Latest / The Bible Study Podcast / #960 - Luke 23:1-25 – Jesus Before Pilot

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#960 - Luke 23:1-25 – Jesus Before Pilot · The Bible Study Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio The Bible Study Podcast, Episode nine to sixty. Today,
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  Speaker 1: The Bible Study Podcast continues the study of the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: of Luke as we go into Good Friday and chapter
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  Speaker 1: twenty three. Welcome to the Bible Study Podcast. I'm your host,
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  Speaker 1: Chris Christensen. We're going to continue on with the Good
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  Speaker 1: Friday story that we started last week, including the trial
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus before Pilot. But first a word from this sponsor.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three starts like this. Then the whole assembly
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  Speaker 1: rose and led him off to Pilot, and they began
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  Speaker 1: to accuse him, saying, we have found this man subverting
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  Speaker 1: our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and
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  Speaker 1: claims to be Messiah, a king. So Pilot asked, Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: are you the king of the Jews. You have said so, replied.
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  Speaker 1: Then Pilot announced to the chief priests and the crowd,
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  Speaker 1: I find no basis for a charge against this man.
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  Speaker 1: So this would be an interesting story if it ended
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  Speaker 1: right here, and really, if justice were served, it should
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  Speaker 1: because the chief priests and the leaders take Jesus to Pilot,
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  Speaker 1: and the reason they're taking him to Pilot is the
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  Speaker 1: Romans are in charge. And one of the things that
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  Speaker 1: the Romans have reserved for themselves is the power of
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  Speaker 1: life and death. And so the Sanhedrin cannot legally put
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  Speaker 1: someone to death. In Roman Judea. They could stone someone,
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  Speaker 1: they could, you know, they could try and stir up
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  Speaker 1: the crowds and have that happen, but someone might get
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  Speaker 1: in trouble, someone might have to suffer the consequences with
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  Speaker 1: the Romans if they do that. And so they're bringing
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  Speaker 1: him to Pilot, and they are making stuff up, right,
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  Speaker 1: they say this person is subverting our nation. So they're
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  Speaker 1: saying he is a political leader. He opposes payment of
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  Speaker 1: taxes di caasar. Now they asked him specifically about taxes
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  Speaker 1: diseasar this week, and he did not oppose taxes di caesar.
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  Speaker 1: So they're lying. They're bearing false witness, which is one
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  Speaker 1: of the ten commandments not to do that. And then
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  Speaker 1: he claims to be Messiah, a king. Well, he has
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  Speaker 1: never directly said that. He claims that even when they
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  Speaker 1: were just talking to him in the Sanhedron. He says,
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  Speaker 1: you say that, so they are bearing false witness. They
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  Speaker 1: don't produce sufficient evidence that Pilot even believes them. Right,
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  Speaker 1: he asked Jesus for you the king of the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: He says, you've said so, and Pilot has been around
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  Speaker 1: for a while in Judea, and so he said, I
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  Speaker 1: don't see it. I don't see that this man is
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  Speaker 1: guilty of what you're saying. Now, Pilot probably wasn't ignorant
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus. Jesus has been very well known, and so
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  Speaker 1: Pilot may have known that the things they're telling him
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  Speaker 1: are actually lies. Certainly, if he had said you shouldn't
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  Speaker 1: pay taxes to Caesar, that probably would have made its
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  Speaker 1: way back to Pilot because he was a well known teacher.
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  Speaker 1: So at this point it seems like the whole trial's
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  Speaker 1: over and we all go back to normal, but we
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  Speaker 1: don't continuing on. But they insisted he stirs up the
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  Speaker 1: people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in
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  Speaker 1: Galilee and has come all the way here. On hearing this,
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  Speaker 1: Pilot asked if the man was a Galilean. When he
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  Speaker 1: learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him
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  Speaker 1: to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: so Galilee is a separate province than Judea, and Pilot
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  Speaker 1: is the governor of Judea, and so if Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: from Galilee, then he is subject not to Pilot but
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  Speaker 1: to Herod. Now this is not Herod the Great, but
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  Speaker 1: one of his many sons, and so he sends him
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  Speaker 1: to Herod, as would be a proper But it's also
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  Speaker 1: a way for Pilot to say, this is not my problem.
