, “and they heard this and they lifted their voices to God with one accord.” And notice they didn’t whine about persecution, didn’t say, “Oh, if we could only have these people leave us alone.” No, they said, “‘Oh, Master, it is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that’s in them. It is you who by the Holy Spirit and through the mouth of our Father, your, David, your servant said,’” quoting out of Psalm 2, “‘“Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples devise vain things?”
“‘The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur.’”
The prayer goes on, and so much more we could say, but let’s isolate our attention and conclusion with these thoughts. Beloved, the wicked may arise for awhile, may trouble the hearts of the humble, the faithful, might make life hard for us for a time. But in the end, we know that God sees and knows and judges all things. “Will not the judge of the earth do what’s right?”
Take that to the bank. Live your life based on it. You don’t need to get any payback. “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” Leave it to the Lord. Your vengeance? Such a small thing and so imperfectly executed, and often filled with so much self-interest. God’s justice: impartial, thorough; and for the unrepentant, eternally brutal.
The Jewish leaders, temple authorities, controllers, just judges of religion, political rulers over the land where Jesus ministered, Galilee ruled by Herod Antipas, Judea and Jerusalem ruled by Rome through Pontius Pilate, these men are hardened, hardened men in their own wickedness, blind by their own deceit and pride. Their prosperity, though, is short-lived. Their fate is sealed by the decree of God. Let that sink in for a bit. There’s a consequential judgment, yes, a judicial blindness. But there’s also a decreedal blindness here.
The sobering truth is that these men, though they are acting by free will, they’re doing everything they want to do, there’s no one coercing their will; but in the end of the day, they do whatever God’s hand and purpose predestined to occur. They are the reprobate. They’ve been remanded to this horrible fate, and it is their own fault. It’s their own doing. And there we have the dual twin truths of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man working together.
No, we don’t fully comprehend those things, but God does. We can trust his wisdom, his goodness, his justice. All these wicked people will answer to the same Christ they presume to judge, the one whom they treated so spitefully, with such contempt, the one for whom they refused to render a just verdict.
What should have happened, here, when Pilate said, “I find no guilt in this man”? The next sentence out of his mouth, Set him free and don’t touch him. Herod, too, he doesn’t condemn him. So uniting in friendship over hostility to Christ, that’s going to unite them in eternal judgment as well. So we agree with J. C. Ryle, who said, “Let us learn from Herod’s case to pity great men. With all their greatness and apparent splendor, they’re often thoroughly miserable within. Silks and satins and official robes often cover hearts which are utter strangers to peace.”
Beloved, that is true. We used to say this when our kids were growing up and we didn’t have a whole lot of money, sometimes not even knowing where food’s going to come from, we used to turn to the Proverbs and say, “Rather than a house full of feasting, better a house with herbs and vegetables, where love is.”
Man, the money does not matter. The acclaim, the fame, the power, the authority, the prominence, none of that matters. Getting your business to such-and-such a size, doing this and that with your stuff, taking this vacation, seeing that stuff, it’s all going to burn in the end. As has been said, “Only one life will soon be passed; only what’s done for Christ will last. And there is peace, whether rich or poor, great or small, there’s peace to be found only in Christ.”
We’ll add this as well from Herod, Pilate, all worldly rulers who are indifferent or antagonistic to Christ and the Gospel, whether false religious leaders, hypocrites, false brothers and sisters, disobedient, devious, those who disdain the truth and malign true Christians, through this whole mess let us learn to judge them rightly and to see what their end result is. And let us learn to trust wholly in God and him alone. Let us worship God and God alone in Christ Jesus. He is our reward, he’s our gift, he is our joy, he is our sole satisfaction, our contentment, our salvation.
Let’s practice repentance and obedience together, dying daily to self, living daily for Christ, humbling ourselves, confessing our sins to one another, praying for one another, being gentle with each other’s faults. And let us at the end of the day, always and only rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ, diligent to make our calling and election sure as he, by his Holy Spirit and by his beautiful Word, shepherds us in sanctification to our eternal home. Let’s pray.
Our God and our Father, we thank you for this very unique testimony in the Gospel of Luke to this court scene before Herod Antipas and what happened there. We see the, really the silence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we learn from that wisdom to answer that man not a word.
We pray that you would give us great wisdom, that knowing that our silence oftentimes should be the exception, not the rule, but let us use the gift of speech and the gift of our tongues and our minds and our hearts to speak forth the truth of the gospel, to share this saving message, and to find those people whom you have ordained for salvation, that their eyes may be opened, that they come running to the truth, they’d hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and they’d run to be part of his flock.
Thank you for shepherding us into this fold. Thank you for the gift of salvation. Thank you for Christ. Thank you for the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth and exalts Christ to us. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you’ve brought us to the father, reconciled us to him. It’s in your name we pray. Amen.