seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 22:66 At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. 67 “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”
Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, 68 and if I asked you, you would not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
He replied, “You say that I am.”
71 Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”
Luke 23:1 Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”
3 So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
5 But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”
6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
Pilate was a smart guy. Jesus had thousands and thousands of loyal followers. Jesus was so popular, the Pharisees and Sadducees had to catch Him alone. They paid an insider [Judas Iscariot] to get them the information they needed to make the arrest. Pilate didn't have to be the guy to sentence Jesus. He could let Herod do it. While it was true, occupied Israel was not a democracy, and Pilate didn't need the people to like him, Rome didn't like problems and the growing crowds supporting Jesus had to be a security problem for Pilate. On top of that, when thousands and thousands of people flood the streets, it causes logistical problems for everyone. It's expensive to clean the streets after a protest.
It was no skin off Pilate's nose if the people didn't like Herod. Let Herod do the dirty work.
Pilate wasn't one who would be visiting the Temple. In fact, since Pilate was Roman, he was unwelcome in the Jewish Temple. He didn't care about the rules of the church. There was definitely a huge separation of church and state in Jerusalem at that time. The Pharisees couldn't charge Jesus with Blasphemy in front of Pilate because that's not a crime Pilate would have any say in. So, they had to bring other charges. They accused Jesus of "subverting the nation".
On top of that, they accused Jesus of "opposing paying taxes to Ceasar". Did Jesus tell someone it was "smart" not to pay taxes? Nope, Jesus said, "Ceasars name is on the coin, it belongs to Ceasar. Give it back" [paraphrased]. They accused Jesus of trying to overthrow the government. Geeze that sounds so familiar.
Now, I have to say, I did some research on these verses. I found this.
But they were the more fierce: In response, the religious leaders became more fierce, and emphasized their accusation that Jesus was a leader of insurrection (He stirs up the people). This was a crime that any Roman governor would be concerned with.
The Pharisees, Sadducees, the Chief Priests, the Teachers of the Law and even the Elders wanted Jesus charged with Insurrection!The man Pilate met was beaten nearly to death. He posed no threat to Pilate. Proving Insurrection is even more expensive than cleaning up the square after one of their "protests". Sending Him to Herod was the "responsible" thing to do.
Insurrection is so hard to define.
