Luke 22:54-23:25 – Trial by Three

Series: The Gospel of Luke
Speaker: Rev. Brandon Farquhar
Date Preached: 2026-06-14
Scripture: Luke 22:54-23:35

We look at the three trials leading up to Jesus’ death on the cross. The three trials of Peter, Pilate and Jesus.

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And Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, This man also was with him. But he denied it, saying, Woman, I do not know him. And a little later someone else saw him and said, You also are one of them. But Peter said, Man, I am not. And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean. But Peter said, Man, I do not know what you are talking about. And immediately while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord how he had said to him, Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, Prophesy, who is it that struck you? And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him. When day came the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes, and they led him away to their council, and they said, If you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. So they all said, Are you the Son of God then? And he said to them, You say that I am. Then they said, What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips. Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate, and they began to accuse him, saying, We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king. And Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, You have said so. Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, I find no guilt in this man. But they were urgent, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea and Galilee, even to this place. When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean, and when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him, and Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other. Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people, and after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him. But they all cried out together, Away with this man, and release to us Speradus, a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, Crucify, crucify him. A third time he said to them, Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him. But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. This is the word of the Lord. A little word association. One, two, three. What do those words mean? I've got the attention of some kids, I know. One, two, three, the classic universal tool of parenting. For some reason, we've all decided that that is a fair and full amount of patience and grace. One, two, three. But when this runs out, you're done. Similar in baseball, three strikes, you're out. You can think of the airline pilot in trouble. May they, may they, may they. Even in the Bible, three represents a fullness or a complete story. And so today it's interesting that we have trials by three. We have three trials, and they're all trials by three. I'm not entirely positive if the three are intentional or whether they're meant to communicate something, but I think so, and the reason is Peter's definitely are. And so for Peter, Jesus explicitly predicted his three-time denial, which makes me then think that Pilate's trial, where the third time he wants to release Jesus and he doesn't. I think that must be a connection. And so then we look in the middle, and there is Jesus being tried three times before the Jewish leaders, before Pilate, and before Herod. And so it seems as though Luke is presenting this story as a full trial, full experience of patience and what could be. And what we're going to see here right in the middle there is that Jesus is who we are not, and he's doing what we cannot. That we have these trials by three and they're meant to focus our attention into Jesus and to really understand the question of why his death is coming. And so let's look at our passage together. We're going to start with the trial of Peter. Three trials of Peter that really demonstrate that our best isn't strong enough. Three trials of Peter that demonstrate that our best isn't strong enough. You know, all throughout this passage, I hope you see that it's clear that we are getting eyewitness account. And so we have so many details here that are strikingly an eyewitness account. And so in verse 54, as we picked up in our passage, we have Jesus being taken to a particular house. And so he's being taken to the house of the high priest with Peter following at a distance. Then in verse 55, we have this fire being kindled in the courtyard, people sitting down, Peter with them. And so how do we know these details? Well, almost certainly from Peter himself. Almost certainly from Peter himself. And just think about what a gift it is that Peter was honest enough to share this part of the story. You know, all four Gospels actually tell the story of Peter's denial. That Peter himself was honest enough to tell this part of the story. And strikingly, what part of stories do we share? You know, it's one of the challenges of social media is that we can display ourselves and we can look at each other only in the best light. And so often we feel jealous or contemptuous that other people seem to have everything together and a life so much better than ours. And so there's the famous picture of the social media influencer flying in the private jet. But it's a fake. And yet Peter here he tells us the honest truth. And so let's look at these three trials of Peter. First, this is trial by the servant girl. Look down in verse 56, then a servant girl seeing him as he sat in the light and looking at him closely, said, This man was also with him. Luke here is particular that this is a young girl, and so the