Articles
Christ the King - Luke 23:2
Christ the King - Luke 23:2
After the arrest and mock trial of Jesus by the Jewish leaders, they take him to Pilate and begin their power move. In order to have Pilate and the Roman civil government put Jesus to death, they must be able to charge him with a crime against Rome and the Emperor. They thus present two charges.
1. He was forbidding the Jewish people to pay taxes to Caesar.
2. He was saying that he was the Christ, a King.
Concerning the first charge, that was completely false! Earlier in Luke they had specifically and publicly attempted to entrap him on this very point, asking: “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" (Luke 20:22). His answer – “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”.
As to the 2nd charge, they had just asked him: ‘Are you the Christ’ and “Are you the son of God, then?” To this, Jesus simply and clearly responded: “Yes, I am”. (Luke 22:66-70). THIS would not have been a Roman crime for the Roman concept of ‘the gods’ and who was and who wasn’t such a god, was very vague and not a crime. BUT, claiming to be a KING could be used as a claim that he was trying to depose the Emperor and thus was leading a rebellion against the whole Roman Empire.
To this charge, Jesus explained to Pilate that ‘my kingdom is not of this world’. He was not going to overthrow the political empire of Rome, but he would establish the spiritual rule of God.
In spite of this knowledge, Pilate was a coward and gave in to their desire to have Jesus put to death. When Pilate was set to let Jesus go free, they replied: “12 As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, "If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar" (John 19:12).
The result: they crucified the Son of God.
God over-ruled them: “23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power” (Acts 2:23-24).
Which side would you be on? Or rather – which side ARE you on? Who do YOU say that Jesus is?
Hugh DeLong
