What will you do with Jesus? That is the question of the ages. It is the question that
every person of every age must answer for themselves. It is in this scenario played out here in the final chapters
of the gospel of Luke that we see one person after another faced with the
question of “what will you do with Jesus?” See, it is not enough to simply believe that He exists. All the players in this last act of the
ministry of Jesus certainly believed that He existed. But they all must decide not if He is, but who He is, and
then what they will do with Him.
So far Luke has presented a long cast of characters who had
to answer that question. And
sadly, as we continue to look at three more today, there is a uniformity in
their answers. They all
reject Him. We saw in the last
chapter to start with that Judas, one of the 12 apostles rejected Him, which
resulted in him betraying Christ for 30 pieces of silver. He not only rejected Him, but in the
end He valued Him as worth no more to him than a slave – 30 pieces of silver
being the price of a slave.
And then we saw the rest of the disciples reject Him as well
in the Garden of Gethsemane. When
the soldiers and the lynch mob came in the middle of the night, for a moment
they attempted to put up a brave front and fight, and then they took off into
the darkness. They all deserted
Him.
Then we looked at Simon Peter, the staunchest, bravest
disciple of them all. Possibly the
closest to Jesus. And yet he too
rejected Him. Peter ended up
sitting by the fire of the soldiers who arrested Jesus and before the night was
over he denied even knowing Him three times.
Then we saw the rejection of the high priests and Sanhedrin,
the elders of the Jews. They made
up the religious ruling parties of the Jews. They asked Jesus flat out if He was indeed the Son of God.
Luke 22:70, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” And their answer was to blaspheme Him
and hit Him in the mouth and call for His crucifixion.
Now today we will look at three other responses to this
question; “What will you do with Jesus?”
We see first of all Pilate,
a Gentile, the governor of
Rome. Secondly, we see Herod
Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee.
He was not a Jew, but was an Idumean, who ruled over the region of
Galilee. And thirdly, we will look at the crowd, the multitude, made up of the
mass of people who were gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover.
So the account begins by saying that the whole body got up
and brought Jesus before Pilate.
The whole body relates to the Council of the Elders spoken of at the end
of chapter 22. The high priests,
the scribes and the 70 members of the Sanhedrin. You will remember they had arrested Jesus in the middle of
the night in the Garden of Gethsemane and held two bogus trials. The first was at the house of the high
priest to try to find something that they could indict Him for. But they knew that was not a legal
trial, so they reconvened again at dawn in their chambers so that it would be
official. And all that they had
determined in their trials was that they wanted to put Him to death. They had not found witnesses that could
agree on anything, but they still wanted Him dead. However it was not legal under Roman law for the Jews to put
someone to death. That is why they
usually resorted to stoning people that they found guilty of blasphemy or some
other serious crime. However, they
don’t want to stone Jesus because they feared the people. They didn’t want to be seen as
responsible for putting Jesus to death.
He was still a popular figure.
So their plan was to have Rome put Him to death. So as soon as it was light, they all
went down the street a block or two to Pilates court to charge Him with crimes
against the Roman government, thinking that they would put Jesus to death.
They wouldn’t enter Pilate’s court though because they did
not want to defile themselves by entering a Gentile establishment. So Pilate came out to them. He must have been stunned to see the
entire Jewish council standing there in the street at the crack of dawn. That was undoubtedly an unprecedented
thing and signaled to Him that they were seriously agitated about something.
So they essentially bring charges of insurrection before Pilate, which they were
certain would be worthy of the death sentence. They said, “We found this man misleading our nation and
forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a
King.” All of which was an outright lie, by the way. They don’t want to defile themselves by entering a Gentile
building, but they don’t mind defiling themselves by bringing false charges
against an innocent man.
So now the question comes to Pilate; “what will you do with
Jesus?” We could spend an entire
message just on Pilate himself.
The other gospels have more to say about him than Luke gives us
here. But what we see in a
nutshell, especially in this first response, is that Pilate wants to duck the
question. He doesn’t want to have
to give an answer. He doesn’t
really want to deal with Jesus.
He asks Jesus if indeed He was the King of the Jews. I’m sure that was a mocking, sarcastic
question. Pilate was the governor
of Rome. He was over the entire
region. He had certainly heard of
Jesus. He knew what Jesus was going
about doing. He may not have
understood what Jesus was teaching, but he certainly was not so naïve that
Jesus could be the King of the Jews and he would not know it.
