Reflective Bible Study

The passage we are focusing on for this podcast episode may be short, but the implications it shares are powerful when we pause and think about them. We have come to the morning of Jesus’ crucifixion, and are looking at an event that happens following Jesus being condemned to death, but before He begins the walk to the place where He will be crucified.

Three of the four gospels share this event, and for this podcast episode, we’ll look at Mark’s version of what happened. We can find this event in the gospel of Mark, chapter 15, and we will read it using the New International Version. Beginning in verse 16, Mark tells us that:

¹⁶ The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. ¹⁷ They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. ¹⁸ And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” ¹⁹ Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. ²⁰ And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

This is one of the cruelest parts of the Bible, and it has been reserved for describing how Jesus was treated by the ruling government of humanity. However, what the soldiers miss in their abuse and treatment of Jesus is that His very existence and self-sacrifice made Him worthy of being king. The Roman soldiers’ only picture of a king was the military king that Rome had in its emperor.

An empire focused on ruling through military strength could only see a neighboring king as a potential threat. If the neighboring king’s forces were weaker than the military empire’s, then the empire would attack, capture, and absorb the neighboring king’s territory. Only in a case where there were two kings of somewhat equal strength, could there be a co-existing set of kingdoms.

All the Roman soldiers saw in Jesus was a weak threat to their empire. Jesus didn’t walk like any leader they respected, He didn’t talk strategy like they talked strategy, and He was wholly uninterested in military conquests like they were. But what is interesting is that while they were mocking Jesus, they were actually speaking something very profound.

While Jesus was dressed up like an earthly king and they were hitting Him and spitting on Him, Mark tells us in verse 18 that they began calling Him, “King of the Jews”. This is significant because as God’s promised Messiah, Jesus would technically be King of the Jews – if He were only the Messiah for the Jews.

However, Jesus came as the promised Messiah for all humankind because He was promised and foreshadowed from the very first sin and sacrifice. In a subtle way, these Roman soldiers didn’t realize that even by mockingly claiming that Jesus was the King of the Jews, they were incriminating themselves because Jewish scriptures pointed to God’s Messiah being humanity’s eventual King.

While the Jewish leaders had rejected their King and handed Him over to the Romans to crucify Him, the Romans, who represented the broad group of gentiles living throughout history, also reject Jesus as their King. This is significant because while Jesus had a few followers, they were nowhere to be found which meant that they were not a threat – at least in the Roman government’s eyes.

However, as we are talking about this together, even though they don’t believe Jesus to be special or even significant, these Roman soldiers call Jesus a King, and Mark tells us that they fell on their knees and paid homage to Him. One synonym for the word homage is worship. Even if they didn’t worship Jesus from their hearts, we see evidence that they acknowledged Jesus’ role as King and His right to be respected and worshiped.

But did their admission mean anything if everything they did and said was rooted with the motives of hostility? That I cannot say for sure, but I am just sharing an interesting parallel that is worth us paying attention to.

When talking about hollow and shallow worship hurting God, I wonder how many of us today have ever fallen into this category of people. While we weren’t among the Roman soldiers who were actively hurting Jesus with their words and their actions, I wonder if we at times are not unlike these soldiers when we choose to bring hollow, shallow, and meaningless worship to God.

God desires our hearts, and there are remarkable similarities of cruelty between us and these Roman persecutors if we approach God with our hearts in worship only to pull away and return home still holding the gift He desires the most.

In this record of Jesus’ torture, I wonder if Satan had a hand in the empty worship that the Roman’s presented to Jesus – knowing that it would hurt Him and God on a spiritual level just like the hollow and shallow religion of the Jews at that time was nothing like what God had intended.

This all prompts me to wonder why Jesus would go through with a death with this much torture and pain when any death would appear to work. While tragic, Jesus could have written prophecy to describe a death from a heart attack in the garden while in prayer. However, I think that through the type of death Jesus chose, we are able to learn more about God and His character.

