The King of the Jews: Part Three
There Was No Due Process
The King of the Jews - Part 3
Good Friday, 2025
The Rev. Dr. Jules Erickson
All Saints Lutheran Church, ELCA. RIC
What is the setting? Jerusalem.
Jeru - place; shalom - deep and abiding peace.
It is anything but a place of peace.
The Jewish people are under Roman occupation.
The Prefect is the notorious Pontius Pilate.
PP hates the Jewish people.
He decided to build an aqueduct because water is one of the largest commodities in Palestine but in order to do so Pilate stole money from the Temple Treasury.
The Jews revolted but he had planted Jewish costumed Roman Soldiers within the crowd and they beat and killed many of the demonstrators.
This is Jeru -shalom…
At the time of the Passover it was customary to move the Roman governor’s from Caesarea to Jerusalem, along with additional Roman soldiers, to keep the peace.
The Roman soldiers literally stood on the pinnacle of the Temple.
Does this sound familiar? Jesus, before entering his ministry was tempted by Satan.
Three times.
Make theses stones into bread. Jesus became the living bread.
They stood on highest part of the pinnacle of the Temple, Satan taunting Jesus to jump. Jesus said: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
Upon a high mountain: All this can be yours if you worship Me, the Grand Trickster. And Jesus said: Worship the Lord your God and serve only God.
Back to Jeru - salem…
The FEAST celebrations, like Passover, were filled with the rich and powerful leaders like Antipas and Philip - see last Sunday’s sermon - and they made their way from Caesarea to Jeru - Salem alongside Pontius Pilate.
The Chief Priest accused Jesus of claiming to be the Messiah.
This was enough to execute Jesus but PP did not want to get into the mix.
When PP heard Jesus was a Galilean, he told Antipas to take the case - it was his governance.
And, as you may remember, Galileans are fierce independent and my guess is that Anipas was too afraid to do anything for fear of his constituents.
So Antipas sent Jesus back to PP.
The governor had total power.
But the power did not extend to Roman citizens.
It was forbidden to imprison, torture, or execute a Roman citizen without a PROPER TRIAL.
There had to be DUE PROCESS.
As a last resort, a citizen could invoke his right for a trial in Rome.
Now, Herod had broken the Sanhedrin's power and had taken away its right to execute.
The Sanhedrin High Court could try a Jew for a religious offense and order up to 39 lashes.
Did Jesus have a proper trial? No. Did Jesus have due process? No.
Did PP know or sense that a different kind of power was at work?
Is it any wonder the disciples were terrified?
Is it any wonder that Peter denied knowing Jesus - three times - for fear of the Jewish henchmen?
Was the arrest under the cover of night one of the greatest coverups?
Here, in the place of peace, after supper, the last supper, the supper that would define Christianity forever, Jesus stands before the Court.
Did he shape shift and try to explain away his perceived guilt? No.
He presented himself as he always did, with humility.
He did not lie.
He did not manipulate the story.
He stood in the face of evil.
Jesus, having been anointed King of the Jews by Mary with SPIKENARD, was the true Messiah, the One for whom the people had been waiting for - forever.
His crime was doing mercy, loving justice, and walking humbly as God with skin on.
Jesus brought the Religious Regime back to the basic teachings of the Torah.
Love God with all you’ve got.
Love Neighbor as self.
Care for the immigrant, the outsider, the supposedly ‘unclean’ and show HOSPITALITY always.
Repeat.
This is why God with Skin on, Emmanuel, the Messiah was murdered.
Jesus truly was and still is THE KING OF THE JEWS. Amen.