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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. (NIV)

I want to return to this little cameo; a story within a story we might say. I didn’t comment on it yesterday, but I want to highlight two things:

• It is possible to have an interest in Jesus – to be fascinated by Him even – yet not really want HIM. I have witnessed this and no doubt you have too. I have seen excitement about Jesus, but at the end of the day hearts unchanged. I am reminded of Kyle Idleman’s book title, ‘Not a fan’. Jesus wants followers, not fans. Not that I’m suggesting that Herod was even a fan, but maybe you can see why this came to mind? ‘Herod’s moral nature had become almost extinguished by a long course of immorality and cruelty. While the Baptist lived, he had “done many things” and heard John gladly; but when the beheading of this faithful witness on his own orders had taken place, the royal sinner went headlong to ruin. He treated this incident with flippant levity. The gorgeous raiment, being an imitation of the royal apparel of the Jewish kings, may have suggested the inscription affixed to the cross.’ F.B.Meyer;
• In verse 12 there is a kind of prophetic foreshadowing of the achievement of the Cross. As Paul outlines in a majestic passage (Eph.2:11-22), God in Christ, through Calvary, reconciles people to Himself, and to each other, in the ”one new humanity” that is the church. I am not suggesting that Herod and Pilate were converted. They clearly were not. But this is surely significant: a foreshadowing of Christ’s reconciling ministry

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. (NIV)

This whole account underlines what a great miscarriage of justice this was. Three times Pilate declared Jesus innocent. He also recognised that Herod shared his view (15). But he was fundamentally a weak man, and a political compromiser, so he was willing to have Jesus severely beaten. (I find the word ”Therefore” in verses 16,22 to be tragically ironic. Jesus was innocent so he would punish Him. The greater irony, of course, is that only an innocent Jesus could be punished for the sins of all). In the end, Pilate gave way to public pressure. His career, and his own skin, mattered more to him than matters of justice. In fact, Pilate and the Jewish leaders had this in common: they wanted to protect their own power and positions.

But there is also the underlining of Jesus’ identity. He died because of His claim to be God’s Son (see 22:66-71), which the Jewish leaders regarded as blasphemy. But throughout the account we see Jesus as Kingly, calm and in control. He is the only truly Regal and Magisterial person in this story.

The wording at the end of verse 25 is fascinating, because it was actually the will of God that prevailed. As Jesus had repeatedly said, He had to die.

‘Pilate was accustomed to deal with men, and after careful examination, was satisfied that there was no ground for the death sentence. I find no fault. As God’s Paschal Lamb, the Saviour was searched to discover if there were spot, or blemish, or anything that could invalidate His claim to sinlessness. Only the sinless could save sinners. In his heart Pilate knew that our Lord should be acquitted, but his fear of the Jews deflected the verdict of his conscience. By sending the case to Herod, he hoped to get the right thing done, without incurring the odium incident to doing it.’ F.B.Meyer

The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. ⁶⁴ They blindfolded him and demanded, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” ⁶⁵ And they said many other insulting things to him.

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.” (NIV)

Have you ever been insulted in some way for being a Christian? You are in good company. In fact the best. Jesus went through this, and far worse. He understands. Can you imagine the restraint it must have taken for Him to not smite His enemies there and then? But He kept in time with the Father’s plans, and was prepared to walk the pathway of suffering obedience all the way to the Cross. (Meyer suggests it must have been hard for the twelve legions of angels to restrain themselves!!)

Jesus knew that He was the Messiah, and He answered them in Messianic terms that would be familiar to them (69).

‘Our Lord answered not a word to all the false accusations that were leveled against Him. He left the false witnesses to refute each other. But as soon as His divine claims were challenged, He could not keep silence. It is very noticeable that, in this Gospel, which lays such stress on Christ’s pure humanity, Luke makes it so clear that the unwavering affirmation of His equality with God was the cause of His death, John 5:18 . Is there not a sense in which the eye of faith always beholds Him seated at the right hand of God’s power?’ F.B.Meyer

Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things—the kings in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites,Hivites and Jebusites)— ² they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.