By dying in the way that He did, Jesus demonstrated to the entire world and universe how much God loves everyone He created. He chose humanity because we are the ones actively rebelling against Him, and we are the ones Satan had successfully blinded. Jesus came to show us how much God loved each of us, and through the torture on the road to death that Jesus was willing to face for us, we can see a glimpse of just how much we are valued by God.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

First, be thankful towards God for loving us through Jesus and for showing us how deep and amazing He loves each of us through the way Jesus chose to die. While Jesus could have written prophecy and history to include any type of death that could be imagined, when we look at how Jesus chose to die, it appears as though He picked the worst, most painful, humiliating death that humanity has ever invented.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself and pay special attention to the week of the crucifixion, because nothing in this week happened by chance – everything that we read was strategically planned out from the beginning of history. When we do study, we should prayerfully come before God and give Him our hearts in worship. After giving our hearts to God, we should be willing to submit our lives to Him and His will. While our physical heart stays in our body to pump blood through our veins and arteries, we should always leave our spiritual hearts with God, and any time we are tempted to take it back, we should remind ourselves of what Jesus did for us. In the big picture, a gift of our heart is the least we could do to say thank you for everything God has done for us.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or ignore where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Over the past several episodes in this first chronological year moving through events from Jesus’ life, we have looked closer at details surrounding the 24 hours leading up to Jesus being hung on the cross. Our last episode focused in on how Jesus was brought before a trial of religious leaders, and this episode, we move forward to Jesus’ trial before Pilate, the Roman governor of that region.

However, while some people might want to skim over or discount Jesus’ trial before Pilate, this event has some very interesting and unique details. It is also interesting to note that each gospel includes unique details about this event, and plenty of things happened at this trial that make it unlikely to have happened at any other time.

Let’s read John’s version of the trial for this podcast episode. Jesus’ trial before Pilate can be found in the gospel of John, chapter 18, and let’s read it using the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 28, John tells us that:

²⁸ Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. ²⁹ So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

³⁰ “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”

³¹ Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”

“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. ³² This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

³³ Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴ “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

³⁵ “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹ But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

⁴⁰ They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

While reading this passage, a number of things stood out in my mind.

The first thing in this passage that stands out in my mind is a detail John shares at the very beginning of this passage. The Jewish leaders bring Jesus to Pilate, but they all do not enter the palace. The ceremonial cleanliness of these religious leaders is more important to them than the life of the person they already have placed judgment on. While a normal trial happens in a courtroom or in a palace with the accusers present to give their testimony, because of when this trial happened, Jesus was brought in separate from those who were accusing Him, making this trial unique – and very distinct – in the trials of that time.

The second thing that really stands out as unique to Jesus’ trial is that no official charge is given against Jesus. While other gospel writers include a very generic charge against Jesus, John opts to share that they simply don’t have any charge to share. In a courtroom setting, a charge must be given for there to be a prosecution and defense. The Jewish leaders brought Jesus to Pilate but when asked for a charge they simply say that Jesus is a criminal without sharing any details of His supposed crime. When Pilate pushes back, he learns that they are demanding the death penalty – all without ever hearing what the accusation is.

Perhaps this is by design, because if any actual charge came forward, Pilate may have completely dismissed the case and spared Jesus’ life. An abstract and unspecified charge could let the imagination of each person create a just reason for the death penalty – regardless of the truth of reality.

The next thing to stand out in this passage as interesting in my mind is Pilate’s conversation with Jesus. Instead of claiming innocence, Jesus speaks relatively openly with Pilate, talking in a way that sort of answers Pilate’s questions, but not using the words that Pilate is searching for. I suspect that Pilate understands the charge against Jesus as being the King of the Jews, from what we see recorded in other gospels, but in this extended conversation, Jesus does not display any of the usual characteristics or personality traits one would find in a typical king.

However, while Pilate is fishing for Jesus to confirm that He claims to be a king, Jesus instead says that His kingdom is not of this world. In this conversation, Jesus comes about as close as He does in any conversation with someone to revealing His divine nature. With a kingdom that is not in this world, and a solid knowledge of His purpose for coming into the world in the first place, Jesus subtly positions Himself alongside the legends of the Roman gods who occasionally had interactions with humans. In Pilate’s mind, if Jesus was in a similar position as one of the Roman gods, then it would be best not to anger Him.

It is interesting that from the way Jesus frames Himself, it is as though Jesus prompts Pilate to understand that if Jesus is the God of anything, He is the God of Truth. It is perfectly understandable to picture Pilate having doubts and/or questions regarding this since he was a Roman ruling a very non-Roman religious place. Similar to the secular and Christian worlds of today, it is easy to see the faults of both sides, and because of this when both sides have obvious flaws, genuine truth is hard to find.