word here is really a young girl, and so really a young slave, and so we should think young and powerless, and look at the vicious attack she has against Peter. She looks closely at him, getting real intense. And so Peter, when he responds, he's almost playing up the story, woman using a much older word for her, and it's like, all right, Peter. Let's be honest here. You're just like the story, you know, I caught a fish, it was this big. So it is for Peter as he remembers the story and his denial. I do not know him. You know what a betrayal that is? If you remember back in Luke's story, that Peter is the one who's first identifies and confesses Jesus as the Christ. He was the first one who saw who Jesus really was. And so think about the levels of betrayal here. That is a spiritual failure. That he has identified Jesus as the Messiah, as God's chosen savior, and yet here he says, No way. It's a relational failure. That Peter, who had walked with Jesus for three years, who told Jesus, I will stay with you until the very end, here denies him. And he does it with moral failure. Just straight, bold-faced lie. I do not know him. Well, you might want to give Peter the benefit of the doubt. Maybe his denial was just kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision, a gut reaction out of fear. And so, kids, you probably know this that sometimes when you're when you're caught doing something wrong, the first instinct is to lie. No, no, it wasn't me. I didn't do it. Then maybe afterwards you can admit the truth. But look what happens for Peter, verse 58, trial number two. A little later, someone else saw him and said, You also are one of them. Once again, notice there's no major persecution or assault here. Jesus was the only one who was arrested, and it seems like they really had no intention to arrest the rest of the disciples. But Peter, he once again wilt under pressure. Man, I am not. Not one of them. So not only has he denied Jesus himself, now he denies his own place as a disciple, not a follower. I just want to remind you how serious this is. Early on in Luke's gospel, Jesus had said it this way. In Luke 9, Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. You have to follow Jesus, even denying self. What does Peter do? Deny Jesus for self. In Luke 12, Jesus said it this way, and I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels. But the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. How serious Peter's denial is. And so look how serious it gets in trial number three and verse 59. You know, if Peter didn't have enough time with denial number one or denial number two to kind of take his life seriously, to evaluate his priorities, here about an hour has passed. Even more time for Peter to sit with his mistakes, to consider what he's doing. Remember, during this time, the other gospels, they tell us that Jesus, he's already being tried and tested by the high priest. Peter, he's being tested by the Hodge Podj. At this point, he's probably given away by his accents. And so they think he's one of those Galileans. He's one of those backcountry people. And so maybe Peter threw on his best fake accent, fighting even to deny himself in terms of who he is and where he's from. And so he makes the third denial. Man, I don't know what you're talking about. And then we get to one of the most poignant verses in the Bible. Look down, verse 60 and 61. And immediately while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter. What do you think was communicated in that look? You know, look can be powerful. Parents know it. Sometimes you can parent with just a look. So what is this look? Is this look the disappointment like a coach who's looking at a player who just failed? Is it the disappointment of a parent who expected better? You know, what do you think of you when you see Jesus in this look who greatly say about how you relate to Jesus? Let me encourage you what this look was about. Because Jesus already told us what he looks at when he sees Peter. Not surprised by Peter's failure. Jesus had predicted it. Not disappointed by who Peter is. Remember, Jesus had already seen past that into who Peter would become. And so what is this look, if not the loving look of Jesus seeing Peter in his spiritual need compared to Peter's own self-confidence? It's a look that Peter really needed to see. To see that Jesus would see him in his need and be willing to die for him more than he needed Peter to stand out for him. You see, Peter had been quick to make claims, quick to draw the sword. But here's the truth even the best of us isn't strong enough. Even the best of us isn't strong enough. You know, when facing the spiritual burden of sin and the spiritual attack of the devil, even the best of us isn't strong enough. Like I said, you know, all four Gospels, they tell the story of Peter's denial. And all of them do it in this way, not as an example of Peter's weakness. You know, Peter, he's continued to be presented in the New Testament as one of the strongest and most gifted. And so when it comes here to Peter's presentation, it's a presentation of the best of us who just isn't strong enough. I'm reminded of that scene from The Lion King. You remember when Simba's a young kid still, and he goes into the Badlands and he gets in trouble with the hyenas and little Simbas trying to growl at them to get them to run away. And, you know, in the moment he growls at them and the hyenas suddenly run away. And Simba thinks he's big stuff. And of course, we know behind the scenes there's Mufasa. He's come in and he's done the growling actually. You know, sometimes we can think that our spiritual life is like that, that God wants our best efforts, and then he'll come through to top