#188 Lu. 23:13-25  THE THIRD HEARING OF JESUS BEFORE THE ROMANS

Introduction:

	In our previous text Jesus was carried to Herod to be tried.
This was His second hearing before the Roman government.  In that
hearing Herod, like Pilate, found Jesus "not guilty" and sent Him
back to Pilate without making any disposition of the case.  So,
now the ball is back in Pilate's court and he must be the one to
decide how the case is to be settled.  This will be the third and
final hearing of Jesus before the Roman authorities and in all
three hearings He is pronounced "Not guilty."

I.  Pilate convening the final hearing

    V. 13, "And Pilate, when he had called together the chief
priests and the rulers and the people."  The first thing that
Pilate did when Jesus was brought back to him was to summons the
chief priest and elders who made up the Sanhedrin council.  He
summoned them because they were the accusers and he wanted them
to be present when he announced his disposition of the case.
	However, you will note that Luke tells us that in addition to
the chief priests and elders, Pilate also summoned the people.
That is, he summoned the general public.  Many of the people had
already been attracted by the court procedure and now Pilate
summoned others of the general public to be present at this last
hearing.  He knew that the Jewish leadership was dead-set against
Jesus.  He knew also that Jesus had been very popular with the
common people and he wanted them to be present at this final
hearing.  He apparently still thought that he would set Jesus
free and that the presence of the people with whom Jesus had been
popular would make his task easier.  He thought that their
presence would put a damper on the angry protests of the Jewish
leaders.  As it turned out, he was wrong.  The presence of the
masses of people would simply increase the strength of the
protest against setting Jesus free.

II.  Pilate's review of the case to the people

    V. 14, "Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as
one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined
him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those
things whereof ye accuse him."  With these words, Pilate reviewed
with them the events of the first hearing before him.  The people
had made three accusations against Jesus and he had found Jesus
to be "not guilty" on all three counts.  Then when he had
announced his verdict of "not guilty" the people had renewed
their charges that Jesus perverted the people and stirred up
trouble throughout the land, beginning at Galilee.
	At the news that Jesus is a Galilean, Pilate had then sent
them all to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at the time.  If Jesus
was guilty of stirring up trouble in Galilee, then Herod would
surely know about it and he could sentence Him.  Pilate does not
here reveal his real motive for sending Jesus to Herod.  His real
motive was because he was afraid that these Jewish leaders would
go back to Caesar and stir up more trouble for him.  They had
done so before and he feared that they would do it again.
	Yet even Herod had found Jesus "not guilty."  V. 15, "No, nor
yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of
death is done unto him."  Instead of finding Jesus guilty, Herod
had also concluded that Jesus is not guilty.
    V. 16, "I will therefore chastise him, and release him."  Now
there is both good and bad in this pronouncement.  First --- the
good.  Pilate announced that he was going to set Jesus free.
That is what he should have already done.  But since he had not
already done so, at least, that is what he should do now.
	But now --- the bad.  Pilate also said that he would chastise
Jesus before setting Him free.  That is, he would have Him
publicly whipped.  He would have Him scourged.  The problem is
that this is the kind of punishment that would usually accompany
a verdict of guilty.  It is the kind of punishment that would
usually be administered only to those who had received the death
penalty.  Why would Pilate have a man scourged whom he had
officially pronounced "not guilty"?  To publicly whip an innocent
man was equally as unjust as having Him executed.  That is the
bad side of it.
	We can, however, give Pilate at least some credit in this.
It is to be presumed that he thought he could somewhat appease
the Jews by having Jesus whipped and they would let up on their
demands that He be put to death.  But regardless --- it was still
an unjust thing to whip an innocent man.  He should have set
Jesus free without the whipping.

