Our Lord before Herod

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 19, 1882,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad: for he was desirous
to see Him for a long season, because he had heard many things of Him;
and he hoped to ha ve seen some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned
Him in many words; but He answered him nothing." Luke 23:8.9.

AFTER Pilate had declared to the chief priests and scribes that he
found no fault at all in Jesus, they were afraid that their victim
would escape and, therefore, their fury was raised to the highest pitch
and they cried out the more vehemently against Him. In the course of
their outcries they made use of the word, "Galilee," going, as it seems
to me, a little out of their way in order to drag in the name–"He
stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from
Galilee to this place." Galilee was a region held in very great
contempt and they mentioned it to cast a slur upon our Lord, as if He
were a mere boor from among the clowns of Galilee. To Pilate, they
thought that the mention of the name would, perhaps, act like the
proverbial red rag held before an infuriated bull, for he appears to
have been troubled by seditious persons from that province.

We all remember that they were Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices. The Galileans were reputed to be an ignorant
people, apt to be led astray by impostors and so enthusiastic that they
ventured their lives against the Romans. The priests would not only
cast contempt upon Jesus, whom they were known to call the Galilean,
but also excite the prejudices of Pilate, so that he might condemn Him
to die as one of a nest of rebels. They were mistaken, however, in the
consequences of their device, for Pilate caught at the word, "Galilee,"
directly. That province was not immediately under his rule–it was
under the sway of the tetrarch Herod Antipas and, therefore, he thought
within himself, "I can kill two birds with one stone–I can get rid of
this troublesome business by sending this prisoner to Herod–and I can
also greatly gratify the king by showing him this attention."

Pilate had quarreled with Herod and now, for some purpose of his own,
he resolved to patch up a friendship by pretending great deference to
his sovereign powers by sending one of his subjects to be tried by him.
Pilate, therefore, asked, "Is this man a Galilean?" and when they told
him that He was–for He was so by repute, His birth at Bethlehem having
been willfully ignored–then Pilate at once commanded that He be led to
Herod, for Herod was in his palace at Jerusalem attending the Passover
festival.

See, then, my Brothers and Sisters, our Divine Master conducted in His
third march of sorrow through Jerusalem! First, He was led from the
garden to the house of Annas; then He was conducted through the streets
from the hall of Caiaphas to the judgment hall of Pilate. And now, by
Pilate's orders, He is led a third time by the angry crowd of priests
through the streets to the palace of Herod, there to await His fourth
examination! Certain of the old writers delight to remark that as there
were four evangelists to do honor to our Lord, so were there four
judges to do Him shame. Annas and Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod. We are on
safer ground when we observe with the early Church the coalition of the
heathen and the Jews–"For of a truth against Your holy Child Jesus,
whom You have anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the
Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do
whatever Your hand and Your counsel determined before to be done."

This morning I shall endeavor to set forth this portion of the sad
narrative under two heads, which will be these– Herod before
Jesus–and Jesus before Herod.

I. I call your attention, first, to HEROD BEFORE JESUS because you must
know something of his character, something of the meaning of his
questions, before you can rightly understand the sorrow which they
caused Jesus, our Lord and Master. This Herod Antipas was the son of
the old Herod the Great who had put to death the babes at Bethlehem in
the hope of destroying the King of the Jews. He was a chip off the old
block, but still, he was several degrees baser than

his father. There was nothing of the grandeur of his father about him.
There was the same evil disposition without the courage and the
decision. He did not, in some things, out-Herod Herod, for in certain
points he was a more despicable person. Herod the Great may be called a
lion, but our Lord very descriptively called this lesser Herod a fox,
saying, "Go and tell this fox."

He was a man of dissolute habits and frivolous mind. He was very much
under the sway of a wicked woman who destroyed any little good there
might have been in him. He was a lover of pleasure, a lover of himself,
depraved, weak and trifling to the last degree. I almost grudge to call
him a man, therefore let him only be called a tetrarch. This petty
tet-rarch had once been the subject of religious impressions. These
Herods all, more or less, felt the influence of religion at times,
though they were by no means benefited thereby. The impressions made
upon his conscience by John did not last with Herod. They were, at
first, powerful and practical, for we are informed that, "Herod feared
John, knowing that he was a just man and holy, and observed him; and
when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly."

