The trial of Jesus went all night. Luke mentions only the confirmatory hearing at daybreak (cf. Matthew 27:1). The leaders had to hurry the trial through on that Thursday evening to get Jesus before the Roman rulers early in the morning which was the only time they heard cases and the last opportunity before the sabbath. They could not risk holding Jesus for any length of time. They wanted him dead quickly. But the authorities, both Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate, put the brakes on their clearly baseless efforts to have Jesus condemned. So, they had to push harder. The whole episode serves to highlight their maniacal determination to have Jesus killed. The Jewish leaders knew that Pilate was on thin ice with Tiberius Caesar for previously provoking Jewish unrest. They knew he would have to placate them to avoid trouble. That’s how they got their way. In so many ways these events serve to highlight characteristic elements of the human condition. The human animosity to God is so powerful and deeply rooted in our nature, it cannot be suppressed with a surface layer of religious discipline. Here we see human sin in its true colours, something we all share in. The best way to see these events is to see yourself in them. If these readings do not move you to deep repentance, then you have not understood them. You too are resisting God in some sense. You too, in some way, are pushing your own agenda. Those who will see the worst in themselves, will enjoy the best in God.
Ask God to show you where you are being resistant to him and pray for his help to repent thoroughly and deeply.
Read Luke 22:66-23:25
