The League of Extraordinary Injustice

⁶⁶ At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. ⁶⁷ “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”

Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, ⁶⁸ and if I asked you, you would not answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”

⁷⁰ They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”

He replied, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹ Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”

23 Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. ² And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”

³ So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

⁴ Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

⁵ But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”

⁶ On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. ⁷ When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸ When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. ⁹ He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. ¹¹ Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. ¹² That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

¹³ Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. ¹⁵ Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. ¹⁶ Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”

¹⁸ But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” ¹⁹ (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰ Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. ²¹ But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

²² For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”

²³ But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. ²⁴ So Pilate decided to grant their demand. ²⁵ He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

Luke 22:66-23:25

           

The Apostle John recorded in John 11:45-53 that the Jews were plotting to murder Jesus.  The background of the story depicted by John was the resurrection of Lazarus.  Jesus just performed a great miracle in the land of Judah.  People’s eyes were turned to him.  He got their attention.  Many people believed in him.  But when the report went to the chief priests, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law, they felt indignant.  Then in the meeting of the Sanhedrin the discussion concerning Jesus started: “What are we accomplishing?” they asked.  “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”  They were afraid that what Jesus did, although they knew to be something wonderful, would incite the Romans to come and take over their nation.  Such fear prompted an action.  And the action chosen by the high priest was to murder Jesus.  Rather than sacrificing the corrupt religious system they had, they’d rather sacrifice an innocent man, who was then known as the Son of God, in order to perpetuate their corrupt religious and judicial system.

In the gospel of Luke, Luke recorded the court proceedings started from the religious leaders of Israel.  They could not find Jesus guilty through all the staged and false witnesses they brought to the court.  The only basis for condemning Jesus to death relied on the answer Jesus gave to their question: “Are you then the Son of God?” to which Jesus answered truthfully that he is.  With Jesus’ answer that he is the Son of God, the Jews condemned him to death.  So they brought Jesus to the governor of Judea for sentencing.  This is the second court Jesus had to go through.  And this is the highest court in the land of Judah.  Pilate, as the governor, sat at the judge’s seat.  But instead of bringing the only valid accusation that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God to Pilate, they accused him of something else.  They accused Jesus of forbidding the people to pay taxes to Caesar.  Then they brought up Jesus’ kingship, but not on the proper understanding as Jesus represented.  They accused Jesus with the claim of kingship as if Jesus was leading an earthly rebellion.  Rebellion against Rome was common at that time, and Rome usually was successful in subduing any rebellion.  Just like the one rising in Judea led by Barabbas.  But Jesus never led any rebellion.  He was not interested in the earthly rebellion like what people did.  But in order for the Jews to get a legitimate allegation, they had to fabricate such imagination to be presented to Pilate.

Pilate investigated and questioned Jesus, but in the end he found no basis against Jesus.  Pilate brought it up to the Jews and he showed them of their false accusation.  Pilate understood perfectly when he asked Jesus: “Are you the king of the Jews?” and Jesus’ answer to that question: “You have said so.” was not enough to find Jesus guilty of anything.  There was no proof whatsoever that Jesus led a rebellion.  He never spoke against Caesar.  He never rode a horse, wielding a sword, and ordered his followers to plan an attack to Rome.  But the Jews insisted with ridiculous story saying: “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”  The problem with such statement was that it did not bear any weight for sentencing Jesus to death at all.  They knew it.  Pilate knew it.  The question is: “What was Jesus stirring the people for by his teaching?”  Throughout the four gospels clearly Jesus stirred up the people by his teaching in order to repent for the kingdom of God is near.  Repentance that brought good conducts and fruitful life was what Jesus aimed.  The Romans would not disagree to that at all.  And so Pilate ignored their accusation and asked something that interested him, of Jesus’ Galilean origin.