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  Speaker 1: When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased because for
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  Speaker 1: a long time he had been wanting to see him
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  Speaker 1: from what he had heard about him. He hoped to
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  Speaker 1: see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied
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  Speaker 1: him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.
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  Speaker 1: The chief priests and teachers of the law were standing
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  Speaker 1: there vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed
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  Speaker 1: and mocked him, dressing him in an elegant robe. They
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  Speaker 1: sent him back to Pilot that day. Herod and Pilot
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  Speaker 1: became friends. Before this, they had been enemies. It's interesting
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  Speaker 1: what people will bond over. And they're bonding over ridiculing
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  Speaker 1: Jesus or thwarting the religious leaders mocking them. It's not
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  Speaker 1: quite clear what makes them friends from enemies. If you've
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  Speaker 1: ever seen the movie or the play, Jesus Christ Superstar.
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  Speaker 1: When Herod has a great song in that musical, it
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  Speaker 1: prove to me that you're no fool. Walk across my
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  Speaker 1: swimming pool. Pard wants to see something cool. Herod wants
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  Speaker 1: to see a miracle. He wants something. He's been trying
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  Speaker 1: to see Jesus for a while and Jesus has not
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  Speaker 1: come to him. And then remember, this is the same
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  Speaker 1: Herod who has executed his cousin John the Baptist, and
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  Speaker 1: so there's a reason why Jesus might keep his distance
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  Speaker 1: from Herod. So now Pilot has the problem again. We're
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  Speaker 1: back at Pilot's court. Pilot called together the chief priests
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  Speaker 1: and the rulers of the people, and he said to them,
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  Speaker 1: you brought me this man as one who was inciting
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  Speaker 1: the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your
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  Speaker 1: presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.
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  Speaker 1: Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us.
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  Speaker 1: As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore I will punish him and then release him. But
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  Speaker 1: the whole crowd shouted away, with this man released, Barabbas
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  Speaker 1: to us. Brabasim had been thrown into prison for an
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  Speaker 1: insurrection in the city and for murder. Wanting to release Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: Pilot appealed to them again, but they kept shouting, crucify him,
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  Speaker 1: crucify him. For the third time, he spoke to them,
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  Speaker 1: why what crime has this man committed? I have found
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  Speaker 1: in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I
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  Speaker 1: will have him punished and then release him. But with
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  Speaker 1: loud shouts, they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and
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  Speaker 1: their shouts prevailed, so Pilot decided to grant their demand.
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  Speaker 1: He released the man who had been thrown into prison
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  Speaker 1: for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and
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  Speaker 1: surrendered Jesus to their will. So Pilot is afraid of
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  Speaker 1: the crowds, and he knuckles under and does the thing
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  Speaker 1: that is not just that he thinks is wrong. He
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  Speaker 1: releases the one who is guilty of insurrection to punish
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  Speaker 1: the one who is not. There are all sorts of
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  Speaker 1: political leaders from then until now who have been afraid
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  Speaker 1: of the crowds or a public opinion, or of someone
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  Speaker 1: more powerful than them, and have done the wrong thing
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  Speaker 1: because of it. It continues to this day. But when
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  Speaker 1: we have power, we want to keep power, and these
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  Speaker 1: crowds getting unruly and rioting was a threat to Pilot,
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  Speaker 1: and so he does the wrong thing for the wrong reason.
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  Speaker 1: And I think I'm going to stop there this little
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  Speaker 1: shorter episode, but we're going to be about to get
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  Speaker 1: to the Crucifixion of Jesus, and I think I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to want to spend some time there. So we're going
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  Speaker 1: to end this episode here and we'll pick up this
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  Speaker 1: story next week. And with that we'll end this episode
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  Speaker 1: of The Bible Study Podcast. If you have any questions,
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  Speaker 1: send an email to Chris two x at gmail dot com, or,
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  Speaker 1: better yet, leave a comment on this episode at the
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  Speaker 1: Bible Study podcast dot com. And as always, thanks so
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  Speaker 1: much for listening. I want to take just a second
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  Speaker 1: to thank the team and Life Audio for their partnership
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