Amy C Walters

Jesus’ Trial | Luke 22:66-23:12

In this story, we get an interesting picture of how various community leaders, both religious and secular, reacted to Jesus. They all seemed to expect very different things from him and ended up disappointed. Because Jesus follows the Father’s will, and he does not bend to anyone else’s.

In this story, we get an interesting picture of how various community leaders, both religious and secular, reacted to Jesus. They all seemed to expect very different things from him. 

Let’s start with the religious leaders. They begin by ordering Jesus to tell them, if he is the Christ, the Messiah. “If you are the Christ, tell us.” 

A few things to note about this: if the religious leaders thought that this question wasn’t relevant, they wouldn’t have asked. They wouldn’t have brought this up if they did not already believe that Jesus has made claims to being the Christ. But they needed to hear it themselves for this trial. So, people who say that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah or to be God are missing what people in Jesus’ day had already understood. 

Second, the council assumes that if Jesus says that yes, he is the Christ, then he has committed blasphemy. It would show contempt for God for someone to claim to be the Messiah if they were not.

These council members were priests and teachers of the law. As religious Jewish people, they should be living in expectation of the Messiah’s arrival. And  if they actually believe that the Messiah was coming, then someone someday would be able to legally answer their question with, “yes, I am the Messiah.” So the council either doesn’t believe in the Messiah at all, or they have already made up their minds that Jesus is not him. 

It is entirely possible that some of these religious leaders don’t actually believe in the Messiah in spite of claiming to. You kind of get this feeling in Matthew 2, when the wise men come and ask Herod, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” Herod asks the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and they look in Scripture and answer, “in Bethlehem.” But not one of those chief priests or teachers of the law goes to Bethlehem to see for themselves. Bethlehem is only five miles from Jerusalem. 

So the religious leaders hear a report that the Messiah has been born. They know where he is. It’s five miles away. But they don’t have the curiosity or the desire to go and check it out themselves. What is going on with that? It’s almost like they don’t even believe in the Messiah.

It was a promise that was made centuries ago. It’s a long time to wait. Maybe they’ve given up. 

Or maybe they don’t actually want a Messiah. Maybe deep down, they like the system that they’re in. It works for them. They are the ones setting the rules. They are the ones everyone looks to. They don’t want a disruption to that. 

The other option is that the council has decided that Jesus can’t possibly be the Messiah. This is quite hard to believe when you consider the mountain of evidence of Jesus’ divinity. Miracles, healings, authoritative teaching, the transfiguration, his baptism and God’s voice from heaven, his forgiveness of sins, his fulfillment of prophecy.

There must be something seriously wrong to make the religious leaders stare at all that evidence straight in the face, and say, nah.

I think we get some hints of why they’ve totally rejected Jesus in some of the accusations that they level against him. They talk about Jesus “misleading the nation,” and they say that he’s “stirring people up with his teaching.” 

Jesus’ teaching often ran contrary to what the religious leaders were teaching. Like all the times they debated over what’s lawful on the Sabbath. 

Every time these religious leaders tried to trap Jesus or refute his teaching, they were totally confounded. He outwitted them every time.

Like in Luke 20, when they ask him about the resurrection and marriage. It says in verses 39 and 40, “some of the teachers of the law responded, ‘well said, teacher.’ And no one dared ask him any more questions.” 

Jesus even directly called them out for their hypocrisy many times. Like in Luke 11, when six times Jesus says to them, “woe to you!” 

So, the religious leaders might be thinking, how could Jesus be the Messiah when he doesn’t agree with us? When he doesn’t look like us? 

Throughout most of this trial, Jesus remains silent. But when he does answer their questions, he does so in an interesting way. When they ask, “Are you the son of God then?” Jesus answers, “You say that I am.” Why not answer with, “Yes, I am”? 

Pastor Mike Levitzky says that Jesus is basically saying, “I am, but not in the way you think. I am the Son of God, but I look different from what you were expecting.” 

Jesus gives a similar answer to Pilate. When Pilate asks, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answers, “You have said so.” Again, saying “yes, but not in the way you were expecting. Not as a political king. 

A political king would have been a problem for Pilate. It’s a threat to the Roman government and their system. But Pilate determines that Jesus isn’t a threat, so he says, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.” 

Now, this is not because Pilate likes Jesus. He’s not a good guy, not on Jesus’ side. It’s because he doesn’t want to do the Jewish people any favors. He doesn’t want to get involved. 

So when Pilate finds out that Jesus is under Herod’s jurisdiction, he quickly sends Jesus to Herod. He makes him Herod’s problem. To Pilate, Jesus is just a burden and a problem to get rid of. 

What about to Herod? To Herod, Jesus is a magician. He’s heard of Jesus, and he’s hoping that he’ll perform some miracles. But Jesus refuses to answer him. Herod has no interest in the truth, and Jesus refuses to play along. So when Herod doesn’t get what he wants, he makes fun of Jesus, and sends him back to Pilate. 

So overall, in this story, there are a lot of dissatisfied people, because Jesus is not who they want him to be. 

Do you know who is satisfied? God the Father. Earlier in Luke 22, Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, saying to God the Father, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). 

Our key truth for today is that Jesus did not bend to other people’s wills.

When it would have gotten him out of this dangerous situation he was in, he didn’t give in. When it could have bought him favor with those in power, he didn’t give in. When he could have taken an easier path, he didn’t give in.

Because of that, the leaders in this story treat Jesus as a problem to be dealt with. 

What about you? What expectations do you bring to Jesus? Are you looking for someone just to make your life easier? A self-help guru who will make you feel good about yourself and improve your life? 

Are you looking for fire insurance? Some guarantee that you’re going to heaven, but you don’t want him to require anything of your life while you’re on earth? Do you just want to be left alone to live your life as you see fit? 

Do you say that you follow him because your parents did or because you’re generally a good person? But in reality, you pick and choose what he says that you agree with and you ignore the rest. 

The reality is that Jesus does not bend to our will. We must choose to take him at his word because when we do, we discover that he is what we truly need.

So today as you go, ask God to reveal to you if there are ways that you have tried to bend Jesus to your own expectations, to your vision of what is right. Ask God to help you accept Jesus as he is and as the Bible has revealed him to be. Because Jesus does not bend to other people’s wills.