The Judean Ministry at Various Cities (18.1-24.53), 22.54-23.25

Jesus was taken to the high priest’s house due to the fact that his arrest was unlawful. First, Jesus was arrested without charges being raised against him. That’s illegal in most any society including first century Israel. Second, Judas was bribed to testify against Jesus. This is not only unlawful but makes Judas a criminal and unworthy of testimony. Third, the judges in Jesus’ first trial (the Sanhedrin) were the one who bribed Judas, making them far from impartial at best, and co-conspirators (and therefore criminals) at worst. Jesus didn’t raise these objections because it was the path to fulfilling his mission.

The scene shifts to Peter, who had followed Jesus to the high priest’s home, but did not dare to enter. Instead, he stayed in the courtyard and sat down with the others gathered there. Of course the only people out at this time were those involved in the conspiracy against Jesus. So is it any wonder that one of them, an easily influenced slave girl, was the first to recognize Peter. “This man was with Yeshua too!” She blurted out. This lead to the fulfillment of Jesus’ earlier prophecy that Peter would deny him three times before the rooster crowed.

“Woman” Peter began, “I don’t know him!” With recognition dawning on them, the others joined in, and Peter continued his denial. Twice more he denied knowing Jesus and then the cock sounded off. From the home, presumably through an open window, Jesus turned and looked at Peter across the square and Peter remembered Jesus’s words and fled in shame. He missed the beating and ridicule that Jesus endured afterward.

When day came the elders and chief priests questioned Jesus. While he admitted nothing, they found it reasonable to charge him with blasphemy. This in itself was enough to permit them to execute Jesus, but they were afraid to do so on their own accord because of Jesus’ popularity. They needed Rome to be responsible for Jesus’ execution. So they took him to Pilate accusing Jesus of insurrection and attempting to overthrow Caesar. This false testimony was also illegal, as was the fact that no one was produced to testify on Jesus’ behalf. Pilot, consummate politician that he was, discovered Jesus was from Galilee and therefore under the authority of Herod. Seeing a way out of his political dilemma, he sent Jesus to Herod (who happened to be in the capitol city at the time) for judgment.

Having heard the rumors about Jesus healing the sick, casting out demons and performing other miracles, Herod was delighted to question Jesus. What he was less delighted about was Jesus giving him the cold shoulder and a “let’s just get on with this” attitude. So Herod called his guards to abuse Jesus, and so they did. They placed a bag over his head and punched him, mocked him and challenged him to do something – anything – supernatural. When Herod grew tired of the games he sent Jesus back to Pilot with his blessing to do whatever he liked with the “King of the Jews”. While the two had been enemies previously, that day they found something in common and began a friendship – a short-lived one as it turns out Herod would not be long for this world.

Luke shows repeatedly that Pilate wanted to release Jesus – and tried to do so many times – and lays the blame for Jesus’ death at the doorstep of the nation Israel. Pilate must have been frustrated. He couldn’t conduct a normal court hearing as there was no one on the side of the defense. Clearly the religious authorities and the crowd they brought with them wanted Jesus dead but he didn’t know why. Jerusalem was a difficult city to rule, always at unrest and full of a people who wanted Rome overthrown. Would Jesus’ death start a revolution? Would refusing to execute him do the same? Eventually the crowd convinced him of the later and he handed Jesus over to be crucified.