TGBC: Pilate Herod Pilate
TGBC Monday, March 26: Luke 23:1-25
Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate.
They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.’ Then Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’
He answered, ‘You say so.’ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no basis for an accusation against this man.’ But they were insistent and said, ‘He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.’
When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.
When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign.
He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.
Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, ‘You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him.’
Then they all shouted out together, ‘Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!’ (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, ‘Crucify, crucify him!’ A third time he said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.’
But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted.
He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.
Comments. The pictures are online from the film The Passion of the Christ. Outside of 1930s and 1940s documentaries of the murderous, hate-filled German people, nation, government, and the hideous monstrosity of their ethnic Holocaust that so desolated human morality, that movie is perhaps the most cruel, vicious and brutally graphic film I’ve ever seen.
King Herod, who only appears in Luke's passion narrative, is presented as a vain, moronic clown; Pilate is made to seem borderline “innocent,” simply wanting to be rid of the problem: the narrative places the guilt on the Jews accusing Jesus, an injustice which devolves into the horror of anti-semitic cruelty from Jesus' day until now.
None of us were there to film and record, and the Jewish people as a people and as individuals have suffered evil persecution over the Christian ages; and yet to any extent the above scenario is as much a historical event as it is Heilsgeschichte, the guilt and shame are on us. But to ourselves, we plead "not guilty," and believe it. Ah, holy Jesus: I crucified thee.
DThos+
Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate.
They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.’ Then Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’
He answered, ‘You say so.’ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no basis for an accusation against this man.’ But they were insistent and said, ‘He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.’
When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.
When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign.
He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.
Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, ‘You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him.’
Then they all shouted out together, ‘Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!’ (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, ‘Crucify, crucify him!’ A third time he said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.’
But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted.
He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.
Comments. The pictures are online from the film The Passion of the Christ. Outside of 1930s and 1940s documentaries of the murderous, hate-filled German people, nation, government, and the hideous monstrosity of their ethnic Holocaust that so desolated human morality, that movie is perhaps the most cruel, vicious and brutally graphic film I’ve ever seen.
King Herod, who only appears in Luke's passion narrative, is presented as a vain, moronic clown; Pilate is made to seem borderline “innocent,” simply wanting to be rid of the problem: the narrative places the guilt on the Jews accusing Jesus, an injustice which devolves into the horror of anti-semitic cruelty from Jesus' day until now.
None of us were there to film and record, and the Jewish people as a people and as individuals have suffered evil persecution over the Christian ages; and yet to any extent the above scenario is as much a historical event as it is Heilsgeschichte, the guilt and shame are on us. But to ourselves, we plead "not guilty," and believe it. Ah, holy Jesus: I crucified thee.
DThos+