Follow Jesus to Pilate’s Court

04/10/2019 Midweek Lent Service

SERMON TEXT:  Luke 23:1-25

The whole group of them got up and brought him before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this fellow misleading our nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
“It is as you say,” Jesus replied.
Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching all through Judea, beginning from Galilee all the way here.”
Pilate Sends Jesus to Herod
When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.
When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad. For a long time, he had wanted to see him, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle performed by him. He questioned him with many words, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the experts in the law stood there, vehemently accusing him. Herod, along with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and ridiculed him. Dressing him in bright clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. Herod and Pilate became friends with each other on that day. Before this they had been enemies of each other.
Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who is misleading the people. Look, I have examined him in your presence. I have found in this man no basis for the charges you are bringing against him. Herod did not either, for he sent him back to us. See, he has done nothing worthy of death. So I will have him flogged and release him.”
Barabbas or Jesus?
Pilate needed to release one prisoner to them at the Festival. But they all shouted together with one voice: “Take him away! Release Barabbas to us!” Barabbas had been thrown in prison for a rebellion in the city and for murder.
Pilate addressed them again, because he wanted to release Jesus. But they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify him!”
He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found no grounds for sentencing him to death. So I will whip him and release him.” But they kept pressuring him with loud voices, demanding that he be crucified. And their voices were overwhelming. So Pilate decided that what they demanded would be done. He released the one they had asked for, who had been thrown in prison for rebellion and murder, but he handed Jesus over to their will.

Bible Readings

Psalms 2

Why do the nations rage?
Why do the peoples grumble in vain?
The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers join together against the LORD
and against his Anointed One.
“Let us tear off their chains and throw off their ropes from us.” The one who is seated in heaven laughs.
The Lord scoffs at them.
Then he speaks to them in his anger, and in his
wrath he terrifies them.
“I have installed my King on Zion, my holy
mountain.”
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD.
He said to me:
“You are my Son.
Today I have begotten you.
Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession.
You will smash them with an iron rod.
You will break them to pieces like pottery.”
So now, you kings, do what is wise.
Accept discipline, you judges of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, or he will be angry,
and you will be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

GOSPEL: Luke 23:1-25

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