But surprisingly, Jesus answers his sarcastic question
anyway. Jesus answers, “It is as you say.” John’s gospel adds some really important details here that
reveal the mindset of Pilate. In
John 18:34-38 it says Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on your own
initiative, or did others tell you about Me?" Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation
and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?" Jesus
answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this
world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to
the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." Therefore Pilate
said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say
correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come
into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My
voice." Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”
Now that reveals the dilemma of Pilate. He desperately wanted to avoid this
conversation about truth and the kingdom of God. He wanted to avoid having to deal with the question of the
ages, “what will you do with Jesus?”
And now Jesus takes this sarcastic, mocking question of Pilate and turns
it around into a challenge. What
will you do with Jesus? What will
you do with the truth?
Pilate’s answer in the short term was to send Him away to
Herod. He wanted to duck the
question. And how much like Pilate
are so many people in the world today.
They don’t want to deal with the question of what to do about
Jesus. They want to avoid thinking
about such things. How can you
know, they ask? What is truth,
they ask? How can you really believe
the Bible, they say? They want to
avoid the question of what to do about Jesus. They want to live out their lives without conflict, without having to choose, without
having to decide anything. They are
classic examples of burying your head in the sand and hoping that when you take
it out again the situation will have somehow been taken care of. They would rather have others do the
heavy lifting about theology. They
would rather have a form of religion, but deny the power of it. They just want to be left alone to live
life as they see fit. So like
Pilate, they want to pass on that question. But like Pilate, they will not be able to be left alone for
long. One day every knee will bow,
every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, either now resulting in
your salvation, or one day in judgment resulting in damnation. But everyone must one day answer that
question; “what will you do with Jesus?”
So then we turn to the second character in this passage who
is confronted with the question of “what will you do with Jesus?” And that is Herod Antipas, the tetrarch
of Galilee. He happened to be in
Jerusalem for the Passover at this time.
Even though he is not a Jew, he has a vested interest in keeping the
Jews happy. His father was Herod
the Great, the one that had all the babies under two years old killed in
Palestine after Jesus was born.
These guys were like a mafia family or something. They did great public works to buy the
loyalty of the people, but actually they were a murderous, treacherous lot and
the son Herod Antipas is no exception.
Herod Antipas was the one who had John the Baptist put to
death, if you will remember. Herod
had a great ball and the daughter of Herodias his wife danced before them. And Herod in a state of drunken lust
tells her that she can have anything she wants, up to half his kingdom. She goes back to ask her mother what
she should ask for, and her mother tells her to ask for the head of John the
Baptist on a platter. The reason
that Herodias hated John the Baptist so much was because John had rebuked Herod
publicly for taking Herodias when she had been the wife of his brother Philip
and then divorcing his present wife and marrying her. John the Baptist had the audacity to tell Herod that what he
had done was a sin, and so Herod had John arrested and put in prison.
Yet interestingly, Herod liked listening to John. Mark 6:20
tells us that “Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and
holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed;
but he used to enjoy listening to him.” But as we know, even though Herod knew
that John was a righteous and holy man, even though he knew he was a prophet
from God, he had him put to death to please his wife, to try to cover up their
sin.
Listen, nothing makes people more mad than rebuking them of
their sin. Nothing makes people
madder than preaching about sin.
Some people asked me the other day what we could do to grow our
church. If I simply stopped
preaching about sin I’m sure we would have a much bigger church. The world hates to be told that what
they want to do, what they think is ok to do is sin. And yet the faithful man of God will preach the truth about
sin, because unless a man is convicted of his sin he will not repent, and if he
doesn’t repent of his sin he cannot be saved. We must come to understand God’s
wrath against sin, in order to comprehend why a loving God would send men to
hell. And we must understand that
sin is an affront to a holy God, to understand why God would send His Son to
die on the cross to pay the penalty of sin. Sin is not a peripheral doctrine that can be overlooked, but
sin must be dealt with. However,
the world doesn’t want to hear about it, and they hate whoever dares to convict
them of it.
So here is the deal with Herod. This is a man who had heard the truth. He had listened repeatedly to the
preaching of John the Baptist. The
text says that he was very perplexed, that means he was convicted of his sin. But rather than repent of it, he had
locked John up in prison and then executed him to stave off the anger of his
wife. Then later on, when Jesus’
fame was spreading around Galilee, Herod’s guilt caused him to wonder if John
had come back to life somehow. So
he had been hearing about Jesus for 3 years and wanting to see Him.
Notice vs. 8, “Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus;
for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been hearing about
Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him.” So Herod was curious. He wanted to see Jesus produce a
miracle. He wanted to see
something sensational. But it
wasn’t going to make him a believer, it would just satisfy some venal desire on
his part to see Jesus dance on the end of his puppet strings.
