Daily Devotions
Luke
Luke 23:13-25; John 19:1-16; Matthew 27:19 "A PRIVATE WORD OF ADVICE"
Day 314 – Luke 23
Text: Luke 23:13-25; John 19:1-16; Matthew 27:19
A PRIVATE WORD OF ADVICE
Ruling Palestine, even as a Roman governor, backed up by the might of Rome proved to be no easy task. Rome had given some power to the Jews. They were allowed to try their own people, if the infringement was minor, and if the problems were of a religious nature! This was especially accorded the Jews by Rome, because of the deep religious vein noted. Rome however, demanded that all cases involving capital punishment couldn’t be tried by the Sanhedrin Council, the highest religious cum judicial body of the Jews.
If an individual was a robber, a rebel and a murderer, then Pilate knew exactly what he had to do. He would arrest and incarcerate the felon, as in the case of Barabbas. However, he wasn’t kind sure what he should do in the case of Jesus, charged with treason on the one hand, and yet no proof could be produced that He had committed any crime worthy of the death penalty that the Jews had insisted upon.
As Pilate brooded over the case, his wife sent him an urgent message. It was not usual for a wife to “interfere” in a court case, but this case involving a clearly innocent man, was most unusual. Matthew wrote,
“While he was seating on the judgment seat,
his wife sent to him, saying,
‘Have nothing to do with this just Man,
for I have suffered many things today
in a dream because of Him.”
Matthew 27:19
Many Romans were known to be superstitious. Many Romans consulted oracles, soothsayers, augurs and others who posed as people who were able to foretell the future. If a person “suffered many things in a dream…” as Pilate’s wife claimed, then it would be prudent to leave well alone. To do otherwise would invite trouble.
But what could Pilate do? He had offered to scourge Jesus. What if he tried that, and then attempt presenting Jesus to the Jews? Perhaps after the Jews had seen how the Romans could scourge their prisoners, they would relent and allow him to release Jesus? Would that help matters?
THE SCOURGING OF JESUS
John carefully recorded the scourging of Jesus. Let us take a look at this punishment that the Romans devised, as part of their judicial system.
“So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.”
John 19:1
The word “scourge” is a reference to a terrible whipping given to a prisoner. The scourging practised by the Romans was a well-known thing. Some prisoners didn’t even survive the flogging meted out.
The scourge was essentially a whip. Several thongs would be attached to the whip, and sometimes the ends of the thongs would actually have sharp objects such as fishhooks or scraps of metal.
The scourge was meant to flail the prisoner. Blood, plenty of blood would be drawn if the scourge were well applied. Some of the Roman soldiers would of course be specially trained to flog their prisoners.
The prisoner is often stripped of his clothes. He is then tied to a pillar and then whipped! A person of lesser strength would collapse before too long!
How did Jesus take all this pain? Isaiah’s prophecy comes to mind once again.
“He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not his mouth.”
Isaiah 53:7
Silence! Jesus bore all the pain and suffering in silence. He did not rail against His assailants. He did not lash out against them for the injustice He suffered. Silence was His special way of expressing His faith and trust in His Father. He wore His integrity of faith and trust superbly!
To add to the suffering of Jesus, the soldiers stretched the limits of their authority when they mocked Jesus.
“And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns
and put it on His head,
and they put on Him a purple robe (not the one Herod gave Him).
Then they said, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’
And they struck Him with their hands.”
John 19:2-3
This wasn’t part of the scourging procedure. This was just a cruel joke made up by wicked people, thinking that they would have some fun at the prisoner’s expense!
PRESENTING JESUS TO THE JEWS AGAIN
After a while, Pilate went out to the Jews and tried to placate them. John recorded this event vividly.
“Pilate then went out again, and said to them,
‘Behold, I am bringing Him out to you,
that you may know that I find no fault in Him.
Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns
And the purple robe. And Pilate said to them,
‘Behold the Man!'”
John 19:4-5
Surely, the Jews would not be afraid of a man who allowed Himself to be scourged by the Romans! Surely, there must be a drop of human kindness in the hearts of the religious Jews when they saw the scourged Jesus!
Pilate could not be more wrong. The Jews began to take up a cry against Jesus.
“Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him,
they cried out, saying, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him.’ “
John 19:6
Mark explained how the crowds also began to take up this wild cry against Jesus.
“But the chief priests stirred up the crowd,
so that he should rather release Barabbas to them.”
Mark 15:11
The crowds must have irritated Pilate. He just could not understand why the Jews hated Jesus as much as they did.
“Pilate said to them,
‘You take Him and crucify Him,
for I find no fault in Him.’ “
John 19:6
Pilate of course was baiting the Jews. He knew that they could not crucify Jesus. The power to mete out the death penalty lay only in him. If the Jews tried to crucify Jesus on their own authority, then he would charge them with murder.
As far as he was concerned, when Jesus was tried by Roman law, He was found innocent of the charges that the Jews had trumped up against Him! He was trying to explain to the Jews that he could not do anything but to release Jesus, based on Roman law!
The Jews then shouted back why Jesus had to be put to death. They said,
“We have a law, and according to our law
He ought to die, because He made Himself
The Son of God.”
John 19:7
If only Pilate knew the Jews and their laws better. If only he knew the laws of Moses, he would have realized that these Jews had broken the law that they said that they were seeking to uphold.
The Jews knew that Pilate did not know their laws. There was no specific law demanding the death penalty when a person called himself “The Son of God”. What they meant was that Jesus had blasphemed, and thus he was deserving of death. The law of blasphemy would sound “strange” to Gentile ears. Roman religious beliefs did not have laws that demanded the death of a person accused of speaking blasphemy!
The Jews, true to form, manipulated their laws and charged Jesus with another “crime”. But how would Pilate judge Jesus if it was a religious charge? He would not know where to start. On hearing that Jesus claimed divinity, Pilate, for the first time became “afraid” for some reason. Once again, he drew Jesus away from the crowd and interviewed Jesus one last time! Never had there been a stranger and more complex case to try than this one. What should he do? What could he do?