Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." "But we have no right to execute anyone," they objected. – John 18:31

Today's Scripture Reading (January 5, 2021): John 18

The first martyr of the Christian era was a Christ-follower named Stephen. Stephen got into conflict with the Sanhedrin and was forced to give an impassioned speech to Israel's leaders. And then he crossed a line. He was charged with blasphemy and executed on the spot by the standard Jewish method of killing a criminal, stoning. Stephen was probably in his late twenties. The stoning of Stephen took place just a couple of years after the crucifixion of Jesus.

Herod the Great was known for his great cruelty. Some question whether the slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:16) actually took place or if Matthew was engaging in some historical fiction. Still, part of the problem is that the killing of the Jewish boys under the age of two was totally in keeping with Herod's temperament. Even his sons were not safe. The killing of Herod's sons by Herod prompted Caesar Augustus to remark, "It is better to be Herod's pig than his son." Because Jews didn't eat pork, and Herod was trying to live as a Jew, the pig was safe.

Herod Antipas executed John the Baptist because of a request from Salome, his step-daughter.

The Jews came to Pilate asking for the execution of Jesus, and one of the reasons that they gave for the request was that they didn't have the political power to execute him themselves. And that might have been true. It is thought that the Jews might have lost the ability to execute criminals in the days following the reign of Herod the Great. More precisely, the Jews likely did not have the power to execute a criminal without Rome's permission. But that had never stopped them before. They didn't wait for permission to kill either John the Baptist or Stephen.

So why the pretense? It is a good question. And part of the answer might have been that the Jewish leaders were trying to humiliate Jesus and totally destroy his legacy. While Jews stoned criminals who were guilty of capital crimes, the Romans crucified them, and a large part of crucifixion was the humiliation that the criminal was forced to endure on the way to death. But added to the Roman humiliation was a Jewish one. The Law of Moses specified that "anyone who is hung on a pole is under God's curse" (Deuteronomy 21:23). The message that the Jewish leaders wanted to send to the people was that this supposed Messiah was actually just a poor man under God's curse.

Of course, our actions are never able to overturn God's intent. The religious leaders felt justified in what they were doing. After all, Jesus was a man cursed by God, a fact that was proven by his crucifixion by Rome. But to God, Jesus was his son, the one who died to atone for our sins and wrongdoing; he remains the one who died because of our sins and transgression. He died so that we don't have to.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: John 19