III.  The choice between Jesus and Barabbas

    V. 17, "(For of necessity he must release one unto them at
the feast.)"  It was the custom of the Roman governor every year
at the Passover celebration to set free one of the Jewish
prisoners.  This custom was started in order to appease the Jews
who strongly despised the Roman rule over them.  Pilate was
counting on this custom now to somewhat appease these Jews who
were so angry at the prospect of Jesus being set free.  He always
set one prisoner free at this time of the year.  Pilate thought
the release of Jesus should fit right into that custom and,
therefore, it should not greatly disturb the Jews that Jesus was
being released.
    Apparently before Pilate offered them a choice between Jesus
and Barabbas as is recorded by Matthew, Pilate had not just
announced that he would be releasing Jesus.  He gave them a
choice between Jesus and Barabbas, thinking that surely they
would choose to release a good man like Jesus in preference to a
villain like Barabbas.
    But there was no appeasing the Jews.  V. 18,
"And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and
release unto us Barabbas."  Note that Luke says that they all
cried out.  That included the great masses of people along with
the chief priests and elders.  By this time the great masses of
people had been swayed by the Jewish leaders.  The masses joined
right in with the chief priest and elders demanding that Jesus be
put to death and that Barabbas be released.  They were like a
pack of vicious wolves that had already gotten the scent of
blood.  They all joined in demanding that Barabbas be released
and Jesus be put to death.
	Verse nineteen describes the crimes that Barabbas had done.
V. 19, "(Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for
murder, was cast into prison.)  Barabbas was guilty of sedition.
That is, he was guilty of treason against the Roman government.
The Jews falsely accused Jesus of sedition demanding His death
and yet they called for Barabbas, who was really guilty of this
crime, to be set free.  They called for the death of Jesus, who
had healed the sick and raised the dead, and yet they called for
Barabbas, who was guilty of outright murder, to be set free.
	Pilate still sought to reason with the Jews and persuade them
that Jesus should be set free.  V. 20, "Pilate therefore, willing
to release Jesus, spake again to them."  Pilate was still
desirous of setting Jesus free.  He had the power to set Him free
and had the responsibility of setting Him free.  Yet he was not
minded to set Him free unless he could somehow pacify the Jews
because he was afraid they would make trouble for him with the
Caesar.
	The Jews were by no means ready to concede.  V. 21, "But they
cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him."  This whole great big
multitude of Jews who had gathered in front of Pilate's judgment
hall began to cry out, demanding that Jesus be crucified.  The
chief priests and elders of the Sanhedrin Council led the cry.
The whole crowd joined.  They began the chant:  "Crucify Him!
Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!"
	When they finally quieted down Pilate still persisted in
trying to reason with them.  V.  22, "And he said unto them the
third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of
death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go."
    V. 23, "And they were instant with loud voices, requiring
that he might be crucified..."  Instantly the loud cries started
up all over again.  It must have seemed to Pilate that they were
louder than ever, and they might have been.  "Crucify Him!
Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!"
	At this point Pilate gave up.  (V. 23), "...And the voices of
them and of the chief priests prevailed."  Pilate saw that he
would never be able to persuade them.  So he gave in to their
demands.  V.  24, "And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as
they required." Pilate made it official and ordered the
crucifixion of Jesus.

IV.  The question of who is guilty

	There has been a lot of debate in the Christian world as to
who was actually responsible for the death of Jesus.  Was it the
Jews or the Romans?  If it was the Jews, was it the Jewish
leaders or the masses of common people?  Or, do we today in some
way share this guilt with the people of that day?
	It seems to me perfectly clear.  The Roman governor was most
certainly guilty.  It was his responsibility of setting Jesus
free.  He had found Jesus innocent of all charges, but he did not
set Him free.  Pilate had to bare his share of the
responsibility.
	Herod, also, will have to bare his share of the
responsibility.  Once Pilate placed Jesus in the hands of Herod
for trial, Herod  became responsible for making the decision.
Especially since he determined that Jesus was not guilty of the
charges, he had the responsibility of setting Jesus free, but he
didn't do it.  Instead, he sent Jesus back to Pilate where He was
finally sentenced to death.
	The Jewish leaders were really the ones who plotted the death
of Jesus and who brought Him to the Romans for trial.  They were
the ones who made false accusations against Him, determined to
have Him put to death.  Even when He was pronounced innocent, it
was those Jewish leaders who incited the mob to cry out against
Him and demand His crucifixion.
	Even the great masses of common people who made up that great
mob of Jews must share in the responsibility for His death.  They
did not have to follow the leadership of the chief priests and
elders.  Some of them had been in another great crowd just a few
days earlier shouting to the tops of their voices as Jesus rode
down Mt. Olives.  They were praising Jesus to the highest and
were proclaiming Him to be the Christ of God.  Yet before Pilate
they shouted just as loudly demanding the crucifixion of Jesus.
They will most certainly bare their share of the guilt.
	Yet there is, indeed, a sense in which all the whole human
race must bare a share of the blame.  You see, God sent His Son
Jesus Christ to the cross to die for all mankind.  We are all
guilty of sin and Jesus went to the cross to pay the sin-debt for
us all.  We certainly did not play any part in the decisions that
sent Him to the cross, but it was for us all that He went to the
cross that day.
	There is one more verse in our text and that verse looks back
to Barabbas, whom Pilate released at the demand of the Jews.  V.
25, "And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder
was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered
Jesus to their will."

V.  A choice between us and Jesus

	Now I want us to see ourselves in the place of Barabbas.  We
most certainly are guilty.  We deserve to be punished.  We
deserve, not only to be put to death physically, but we deserve
to be punished in the everlasting fires of hell.  The choice lies
between you and Jesus.  Jesus is innocent and we are guilty.  Yet
if Jesus goes free, we would all be sentenced to everlasting
fire.  Pilate must make a decision.  Yea, before Pilate, God must
make a decision.  God must choose between the death of His Son on
the cross or everlasting death for all of us in the Lake of Fire
and Brimstone.  It is God who made the decision.  "I will send my
Son to die in the stead of the guilty sinners."  It is Jesus who
said to the Father, "...Thy will be done."
	I am trying to tell you how much God loves you and wants you
to be saved.  Yet the choice is now up to you.  If you want to be
saved ---- if you want to stay out of hell ---- if you want to go
to heaven ---- then you must trust in Jesus Christ for the
salvation of your soul.

Conclusion:

	Will you trust Him?  Will you trust Him now?