BROADCASTS.com

Our text is from Luke 23:1-5

Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, \u201cWe have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.\u201d So, Pilate asked Jesus, \u201cAre you the king of the Jews?\u201d You have said so,\u201d Jesus replied. Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, \u201cI find no basis for a charge against this man.\u201d But they insisted, \u201cHe stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here\u201d (Luke 23:1-5).

Early in his gospel, Luke establishes that the question, \u201cWho is Jesus?\u201d is the key to his story. Readers must decide! This same question is still on full display in the trial that precedes Jesus\u2019 crucifixion. And as Pastor Anthony said yesterday, we need to make up our mind. Are we with him or are we not?

Its obvious that the whole assembly of the Jewish leaders are not with him. They cart Jesus off to Pilate with a three-fold accusation. 1) He is subverting our nation. This is one of those bland non-specific accusations which lawyers use so that they can tie all kinds of stuff to it (At least, that is what they do in crime novels and TV shows). The problem is that Pilate will shrug his shoulders at this, if its about the Jews, that it is your problem not mine.

The second accusation: \u201che opposes paying taxes\u201d is an outright lie, since Jesus clearly told them to give Caesar his coin back (Luke 20:25). But this one does get Pilate\u2019s attention because his main job is to ensure that Rome gets its taxes on time. He cannot have a Jewish rabbi walking around discouraging the Jews from paying up.

But it is the third charge that Pilate focusses on in the trial summary Luke provides us. If Jesus intends to be king, than he is a direct threat to Pilate. But Pilate realizes the charge is laughable. Jesus does not look like a king, and he doesn\u2019t act like a king. Moreover, the only would-be soldiers he has at his command all fled at the first sign of trouble. At this point, Jesus is no threat to Pilate.

At the beginning of the trial, we have two responses to Jesus: the religious leaders outright reject him, and Pilate thinks he\u2019s a joke; innocent, but still a joke. What about you? How do you respond to this Jesus? I am sure that you know many people who have these same reactions to him. But why does that surprise us? Why do we tend to recoil when someone challenges or scoffs at our faith in Jesus?

Is it because, like Pilate, we do not understand him? Or don\u2019t like that way of his kingdom? Pilate asked, \u201cAre you the king of the Jews?\u201d to which Jesus replies, \u201cYou have said so.\u201d That\u2019s about as much of a non answer as we can get. What does it even mean?

We might have expected that, like Moses at the court of Pharaoh, the leader of the new Exodus would either threaten Herod with God\u2019s judgment or perform remarkable feats to demonstrate his claims, but Jesus does neither. He isn\u2019t that sort of prophet, and he isn\u2019t that sort of king.

Luke places this meeting of Jesus and Pilate in a sequence of scenes designed to reveal the truth of Jesus\u2019 kingship and the falsehood of all other types. At this moment, the truth is more eloquently stated by silence. Jesus made no threats, offered no resistance, and said hardly anything. Jesus was caught at the point where competing interests and agendas met. Not only the sins, but also the petty aspirations, of the world conspired to put him on the cross.

As Isaiah said, \u201cWe all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth\u201d (Isaiah 53:6-7).

Jesus is king of the Jews, but not in the way that Pilate meant. Not in the way of the world. Can we accept this King?