Midweek Lent Service 1 [Luke 23:5-12] (8-Mar-2017)

This sermon was preached at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Magill, South Australia, 7,30pm.

Click here for PDF of sermon for printing.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Herod with his soldiers treated [Jesus] with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, bless all of us with your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

In our mid-week series this year, we are going to be looking at those things which happened to Jesus just before he was crucified. Tonight we’re going to be looking at the event where Jesus was sent to Herod. Next week, we’re going to be looking at the event where Pilate offers Jesus’ freedom to the crowd, alongside a notorious criminal called Barabbas. Over the last three weeks, we will be reading about Jesus being scourged, and sentenced, and then led on his way to the cross.

So let’s look at our text for tonight.

So far in the history of Jesus’ suffering and death, Jesus has been arrested and he has been interrogated by the High Priests, Annas and Caiaphas, and now he has been brought before Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor. Judea, at that time, had been conquered by the Romans, and one of the ways in which Romans exercised control over people was to take away the people’s right to sentence a person to death. So if the Jewish people wanted to sentence Jesus, they had to bring him to Pilate—and this is what had happened.

Pilate by this stage found himself in a very awkward position, because he had questioned Jesus, and couldn’t find a reason for sentencing him to death. On the one hand, the Jewish priests and the crowd were adamant that Jesus was a criminal, but Pilate couldn’t work it out. On one hand, he was under tremendous pressure from the Jewish leaders and the crowd, but also the case wasn’t clear to him either.

This is where we’re up to in the historical order of things. So tonight we’re going to look at our text in four different parts:

I.                   Why did Jesus end up being sent to Herod?

II.                 Who is this Herod, and why was he in Jerusalem?

III.              How did Herod treat Jesus?

IV.              What came about as a result of this event?

So may the Holy Spirit enlighten us this evening as we listen to his word. Amen.

I. Why did Jesus end up being sent to Herod?

Just before our reading begins in Luke 23:5, we read at the beginning of our chapter where Pilate had been talking to Jesus, and then went out to the crowds, and said: I find no guilt in this man. Now for the Jewish priests and the crowds, this was a real blow to their cause. They were dead set on making sure that Jesus was sentenced to death. They had carefully planned it—they had paid Judas to betray him, they had arrested him, they had questioned him, and they weren’t about to be made fools of now—there was no turning back. Could you imagine what they must have thought when Pilate comes out and declares Jesus to be innocent? They must have been furious!

So they brought something more for Pilate to consider. We read: But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.”

First, we hear from this that they were urgent. Apart from what they said, they said it forcefully, they were getting fired up. On one hand, they were blinded by the story they had kept telling themselves, that there really was a good reason to have Jesus executed. Sometimes when people have been telling themselves a lie for so long, they forget what the truth really is. And then they are so far entrenched in the lie, that if they backed out of it now, they would look like pure fools. By this stage they had convinced themselves that they were doing the right thing, and the truth of what Pilate said, that Jesus was innocent, seemed ridiculous to them. We often find this in our own culture too, where truth doesn’t matter anymore, but it all about the politics!

So what it is that they actually said? We read: He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place. What do they mean by this? What wrong are they accusing Jesus of now? They said: He stirs up the people. Obviously, we see that these people here themselves are stirred up! But this is not really what they meant! They are accusing Jesus of creating unrest, of causing a revolution. We see in the Gospels many times where Jesus simply teaches people the word of God, calls them to repentance, and where he goes around and heals people and comforts them. How did the priests say that Jesus was stirring people up? Simply by teaching! Now funnily enough, on the face of it, you wouldn’t necessarily expect this kind of thing to stir people up, but in fact it does. You might remember how Jesus went to Nazareth, and the people tried to push him off a cliff. And then you probably remember how John the Baptist, when he went around preaching, was locked up and finally beheaded. People were stirred up! But then if you read the Book of Acts, we read about the apostles going out everywhere, and people were sometimes very much stirred up, even to the point of rioting! When Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica, they were accused of turning the world upside down. And even Paul says about himself: Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned…

Now what do we make of all this? Because every culture and every people and every society and every family and even every individual is completely corrupted by sin, the call to repentance and the gift of the forgiveness of sins really do turn the world upside down, because these things are from God himself. So many people who are converted to Christianity later in life often find themselves thinking that their whole lives have been turned upside down. Now, we have to realise this today. Many times the Christian faith will be met with opposition, and if it doesn’t meet with opposition, we might have to ask ourselves if we watered it down to make it more palatable! We Christians are part of an army, and we pastors too are on the frontline. And then we move forward a few steps, and we say, “Ow! I got shot in the leg!” Boo-hoo! Waa-waa! “I thought people were supposed to be nice! How can they be so awful?” Answer: Actually, people really are sinners. And this is war!—is it a surprise to you to be shot? This is the army, don’t you know! Were you expecting a cup of tea and scones?