I suppose he reformed many matters in his kingdom and cast off,
perhaps, some of his grosser vices. But when, at last John began to
denounce him for having taken his brother's wife to be his paramour,
while yet the brother lived, he cast his reprover into prison. And then
you remember how, with reluctance, Herod, to please his mistress,
beheaded John in prison. Mark this–probably there is no more dangerous
character living than a man who has once come under religious
influences so as to be materially affected by them–and yet has broken
loose and cast off all fear of God! He has done despite to his
conscience so violently that from now on he will know few qualms.

In such a man is fulfilled the saying of our Lord, "When the unclean
spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest
and finds none. Then he says, I will return into my house from where I
came out; and when he is come, he finds it empty, swept and garnished.
Then goes he, and takes with himself seven other spirits, more wicked
than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of
that man is worse than the first." The mind of Herod An-tipas was in
the condition of the chamber which has been swept and garnished, for
his life had been somewhat reformed, but the unclean spirit with the
terrible seven had come back to his old den and now he was a worse man
by a great deal than he had ever been before. The dog returned to his
vomit and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

This Herod was an Idumaean, that is to say, one of the descendants of
Esau, an Edomite, and though he had professedly become a Jew, yet the
old blood was in him, as it is written concerning Edom, "He did pursue
his brother with the sword and cast off all pity." The true Jacob stood
before one of the seed of Esau, a tetrarch, profane and worldly like
his ancestor–and scant was the pity which He received. Esau was
descended from Abraham according to the flesh, but with Jacob was the
Covenant according to the spirit–it bodes no good to the spiritual
seed when it comes, even for a moment, under the power of the carnal
seed!

We see how the child of the flesh takes to mocking, while the child
according to promise is called to patience. Herod was in such a state
of mind that he furnishes me with a typical character which I would use
for the instruction and admonition of you all. He is a type of some who
frequently come to this Tabernacle and go to other places of worship,
occa-sionally–people who were once under religious impressions and
cannot forget that they were so–but who will never be under any
religious impressions again. They are now hardened into vain curiosity!
They wish to know about everything that is going on in the Church and
Kingdom of Christ, but they are far enough from caring to become part
and parcel of it, themselves. They are possessed with an idle curiosity
which would lift the golden lid of the Ark and intrude behind the veil.

They like to gather together all the absurd stories which are told
about ministers and to retail all the odd remarks that were ever made
by preachers for centuries. All the gossip of the Churches is sure to
be known to them, for they eat up the sins of God's people as they eat
bread! It is not likely that their knowledge of religious things will
be of any use to them, but they are always eager after it. The Church
of God is their lounge; Divine service is their theater; ministers are
to them, as actors, and the Gospel, itself, so much play-house
property. They are a sort of religious Athenians, spending their time
in nothing else than in hearing some new thing, hoping that, perhaps,
some singular and unexpected discourse may be delivered in their
hearing which they can retail in the next company where they would
raise a laugh. To them, preaching is all a farce and, worked up with a
few falsehoods of their own, it makes excellent fun for them and causes
them to be regarded as amusing fellows. Let them look at Herod and see
in him their leader, the type of what they really are or may soon
become!

First, let us see idle curiosity at its best. Look here, Sirs, and then
look in a glass and trace the likeness! To begin with, we find that
Herod's curiosity had been created in him by his having heard many
things concerning Jesus. How did he come to hear of Him? His great
deeds were common talk–all Jerusalem rang with the news of His
miracles and wondrous words. Herod, a convert to the Jewish faith, such
as he was, took interest in anything that was going on among the Jews
and all the more so if it touched upon the kingdom, for the jealousy
which set his father in a rage was not altogether absent in his son. No
doubt, also, he had heard of Christ from John. John would not long have
preached to Herod without using his own grand text, "Behold the Lamb of
God, which takes away the sin of the world."

I am sure that, though he was a preacher of righteousness, he had not
left off being the herald of the coming Savior! And so, from the stern
lips of the great Baptist, Herod had heard concerning the King of the
Jews and something concerning His Kingdom. When John was dead, Herod
heard still more of Christ, so that, astonished with what was being
done, he said, "This is John the Baptist whom I have beheaded: he is
risen from the dead!" Jesus became a kind of nightmare to his
conscience. He was disturbed and alarmed by what he heard that the
Prophet of Nazareth was doing. Besides that, there was one in his
household who doubtless knew a great deal about the Savior, for in
Herod's court was the husband of a woman who ministered unto the Lord
of her substance.

