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THE KING’ S BUSINESS
Men who are fair in all other matters are very likely to be utterly unfair in their treatment o f Christ and His claims. There was a remarkable blending o f truth and falsehood in their charges. It was utterly false that Jesus forbade to give tribute to Caesar (ch. 20:20-25), but it was true that fie Himself said that He was “ Christ,” and to be “ Christ” was to be a king. | None the less the impression these Jewish rulers sought to produce was wholly false. It is quite easy to put a statement which is true in itself in such a setting that the impres sion produced is false. Pilate was a keen man and easily saw through their perfidy, but he had not the courage to openly oppose them. He sought to get out o f a difficult position by indirection instead o f manfully taking an open stand for the right. Pilate gained nothing by his compromise. He ended by doing the wrong he sought to avoid, and also lost his position which he sought to save. The path o f compromise Is always the path o f ruin as well as dis honor. In Pilate and the Jewish leaders we see a man with a weak purpose to dp right pitted against men with a strong pur pose to do wrong. In such cases the wrong will always conquer. Monday, March 13. Luke 23:8-12. Herod was exceedingly glad to see Jesus. That sounds well, but it was a gladness o f a very superficial and unworthy sort. He was not glad to see him in order that he might learn the saving truth from ' Him, but simply that his curiosity might be sat isfied, and he hoped that possibly he might see some wonder wrought. He had no real appreciation o f Jesus whatever, his attitude toward Him was like that o f many today who take a patronizing interest in Jesus and regard Him as an interesting psychological study. Herod put many ques tions to Jesus, but knowing the man, He answered none o f them. Silence was the best answer that could be given to such a man. The chief priests and scribes fol lowed Him with persistent hate and stood about vehemently accusing Him. The bit terest hatred that Jesus received in this
they resulted in our Lord’s plainest and most glorious declaration of His own Deity. The expression, “Ye say that I am” (v. 70), according to-its usage, is the strong est form o f assertion; so unless His state ment is true, He is the most daring blas phemer in history. They were glad to hear His unequivocal assertion |o f His Deity, not that they wished to receive Him as Divine, but that they might have a ground for a charge o f blasphemy. But Jesus told them o f another judgment day when He Himself would be judge and Caiaphas and his colleagues the accused (v. 69).' Many are presuming to sit in judgment upon Christ today, but let us never forget that one day He is to sit in judgment on us. He was sentenced to death on the charge o f blasphemy when He made this assertion contained in verse 70 (cf. Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:61, 62), and every denier o f His Deity practically assents to the jus tice o f the sentence. There is no middle ground between accepting Jesus as Divine and justifying the Jews in the execution To get a complete view o f the trials of Jesus and the insults and wrongs to which He was subjected, it is necessary to care fully compare the accounts given by Mat thew (ch. 27), Mark (ch. 15), Luke (ch. 23), and John (ch. 18). In the passage before us today we see the whole multi tude o f elders, chief priests, and scribes arising and bringing Jesus before Pilate, the Roman governor, and accusing Him of perverting the nation, forbidding to give tribute to Caesar and proclaiming Himself to be Christ the King. These were not at all the charges upon 'which they had indicted Him in their preliminary trial, but they knew perfectly well that a charge o f blasphemy would have no weight with Pilate, so they altered their indictment to suit the exigencies o f the occasion. O f course, in doing this -they were violating every recognized usage o f law, but that fact had no weight with them, all they were concerned about was getting Jesus killed. o f the Lord Jesus. | Sunday, March 12. Luke 23:1-7.
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