I heard an old pastor once reflect on the 144,000 people mentioned in the book of Revelation. He said: “When I was a young seminary student I thought that 144,000 people in heaven wasn’t very many, but then I was a pastor for 10 years and I thought it was a lot!”

So—as Jesus says: If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. And so we see here in our reading the people simply accusing Jesus of stirring people up. Who cares if what Jesus says is true! Who cares if what he says is right, and wonderful, and godly, and filled with the Holy Spirit! If it causes a fuss, and messes up our party, and rains on our parade, then--it’s bad! Let’s call to mind here what we read in Hebrews: Let us go to [Jesus] outside the camp and endure the reproach that he endured. Remember Jesus says: Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Let these things be a warning to all of us that we don’t try and step away from the world’s ridicule of Christians—this ridicule is the sweet nectar of life, it is the blessing of Jesus himself. And when we are accused of nothing but stirring people up, then let it be a great privilege for us to be together with Jesus, even if it is bearing the same accusation that he received.

Now one thing that the Jewish priests mentioned is not just the fact that Jesus was stirring people up, but that he was teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place. All of a sudden, Pilate’s ears prick up and he says to himself: Galilee, you say?

We read: When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. Why did he ask this question, do you think? Because there was a Roman law that said that if you were on trial you had to be tried by the person in charge of your own province. So if Jesus was from Galilee, then Pilate would be off the hook. He would simply send him off to the tetrarch of Galilee.

So we read: And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

And Pilate must have thought: Boy, that’s a load off my mind! It saves him making a decision. He passes the buck down the line. He tries to shrug off his responsibilities and actually making a statement under a pretext. “It’s not my department!”, he says. So often when it comes to us thinking about hard questions for our life and for our faith, we often pass the buck and take the easy way out, to avoid having to take a stand. It’s easy to put on a show—but it’s not easy when we find that we have to take a stand. But even in the face of all this human weakness, Jesus knows exactly what he is doing, and he stands firm for us. He is passed around, fobbed off, but he is standing still. The world may carry on and swirl and twirl around Jesus, but Jesus—our Saviour—stands still and he holds his ground. And thank God that he does, because he is the solid rock on which our faith is built.

This now brings us to our second question:

II. Who is Herod, and why was he in Jerusalem?

when we read about the birth Jesus we come across a King Herod, who was also known as Herod the Great. He was the one who tried to trick the wise men from the east into telling him where the baby Jesus was, and pretended to them that he wanted to come and worship him too. Also, in his rage, he killed all the baby boys in Bethlehem, to make sure that Jesus was wiped out.

The Herod in our reading today is actually King Herod’s son, also known as Herod Antipas. Herod’s family is also descended from the Edomites, who are the descendants of Esau. You might remember all the way back to the book of Genesis, where Jacob tricks his twin brother Esau. Esau first of all sells his birthright for a bowl of soup, and then Jacob pretends to be Esau before his blind father Isaac, and takes away his blessing. Isaac then says to Esau: Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck. Right from this time, there is a conflict between the tribe of Jacob, the tribe of Israel, and also the tribe of Esau. We read in Genesis 27: Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. In some sense, this hatred continues to rise and flare up all throughout history, and this is what happens in our reading today, when Jesus is brought before Herod. Jesus is from the tribe of Jacob, and Herod is from the tribe of Esau.

We also know something about this Herod in our reading from the time when he had had John the Baptist beheaded, because he had made a silly promise to his daughter in the presence of his guests at his birthday party.

Now the reason why Herod was in Jerusalem was because it was common for people from all over the place to come to Jerusalem for the Passover. It is probably the case that this is also the reason why Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at this time.

This now brings us to our next topic:

III. How does Herod treat Jesus?

This is what we read about what happened to Jesus, when he was in Herod’s house: When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him. Herod is a strange, twisted man. He’s a man who likes a show, he likes a display, but when his conscience gets in the way then he swats it like a fly. For example, it says that Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And yet, when he promises up to half of [his] kingdom to Herodias’s daughter, we read the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. Hmm! -- You wouldn’t want to break your word to a spoilt teenager when she oversteps the line, but beheading a prophet, that’s OK! This is Herod.

Also, we read that when Herod heard about what Jesus was doing, he said, John, whom I beheaded, has been raised. Herod had thought that Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead. What a bad conscience he must have had! He knew he had killed a holy man, and so he thinks that Jesus must be John come back from the dead to wreak some revenge on him.

And yet, when Jesus is brought before him, we read: He was very glad. Actually, Herod had liked John too. We read: When [Herod] heard [John], he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. On one hand, he knew John was right, but he wasn’t prepared to break up his unlawful marriage to his brother’s wife, Herodias. He was afraid of the consequences.

