Peter Denies Christ

Luke 22:62 So Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Christ is Beaten

Luke 22:63 Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. 

Luke includes no details about Caiaphas’ first interrogation of Jesus, recorded in Mt 26:59–68; Mk 14:55–65. The beating described here evidently took place after that first examination, before the Sanhedrin could assemble for its official hearing (v. 66).

Luke 22:64 And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is the one who struck You?”

Luke 22:65 And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.

The Sanhedrin Tries Christ

Luke 22:66 As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying, 

Criminal trials were not deemed legal if held at night, so the Sanhedrin dutifully waited until daybreak to render the verdict they had already agreed on anyway (cf. Mt 26:66; Mk 14:64).

Luke 22:67 “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe.

The Sanhedrin subjected Him to the same set of questions He had been asked in the nighttime trial, and the answers He gave were substantially the same.

Luke 22:68 And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go.

Luke 22:69 Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.”

Luke 22:70 Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?” So He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.”

Luke 22:71 And they said, “What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His
own mouth.”

Pilate Tries Christ

Luke 23:1 Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate. :2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” 

Following His appearance before the Sanhedrin (the whole multitude of them), Jesus was hurried away to be put on civil trial before Pilate, the Roman governor. Three political charges were now brought against Him by the religious leaders. First of all, they accused Him of perverting the nation, that is, of turning the loyalty of the people away from Rome. Secondly, they said that He forbade Jews to pay taxes to Caesar. Finally, they accused Him of making Himself a King.

Luke 23:3 Then Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He answered him and said, “It is as
you say.”

Luke 23:4 So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.”

Despite the Jewish leaders’ desperate attempts to accuse Him, Pilate was satisfied that Jesus was no insurrectionist, but the ferocity of the people made him afraid to exonerate Jesus. He was relieved to hear that Jesus was a Galilean, because that gave him an excuse to send Him to Herod (vv. 5, 6).

Luke 23:5 But they were the more fierce, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.”

Luke 23:6 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the Man were a Galilean. :7 And as soon as he knew that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. 

When Pilate heard the word Galilee, he thought he had found an escape route for himself. Galilee was Herod’s jurisdiction, and so Pilate tried to avoid any further involvement in this case by turning Jesus over to Herod. It so happened that Herod was visiting in Jerusalem at that very time.

Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great, who massacred the infants of Bethlehem. It was Antipas who murdered John the Baptist for condemning his illicit relationship with his brother’s wife. This was the Herod whom Jesus called “that fox” in Luke 13:32.

Herod Tries Christ

Luke 23:8 Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. 

Herod’s interest in Christ was fueled by the fact that Christ reminded him of his late nemesis, John the Baptist (cf. 9:7–9).

At one time Herod had apparently threatened to kill Jesus (13:31–33), but with Christ in Judea rather than Galilee and Perea (where Herod ruled), the king’s concern seems to have been nothing more than an eager curiosity.

 Luke 23:9 Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing.

It is significant that in all Jesus’ various interrogations, Herod was the only one to whom He refused to speak. Herod had summarily rejected the truth when he heard it from John the Baptist, so it would have been pointless for Jesus to answer him.

Luke 23:10 And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him.

Luke 23:11 Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate.

 Herod made Christ and the charges against Him as an occasion for a joke for Pilate’s amusement (v. 12).

 The robe is probably not the same robe mentioned in Mt 27:28, which was a military cloak. This was an elegant king’s garment, probably one that Herod was prepared to discard.

 Luke 23:12 That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.

 Previously, Herod and Pilate had been at enmity between themselves, but now the enmity was changed to friendship. They were both on the same side against the Lord Jesus, and this united them.

 Theophylact mourns in this regard: “It is a matter of shame to Christians that while the devil can persuade wicked men to lay aside their enmities in order to do harm, Christians cannot even keep up friendship in order to do good.”

 Pilate Tries Christ Again

Luke 23:13 Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people,

Pilate intended to declare Christ not guilty (v. 14), and it was his intention to make the verdict as public as possible. He undoubtedly expected that it would put an end to the whole matter.

Luke 23:14 said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; :15 no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.

 Pilate and Herod concurred in the verdict.

1 Timothy 6:13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, :14 that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, :15 which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, :16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.