The Bible Provocateur
The Bible Provocateur
LIVE DISCUSSION: The Passion of Christ (Part 1 of 3)
Power rarely admits it feels threatened; it changes the charge. We walk through Luke 23 and show how a claim of divinity became a case of treason, and why the title “Son of God” meant far more than a poetic honor. The religious council could not execute for blasphemy under Roman rule, so they translated a theological claim into a political threat: taxes, kingship, and unrest. That shift wasn’t a misunderstanding—it was strategy born from envy and fear of losing influence.
We unpack why Jesus’ declaration wasn’t reckless bravado. In the first‑century Jewish context, “Son of God” pointed to shared nature with the Father, which is why the leaders called it blasphemy. If the claim were false, it would merit death; if true, it reframes everything—His authority, His miracles, and His sinless life. Pilate hears the case, asks the right questions, and initially returns a verdict that still echoes: “I find no fault in this man.” Yet the crowd escalates: he stirs the people, he teaches everywhere, he is a king. The charges morph to match Rome’s anxieties, turning innocence into optics and conscience into calculation.
Across the episode we connect ancient motives with modern patterns. When facts won’t convict, framing will. Institutions still translate inconvenient truth into public danger, playing to the priorities of those who hold the sword. We explore how envy fuels outrage, how politics can be weaponized without a blade, and how jurisdiction becomes a game of hot potato once Galilee is mentioned. The result is a clear, grounded view of the road to the cross: not random chaos, but a deliberate path where spiritual truth collided with political expedience.
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But I want to talk about I'm going to talk about Christ and the things that went on that led up to his crucifixion. I normally love to talk about controversial elements, things that get some of you guys talking and thinking. But I want to delve a little bit into the precursor, if you will, to Christ's death on the cross and some of the things that went on and some of the lies that were told about him. And also to draw some comparisons between what went on in that day versus what happens today. And so these are some of the things that I want to hit on today. And uh, you know, and for those of you who have the uh the stamina to uh follow along, I'm glad to have you here. So what we have, I'm reading out of Luke chapter twenty-three. Reading out of Luke chapter twenty-three, and it says that the whole multitude arose, and they led Christ to Pilate, and they began to accuse him, saying that we found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a king. Christian Reformed, how are you doing? So Peter had already denied Christ three times, and the elders and the chief priests and the scribes had already badgered Christ and asked him who he was. And they were primarily concerned with asking him if he's a son of God, because they wanted him to admit that he was a son of God so that they could feel justified in their condemnation of him. And so, since Christ could not lie, he admitted that he was a son of God. And this infuriated the Jews. It infuriated them. And by that, and by under their so-called laws or whatever, the ceremonial laws, he had committed blasphemy by saying that he was a son of God. So here's something that I want to make a point of. Yeah, so-called surfer guy, so what? Get out of here and go somewhere else and play. Nobody cares. If your God is not, my God is not your God, then go find some other playpen to play in. All right. Now, anyway, back to my uh, I'll try not to be distracted by the some of the stupidity that I hear today. Um, anyway, he tells them that he is a son of God because he is. Now, here is what, here is what I don't understand. Christians today, there are believe it or not, a lot of Christians today who will say that Jesus is not the son of God because he's God's son and therefore cannot be God. In other words, they'll say if he's the son of God, then he can't be God because he's God's son. This is a big deal, even in Christian circles. Many people who claim to be Christian don't know what the Jews understood. They understood that by Jesus saying that he was a son of God, if he was a son of God, then therefore he makes himself out to be God. The Jews understood this. If the Jews understood what modern so-called Christians today are saying, which is that he can't be God if he's a son of God, then they don't know what the Jews clearly understood Jesus was saying. Let me explain. And I've said this before. The good thing about the truth is all you can do is repeat it. That's the great thing about the truth. All you have to do, all you can do is repeat it. Now, when Jesus says that he's the Son of God, the Jews understood that by saying that, that he has all of the same, he bears the same nature as God Almighty Himself. They understood this. They understood that by saying he was a son of God, that he had the same nature as God. Meaning, he's omnipotent, meaning he's omniscient, meaning he's omnipresent, meaning he's all powerful. Christ was a son of God, and by and because he was God's son, he bears the nature of his father. But there are many people who don the moniker of Christian and do not understand what it means when Jesus says he is the Son of God. Now, there's a reason for saying this as I go on. Because he admitted to the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees that he was the Son of God because he can't lie, that's who he is. So then when he said, Yes, I am the Son of God, they then said, Oh my gosh, what need we of what need we any further of witnesses? We got you now. When they asked Jesus Christ, is he the son of God? And when he said he is, they were like, their attitude was like, We got him now. We got him. We got him. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ would have had to have been a fool to say, as a Jewish man, that he was a son of God if he was not, he would have had to have been a first-class fool to say he was a son of God if he in fact was not, especially being a learned Jewish man. Because he would have known that if he was not the son of God, which they denied that he was, he would have known that it meant certain death because he would have been blaspheming God. If Jesus is not God, then his admission of being the son of God was actually false. If he was not the son of God, then of course his admission that he was would have been false. And the next thing that he could have expected was what he actually got, even though he did not deserve it, because he was telling the truth. Now you have a lot of people like tonight already coming on here going, he's not God, and he's this and that, and all this kind of stuff, and I'm a charlatan for saying it. This is what the reprobate say. This is what fools say. This is what those say who have no clue of what it means to have a spiritual mind and to be spiritually minded. These are those who can't see past today. So the Jews say he said he's a son of God, he says he's a son of God, so we don't need any more witnesses. We heard it from his own mouth, we