Probably the strangest thing in my mind in this entire passage is how it ends – specifically from Pilate’s perspective. First, Pilate finds no basis for a charge against Jesus, but then he turns around and thinks that those present – the ones who brought Jesus to trial – would be interested in releasing Him. God’s hand must have been at work in this oversight because at any other trial, a person who has no basis for a charge is simply released apart from any custom present. The custom of freeing a prisoner was for guilty people, and all throughout Jesus’ conversation with Pilate, right up till the very end, Jesus is never assumed as being guilty. At the very end of this passage, when Jesus is condemned to death, Jesus also assumes the guilt of all humanity when He does not deserve it.

All the beating, punishment, and His eventual death is Jesus taking all of humanity’s guilt and punishment onto Himself when He had done nothing to warrant it. The secular governor is just as guilty as the hate-filled religious leaders. Both the world and the leaders of God’s people are equally responsible for Jesus’ death. Pilate absent-mindedly switches from defending Jesus’ innocence to assuming He is already guilty, which then allows the Jewish leaders the opening to demand His death.

And Jesus is a willing participant. He came to take our place, to take the punishment, so that we have the opportunity and the choice to accept God’s gift of an eternal future with Him. Showing us God’s love and opening the way for us to experience a new life with God is the truth Jesus came to both model and share.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally put God and Jesus first in your life. Remember that Jesus took your punishment onto Himself when He didn’t deserve it so that you wouldn’t have to face the death you deserve. Jesus facing the cross shows us how much God loves each of us, and what He was willing to do to redeem us from this sin-filled world.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, looking for places and ways that it can help you grow closer to Jesus. While other people can give you ideas to think about, test everything you read, hear, and see against the truth of the Bible to know whether it is spiritually true and whether it will stand the test of eternity.

And in whatever place you are at in your life, never belittle yourself into thinking that God cannot use you. God created you with a purpose and you should never let anything derail you from moving fully into His purpose for your life with Him!

On the morning of Jesus’ crucifixion, the gospel of Luke includes a profound series of statements that the religious leaders use to build their case against Jesus. Taken on their own, what Jesus shares in response to the religious leader’s demands is simply countercultural. But when we look at an earlier portion of Luke’s gospel, we see the most rational grounds for who Jesus claimed to be, and in this claim, as well as in the religious leaders’ reaction, we see how far from God’s plan these spiritual leaders had fallen.

Let’s read how Luke describes this event, from the gospel letter that is named after him, using the God’s Word translation. Reading from chapter 22, starting in verse 66, Luke tells us that:

⁶⁶ In the morning the council of the people’s leaders, the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings, gathered together. They brought Jesus in front of their highest court and asked him, ⁶⁷ “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”

Jesus said to them, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. ⁶⁸ And if I ask you, you won’t answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on, the Son of Man will be in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne.”

⁷⁰ Then all of them said, “So you’re the Son of God?”

Jesus answered them, “You’re right to say that I am.”

⁷¹ Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We’ve heard him say it ourselves.”

The religious leaders in this passage build the case for Jesus’ execution on the idea that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. This claim comes immediately after Jesus side-steps the question about whether He is the Messiah that the Jews were expecting.

On the surface, the Messiah question was a much simpler question to answer, except that Jesus knows that they have a narrow view of their Messiah, and Jesus knew that their narrow view had drifted away from what God had prophesied throughout history.

Jesus knows that these leaders are only interested in building a case for His death, and they are not interested in a discussion or a debate, so Jesus gives them something they can build their case on – except that it is one of the weakest foundations for them to stand on.

While the Old Testament law held the death sentence for people who committed blasphemy, the religious leaders had over-extended the definition of what blasphemy actually was. While claiming equality or superiority to God is breaking laws regarding blasphemy, as we will soon see in Luke’s gospel, claiming to be a son of God is completely valid for someone – really anyone to do.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He seemed to gravitate towards the self-descriptive name “son of man” which echo’s back to a prophecy from the book of Daniel. While technically, Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father, it is likely Jesus used this name in a more general sense to describe Himself as a “Son of humanity”.

The reason that these leaders frowned upon the idea of Jesus being God’s Son is that it appeared as though He was elevating Himself into being equal with God – which is wrong for a sinner to do. However, if we look at the last verse in Luke chapter 3, we see that at the very end of Luke’s version of Jesus’ genealogy, Luke tells us that Adam, the first human, was “the son of God”.

