Thursday
Read Luke 23:13-21
Judas has acted, betraying and
sealing Jesus' fate with a kiss. Amidst
the darkness of the late night hour,
soldiers and servants seize Jesus;
their faces etched with triumphant
smiles. As disciples scatter, Peter,
filled with anger, pulls out a sword and
swings it at those nearest Jesus. He
claims an ear and feels the stinging
rebuke of his Master (John 18:10-11.).
The leaders' show of force has
worked. Jesus is finally in their hands.
Having waited years for this moment
they will not let him slip away as he
has before.
Firmly in their grasp, they brusquely
lead Jesus back through the garden to
the house of Annas (John 18:12-14,
19-24), a former High Priest, to begin
the first of six trials he will have.
The trials get quickly underway. They
have to be carried out so as to ensure
a damning verdict by daybreak.
Passed on from a frustrated Annas to
Caiaphas, the current High Priest,
Jesus is declared guilty of blasphemy
as he breaks his silence (Matthew
26:57-68). His face streaked with
blood he is sentenced to death. But it's
a sentence only Rome can carry out.
And so Jesus must have an audience
with Pilate, the Roman governor of
Judaea to decide his fate.
Yet Pilate finds no guilt in Jesus, nor
Herod Antipas either (Luke 23:4-12).
None of this serves to satisfy the
religious council's deathly agenda as
Jesus' sixth and final trial begins.
Pilate wants to punish and release
Jesus as the Passover-pardoned
prisoner, but the crowd want Barabbas
released back to them instead (v.18).
He tries another move, flogging and
humiliating Jesus, but they want his
body broken and blood shed on a
cross because "he claimed to be the
Son of God" (John 19:7). One more
time Pilate weakly tries to release
Jesus and one final time the leaders
stand in his way: "If you let this man
go, you are no friend of Caesar." (John
19:12). They have Pilate where they
want him: cornered, he cannot argue.
And there we have it. Jesus, the only
perfectly innocent one that can grant
life to the supremely guilty is
sentenced to die. Not out of Pilate's
decision or the religious leaders
scheming or even the crowds frenzied
screaming, but ultimately out of Jesus'
own authority and willingness to lay his
life down for you and me. It was
always his decision; this was always
God's will. We are about to witness the
most powerful demonstration of God's
love in action.