So finally Herod gets his chance. Verse 9 says that he questioned Jesus at some length. And yet Jesus answered him not a
word. Listen, there are a lot of
people in the world today that would like to see some manifestation of
God. They brazenly say that if God
wants them to believe in them, then God is going to have to do a miracle. And God’s answer to them is exactly
what Jesus’ answer to Herod is.
Nothing. God does not have
to prove Himself to anyone. In
fact, He will not. God’s name as
He delivered it to Moses in the burning bush was “I Am.” God doesn’t start out in Genesis with a
long list of reasons why we should believe in Him. The Bible doesn’t offer a course in apologetics. Genesis 1:1 simply and boldly states;
“In the beginning, God…” And Jesus doesn’t waste anytime defending Himself
either. A few hours before when Jesus was in the Garden He asked the mob, “whom
do you seek?” And they said,
“Jesus the Nazarene.” And Jesus
answered them with just two words, “I Am.” And they fell to the ground at the power of that name. Jesus is the Son of God, and it is
incumbent upon man to believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those
that seek Him.
Herod is faced with the Son of God, and yet when he questions
Jesus, He does not answer him a word.
Herod had all the testimony that he was going to get. He had the testimony of John the
Baptist. He had recognized his
preaching as the truth and yet he had his head cut his head off. But it’s not that Jesus doesn’t give
Herod a second chance. The fact is
that Herod had already decided what he would do with Jesus. It says in Luke 13 that Herod had
decided to kill Jesus. He was
seeking Him to have Him killed.
Herod rejected the Son of God because he did not want to be convicted of
his sin. He did not want to repent
of his sin.
And that is shown in the actions of Herod now that he has an
audience with Jesus. When Jesus
doesn’t dance when Herod calls, when Jesus doesn’t perform a miracle to satisfy
the vanity of Herod, then he shows his true colors. He mocks Jesus.
Vs. 11, “And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt
and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate.”
So when Herod is faced with the question of the ages, “what
will you do with Jesus?” he mocks him, he treats him with contempt, dressing
him in a king’s robe as some kind of sick joke and sends Jesus back to
Pilate. That is what the atheists
and agnostics and God haters are doing today. They mock God.
They sneer at God. They
have contempt for all things holy.
And yet in reality their motive is not some superior intelligence, but
that they love their sin and refuse to repent of it. John 3:19 Jesus said,
"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men
loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” And I am afraid that many people in our
community will never receive anything more from God than the preaching of the
word of God. We preach the truth
of God’s word here, plain and unadulterated. And yet, like Pilate, they have rejected the truth. They seek some sort of sign, some sort
of miracle from God, but God has said in 1Cor. 1:21 that by the foolishness of
preaching men will be saved.
So Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate, and that also
introduces us to the third group of characters in this passage, and that is the
crowd, the multitude. Throughout
Jesus’ ministry He had been followed by the multitudes. They were an ever changing, but
constant presence in His ministry.
He miraculously fed them on at least two occasions. They heard His
messages. They saw Him perform many miracles. They had the privilege that Herod and Pilate did not
have. Herod wanted to see miracles
and did not. But the multitudes saw
many miracles. And just a week
earlier they had followed Jesus into Jerusalem calling out “Hosanna!” and
throwing down palm branches in His path as He rode into town on a donkey. Popular opinion was high at that
time. Their expectations were
high. The crowds fed off that
popularity and the expectation of even greater miracles, perhaps even the
prospect of Jesus taking the throne of David. They are moved by the tide of emotion, they are aroused by
public sentiment and popular approval.
And they now this fickle crowd has gathered at the sight of this mob of
soldiers, the condemnation of the high priests and scribes, and the judgment of
the 70 elders of the Sanhedrin.
And their affections are swayed by the force of that religious
persuasion to join them in their condemnation of Jesus.
Vs. 13 “Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people.”
That would be the gathering crowds, the multitudes, many of them the same
people that just a few days earlier had shouted hosanna are now in this crowd
that is being driven by the resentment of the religious leaders. And so in the space of just a few days,
we see the fickle crowds allegiance switch from calling for Him to be King, to
calling for Him to be crucified.
And the amazing thing is that Pilate is still doing his best
to wash his hands of the whole affair.