us off at the end. Give your best roar, and he'll come through and give you a bit more. And there might be some truth to that in some areas. But when it comes to salvation over sin and the devil, our best is not good enough. And to try is spiritually naive, doomed to fail. You see, we will we have the spiritual humility to allow Jesus to look and to see our weakness. Will you allow Jesus to see you? You know, Peter Adam, he's one of my favorite pastors for several reasons. One, I used to listen to him all the time, I found him very helpful and insightful, and then I met him, and he's shorter than me. And so it was really encouraging. You know, here's this guy with this great, this great preaching voice, and just a short guy, so there's there's hope for all of us. Pastor Peter Adam, he says it this way he says, all of us need to know this about ourselves, that given the right situation, we are all capable of incredible failure. Given the right situation, we are all capable of incredible failure. Somebody else, C.S. Lewis, he said that the worst of religion is its ability to make us feel like we're good. Because religion can be twisted to make corrupt individuals believe their actions are righteous and beyond questioning. Of all bad men, religious bad men are the worst. In contrast, though, the Christians do not think that God will love us because we're good, but that God will make us good because he loves us. Three trials of Peter. The best of us is not strong enough. And Jesus will look at us in our failure, not to shame us, but to bring us to an honest assessment about our need for him. So let me say it this way. Sometimes being found out in our failure is the most gracious look God can give us. You know, sometimes being found out in our failure is the most gracious look God can give us. I hope you know that in your life sometimes, that the moment of exposure, the moment of scandal, that maybe that is the moment that God most used to redeem and to change your life. That's how it is for Peter. You see, the key point for the life of Peter, the key moment is actually this to where he then comes back to Jesus. Jesus had already predicted it. He said, Peter, you will deny me three times, but when you come again, when you return, you will strengthen your brothers. You see, this is the most central of our all Christian qualities: the return. I think I've quoted this before for you all, but Daniel Defoe and Robinson Crusoe, he describes repentance in this way. It's actually a big theme of that book. He describes it this way. He says, he's thinking about going back to his home. He says, As to going home, shame opposed the best motions that offered to my thoughts. And it occurred to me how I should be laughed at among my neighbors. They would be ashamed to see me. Not only my father and mother, but everyone else. Thence I have since often observed how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth. To that reason which ought to guide them in such cases, that they are sh not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent. Not ashamed of the action for which they ought justly be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which can only make them be esteemed wise men. This is the look that Jesus can bring into our life, the look that welcomes us to return. You see, the look of Jesus prepared Peter to return. And may he see us where we need to be seen even today. See, three trials of Peter, they tell the truth. The best of us aren't strong enough. Let's look now to the end of our passage. We're going to skip to the end, the three trials of Pilate. I think that it tells a slightly different but similar story. Three trials of Pilate, that our strongest isn't good enough. You see, if Peter is the trial of our best who wasn't strong enough, I think Pilate is the trial of the strong who wasn't good enough. And so just remember a little bit about who Pilate is. He's the Roman governor of Judea, which included Jerusalem, and so he was actually a Roman. He's from Italy. And so he's the Roman governor of Judea. In contrast, Herod, who we read about, is the ruler of Galilee, and in some ways he was he was a Jew himself. And so here's Pilate the Roman. And so Jesus is sent to Pilate at the beginning of chapter 23. And we're going to look at the details of those interactions in our third point. But for now, I just want to notice one thing that Pilate is convinced that Jesus is innocent. We hear that version repeatedly throughout Jesus' trial. But it comes to a head in verse 13 as Jesus once again is sent back to Pilate. And the point is that legally, Jesus' fate rests solely in Pilate's hands. In this case, he is the judge and jury. And so look down in verse 13. Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and he said to them, You brought this man as one who is misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. You see, Pilate, he is clear and convinced. And then notice the three trials of Pilate. Verse 16, I'll punish and release him. Why would he do that if Jesus is innocent? Well, it seems to be that, you know, perhaps to placate the crowd or to warn Jesus that even innocent trouble that bothers him is a problem. But in verse 18, the crowd rejects Pilate's compromise. Instead, they cry out for Jesus' death. And notice in verse 20, now for the second time, Pilate publicly expresses his desire to release Jesus. And we should understand this as public declaration, public judgment. And so Pilate gathers everyone together and he speaks to them publicly. And so this is the word of the ruler in public statement. For the second time now, innocent. And yet, verse 21, the crowd once again demands for Jesus to be crucified. Crucify, crucify him. And so Luke