Chapter Twenty-Three
Lk. 23:1. And the whole multitude of them arose, and led Him to Pilate,
Lk. 23:2. and they began to accuse Him, saying: we found that He perverts our nation and forbids giving tribute to Caesar, calling Himself Christ the King.
They obviously contradict the truth. For where did Jesus forbid paying tribute, when He, on the contrary, commanded to render it as what is due? For He Himself said: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's" (Luke 20:25). How does He stir up the people? Is He seeking a kingdom? But no one believed this. For even when the people wanted to make Him king, He, having learned of it, withdrew (John 6:15).
Lk. 23:3. Pilate asked Him: Are You the King of the Jews? He said to him in answer: you say it.
Lk. 23:4. Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd: I find no fault in this man.
Therefore Pilate too, having understood the slander, openly says: "I find no fault in this man." In my opinion, even the very question which he puts to Christ is a mockery of the slander. For by saying: "Are You the King of the Jews?" he mocks the matter itself. He speaks as if to say: You, a destitute, poor, naked, helpless man, are accused of aspiring to royal power. And this, as we have said, is a mockery of those who accuse Jesus of this — that they imagine such a helpless and such a poor man to be plotting such an undertaking, for which both wealth and supporters are needed.
Lk. 23:5. But they were insistent, saying that He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.
And they, having nothing else to confirm their slander, resort to shouting and cry out against God the Word. "He stirs up," they say, that is, "He agitates the people," and not in one particular place, but He began "from Galilee" and, passing through the middle of Judea, managed to agitate "even to this place." It seems to me that they mentioned Galilee not without reason, but with the intention of striking fear into Pilate. For the Galileans are always like that — rebels and inclined to innovations — such as Judas the Galilean. It was of him, it seems, that they were reminding Pilate, speaking as if to say: Governor, recall Judas the Galilean, who caused much trouble for the Romans by stirring up no small part of the people. Such also is This One, Who must immediately be destroyed.
Lk. 23:6. Pilate, having heard about Galilee, asked: is He then a Galilean?
Lk. 23:7. And when he learned that He was from Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem in those days.
Pilate sends the Lord to Herod, in fulfillment of the Roman law commanding that each person be judged by the ruler of his province. Therefore he sends Jesus, as a Galilean, to the governor of Galilee.
Lk. 23:8. Herod, having seen Jesus, was very glad, for he had long desired to see Him, because he had heard much about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle from Him,
Herod was glad about this not, however, because he hoped to gain any benefit for his soul from seeing Jesus, but since he had heard about Him that He was a wise man and a wonder-worker, he had a foolish desire, suffering himself from a love of novelties, to see this strange Man and listen to what He had to say. Do not many of us even now suffer from this same disease? He himself wished to see some miracle from Jesus, not, however, in order to believe, but in order to feast his eyes, just as we at spectacles watch magicians pretend to swallow snakes, swords, and the like, and we marvel. For Jesus was regarded as belonging almost to the same class as such people.
Lk. 23:9. And he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing.
Herod questioned Him at length, treating Him with a certain ironic tone and mocking Him in everything; therefore Jesus answered him nothing. For He who created all things by His word, and of whom David testified that "he will establish his words in judgment" (Ps. 111:5), knows when one ought to answer. For what need is there to answer one who asks not for the sake of learning? What need is there to cast pearls before swine (Matt. 7:6)? On the contrary, as we have said (see ch. 22), love for mankind requires silence in such cases. For a word spoken, while bringing no benefit to the inattentive, will moreover subject them to greater condemnation. However, to Pilate, since he was more well-intentioned than Herod, the Lord does answer, though not entirely clearly. For he asked, "Are You the King of the Jews?" — and the Lord answers: "You say so." This answer contains, as it were, a twofold meaning. For it can be understood thus: I truly am (the King of the Jews); you have spoken the truth. It can also be understood otherwise: I do not say it; you say it, you have the authority and you speak. But to Herod, as a resolute mocker, He does not answer at all. For truly, as Isaiah says (Isa. 3:4, 12), among the evil seed, the lawless sons — that is, the Jews of that time — both their tax collectors were oppressors of them, and those ruling over them were mockers.
Lk. 23:10. The chief priests and the scribes stood and vehemently accused Him.
Lk. 23:11. But Herod with his soldiers, having treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, dressed Him in a bright garment and sent Him back to Pilate.
And that Herod wished to see Jesus with the intention of mocking and laughing at Him, and of seeing a miracle from Him, and questioned Him with such thoughts, the outcome showed. For having despised Jesus and mocked Him, he released Him, and not only did he himself mock Him, but his soldiers as well, which is most offensive of all; and having put a "bright robe" on Him, he sent Him back to Pilate.
And you see, perhaps, how the devil stumbles in everything he does. He contrives such insults and abuses against Christ, yet from this the truth is revealed all the more clearly. For the mockeries testify in the most obvious way that the Lord is not a rebel or an agitator. If He were such, they would not have been joking when such danger was threatening and an uprising of an entire people was expected—a people that was numerous and very prone to novelty.
Lk. 23:12. And that same day Pilate and Herod became friends with one another, for before they had been at enmity with each other.
Pilate's sending of a subordinate to Herod appeared as the beginning of friendship, since Pilate does not appropriate for himself the prerogatives of Herod. Moreover, observe everywhere how the devil, in order only to prepare the death of Christ, brings together what stood apart from one another, instills harmony and friendship between those who were enemies. Is it not a shame for us that he, in order to put Christ to death, even reconciled enemies, while we, for our own salvation, do not even keep friends in friendship with us?
Lk. 23:13. And Pilate, having called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
Lk. 23:14. he said to them: You brought this man to me as one who perverts the people; and behold, I have examined him before you and have found this man guilty of none of those things of which you accuse Him;
Lk. 23:15. and Herod also, for I sent Him to him; and nothing worthy of death has been found in Him;