Here at the beginning of Luke’s description of Jesus’ adult life, we see a solid, rational case for Jesus being God’s Son because everyone who has ever lived is technically a child of God. Everyone alive at any point in history has breath because God gave it to them, and regardless of whether they use their breath of life to give God glory or to curse God to His face, their existence is directly connected to a gift from God.

The religious leaders’ foundation for Jesus’ crucifixion, which was them putting words in His mouth about being a Son of God is the weakest foundation for them to stand on. They would have a better case standing on what Jesus had just said in verse 69 when He tells them that, “From now on, the Son of Man will be in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne.”

This statement, which cannot actually be validated in this life, could only be spoken by someone who is delusional, or by someone who actually lived their life so close to God that God would choose them for the honored position at His side. This statement is one that challenged the religious leaders at their core, because not only was a human unworthy to be even considered honored before God, it would be prideful for someone to place themselves in this position on their own merit.

In this passage, Jesus uses the term Son of Man in His response to the religious leaders, and they shift His words in their reply to Son of God. If Jesus was to avoid lying to the leaders, there was no way around admitting to being God’s Son because of how Luke described Jesus’ ancestry.

By building the case against Jesus on the grounds of being God’s Son, and not on the statement that Jesus would be honored by God, the religious leaders unknowingly set themselves up to be on the side that is against God.

They build their case on the grounds that Jesus was merely a human, and not that Jesus was ungodly. They incriminate themselves with their argument and reveal how un-Godlike they really were by rejecting and condemning a person who was clearly helping people in God’s name. Even if Jesus was not directly God’s Son in a first-generation sense, He was the most God-like person living in that culture during the first century, and that in itself builds a solid case for God adopting Jesus as His Son.

No way one looks at this event do the religious leaders come out appearing positive or justified. Instead, their accusation and the foundation they build their case on is the weakest one available – but they pick it because they are blinded by their hatred of Jesus. The leaders latch onto whatever they can easily take a hold of because they want to see Jesus killed.

Which leaves the question in my mind: If Jesus knew that they would use this response against Him as the foundation for His death, why would He still say it?

Critics might argue that Jesus had no way out of this scenario, but all Jesus would have needed to do is simply answer in the same way that He answered before, by stating that they would not believe His response, even if He told them an answer.

Jesus instead chose His words carefully because He knew His path included the cross. Jesus was willing to face death in order to open up a way for new life for each of us. While the religious leaders chose a weak foundation for their case against Jesus, Jesus chose death because He knew His death was much more significant from the perspective of eternity. Jesus’ death opens the way for all of God’s people to experience eternity.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first and make Him the most important focus of your life. Regardless of what others might think or believe, think of yourself as a child of God, if for no other reason than God is responsible for there being life in your body. Because God has given you breath, know that He wants to adopt you into His very literal and spiritual family that will be rewarded with eternity.

Also, pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and know God better. Prayerfully study and ask God to teach you what He wants you to learn. While a pastor or podcaster such as myself can give you ideas and insights from what we have learned, God wants your relationship with Him to be personal and not dependant on any third-party intermediary.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

After Jesus was betrayed and arrested during the night before His crucifixion, one of the first stops the mob takes Jesus is to a trial. However, far from being a fair trial, this mob takes Jesus to a trial where every piece of this trial was tilted against His favor. While most people would hope for a fair trial if they faced something similar, the trial Jesus faced, as we will soon discover, was filled with a countless number of liars who all wanted to see Jesus executed.

However, even more amazing than this clearly biased trial against Jesus, was that when the trial was falling apart, help came from an unexpected source to keep the trial moving forward. Let’s read about what happened.

Our passage for this episode is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, and we will read it using the New Century Version. Starting in verse 59, Matthew tells us that:

⁵⁹ The leading priests and the whole Jewish council tried to find something false against Jesus so they could kill him. ⁶⁰ Many people came and told lies about him, but the council could find no real reason to kill him. Then two people came and said, ⁶¹ “This man said, ‘I can destroy the Temple of God and build it again in three days.’”

⁶² Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Aren’t you going to answer? Don’t you have something to say about their charges against you?” ⁶³ But Jesus said nothing.

Again the high priest said to Jesus, “I command you by the power of the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

⁶⁴ Jesus answered, “Those are your words. But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God, the Powerful One, and coming on clouds in the sky.”

⁶⁵ When the high priest heard this, he tore his clothes and said, “This man has said things that are against God! We don’t need any more witnesses; you all heard him say these things against God. ⁶⁶ What do you think?”

The people answered, “He should die.”