tells a story. Look in verse 22. The third time. The third time he said to them, Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him. You see, Pilate in this story, he is the strongest character. He is the one who holds all the power. And so at this time, the Romans didn't want the Jewish people, the occupied people, to have the power to decide life and death matters. They weren't qualified to decide under Roman law. And so, humanly speaking, it was only Pilate who had the power to either condemn Jesus or release him. And so he is the strong man. And so it's striking how Luke records in our final section. Notice the weakness and the shrinking of Pilate. Verse 23, but they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. Whose voice has declared judgment? Not Pilate's. Verse 24, so Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. Whose position demands respect and obedience? Not Pilate's. Verse 25, he released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. Whose will is law? Not Pontius Pilate. Not Roman magistrate. Not bigwig from Rome, but rather the crowd. Here's the point I think Luke is trying. To help us to see that despite Pilate holding all the power necessary to do the right thing and seemingly conviction and desire to do the right thing, he just can't do it. You see, even the strongest in the story, when it comes to human power and influence, even the strongest isn't good enough. You see, Pilate, he wasn't committed to justice and truth and goodness enough to face even just the minimal discomfort of standing up before the peer pressure of the crowd. Maybe it's a desire just to keep the peace, maybe it was self-preservation, maybe it was being a people pleaser. And haven't all those things been reason enough for powerful people to come up short throughout human history? You see, I think Luke's point is clear. We don't look to ourselves to save us, even the best of us aren't strong enough. We don't look to human power and influence to save us, even the strongest have failed. Even if the conviction and the desire is there, the completion, the following through almost always comes up short. You see, Luke is telling the story, I think, where we started in our service with Psalms. Put not your trust in princes. I'm reminded of that classic line from John Seinbeck's Great Depression novel, The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men. I don't know if you know this, but originally that line, it's from a 1785 poem by a Scotsman Robert Burns. It's actually interesting the way that this quote gets kind of used differently. And so in the original poem, it goes this way: the best laid schemes of mice and men go off to rye and leave us nothing but grief and pain for promised joy. For Steinbeck, the quote is that the shared dreams of these people living out the depression, that their shared dreams about their characters and their future would be derailed by circumstances beyond their control. But for Burns, it's a bit more robust than that. You see, in his poem, it's titled To a Mouse. To a Mouse. And so it's a poem about a farmer who unknowingly destroys the nest of a field mouse. And the poet he realizes that the mouse has wisely prepared for winter by building this nest only to have the human come and destroy it. And so perhaps more striking than the plans of mice and men is this line from Burns' poem. He says, I'm truly sorry man's dominion has broken nature's social union. I'm truly sorry that man's dominion has broken nature's social union. It's actually much closer to how the Bible talks about the sinful state of humanity. That because of the fall, sin has corrupted and limited all the potential good and effective human organizations and faculties, such that even the best and the strongest of us will not stand unjudged or uncondemned. We've done the wrong we shouldn't have, and we failed to do the right we should have. Humanity is responsible, and yet humanity doesn't seem to be enough to fix it. You see how Luke he's playing up the dilemma of Jesus' death. His closest friends abandon him, the most powerful people can't stand up for him. And so what's the answer? Well, let's look at the main character. In the middle there, three trials of Jesus. Three trials of Jesus, nestled in between these trials of Peter and Pilate, trials that yield an overwhelmingly guilty charge, failing grades, are the trials of Jesus. And I think what Luke wants us to see, and we'll just be simple here, Jesus is condemned to die despite being innocent. Jesus is condemned to die despite being innocent. You see three different trials of Jesus before being delivered over by Pilate. And they kind of bring out different aspects of Jesus' commitment to go to the cross. And so look at trial number one. Here's this trial before the Jewish leaders. It's really the only trial that is kind of explicitly religious. And so verse 67, the questioning starts in the morning. This was according to Jewish tradition and law that you couldn't do the trial at night. And so they waited until the morning. And so verse 67, the questioning starts. If you are the Christ, tell us. You see, this is the critical question in their minds whether Jesus was claiming to be the Christ, whether he was claiming to be God's promised Messiah. It wasn't really a capital offense, so this doesn't really get them where they want to go, but what it does is it allows them to manipulate who Jesus needs to be. If Jesus openly admits this, they could try to kind of hold him to their expectations of what the Messiah should do. Try to uphold the temple in Jewish customs, try to kick out the Romans, as they could try to manipulate Jesus to discredit him in front of the crowds. That's why Jesus answers the