He says three times, “I find no guilt in this man.” And yet the crowd, spurred on by
popular opinion calls ever more for His crucifixion. Pilate even offers to scourge Jesus. That was typically 39 lashes with the
cat of nine tails, a bull whip tipped with glass and barbs that cut the back of
Jesus to shreds. He brings Jesus
back out again before the people and offers to release Him, but they call out
for him to release instead a man named Barabbas, who was a notorious murderer
and criminal.
Vs. 23, “But they were insistent, with loud voices asking
that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail.” I’m afraid that we are entering a
period in our culture today when Jesus has lost whatever superficial popularity
that He might have ever enjoyed.
There was a time when the popular culture respected Jesus, at least on
the surface. There was a time when
the Bible was respected as holy and righteous. When men feared God.
But those days are practically gone in today’s society. The same multitudes that called out to
God in prayer meetings all across this country after the horror of 911 have now
tossed every mention of God out of schools, public arenas, out of the military,
out of political circles. God
isn’t wanted anymore. Public
opinion has shifted dramatically from a superficial acceptance of Christianity
to downright animosity. To be a
Christian today is to be hated by everyone. And even many religious organizations have joined in
denouncing truth and righteousness as bigoted and narrow minded. The political
correctness of our society demands that there can be no truth. Tolerance is the new righteousness. The voices of the Christ haters have
become louder and louder. It
drowns out reason. They don’t want
to listen to reason. Evil is
venerated and righteousness is demonized.
Hatred for all things Christian has become all the rage now. Denouncing Christ is
popular. And more and more people
are joining in with the throng every day.
It is a sad time to be a Christian. Many of us are like Pilate, we are afraid to buck the
crowd. We are afraid of popular
opinion. And so by our
unwillingness to stand up for Christ we participate in His crucifixion.
So Pilate now is faced again with the question of what to do
about Jesus. Herod mocked Him and
scorned Him and ultimately wanted Him dead. The fickle multitude has turned
against Him as well, and they call for His crucifixion. And now Pilate must answer that
question, “what to do about Jesus?”
He had wanted to avoid it.
He wanted to pass on that question. But in the face of all of this opposition, he finally
succumbs to the pressure of popular opinion and seals his own fate for eternity. Vs. 24, “And Pilate pronounced sentence
that their demand be granted. And
he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for
insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.”
Listen, have you answered that question today for
yourself? “What will you do about
Jesus?” Have you been trying to
duck that question? Have you
really been trying to avoid answering it?
Or are you like Herod? Have
you answered that question already?
Is your heart already hardened?
Have you considered the choice of continuing in the pleasures of sin or
the repentance of sin and made the choice to reject Jesus Christ? Have you hardened your heart against
the preaching of the truth of God’s word?
Or perhaps you have been like Herod in the sense that you are waiting for
God to show you some sort of sign from heaven in order to prove that He exists
before you will believe in Him.
Unfortunately, God is not obligated to answer that
demand. But rather God makes His
own demand in Hebrews 11:6. He
says that “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” God sets the requirements, not us. And He requires that we come to Him in
faith, believing that He is. The
Great I Am. He is, and He is the rewarder
of those that seek Him.
Or perhaps today you are like the crowd that followed Jesus
when things were going good. When
the food and miracles were happening they were excited about the benefits of
following Christ. When Christ was popular you went along with the crowd. But when the way got difficult, when
popular opinion began to change, the crowd quickly turned against Him. When Jesus didn’t perform in the way
that you thought that He should, did you desert Him? Did you turn against Him when He failed to meet your
expectations? Did you reject
Christ when you found out what it really meant to follow Him? To worship
Him? To serve Him as King?
Listen, I don’t know your heart today. But God knows. He sees your heart, He knows your
motivation. He knows your
disappointments. He knows your
doubts. He knows your fears. And yet He still loves you enough to
willingly go to the cross for you.
He loved the murderous, fickle crowd enough to pray even as they were
nailing Him to the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they
do.” Listen, Jesus went to the
cross for Judas, but Judas wouldn’t repent. He went to the cross for the Sanhedrin, but they would not
repent. He went to the cross for
Pilate, but Pilate would not repent.
He went to the cross for Herod and he would not repent.
And Jesus went to the cross for you as well. The question for you today is, “what
will you do with Jesus?” The Bible
says, if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Jesus went to the cross and paid the penalty for our sins, so that we
might be given His righteousness.
That transaction is made possible by believing in Him, who He is, and
what He came to do. As He told
Pilate, He is a King. He came to
be King of your life. What will
you do with Jesus? Will you bow
before Him now, in faith and repentance so that you may receive His salvation? I pray that today is the day of your
salvation.
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