HOLY WEEK REFLECTIONS
Wednesday 27th March
Jesus before Pilate and Herod - Luke 23:1-12
Herod questioned him this way and that, but Jesus gave no answer at all.
Luke 23:9
Rev. Wayne Dulson writes:
We had been planning the trip for many months. We had exchanged emails and spoke over Skype. We had met people who had been to the country we were visiting many times before, and we had meetings about the dos and don’ts when in this particular country. It was a very long flight – actually a couple of flights – but eventually we arrived and our hosts were waiting for us. There was an excited nervousness but at last we met and it was great and we actually felt like we had already been friends for a long time.
But in truth not all long anticipated and planned for meetings always go so well, do they? It could be the blind date that is just not what you had anticipated. You see a member of your family after not seeing them for many years and it isn’t hugs all round. I can remember visiting a church a month or so before I was due to preach with a view to becoming their minister and it was not what I had anticipated and so I felt I had to pull out of the process with them.
Herod had wanted to see Jesus for a long time. Herod had been in the background to Jesus’ story and it is only Luke who tells us that he had wanted to hunt him down and kill him (Luke 13:31). Herod had been worried about Jesus even from when he was born as when the Wise Men visit Jesus as documented in Matthew’s gospel, Herod says he wants to meet this person but in truth it would not have been to welcome him with open arms! And so now over 30 years later they finally meet and Herod wanted Jesus to prove that he lived up to all he had heard. He wanted him to perform like some circus act, and yet Jesus says nothing. This in itself would have thrown Herod and infuriated him in equal measure, after all in the circles that Herod moved in, if you were a leader and had something to say, you made sure everyone heard.
Today is no different. Many leaders want to tell you how great they are and all that they are doing. See a politician being interviewed and how they never answer the question but instead tell you all that they have done and at the same time, all that their rival hasn’t done. Humility seems to be a quality lacking in many leaders, and this can also be seen in the church. And yet in this meeting with Herod, Jesus doesn’t defend himself and instead stays silent. He could have performed the miracle of all miracles to blow the socks of Herod and impress everyone there, yet he does none of that. Instead he endures the ridicule in silence until he is sent back to Pilate.
This relates to the prophecy hundreds of years before as seen in Isaiah 53:7, ‘He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word.’
Jesus was fulfilling a prophecy when he stayed silent but he also knew if he spoke it could have made matters worse. After all, if he had showed his true power and majesty then it could even be possible that Herod and the powers that were would have bowed down to Jesus and let him go. If this had happened he would not have gone to the cross, and Jesus knew what his Father’s will was, this was why he prayed in the garden for God’s will to be done and not his own, and so Jesus fulfilled the prophecy and stayed silent.
What I love about Jesus is he means his prayers. Yes he was dreading the cross but he knew this was his Father’s plan and so Jesus, always obedient, stays silent when questioned by Herod. You see Jesus chose to follow his Father’s will instead of getting one up on Herod and in doing so he showed what a true leader is.
Maybe you are a reactor as opposed to a responder and you wish you could stay silent at times but you just don’t seem to be able to help yourself and the words are out of your mouth before you have chance to think about it. You try to take them back but it is as futile and easy as trying to put toothpaste back in the tube!
We are all leaders in one way or another. This may be literal because we have a leadership role, or it may be that we are a leader in our family or places of influence.
Jesus shows us the best way to interact with others, even when this meant staying quiet when everything in him may have wanted to get one up on Herod. Jesus showed us that true leadership is spelt SERVE and because of this he was the perfect example of what a leader should be.
May we take a leaf out of Jesus’ book and follow his example and know as the Spirit guides us when it is right to stay quiet and when it is right to speak, to choose our words wisely.
Prayer:
Thank you Jesus that even though you could have stopped all the ridicule with one word or one miraculous sign, you choose obedience to your Father over your own fame and power. We pray for all those in positions of power that they too would learn what true leadership is as they seek to serve others instead of their own interests. And Jesus may we do likewise. May we allow your Spirit to influence how we interact with others, those known to us and those who we don’t know, so that in all things we allow your Spirit to influence the people we meet.
Amen.