The lady's name was Joanna and her husband was Chuza, Herod's
steward–I suppose Herod's butler and manager of his household. From
Chuza he could readily have learned concerning Jesus and we may be sure
that he would enquire, for the fear of the great Prophet was upon him.
Thus Herod's curiosity had been excited about our Lord Jesus Christ for
a considerable time and he longed to see Him. I am not sorry when this
happens to any of my Hearers. I am right glad that they should hear
something about the Lord from His friends, something about Him from His
ministers and from those of us whose highest glory it is that, though
we are not worthy to unloose the laces of His shoes, yet it is all our
business here below to cry, "Behold the Lamb!" So these rumors, this
talk, these admonitions had begotten in Herod's mind the desire that
his eyes should light on Jesus–so far, so good.

Often men at this day come up to the House of Prayer that they may hear
the preacher–not because they want to be converted, not because they
have any idea of ever becoming followers of Jesus–but because they
have heard something about true religion which excites their curiosity
and they want to know what it is all about. They are fond of
curiosities of literature and so they would study curiosities of
religion, oddities of oratory and things remarkable of a theological
kind. It is said of Herod, in consequence of this curiosity, that he
rejoiced to see Jesus. It is said that he was, "exceedingly glad." What
a hopeful state to be in! May we not expect great things when a man
sees Jesus and is exceedingly glad? As I read this passage to myself, I
thought, Why, the language might well describe a child of God! Our text
might fitly be spoken concerning ourselves!

Let me read it line by line and remark upon it. "When Herod saw Jesus,
he was exceedingly glad." So were the Apostles when Jesus manifested
Himself to them, for it is written, "Then were the disciples glad when
they saw the Lord." What other sight could bring to a true Believer
such joy? "For he was desirous to see Him." Are we not? Are not all His
people longing for that blessed vision which will make their Heaven
throughout eternity? "For he was desirous to see Him for a long
season." This is also true of us–our hearts are weary with watching
and our eyes fail for the sight of His face. "Why does He tarry?" we
cry. "Make haste, my Beloved, and be You like a roe or a young hart
upon the mountains of spices." "Because he had heard many things of
Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him."

This, also, is our hope–we would both see and feel some gracious
miracle–upon our eyes, that they may be opened, or upon our hands,
that we may have greater power in the Master's work! Or upon our feet,
that we may run in the ways of obedience. And especially upon our
hearts, that we may be always soft and tender, pure and gracious, to
feel the mind of God. Yes, these words read very prettily, indeed! But
yet, you see, the meaning was not the high and spiritual one which we
could put into them, but the low and groveling one which was all that
Herod could reach. He was "exceedingly glad," but it was a frivolous
gladness because he hoped that now his curiosity would be satisfied.

He had Jesus in his power and he hoped, now, to hear some of the
oratory of the Prophet of whom men said, "Never man spoke like this
Man." He hoped to see Him work a miracle, even He, of whom the record
was, "He has done all things well." Could not the great Prophet be
induced to multiply loaves and fishes? Might he not persuade Him to
heal a blind beggar, or make a lame man leap as a hart? Would not a
miracle make rare mirth in Herod's palace and cause a new sensation in
the mind of the worn-out debauchee? If, for instance, a corpse were dug
up and Jesus would restore it to life,

it would be something to tell when next the king sat down to a drinking
bout with Herodias and her like! When each was trying to exceed the
other in telling strange tales, Herod would top them all!

In this style many people come to hear the Gospel. They want to have an
anecdote of their own about a notorious preacher–and if they do see
something ludicrous, or hear something striking, they will invent a
tale and swear that they heard it and saw it, though the lie might well
choke them! They act thus because they come to hear for nothing but to
feed their hungry curiosity! None carry this to such an extreme as
those who did at one time feel a measure of the power of the Word of
God but have shaken it off. These are the mockers whose bands are made
strong. These are the idlers who turn even the testimony of the Lord
into food for mirth! Still, at the first blush, there is something that
looks very hopeful about them and we are pleased that they exhibit such
gladness when Christ is set forth before them.