heard it from his own mouth. This is what they said, and so the whole multitude of them they arose and they took him to Pilate. They took him to Pilate, and they began to accuse Jesus, saying that we found this fellow perverting the nation. They accused Jesus of perverting the nation. Jesus. The one who was talking about feeding and helping the poor, the one who turned water into wine so that the husband and wife wouldn't get in trouble, which would have happened had he not done that. Another story. The same man that rose Lazarus from the dead. This is the man that they accuse of perverting the nation. Now, so they take him to Pilate. Keep in mind that this is the religious people. The religious people are the ones doing these things to Christ and pushing it. Now, Herod and Pilate, as you're going to see, they have their fault in this too. But they knew that Jesus was innocent, and they knew that the reason why the Jews wanted to kill him is because they envied him. They were jealous. They didn't want the people who were following them to follow him. He was about to start cutting into their wages. Just like so many people on TikTok are doing. Some of you might be saying, is that what you're doing too? You don't you don't preach the truth about Jesus Christ and expect followers. Believe me. People like Joel Oldstein and Kenneth Copeland, these guys get lots of followers and lots of money. I'm not going to get that. I'm sure of that. But the Jews envied Jesus Christ because the people listened to him and they were struck with awe by what he did and by what he said, and by the kind of person he was. They said about him: never a man spoke like this. Never a man spoke like this man. No one preached like this man. No one healed people. No one can perform the miracles that he performed unless God be with him. John said that the world could not contain enough ink and pages for all the books that could be written for all the things that he did. That's how we ended the book of John. Go check it out. But this is the man that the Jews said needed to die because he was perverting the nations. Jesus was perverting the nation. He didn't force anybody to do anything. He didn't carry a sword. He didn't incite a war or a rebellion. He didn't speak evil to anyone. He wasn't caught in any sin of any type. There was no sin in him at all. And yet, this is the man that they said was perverting the nation. So then they started out saying that they have no need of further witnesses because he had said he was a son of God. And for them that was enough to murder him. But then when they went to Pilate, that's not what they said. When they went to Pilate, they accused him, saying, He perverts our nation because he's forbidding people to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ a king. Now they took Jesus to Pilate. They wanted Rome to crucify him. They wanted Rome to crucify Christ. Because under their law, they could accuse Christ of blasphemy. And under their law, if they were in the if they were their own state at the time, they would have had him killed or stoned. But since they were under Roman rule, they couldn't do it. It was against Roman law, and the Jews were subjects of Rome. So if they wanted to get rid of Christ, they had to find a way to make him a violator of Roman's law, of Rome's law. And in order to kill him, they had to find a violation of Roman law which would make him suitable for capital punishment. Crucifixion. They couldn't go to Rome and just say he said he's a son of God. Rome didn't care about that. Rome was like America. Generally, they didn't believe in, they didn't believe in God. They didn't believe in God. They believe in all kinds of weird stuff. But they certainly didn't believe in the Jewish God. So the Jews had to figure out something. And they're smart. Smart people. Smart people. Brilliant people. They know how to get what they want. So they sat down and they thought, well, we can't go to Rome and say, we can't go to the Roman governor and say, we'd like to have this man killed for saying that he's a son of God. Rome was like, what is that to us? You guys go back and take that back to your synagogue and figure that out yourselves. What is that to us? So the Jews are smart. So they said, oh, okay. We're gonna we're gonna make you do it contrary to your own will. So what do they do? They said Jesus is, they tell Pilate, Jesus is perverting the nation. The nation. Not Israel. Rome. Not Israel. Romans didn't care about Israel's laws and their own religious ceremonial rites and rituals and concerns. Rome didn't care about that. But they did care about keeping the peace in their province and about making sure that too much tumultuousness doesn't reach the emperor. So what do they say? Jesus is perverting the nation, and he's forbidding others to give tribute to Caesar. And by saying that he himself is Christ a king. So here's what we have here. So they're setting the stage. They're setting the stage to try to get Rome to see Christ as an insurrectionist, oddly enough, considering the news of the day. They are dropping seeds to Pilate, saying, Hey, look, we're giving you a layup. Here's the reason. We're giving you a reason in a way and a means to be able to crucify this man. How? Because he's forbidding people to pay taxes to Rome. And of course, the Jews were really excited about paying taxes to Rome. But they what they did was they weaponized the politicians. They weaponized them against Christ. They said, He's not doing this to us. He's hurting you. The Jews were saying, this isn't about me, Rome. It's about you. We want to make sure that all of us pay all the taxes that we can to Rome. And we don't want this guy perverting our setup. We don't want him getting in the way of the nation. Oh, and by the way, he says he's a king. Now, if he says he's a king, then certainly you need to do something about this. Because if he's a king, that means he's going to try to overthrow Rome. And you, Pilate, can't have this. You'll get in a lot of trouble with Caesar. The Jews are smart. They were smart. They weaponized Rome and never had to pick up a weapon. And so Pilate, after this, he asked Jesus, so Jesus, are you the King of the Jews? And Jesus answered him and says, You said it. See, Jesus can't lie. He says, You said it. And then Pilate said to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man. Now, Pilate might have thought Jesus was crazy. I don't know what he thought. Because when Jesus says you said it, Pilate didn't respond to him like he considered Jesus a threat. It would be like me saying I'm gonna run for president. Nobody's gonna believe that. I'm no threat. So Pilate goes back to the Jews and says, What are you guys talking about? I have no issue with him. I don't see, I see no fault in what this man has said or done. Well, in the Jews, it says they got more fierce. They thought their plan was gonna work right away, but it didn't work right away, but it did work soon after. It did work soon after. Because they came back to Pilate and it says, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee unto this place. So when Pilate heard Galilee, he asked whether this man was a Galilean. Now, when they mention Galilee, when they mention Galilee,