Luke 23:11, commentary and pictures

Pilate sends Jesus to Herod the ruler of Galilee to shift responsibility for the trial, one transfer in a night-long succession from ruler to ruler before condemnation and crucifixion. Herod with his soldiers treats him with contempt, mocking him and arraying him in a gorgeous white royal robe to turn his claim to be king into humiliation, then sends him back to Pilate, and the two rulers become friends that day. Herod knows malice and envy have led the Jews to condemn an innocent man, yet demands a miracle to satisfy curiosity, while Jesus answers nothing and will not use divine power to please wicked men or spare himself suffering. His dignified silence and godlike endurance astonish Herod and convict his heart, so that though he finds nothing to condemn he dares not decide and sends Jesus back to Pilate rather than accept responsibility. Those who mocked his royal claim will see their deeds again in the judgment, in stark contrast to the glory of the same prisoner who rises from the tomb and now intercedes in heaven for those who refused him.

Trial Before Herod

Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, the ruler of Galilee, to shift responsibility for the trial, when Jesus was already faint from hunger, lack of sleep, and cruel treatment. This sending was one stage in repeated transfers among earthly rulers and tribunals before condemnation and crucifixion. It belonged to a night-long succession from Annas to Caiaphas to Pilate to Herod and back to Pilate, from insult to renewed insult and from mockery to mockery, including being twice tortured by the scourge.

Jesus was brought before Herod in the midst of a pressing mob crying different charges against Him. Herod ordered the crowd to be silent and had Jesus unbound so He could be questioned. The Jewish priests and rulers pressed the Roman governor to carry out their will against Him, encouraged the insults and cruelty, and stirred the soldiers to ridicule Christ. That cruelty was stirred by Satan.

Herod, like Pilate, knew from acquaintance with the character of the Jews that malice and envy had led them to condemn an innocent man. His angry accusation that Jesus was an impostor was false in light of Jesus' mighty works, which His accusers knew. He demanded a miracle to satisfy curiosity and to secure Jesus' release. He looked with curiosity mixed with pity on a pale, sad face marked with deep wisdom and purity yet showing extreme weariness and suffering.

Herod's hardness had grown after he ignored the teaching of John the Baptist and ordered John killed to please Herodias. To set at nought means to treat with contempt: Herod with his men of war mocked Jesus, arrayed Him in a gorgeous, splendid, royal robe to humiliate His claim to be king, and sent Him back to Pilate. The robe is elsewhere specified as white, and was a sign of mockery, not honor. Herod and Pilate became friends that day though they had previously been enemies.

The fuller account of the mockery staged a false act of worship that turned kingship into a joke, with a mock throne and scepter and further abuse by the crowd. They plaited the crown of thorns for His sacred brow, clad Him in the purple robe, bowed before Him in mockery, and struck Him with the reed they had placed in His hand. He stood there with His form already lacerated by the cruel scourge. While some bowed before Jesus in mockery, others who came forward for the same purpose saw a look so like a king and turned back ashamed of their own audacity.

Christ's Silent Endurance

Having taken human nature, Jesus would not work a miracle to gratify wicked men nor to spare Himself suffering and humiliation, and He would not answer Herod's questions nor put forth divine power for His own benefit or protection. He endured contempt and insult without reproach, with divine patience, dignified composure and unparalleled passive serenity, and His submission to what men did to Him was humanity's only hope. Through the disgraceful farce of a trial He failed not, spoke no word but what tended to glorify God, and uttered not one syllable more than was essential.

His noble, godlike appearance astonished Herod, and His silence spoke conviction to Herod's heart such as no words could have done. Herod's perception that Jesus was no common man convicted him, and he was moved with sudden fear and perplexity as he looked upon the prisoner's pure, pale face, questioning whether He might be a heavenly being or a god come down to earth. While some bowed before Jesus in mockery, others who came forward for the same purpose looked into the sufferer's face, saw there a look so like a king, and turned back ashamed of their own audacity. He bore this humiliation in silence and remained unmoved despite Herod's anger and threats.

Herod found nothing in Jesus to condemn, yet mocked Him and heaped every insult upon Him. Hardened and ill at ease, he feared to condemn Him and dared not ratify the condemnation of the Jews, so rather than accept responsibility he sent Jesus back to Pilate.

Judgment and Faithful Witness

Those who joined in the insults and cruelty encouraged by the Jewish priests stirring the soldiers to ridicule will one day see their own words and actions as in a mirror, when it will be too late to undo them. Their mocking of the royal claim by the splendid robe and sending back to Pilate stands in stark contrast to the glory and authority later displayed, and in the judgment scene that treatment is replayed so that Herod sees the guilt of his part in the events leading to death. The unresisting prisoner with form already lacerated by the cruel scourge is the same one afterward seen in the judgment hall and the same glorified being who came forth from Joseph's new tomb when heaven's decree loosed Him, whom no mountains piled over the sepulcher could have kept from rising. Though condemned and mocked before Herod and Pilate, He is now in heaven interceding for those who refused Him, and His death will bring judgment on the world.

The robe put on in insult was a sign of mockery, not honor, and that humiliation gives an example for accepting shame rather than denying faith. This was recalled by Huss when he was dressed in a priestly, white robe during his own degradation before being sent onward.

The trial and humiliation before crucifixion was foreknown as betrayal, condemnation, and public scorn that would test the disciples, whose earlier experience of followers turning away prepared them not to be surprised nor to base faith on the crowd's changing opinions. His experience shows faithfulness to God standing against human power used to support evil, when Jewish priests and rulers pressed the Roman governor to carry out their will against Him. As He approached the cross He entered depths of humiliation in which the disciples saw Him in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered in the hands of wicked men, with His own nation clamoring for His blood, mocked with plaited crown of thorns for His sacred brow, purple robe, bowing in mockery, and striking with the reed placed in His hand. Seen by those who thought He was to take His place on David's throne, this shaming with scourging as the worst of criminals, choosing of the murderous Barabbas in place of their beloved Teacher, and lifting up on the cross to die as a malefactor gave cause to mourn and fast, tried their faith, and caused hope and courage to fail.