One evil sign about Herod was the fact that his conscience had gone to
sleep after having, for a while, troubled him. For a little while he
had been afraid of Jesus and trembled lest John had risen from the
dead. But that fear had subsided and superstition had given way before
his Sadducean skepticism. He hoped that Jesus would perform some
wonderful thing in his presence, but he had lost all dread of the Just
and Holy One. He was a man of vain mind–the man whom he feared one
day–he murdered the next! And He whom he welcomed with gladness, he
hurried off with derision. There was left to Herod no feeling towards
Jesus but the craving after something new, the desire to be astonished,
the wish to be amused.

I think I see him now, sitting on his throne, expectant of wonders,
like the trifler that he was. "Now we shall see," he says, "now we
shall see what we shall see! Perhaps He will deliver Himself by sheer
force! If He walked the sea, He will probably fly away in the air!
Perhaps He will render Himself invisible and so pass away through the
midst of the chief priests. I have heard that many a time when they
would have stoned Him or cast Him down from the brow of a hill, He
departed, gliding through their midst–perhaps He will do the same this
morning." There sits the cunning prince, thinking what the wonder will
be–regarding even displays of Divine power as mere showman's tricks,
or magician's illusions!

When Jesus was set before Him, he began to ask Him questions. "Then he
questioned Him in many words." I am glad the questions are not
recorded. They could have done us no good and, besides, our modern
Herods, nowadays, are great masters of the art and need not that any
man teach them. We need not to be furnished with the old-fashioned
quibbles and questions, for the supply is quite equal to our
requirements. Fools can ask more questions in 10 minutes than wise men
are able to answer in 50 years! I say we do not need the old questions,
but I daresay they would run somewhat in this line, "Are You that King
of the Jews whom my father strove to slay? How came You are a Nazarene?
Have You been a miracle worker, or is it all slight of hand and black
magic? John told me something about You. Did You deceive him, or is it
true? Have you raised the dead? Can you heal the sick?"

Trying all the while to excite Him to work a miracle, he raised doubts
and chopped logic volubly, for the text suggestively mentions his,
"many words." The curious in religion are generally very apt at asking
questions, not that they want Christ; not that they want Heaven; not
that they want pardon of sin–not that they want any good thing–but
still they would like to know everything that is dark and mysterious in
theology. They would like to have a list of the difficulties of belief,
a catalog of the curiosities of spiritual experience. Some men collect
ferns, others are learned upon beetles, but these persons pry into
Church life, its doctrines, pursuits, aims and infirmities–especially
the latter! They could write a book upon orthodox England and
unorthodox England and dwell with unction upon mental vagaries.

It furnishes them with something new and adds to their store of
information–and so they spare no prying questions, for they would
analyze manna from Heaven, and distil the tears of Christ–nothing is
sacred to them! They put Scripture on the rack and laugh at the words
of the Holy Spirit!

Thus have I set forth idle curiosity in its latter stage. Now let us
pass on an see how Jesus treated this curiosity, considering it under
the head of IDLE CURIOSITY DISAPPOINTED. "He questioned Him in many
words, but He answered him nothing!" If Herod had wanted to believe,
Jesus would have been ready enough to instruct. If Herod had possessed
a broken heart, Jesus would have hastened with tender words to bind it
up. If Herod bad been a candid enquirer; if his doubts had been sincere
and true, the faithful and true Witness, the Prince of the kings of the
earth, would have been delighted to speak with him!

But Jesus knew that Herod would not believe in Him and would not take
up his cross and follow Him and, therefore, He would not waste words on
a heartless, soulless profligate. Had He not said to His own disciples,
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast you your
pearls before swine"? He saw in this man one so mean, cunning, cowardly
and heartless that He viewed him as a fox to be let alone rather than a
lost sheep to be sought after! He was a tree twice dead and plucked up
by the roots. All the Master did was to maintain an absolute silence in
his presence, "and let him question as he might, He answered him
nothing."

Observe, my Brothers and Sisters, that our Lord Jesus Christ came not
into this world to be a performer! He did not leave His Glory to earn
the wondering approbation of men. And as Herod regarded Him as a mere
wonderworker and would have turned his court into a theater where Jesus
would be the chief actor, our Lord very wisely held His peace and did
nothing at all. And sometimes His ministers might be wise if they were
silent, too. If they know that men have no desire to learn, no
spiritual wish or aspiration, I say they might be wise if they held
their tongue altogether. I have sometimes admired George Fox, who, on
one occasion, when the crowd had gathered round him, expecting him to
deliver some fiery address, stood still by the space of two hours while
they clamored that he should speak.