While reading this passage, several things jumped off the page at me.

First off, when reading this event, I am always amazed that when faced with false accusation after false accusation, and lie after lie, Jesus choose to say nothing. Jesus stayed silent rather than defend Himself. This response is amazing in my mind, because the more logical and rational response would be to counter the lie with some form of the truth. I know that at least in my own life, it is very difficult to remain silent when lies are being thrown my way.

However, Jesus models what can happen when we stay silent. In Jesus’ case, the more lies that are thrown His way, the less credible the liars become. While we might think that the lies spoken about Jesus would reflect negatively upon Him, the opposite happened. All the lies the religious leaders tried to use to condemn Jesus almost cost them the validity of their trial, if their trial actually had any validity in the first place.

Again, I am amazed by Jesus choosing to stay silent, because I suspect if I were present and in a similar situation, staying silent would be among the hardest things for me to do.

Next in this passage, I want to point out that present in the brief conversation Jesus has with Caiaphas, there is a subtle shift in the language present. Firstly, Caiaphas demands Jesus to answer whether He is God’s Son, and Jesus responds by naming Himself as a Son of Man, though in this particular context, the Son of Man Jesus was referring to was a Son of Man who would be glorified by God.

Caiaphas then takes Jesus’ words and frames them as a statement against God. While a casual reader or observer would be unlikely to see the connection between Jesus’ words and a statement against God, nothing stops Caiaphas from framing Jesus’ words this way, before demanding that His supporters accept and agree with this position.

As I read Jesus’ response, I don’t see anything that is against God. If God wanted to, He could place any mortal person or immortal being at His right hand for a specific event, or for a specific reason. It would be ridiculous for us to vilify God for honoring someone who is clearly supporting and drawing people to praise God.

However, perhaps the issue these religious leaders have with Jesus is that Jesus used the phrase Son of Man and placed it in the most important position in God’s kingdom – which in Jesus’ own statement is at the right hand of the God. In God’s kingdom, man is lower than God, and because of this reason, man does not deserve to be given that significant, prestigious place of honor.

Also possible, I wonder if Caiaphas’ issue is that the man Jesus would claim to prophesy about what would happen in the future regarding God. While Jesus didn’t preface His words with any of the typical prophetic introductions, Caiaphas concludes that Jesus could only be speaking from a place of humanity.

I’ll be the first to state that I don’t know what Caiaphas was thinking, or what grounds He wanted to use to build the case against Jesus. What I do know from reading this is that the false witnesses and liars were doing more harm to the trial against Jesus than helping it, and Caiaphas needed something to validate the case against Jesus.

When all hope appeared to be lost, Caiaphas presses Jesus to speak, and Jesus gives Caiaphas something that could be twisted into a claim against God, even if what Jesus said was nothing remotely like that.

Oddly enough, this trial against Jesus validates the words written in Psalm 35:19, which Jesus quotes in John 15:35 that says “They hated me for no reason.” While these religious leaders hated Jesus, there was nothing spiritual or significant in their hatred of Jesus. Instead, they simply disliked Jesus because He wasn’t one of them, and because He was clearly supported by God outside of their chain of spiritual command.

The last thing we have time to talk about in this podcast episode that stood out to me is that the people responded to Caiaphas’ challenge with the death sentence. Because this was a significant weekend that would have brought the religious leaders together from all over the region, I suspect that there would be no shortage of people the religious leaders could have hand-picked from to side with them calling for Jesus’ death. Even though there were several synagogue leaders who Jesus had helped, I suspect that these religious leaders who lived in Jerusalem focused their attention on collecting those they knew would support them in being hostile towards Jesus.

And while it might surprise you to hear me say this, we should thank them. All the hostility thrust towards Jesus on that weekend paved the way for God’s greatest demonstration of love. Even though this whole trial was a setup, and this trial was far from even appearing fair, Jesus still went through with it, and accepted the false accusations thrust upon Him because His goal was paying for your sins and mine. Jesus faced the cross for you and me, and this only happened because the religious leaders in the first century stacked a case against Jesus, calling for His death.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life. Understand and believe that Jesus came to demonstrate the God the Father’s love for each of us – and He was willing to go through anything to help us see and understand this truth.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself in order to fully grasp what happened in Jesus’ life and death, and to really know what God’s love looks like. Don’t take my word or anyone else’s word for this. Personally read and study the Bible for yourself to grow personally closer to God each and every day.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!