³ However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, ⁴ they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. ⁵ They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and mouldy. ⁶ Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.”

⁷ The Israelites said to the Hivites, “But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you?”

⁸ “We are your servants,” they said to Joshua.

But Joshua asked, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

⁹ They answered: “Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the fame of the Lord your God. For we have heard reports of him: all that he did in Egypt, ¹⁰ and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. ¹¹ And our elders and all those living in our country said to us, ‘Take provisions for your journey; go and meet them and say to them, “We are your servants; make a treaty with us.”’¹² This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and mouldy it is. ¹³ And these wineskins that we filled were new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and sandals are worn out by the very long journey.”

¹⁴ The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord. ¹⁵ Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath. (NIV)

‘The Church has suffered more from the wiles of the devil than from his attacks. The deceitfulness of sin is most to be dreaded.’ F.B.Meyer

Once more, the people of God failed to seek the Lord, and they paid a price. There is always danger in the air when the devil offers ‘provisions’, and they distract us from prayer and desiring God’s will.

What is perhaps most sad, and salutary, in this story, is that the Israelites pressed on with making the treaty, in spite of their suspicions. In one episode of the television drama, ‘A touch of Frost’, Inspector Jack Frost just knows something. One of his colleagues asks him, ‘How do you know that?’ He tapped his finger on the side of a nostril and said, ‘Your nose!’ I believe there is an equivalent spiritually. Sometimes something just smells ‘off’, and we are unwise to suppress these God-given instincts.

 Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, ³¹ as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. ³² There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. ³³ All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.

³⁴ Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. ³⁵ There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them. (NIV)

Years ago a friend told me about a successful minister who described himself as a ‘serious reader of the Bible.’ Where God’s Book is concerned, is there any other way to be, I ask myself? In order to take God’s Word seriously, we must be serious students of ”all” of it, and not just the parts we especially like, or prefer.

In this act of re-dedication – renewal of the covenant – ”all’ the Word of God was central. For Joshua and the Israelites this was the ‘Torah’: the first five books of Moses. But Joshua knew that all of it mattered. In his commissioning to leadership he had been told:

”“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:7-9)

If they took the Bible they had so seriously, how can we who have the full revelation of Scripture do less? Taking it seriously means seeking to live it (obey it), not just amass knowledge about it.

Warren Wiersbe points out that the ceremony described in Deut.27 ‘…was observed only once, after Israel entered the land and began to conquer it (Josh.8:30-35). It was a solemn reminder to them that obedience to God was the secret of success (Josh.!:8)…The ceremony was a renewal of the nation’s covenant with God, for new beginnings deserve new acts of dedication. The burnt offering spoke of total dedication to God. The peace offerings, and the meal that followed, spoke of joyful fellowship with God…Israel’s obeying the Law did not deliver them from Egypt or take them into Canaan, but it did enable them to live together and enjoy the blessings of God.’

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. ² You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”

³ So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night ⁴ with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. ⁵ I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. ⁶ They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them, ⁷ you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. ⁸ When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.” (NIV)

‘Never permit one failure to rob you of future victory. When God sees that we have obeyed His Word and sincerely dealt with sin, He comes with encouragement and guidance for the next step. It has been well said that the victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings. (See Ps.37:23-24.)

Had Achan waited, he could have taken all the spoils he desired, but he ran ahead of God and lost everything. (See Mt.6:33).’ Warren W. Wiersbe

As you will see, today’s reading takes in the first 29 verses, but I have printed only the first eight. But these give us the outline which will be ‘coloured in’ later in the chapter.

We see the mercy and goodness of God in that, once the people have truly repented, and put away the sin from the camp, they experience again the abundant blessing of God. Freshly chastened, they are spiritually sensitive to the Lord’s instructions, and as they obey Him they are again ‘winners’. Wiersbe points out that in this case it is the people of Ai who are presumptuous, to their own cost.