Never a word did they get from him. He said he would famish them of
words for words were all they wanted and not the power of the Spirit.
Probably they remembered his silence better than they would have
remembered his most vehement discourse. Sometimes silence is all that
men deserve and the only thing which, in any probability, will impress
them. As the Lord Jesus was no performer, He did not gratify Herod, but
answered him not a word. Moreover, be it remembered that Herod had
already silenced the Voice and no marvel that he could not hear the
Word. For what was John? He said, "I am the voice of one crying in the
wilderness." What was Jesus but the Word? He that silences the Voice
may well be denied the Word!

Had not his shallow soul been moved–I was about to say, to its depths,
such depths as they were–had he not been admonished by one of the
greatest of the children of men? For among them that were born of women
there had not, then, been a greater than John the Baptist! Had not a
burning and shining light shone right into his very eyes? And if he
refused to hear the greatest of the sons of men and to see the
brightest light that God had then kindled, it was but right that the
Savior should refuse him even a ray of light and let him perish in the
darkness which he had, himself, created. Ah, Sirs, you cannot trifle
with religious impressions with impunity! God thinks it no trifle! He
who has once been moved in his soul and has put away the heavenly Word
of God may fear that it will be said of him, "My Spirit shall not
always strive with man. Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone."

May not some conscience here, if it has but a little life in it, be
alarmed at the memory of former rejections of the Gospel, frequent
quenching of the Spirit, repeated trampling upon the blood of Jesus? If
God never speaks to you again in the way of mercy, you have no right to
expect that He should do so! And if, from this day to the Day of
Judgment, the Lord should never give you another word of mercy, who
shall say that you have been treated harshly? Have you not deserved it
at His hands as Herod had done?

Furthermore, remember that Herod might have heard Christ hundreds of
times before if he had chosen to do so. Jesus was always to be found by
those who desired to listen to Him. He did not go sneaking about
Galilee, or holding secret conventicles in holes and corners. He always
spoke in the synagogue and Herod might have gone there. He spoke in the
street or by the seashore, or on the mountain side and Herod might have
gone there, too. Jesus stood out boldly before the people and His
teaching was public and free–if Herod had wished to hear Him, he might
have done so times beyond number! Therefore now, having despised all
these opportunities, the Savior will not furnish Him with another which
he would have treated in the same manner. He answers him nothing and by
so doing answered him terribly.

Beware how you use opportunities. Dear Hearers, beware how you use your
Sabbaths. There may come a day when you would give a thousand worlds
for another Sabbath, but it shall be denied you. There may come a day
when you would count out all your wealth to have another invitation to
Christ, but it will be denied you, for you must die and the voice of
Mercy will never ring in your ears again! They that will not when they
may, shall not when they could! Many will knock after the Master of the
house has risen up and shut the door. But when He shuts, no man opens.
The door was shut on Herod.

Observe that our Master had good reason for refusing to speak to Herod
this time, over and above what I have men-tioned–because He would not
have it supposed that He yielded to the pomp and dignity of men! Jesus
never refused an

answer to the question of a beggar, but He would not gratify the
curiosity of a king. Herod dreams that he has a right to ask whatever
impertinent questions he may choose to invent, but Jesus knows nothing
of men's rights in such a matter– it is all Grace with Him–and to Him
the prince upon the throne is not an atom better than the peasant in
the cottage! And so when Herod, in all his pride and glory thinks full
sure that Christ will pay deference to him and, perhaps, will pay him
court to win his favor, Jesus disregards him!

He wants nothing of the murderer of John the Baptist! Had Herod been
the poorest and most loathsome leper throughout all Judea. Had he been
the meanest beggar in the street who was lame or blind, his voice would
at once been heard by the Lord of Mercy! But He will not answer the
prince who hopes for homage at His hands, nor feed the idle wishes of a
crafty reprobate! What favor did He need at Herod's hand? He had not
come to be set free–He had come to die and, therefore, His face is set
like a flint, and, with heroic courage, He answers him not a word. Now,
then, you have seen frivolous curiosity at its best and you have seen
it disappointed, as it generally is to this day. If people come to hear
the Gospel out of this frivolous curiosity, they usually retire saying,
"Really, I do not see anything in it. We have heard nothing eloquent,
nothing profound, nothing outrageous."