way he does. He doesn't engage with them on the question of Messiah. Instead, he goes a different direction. Verse 69, he says, From now on, you'll see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power. He's quoting from Daniel 7, the passage we read earlier. A prophecy about the Son of Man, a human being, who would approach the ancient of days, God Himself, and be seated in power and dominion with kingdoms. In short, he's saying he will sit in the place of God. And notice they get the point. Verse 70, they all said, Are you the Son of God then? And he said to them, You say that I am. Basically, you've said it. See, trial number one, it ends with this tragically ironic judgment. Verse 46, verse 71, look down. Then they said, What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips. They had heard the claim. Trial number one, what is he guilty of? Guilty of being God. Guilty of being God. Trial number two, before Pilate, they then send him off to Pilate. Remember, he's the one who needs to carry out the execution that they're hoping to achieve. And so then they accuse Jesus in ways that might fit kind of the Jewish or the Roman court. He's misleading the nation, something like stirring up insurrection. He's forbidding us to give tribute, rebellion by failure to pay tax. He's saying that he's the king, rebellion against Caesar. And it's clear from all these accusations, both to us, if we've been reading Luke's account, but also to Pilate, that he's innocent of these charges in these ways, that he never made himself out to be a king that would rebel against Rome. He answered the question about paying taxes very fairly. He has brought only peace and good teaching to the Jewish people. And so Pilate himself makes the claim that we need to hear. I find no guilt in this man. It's not a theological claim for Pilate, but a legal one. Innocent. Innocent. And so we're meant to question. If he's innocent, why is he facing condemnation? He seems clearly in control, and yet why is he putting himself under unjust judgments? And so we get number three, trial before Herod. And so Pilate sends Jesus to Herod mostly as a way to avoid responsibility, but maybe also as a political favor. And so Herod and Pilate, they were basically rival rulers, and so they were the rulers of neighboring counties, so to speak. And so they would often try to make each other look bad in front of the Romans so that they could look better. But in this case, they can work it out together. And Herod's trial, in a way, is the least serious of them, perhaps most telling of Jesus' commitment. Look down in verse 8. Herod's really, he's only interested in Jesus as a miracle worker. And so verse 8, when Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad. For he had long desired to see him because he had heard about him and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. You see, for Herod, Jesus is a miracle worker, someone who can do fancy things. So maybe he had some water off to the side. Hey, Jesus, let's see you turn it into wine. Hey, Jesus, I could really use a miracle man on my side. If there was ever a chance for Jesus to avoid this coming judgment, here it was. Trial before the man who was interested in playing political games. Perhaps Jesus could have just given Herod what he wanted, made a deal to elevate Herod above Pilate. But Jesus' submission to his plan death is firm. Quiet before his accusers. Innocent before his condemnation. And so three trials of Jesus, all making his innocence clear. So why did Jesus deserve to die? We're going to look more at that next week as we pick up this story again. But as we bring these three trials together, let's end with these notes. Peter, guilty by giving in to denial. Pilate guilty by giving in to demands. Jesus guilty by unjust accusations. But did you notice there's one character who gets to go free? One character who is declared innocent. Barabbas. There's a character we're going to look at more next week, but we'll just end with this idea. That Jesus has been tried among the guilty so that the guilty could be tried like the innocent. Jesus has been tried among the guilty so that the guilty could be tried among the innocent. Peter, he shows us that the best of us is not strong enough, and Jesus sees it. Pilate has shown us that the strongest of us is not good enough. So don't put your trust there. Instead, in the middle we have one who, like a sheep, has gone to the slaughter. That Jesus himself would take on the position of the suffering servant that we read about last week from Isaiah 53, that he would be tried, declared innocent over and over and over again, three times innocent. One, two, three. And yet condemned as guilty for our sake. Would you see Jesus through the eyes of Luke? Come back to the eyewitness idea that Luke has been so careful to discover the eyewitness account of Jesus' death, and he has told the story with such careful intention to draw our eyes to the center to see Jesus on trial. To help us to see why did he die. In exchange him for us, that we would go free. Let's pray as we consider that. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this look at the Lord Jesus and his trial. We thank you that we can know and believe that for our sake. He was silent. Lord, we can trust and understand that for our sake he would see us in our sin and still go to the cross. That for our sake he would take on the claim to be the king and yet submit himself to puppet rulers like Pilate and Herod. Lord Jesus, would you lift yourself before our eyes so that we could see you as the king who is willing and worthy to go before us? Would you help us to come before you in our need? We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.