Luke 23:1-7 (NIV) Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. 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 Christ, a king.”
So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.
Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
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.”
On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
Now that the Sanhedrin had found Jesus guilty of a capital crime, all they had to do was to convince the Roman authorities that Jesus was a subversive, so that they would do their dirty work for them. As in every Roman-occupied land, the local authorities had no right to sentence anyone to death (John 18:31). So, they had to present Jesus to Pilate, the governor, as a rebel and a real danger to the Empire.
Their charges were all either slanted versions of the truth, or complete lies. They accused Jesus of misleading the nation, by which they meant that Jesus had taught things that undermined their own authority and opposed their traditions, which was true (although not misleading, but leading into the truth). But they knew that Pilate would hear the charges as an accusation that Jesus was stirring up opposition to Rome, even though He was doing no such thing. They accused Him of opposing paying taxes to Rome, which was a direct lie. Jesus had famously said in front of a whole crowd that the people should give to Caesar that which belonged to Caesar, and to give to God which belonged to God (Luke 20:25), absolutely not an opposition to paying taxes, and at the same time not strongly advocating for it so as to alienate His followers. And, finally, they accused Jesus of fostering subversion against Caesar by claiming the title of Messiah, the true king of the Jews.
Pilate was a discerning man and could tell that something underhanded was going on; that these leaders were trying to get Jesus out of the way due to jealousy (Matthew 27:18). So, he turned to Jesus, and asked Him directly, “Are you the king of the Jews?” There was something in the way that Jesus answered, “Yes, it is as you say,” while looking him straight in the eyes with compassion and not a hint of the rebellion that he so often saw in the eyes of those that he was trying, that immediately convinced him that Jesus was no rebel, not a subversive at all. So, he turned back to the elders and pronounced their charges baseless.
The high priests and leaders of the Sanhedrin could feel the moment slipping away from them, and redoubled their urging of Pilate, trying to persuade him that Jesus was a troublemaker, stirring up the people of the entire province of Judea from Galilee in the far north, where He came from, all the way to Jerusalem in the far north.
Pilate instantly seized on the word “Galilee”. If Jesus was from Galilee, he could hand the whole messy situation over to Herod, the tetrarch of that part of the province. He was in town for the Passover, and sending the whole crowd to him for resolution would instantly rid his day of the whole noxious affair!
Father, one thing we learn from this is that the enemy and all those who are in thrall to him don’t fight fair! The devil is an expert at twisting the truth, and he speaks his native language when he invents lies against Your people (John 8:44). So, we should not be surprised when lies are told about us in an effort to shut us up or make us go away. Instead, like Jesus, we should live such holy lives that any charges that are brought against us will immediately be shone false (1 Peter 2:12). Help me to live exactly that kind of life, and then, like Jesus, fully entrust myself to Your care and guidance whenever the enemy rises up against me. Amen.