Just so. There is nothing in the Gospel to please the luxurious, though
everything to bless the poor! Jesus answered Herod nothing and He will
answer you nothing if you are of Herod's order. It is the doom of
triflers that they should get no answer from the Gospel! Neither the
Scriptures, nor the ministry, nor the Spirit of God, nor the Lord Jesus
will speak with them. What was the result of this disappointment upon
Herod? Idle curiosity curdles into derision. He thinks Jesus is a fool,
if not an idiot, and he says so and begins to deride Him. With his men
of war he mocks Him and "set Him at naught," which signifies to make
nothing of Him. He calls his soldiers and says, "Look at this
creature–He will not answer a word to what I have to say–is He bereft
of His senses? Wake Him up and see."

Then they mock and laugh and jest and jeer. "Here," says Herod, "He
calls Himself a King! Bring out one of my shining white robes and put
it on Him! We will make a King of Him." So they put it about His
blessed Person and again heap insults upon Him. Was it not
strange–this decking Him in a gorgeous robe of dazzling white? The
mediaeval writers delight to dwell on the fact that Herod arrayed our
Lord in white and afterwards Pilate clothed Him in red. Is He not the
Lily of the valley and the Rose of Sharon? Is He not matchlessly white
for innocence and then gloriously red in His atoning blood? Thus, in
their very mockery, they are unconsciously setting forth to us both His
spotless holiness and His majestic royalty!

When they had insulted to their full, they sent Him back to Pilate,
kicking Him from foot to foot at their pleasure, as if He were a
football for their sport. Then our Lord made His fourth sorrowful march
through the streets of the city over which He had wept. That is what
idlers in the long run do with Christ–in their disappointment they
grow weary of Him and His Gospel and they cry, "Put Him away; there is
nothing in Him, nothing of what we looked for, nothing to satisfy
curiosity, nothing sensational; take Him away!" Away goes Jesus, never
to return, and that is the end of Herod and the end of a great many
more.

II. My time is nearly gone, but bear with me while, for a few minutes,
I try to set forth JESUS IN THE PRESENCE OF HEROD. Although no blows
are recorded, I greatly question whether our Divine Master suffered
anywhere more than He did in the palace of Herod. You and I, perhaps,
apprehend most easily the woe of the coarser sufferings when they
scourged Him and when they plaited the crown of thorns and put it upon
His head. But the delicate and sensitive mind of our Master was,
perhaps, more touched by what He suffered in the palace of Herod than
by the rougher torture. For, first, here is a Man fully in earnest for
the salvation of our souls–and in the midst of His grievous passion He
is looked upon as a mountebank and a mere performer who is expected to
work a miracle for the amusement of an impious court.

How it cuts an earnest man to the quick when he finds that, let him do
what he may, people do not sympathize with him in earnest, but are
coolly criticizing his style, or imitating his mannerisms, or admiring
his expressions as matters of literary taste. It is heart-breaking,
when your ardor makes you self-forgetful, to find others pecking at
trifles, or making your efforts into a kind of show. The Christ must
have been wounded in His very soul when He was treated as a mere
per-former–as if He had left the Father's bosom and was about to give
Himself to death and yet was aiming to amuse or to astonish! I know how
it saddens my Lord's servants when they preach their very hearts out,
to bring men to repentance, and the only result is to elicit the remark
that, "His arguments were very telling and that pathetic passage was
very fine."

There is a thorn in such chill words to pierce deeper than the crown of
thorns! Horrible indifference smites like the Roman scourge.

Then to think of our Lord's being questioned by such a fop as Herod! A
Man of earnest and intense soul, living for one thing only, and that
the redemption of mankind–is here worried by the foolish questions of
a man of the world! Were you ever in an agony of bodily pain, yourself,
and did some frivolous person call upon you and begin to torture you
with the most wicked nonsense and absurdities? Have you not felt that
his chatter was worse than the pain? It must have been so with Jesus.
When the ridiculous must question the sublime, the result is misery!
With the bloody sweat yet damp upon His brow and with the accursed spit
still defacing His blessed Countenance, the Man of Sorrows must be
tortured by the driveling of a heartless idler! With His heart all
bowed down under a sense of the awful penalty of sin, the great
Substitute for sinners must be molested by the petty small talk and
ribald jests of the meanest of mankind!

