Luke 23.4-12.
All the gospels tell of Jesus’s suffering, but only in Luke do we find this bit about Jesus being sent to the Roman governor of the Galilee, “King” (but really tetrarch) Herod Antipas. The other gospel authors skipped it ’cause it didn’t add anything to their accounts. Doesn’t add much to Luke either. But it’s interesting.
It begins right after Pontius Pilate, Herod’s counterpart in Judea, was presented with Jesus for crucifixion. Pilate didn’t see any reason to crucify him, ’cause as John related, he figured Jesus’s kingdom wasn’t any political threat to Rome. (It did take over Rome just the same.) So Pilate didn’t feel like crucifying Jesus… and a loose comment the Judeans made, gave him the idea to hand off his inconvenient problem to Herod.
- Luke 23.4-7 KWL
- 4Pilate tells the head priests and the crowd,
- “I find nothing of guilt in this person.”
- 5The crowd prevails over Pilate, saying this:
- “He riles up the people, teaching throughout Judea—
- having begun such behavior in the Galilee.”
- 6On hearing this, Pilate asks whether Jesus is Galilean.
- 7Realizing Jesus is under Herod Antipas’s authority,
- Pilate sends him to Herod;
- Herod himself being in Jerusalem on that day.
Now let’s be clear. There was no rule in the Roman Empire which said if you had the subject of another province under arrest, you had to extradite him to that province’s governor. No custom either. In fact, knowing Romans, they wouldn’t wanna extradite their prisoners, lest it be considered a sign of weakness. So there were only two possible reasons for Pilate to send Jesus to Herod:
- Passing the buck.
- Making nice with Herod.
Because they hated one another, Lk 23.12 and we’re not told why.
Of course we can guess why: Herod Antipas figured he oughta be Judea’s king. His dad Herod 1 had overthrown King Antigonus Mattathias in 36BC, with Roman help, and taken over Israel; he was the eldest, and supposedly next in line to the throne, after his dad had executed his brothers Aristobulus and Alexander. Herod 1’s will had instead made Herod Archelaus king, so Antipas and his brother Philip appealed to Cæsar Augustus as the will’s executor. Cæsar double-crossed them, though: He overturned the will, then divided Israel into fourths, with Antipas as the ruler of one-fourth, and Cæsar himself as the ruler of Judea. Hence Antipas and Philip’s official titles were τετράρχης/tetrárhis, “ruler of a fourth.” Pilate was ruling over two-fourths of what Antipas figured he oughta be ruling.
Or maybe it was some other silly, petty reason. Whatever; they didn’t get along. But Herod had always wanted to meet Jesus, Lk 23.8 and if Pilate knew this, it was a significant gesture on his part. More likely, I’m guessing, Pilate stumbled into this gesture by a combination of dumb luck and procrastination.
Herod meets Jesus.
It was Passover, Lk 22.1 and though Herod Antipas was half Edomite and half Samaritan, the Edomites had been absorbed into Judea around 110BC, and the Samaritans considered themselves Israeli. Either way Herod considered himself Israeli—and the Law required Israelis to show up for Passover. So figured he oughta make some kind appearance at the festival. That’s why he was in Jerusalem.
Herod knew of Jesus. Stories about him were getting around the Galilee, and rumor was that Jesus was a resurrected version of John. Lk 9.7 Herod was pretty sure he’d beheaded John, Lk 9.9 so Jesus wasn’t him. But he did want to check Jesus out for himself anyway. Possibly for the same reasons he liked to listen to John: The teachings confused him, but he still liked the guy, and considered him a holy man. Mk 6.17 Maybe Jesus would be much the same.
Instead Jesus turned out a big disappointment.
- Luke 23.8-9 KWL
- 8 Herod Antipas is rejoicing greatly at seeing Jesus:
- He wanted to see him for a long time,
- because he heard about him,
- and is hoping to see some miracle performed by him.
- 9Herod questions Jesus on many matters.
- Jesus never answers him.
I mean, Jesus had nothing to say to him. This was the man who’d killed his prophet and cousin—as a birthday present to his daughter. Jesus knew nothing he said was gonna convict Herod, nor convince him to spare his life. Nothing he did would be interpreted as more than stage magic. Engaging with Herod was just gonna prolong the inevitable. Best to keep his mouth shut, wait for Herod to quickly grow frustrated with him, and get sent back to Pilate.
At least I assume that’s what Jesus was thinking, ’cause the scriptures show he’s really good at reading people. And that’s just what happened: Herod grew annoyed, had a little fun at Jesus’s expense, and sent him away.
- Luke 23.10-12 KWL
- 10The head priests and scribes are standing by,
- loudly accusing Jesus.
- 11Considering Jesus worthless,
- mocking him, dressing him in bright clothing,
- Herod with his soldiers send him back to Pilate.
- 12It happened on that day Herod and Pilate became friends with one another,
- for before this, they hated one another.
I should bring up the head priests and scribes, ’cause Luke did. Lk 23.10 They had followed Jesus to Herod’s. Why? Because Pilate might’ve sent Jesus to Herod for a bit of fun, but they wanted to make darned sure Jesus got executed. So if they could poison Herod’s mind against Jesus, or at least keep Herod aware that Jesus wasn’t a plaything but a convict, they could keep their plan from being derailed by powerful men who could casually afford to pardon Jesus.
Thus they were loudly accusing Jesus—reminding Herod of the reason he’d been convicted. Jesus said he was Messiah, the king of Judea, and I needn’t remind you Herod imagined he was the rightful king of Judea. He might have mercy on Jesus as a prophet, but not so much on Jesus as a claimant to his throne. Power corrupts like that.
If the priests and scribes were lucky, Herod might’ve taken it upon himself to judge and execute Jesus himself. He could have; he was a Roman provincial leader, same as Pilate. Maybe Pilate was hoping that’s what happened. But in the end Herod chose not to, and back Jesus went to the prætor—with Herod mighty pleased he’d had the experience, even though it didn’t turn out as he wished.
In this, Jesus had to suffer the abuse and ridicule of Herod and his guards. Who might not have smacked him around like the Judean senate’s guards, nor beat the tar out of him like Pilate’s guards, but mockery can still make one miserable. Jesus’s suffering on that day varied by degrees, but suffering is still suffering.
