291. Herod

Luke 23:8-12

Key Verse: That day Herod and Pilate became friends. Before this they had been enemies.

Luke 23:12

Sin certainly can make interesting bedfellows. It’s interesting that only Doctor Luke, the one gentile writer of a gospel, is the one to record this sorry episode of Jesus’ path on the way to the cross. Remember that Luke established, at the beginning of his gospel that he would attempt to give an accurate account. “I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good to me to write an orderly account for you,…so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:3-4) So, Luke takes us to Herod, which is probably an event that would be best forgotten.

First of all, who is this Herod? This is Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. Herod the Great was the one who had tried but failed to murder the young Jesus by slaughtering all the boys under two years old in Bethlehem more than 30 years earlier. (Matthew 2) In truth, Herod Antipas had very little power and obviously, very little true interest in Jesus except as a source of entertainment. He had shown little interest in justice, or Jewish law for that matter, in his dealings with John the Baptist. (Matthew 14:1-12) Why would Jesus fare any better? Herod may have even been drunk as Jesus stood before him. Certainly the mockery suggests a lack of seriousness about the occasion.

Have you ever been mocked or ridiculed by someone who was over you, in authority for no real valid reason? Here was God, standing before this twerp of a man, preparing to die for him as an act of love, and all this punkish person could think of was being entertained. At least Pilate had taken the matter seriously and had tried to seek some justice in the matter, but this was sheer foolishness.

So, as a parting gift of mockery, Herod has an elaborate robe put on Jesus, not in love and respect, but ridicule. He was mocked by a pack of fools. Is it any wonder that Jesus said nothing? He knew that He wouldn’t have been heard anyway. Knowing who He was, Jesus allowed Himself to be treated with contempt as a part of our redemption. What a humbling thought. Do I deserve such grace?

Is it any wonder then that, as a result, Pilate and Herod became friends? They couldn’t do anything else. They could not point a finger at the other accusing of a miscarriage of justice for they were both guilty. Jesus would pay for their guilt as well.

Hymn: “IStand Amazed In the Presence”