God’s strategy is not always identical. We need to hear His voice in each ‘fight’ we come to. But may we again recognise the futility of thinking we know best and of pursuing our own course.

‘The restrictions as to the spoil which had been in force and which had led to Achan’s undoing were now removed. God often tests us before allowing us to enjoy. Certain injunctions or prohibitions may be given to prove us; but are removed when our lesson is learned, Deuteronomy 8:2.’ F.B. Meyer

 But to the wicked person, God says:

“What right have you to recite my laws
    or take my covenant on your lips?
¹⁷ You hate my instruction
    and cast my words behind you.
¹⁸ When you see a thief, you join with him;
    you throw in your lot with adulterers.
¹⁹ You use your mouth for evil
    and harness your tongue to deceit.
²⁰ You sit and testify against your brother
    and slander your own mother’s son.
²¹ When you did these things and I kept silent,
    you thought I was exactly like you.
But I now arraign you
    and set my accusations before you.

²² “Consider this, you who forget God,
    or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
²³ Those who sacrifice thank offerings honour me,
    and to the blameless I will show my salvation.” (NIV)

If you remember, when we last looked at Psalm 50, I made the observation that it splits straight down the middle (as does the whole world). We either belong to the people of God or we don’t. However, I need to correct that. It is true that the world divides in this way, but further study has caused me to see that the whole of Psalm 50 is addressed to God’s people, but the second half speaks in particular to those who believe all the correct stuff, but who don’t live it. It is possible to have ‘profession without possession.’

To my mind, verse 17 depicts many people in our society (and even in the professing church). But we must all, ultimately, appear before the Lord our Judge. ‘God’s silence must not be taken as indifference, for he is carefully watching each word and act…’ F.B. Meyer.

There will only be ”salvation” (23) for those who seek to come to God through His appointed sacrifices (23, see also 16) which, of course, find their fulfilment in the final sacrifice of Christ.

Jesus is the only way to the only God there is. Salvation is to be found in Him alone.

‘Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy Cross I cling.’ Augustus Toplady.

 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. ⁵⁵ And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. ⁵⁶ A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”

⁵⁷ But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.

⁵⁸ A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”

“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.

⁵⁹ About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”

⁶⁰ Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. ⁶¹ The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” ⁶² And he went outside and wept bitterly. (NIV)

Oh that look! What a look it must have been. But to some extent we know it. Our souls have blushed crimson in the presence of Jesus, at the recognition of some sin that stains us. We feel its shame. But may it always be a godly sorrow we feel – one that leads to repentance. Then, wonderfully, we can know that the stain is cleansed, and the blushes can be gone.

Jesus loves us constantly. It is hard for us to accept it, but He loves us no less when we are sinning than He does when we are not. Jesus had lovingly prepared Peter for this moment (see 31-34), and probably this was the beginning of this disciple’s ‘turning back.’

‘Peter loved Christ truly, but miscalculated his strength. Be very careful not to venture into the midst of temptation. If God leads you thither, that is another matter. We do well to remember Ps.1:1-3. Let us beware of warming ourselves at the world’s fires.’ F.B.Meyer

 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, ⁴⁸ but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

⁴⁹ When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” ⁵⁰ And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

⁵¹ But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

⁵² Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? ⁵³ Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.” (NIV)

I have long thought that we also, even as we are ‘kissing’ Jesus with the ‘lips‘ of praise and worship, may be Judas-like in betraying Him with our lives. May God help us. If Judas was trying to hide his treachery from his fellow disciples, He could not pull the wool over the eyes of His Lord. Yet it has been argued that even in that sad moment Jesus sought to touch Judas’ heart (48).

This paragraph shows Jesus’ power, even in a situation (humanly-speaking) of weakness. It gives us a glimpse of the Lord’s capability had He chosen to resist. But, of course, He didn’t. We see in Him ‘Meekness and Majesty’.

The last sentence underlines the truth that Jesus could not die before His appointed time. Not for one millisecond did God surrender His control of all things.