SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/25/2024 9:21 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 "The Attitude of the Lord"
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
27:12b-14
Message of the
verses: “He
did not answer. 13 Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many
things they testify against You?" 14 And He did not answer him with regard
to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.”
I promised to continue to quote from MacArthur’s
commentary as he is writing about Pilate.
“A short while later, Pilate forcefully took money from the Temple
treasury to erect an aqueduct. When the
Jews again openly rioted, Pilate sent soldiers disguised as civilians among
them to brutally slaughter many of the unsuspecting and unarmed
protesters. Luke reference to ‘the
Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices’ (13:1) may
relate to an additional cruel facet of that massacre.
“Pilate’s third public offense
against the Jews was almost his undoing.
He had special shields made for his guard at Fort Antonia and no doubt
intending to gains favor with the emperor, ordered likenesses of Tiberius
engraved on the shields. This time the
Jewish leaders appealed directly to Caesar, and Pilate’s scheme backfired. Tiberius was more concerned about the genuine
prospect of rebellion than the insincere flattery of Pilate, and he demanded
that the shields be removed immediately.
“Pilate was now justifiably afraid
that another riot by the Jews would cost him his procuratorship. His brutal and senseless ambush of some
Samaritan worshipers a few years later brought exactly that result. When the Samaritan worshipers a few years
later brought exactly that result. When
the Samaritans appealed to the governor’s immediate superior, the legate of
Syria, that official ordered Pilate to Rome to explain his actions. His political career was ended, and tradition
holds that he eventually committed suicide in Gaul, to which he had been
banished.
“We learn from Luke that when Pilate
heard the Jewish leaders say Jesus was stirring up the people, ‘starting from
Galilee, even as far as this place,’ He asked if Jesus were a Galilean. When told that Jesus was indeed from that region,
he felt certain he had found a solution to his dilemma. He immediately sent Jesus to Herod Antipas,
who ruled Galilee but was visiting Jerusalem at the time (Luke 23:5-7). With His appearance before herod, the second
phase of Jesus’ political trial began.
“For his own perverse reasons, ‘Herod
was very glad when he saw Jesus; for he had wanted to see Him for a long time,
because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed
by Him’ (Luke 23:8). Because Antipas had
beheaded John the Baptist, Jesus had never visited the tetrarch’s capital city
of Tiberias in Galilee, and the ruler had neve seen Him. Herod desired to meet Jesus purely out of
curiosity, hoping to see this famous miracle-worker perform for his private
benefit.
“Although Herod ‘questioned Him at some length,’ Jesus answered
him nothing. And the chief priests and
the scribes were standing there, accusing Him vehemently’ (Luke 23:9-10). Luke does not mention what Herod asked Jesus
about, but based on what is known of that ruler, his questions were utterly
superficial. Jesus therefore had even
less to say to him than to Pilate. He
owed the tetrarch no explanation of His teachings or His activities, about
which Herod was probably well informed or easily could have been.
“Whatever else Herod may have known
or believed about Jesus, he knew He was no political threat to himself or to
Caesar. By this time Jesus had already
been beaten by the Sanhedrin, and His face was bruised, bleeding, and covered
with spittle. The accused, silent
prisoner appeared anything but regal or dangerous.
“But resentful of Jesus’ silence and
probably hoping to mollify the howling, infuriated Jews, ‘Herod with his
soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a
gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate’ (Luke 23:11). The word rendered ‘gorgeous’ literally means
bright and resplendent, suggesting the royal apparel that had often been worn
by Jewish kings at their coronations.
“Although Herod did not declare
Jesus not guilty, as Pilate had done, he acknowledged no charge against Him,
and once again Christ’s innocence was manifested. The tetrarch mocked and mistreated Christ,
but he could find no fault in Him.”
I remember when I was studying the
gospel of Mark, and I did it by listening to MacArthur’s sermons and he had not
written his commentary at that time.
Mark was the last New Testament book that MacArthur studied as he had
preached on all the NT books and then had to start over, and I believe he went
over the gospel of John again as it was the first of the gospels that he
preached on. At any rate while listening
to these sermons on Mark I believe that he went into more detail into what
happened to Pilate and so I will try and dig what I wrote about that when I
studied Mark, and if I can find it I will post in on another SD.
7/25/2024 9:53
AM
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