It says that Herod had long desired to see Jesus, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. Jesus had performed many signs: He had healed the blind, made the deaf hear, made the mute speak, made the lame to walk and had raised the dead. But those things weren’t simply things to show off, but Jesus had compassion on those people themselves and wanted to comfort them and heal them and send them away rejoicing. What about Herod? Well, he wanted to turn everything into a magic trick show. Did he want Jesus to turn some water into wine for him? Did he bring in a leper which he had prepared earlier, and get Jesus to whip up some soft smooth baby skin for him?

So you see how twisted this is? Jesus isn’t a circus clown. He isn’t in the entertainment industry. This is also how the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness. He says to him: If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread. What’s the point of that? The same goes with Herod. It’s almost as if he says: Now that you’re here, Jesus, if you’re the Son of God, can you do a back-flip off my garbage-bin?

It all sounds so ridiculous when put like this, but many of us are not far from treating Jesus like this ourselves. For example, how many people go for years and years without prayer, or pray in a sanctimonious kind of way, but then one day something happens and they go to Jesus and say, “Are you really there? If you are there, can you do a back-flip for me?” And boy, do we get angry when Jesus doesn’t perform the miracle that we wanted. Jesus knows what we need even before we ask him.

Or what about church? Why do we come? Do we treat Jesus like a performing seal at Sea-World, doing clever tricks? Do we come to church expecting entertainment, and a Sunday morning thrill? Do we come expecting an emotional high, a spiritual rush, a mountain-top faith experience? All of this closes our ears to the word of God, and to the wonderful truths that Jesus wants to speak to us, and that he wants us to learn. He is not here to perform for us; he is here to save us, and to forgive us, and finally, after this life, to rescue us from this sinful life and take us to live with himself forever.

Do you see now what happens with Herod? So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him.

Jesus refuses to give him what he wants. He won’t budge an inch. We read in Isaiah 53: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. We see here Herod and chief priests and scribes shearing Jesus like a sheep. Herod is not interested in Jesus the lamb, but the wool. Once he has him trophy, he is done with him. The priests and the scribes want to expose his naked skin, and to point and accuse, cutting away at his reputation and the normal protections that a person has and expose his shame.

But Jesus is innocent. He has nothing to answer. And he will not throw his pearls to the swine. He will not give what is holy to the dogs. His shame is our shame—he takes it upon himself and he dies for it.

We see then the Herod goes a step further. When he doesn’t get the sign that he wants, he turns nasty. He calls in his soldiers—he bolsters his weakness with some strong men, against a man who has already been beaten and blindfolded. We read: Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.

Here’s the amazing thing… what Herod does to Jesus is done out of mockery and contempt: he clothes his in one of his royal robes. And yet what he doesn’t recognise is that the man who stands before him really is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. This Jesus really is the king of glory. The intent is wrong, the action is true. He really is a king, and though they don’t recognise it, the angels do. Herod and the soldiers mock, the angels bow in adoration. Herod is playing dress-ups, but Jesus is for real.

Jesus wears our sin, our guilt and our shame. He takes it on himself. Jesus stands before God in his suffering and death wearing the garment of our sin. And all this he does so that when we stand before God, we stand before him wearing the garment of his righteousness, given to us in Holy Baptism. He covers us completely over. We read in Psalm 32: Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Isaiah 61:10 says: He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. What a wonderful thing this is that Jesus does for us!

This brings us to our last question:

IV.  What came about as a result of this event?

We read in verse 12 of this chapter: And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been an enmity with each other.

In Psalm 2, we read some very well-known words: Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed.

Here we see the governor, Pilate, and the tetrarch, Herod, and the chief priests all working together against Jesus. Even Pilate and Herod become friends as a result! In Acts 4, we read about when the first Christians prayed together about this very fact: For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

But also, we learn from this that the purpose of Christianity is not simply to make friends. Other people know how to make friends too. Other people can reconcile with one other and it doesn’t make them Christians. There are many people who unite together against Christ. It’s amazing how opposition to Jesus can draw all kinds of unlikely people together.

But in the church, we are drawn together around Jesus and his word. And this is the thing that draws us together—the friendships that we develop in the church come from this. We also need to be careful that we don’t make friendships—even in the church!—in opposition to God’s word and against Jesus.

So as we consider all these things tonight in our reading, let’s look to Jesus, who is the Lamb of God who remained silent, like a lamb before its shearers. Let’s thank him for his wonderful patience as he bore the weight of the world’s sin and our sin. Let’s thank him for having freely taken on the garment of our shame, and for giving us the robe of his righteousness, the gift of baptism and faith. And no matter how many friendships the world may make with each other, let us ask Jesus to draw us ever closer into friendship with him, as he teaches us, just as he did so long ago throughout all Judea, from Galilee and even to this place here today.

Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world—have mercy on us! Amen.