WORLDLY FRIENDS, GOD ENEMIES

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see Him. From what he had heard about Him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied Him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing Him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked Him. Dressing Him in an elegant robe, they sent Him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

Luke 23:6-12

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The path to the cross was not traveled in a straight line. Not even close.

Rather, there were many different stations, each with their own circumstances.

Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane after being betrayed by Judas.

He then was taken before Annas for a hearing before going to Caiaphas, the high priest at the time, and the rest of the Sanhedrin.

Falsely accused and convicted by the Jewish religious court, Jesus was then taken to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who questioned him to see if he could find Him guilty of the charges the Jewish religious authorities were bringing on Him. He found no guilt in Jesus and was in a bit of a predicament. The members of the Sanhedrin were expecting a verdict and he knew he wasn’t going to tell them what they wanted to hear. He needed a way out and as we see in today’s passage, he found an exit strategy in an unlikely peer.

I say this because the scriptures tell us that Pilate was an enemy of a fellow Roman governor named Herod who ruled over the region of Galilee. Of interest, this Herod was none other than Herod Antipas and this wasn’t the first time his name had come up in the Gospels. This is because Herod Antipas was the Roman governor over Galilee when John the Baptist was baptizing and proclaiming the coming of Jesus. You’ll remember that John didn’t shy away from calling people to repent and he didn’t discriminate.

At the time, Herod Antipas had married his brother’s wife, a woman by the name of Herodias. John called out the governor for his incestuous actions and these protests reached the ears of Herodias who launched a plot to get rid of John who had been imprisoned by the Romans. You’ll recall that Herod had thrown a party and was reveling with his guests when his daughter came out and danced for him. When she finished he told his daughter, she would give her whatever she asked for. What he didn’t know is that Herodias had already told her daughter what to ask for: the head of John on a platter. And that’s what happened, the daughter told Herod what she wanted and Herod, reluctantly, gave her what she asked for, actually giving what Herodias wanted. It was a sad end to John’s life and as we come back to the future and the passage for today from Luke 23, we find Jesus now brought to Herod with his life on the line.

We read where this is something that Herod was actually excited about “because for a long time he had been wanting to see Him”. Jesus’ reputation preceded Him and Herod hoped he would see Jesus do something miraculous. Unfortunately like so many others, he didn’t see Jesus as the Son of God, an identity that provided Him the power to do remarkable things. Rather, Jesus was seen as more of sideshow, someone who people hoped would show them something they had never seen.

Well, Herod ended up disappointed because Jesus didn’t put on a show for him or answer his questions. Rather, He just stood silent as others did the talking, and abusive talk it was coming from all angles.

The chief priests and the teachers of the law vehemently accused Him.

Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked Him before dressing Jesus in “an elegant robe” and sending Him back to Pilate, who was now seen as a friend. I’m sure Herod thought that Pilate didn’t have to send Jesus to him but in doing so, the Roman governor of Judea was showing respect since Herod was actually the governing authority over Jesus’ hometown of Galilee. Little did he know that Pilate was just trying to pass the responsibility of convicting Jesus to him.

In the end, the joke was on Pilate because Herod did nothing but dress Jesus in a nice robe and send him back to his Roman governor peer, and new friend.

So what do we see here?

We see that neither of these two Roman leaders was of God. If they were, they would release Jesus outright, declaring His clear innocence. But neither did anything. They were friends with one another who were complicit in Jesus being wrongly convicted and murdered. They were just as culpable as the Jewish religious authorities who brought Jesus to them. And through their actions, they showed they were worldly friends who were equally enemies of God.

So Jesus was sent back to Pilate with no change in His status from when He left.

What would happen next?

As we’ll see in tomorrow’s devotion, nothing short of a blatant abuse of power.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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