After learning that Jesus was from the Galilean district, he sent him to Herod, for Galilee was under Herod’s jurisdiction.  Pilate wanted to get rid of the problem.  And so he sent him to Herod hoping that the problem would go away and be handled by Herod.  And so Jesus went to the third court, the court of Herod.  But instead of getting justice, Jesus was being humiliated without his case was ever investigated properly.  Herod ordered him to perform miracles, which Jesus did not entertain.  He also asked Jesus many questions, which Jesus did not give any answer.  Then they were bored and thus started mocking him by abusing him to public disgrace and humiliation.  After all the abuse, Herod did not make any ruling at all.  Luke did not record anything coming out of Herod’s court.  Such silence showed that even Herod with his authority could not make a justified sentence against Jesus for whatever accusations the Jews brought up.  His only ability was just abusing Jesus with the power and authority given to him, which ought to be used for justice.  Such is a reflection of the corruption at that time.

And so, Pilate made a very important announcement: “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. ¹⁵ Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.”  Up to this point, Pilate was right.  Up to this point, Pilate was doing what was supposed to be done.  The court of justice was supposed to be used for administering justice.  But the Jews did not agree.  They brought Jesus to Pilate with one single united purpose, which was to kill him using the judicial system.  So they all shouted: “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!”  But Pilate wanted to stand his ground and thus he kept trying to release Jesus.  For he knew that Jesus was innocent.  The Jews kept shouting: “Crucify him!  Crucify him!”  They ignored Pilate’s reasonable plea and continued shouting to crucify Jesus.  And so, Pilate gave up.  The last gate for justice in Judea lost its battle against the demand of the crowd.  Then Pilate gave Jesus up to be crucified, and such act completed the league of extraordinary injustice that was composed of the religious leaders of Israel together with the people, the king of Judah – Herod, and the governor of Judea – Pilate.  Two acts of Pilate that were extremely unjust: first, he allowed an innocent man to be sentenced with capital punishment through the worst kind of death sentence, and second he released a guilty man, who was put in prison for rebellion and murder.

In today’s world, we also see a lot of injustices.  The league of extraordinary injustice did not stop in the time of Jesus.  Even in our modern time, or should I say, especially in our modern time injustice grows like mushrooms in rainy season.  People grow smarter to outsmart the judicial system with smoother tricks and tactics.  The worst is when they call it wise.  The way they administer justice is by sentencing the innocent and protecting the guilty.  Double standards in court is not a secret anymore.  In many countries, those who have power and rich are immune of punishment.  They can always get away from their evil deeds.  Money talks very loudly so that the ears of the court are deafened by it.  The poor and the powerless always receive injustice as their rewards.  Their inheritance is taken away, tricked by the rich and powerful.  Their houses and lands in their village are suddenly gone, bought away by the rich and powerful.  They had houses and lands, but now even a spoon of rice they have to borrow from others.  Their inheritance was bought with a fraction of its actual value and the world calls such buying smart and wise.  The world calls the poor and the powerless stupid.  They lost their inheritance because they are stupid.  Little do they know that there is a greater justice system that overlooks the world from heaven.

Jesus was crucified on the cross with a ridiculous allegation.  The governor gave up his authority and he listened to the demand of the mob.  The reason of Jesus being crucified, as written on the cross was: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”  Yet he never led a rebellion like what Barabbas did or what Maccabee did.  But God was not blind.  The league of extraordinary injustice might seem to be successful that day with their greatest conspiracy ever, but God’s justice trumps all of that.  Through Jesus, he sentenced sin to the eternal death.  Death is then engulfed by the death of Christ, and his resurrection shows that sin no longer has power over his people.  Justice is administered in the perfect love of God that day.  Those who continue their rejection of God’s kingdom will be doomed to eternal damnation.  But those who believe, salvation is bestowed and eternal life is their reward.

The poor and the powerless are abused and oppressed in our world today.  The oppressors think they can get away with it.  But the eyes of God are fixed upon them.  For in the Scripture it was said that God is the defender of the powerless and the oppressed.  And so, those who dare to oppress the powerless, beware!, for God is the defender of the people you oppress.  He will come to you when you don’t realize it.  Justice will be administered properly.  The call is the same: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!”  The fact is, the kingdom of God is here now.  Jesus did not only save his people through his death, but also became the King of kings.  He reigns now and forever.  And he will bring justice to the fullest when he comes again.  In that day, the league of extraordinary injustice will understand fear to the fullest, for in that day God’s justice alone will prevail!

* The Business of Christian Education LI