Solving eternal problems and building up an Everlasting Temple unto the
living God, He must be twitted by a vainglorious tetrarch; tormented
and tortured by foolish questions fit only to be asked of an impostor.
We think the Cross, itself, was not a worse instrument of torture than
the haughty tongue of this debauched monarch! Then the ribaldry of the
whole thing must have tortured our Lord. The whole of them gathered
round about Him with their hoarse laughter and coarse jests. He has
become a byword and a proverb to them. When you are merry, you can
enjoy merriment, but when the heart is sad, laughter is wretchedly
discordant and embitters your grief. Now this one laughs and then
another sneers–while a third thrusts out the tongue and they are all
uproariously jovial! In harmony they are all making nothing of Him,
though with awful earnestness He is lifting the world out of the slough
of despair and hanging it in its place, again, among the stars of
Glory!

Jesus was performing more than Herculean labors and these little
beings, like so many gnats and flies, were stinging Him! Small things
are great at torturing and these worthless beings did their utmost to
torment our Lord. Oh, the torture of the Master's spirit! Remember, it
was no small sorrow to our Lord to be silent. You tell me that He
appears majestic in His silence? It is so, but the pain of it was
acute. Can you speak well? Do you love to speak for the good of your
fellow men and do you know that when you speak, full often your words
are spirit and life to those who hear you? It will be very hard to feel
compelled to refuse them a good word. Do not imagine that the Lord
despised Herod as Herod despised the Lord. Ah, no! The pity of His soul
went out to this poor frivolous creature who must make sport of the
Savior's sufferings and treat the Son of the Highest as though He were
a court fool who must play before him.

The Savior's infinite love was breaking His heart, for He longed to
bless His persecutor and yet He must not speak, nor give forth a
warning word. True, there was little need for words, for His very
Presence was a sermon which ought to have melted a heart of stone–but
yet it cost the Savior a mighty effort to keep down the floodgates and
hold in the blessed torrents of His holy speech which would have flowed
out in compassionate pleading. Silent He must be, but the anguish of
it, I can scarcely tell. Sometimes to be permitted to speak a word is
the greatest comfort you can have. Have you ever been in such a state
that if you could cry out it would have been a relief to you? What
anguish, then, to be forced to be as a dumb man! What woe to be forced
to be silent with all these mockers about Him and yet to be pitying
them all!

As a man might pity a moth that flies into the flame of the candle and
will not be delivered, so did our Lord pity these creatures. How sad
that they could make sport of their own damnation, fling the salvation
of God to the ground and tread it down as swine tread down their husks!
Oh, it grieved the Master's heart! It moved His soul to its very
center. Think of the utter contempt that was poured upon Him. I do not
judge that this was the bitterest of His woes, for their contempt was
an honor to Him. But it was one ingredient of His cup of mingled
wormwood and gall that they should so despise Him as to clothe Him in a
white robe and mock His kingship–when on that kingship their only hope
was hung! They "set Him at naught," that is, put Him down as nothing,
jeered and jested at Him–and if there was nothing, even, about His
Manhood which they could respect–they invented ways by which they
could pour scorn upon Him.

Luke is the Gospel of the Man–if you want to read about Jesus in His
Manhood, read Luke–and there you will see how His very Manhood was
trampled in the mire by these inhuman creatures who found their joy in
despising Him! See, then, your Lord and Master, and let me put two or
three questions to you. Do you not think that this peculiar silence of
Jesus was a part of His anguish in which He was bearing the punishment
for your sins of the tongue? Ah me, ah me! Redeemed of the Lord, how
often have you misused your speech by wanton words! How often have we
uttered murmuring

words, proud words, false words, words of despite to holy things–and
now our sins of the tongue are all coming upon Jesus and He must stand
silent and bear our penalty!

And is it not possible that when they put the gorgeous robe upon Him,
He was bearing your sins of vanity, your sins of dress and pride when
you made yourselves glorious to behold and arrayed yourselves in
gorgeous robes and glittering apparel? Know you not that these things
are your shame? For had you had no sin, you would have needed none of
these poor rags–and may not the Christ in white and red be bearing
your sins of folly? And do you not think that when they were making Him
nothing and despising Him, He was, then, bearing our sins when we set
Him at naught with our words of despite and derision–and when,
perhaps, in our ungodly days we, too, made sport of holy things and
jested at the Word of God? Ah me, I think it was so and I ask you to
look at Him and say as you see Him there, "It is not Herod after all!
It is my tongue, my vanity, my trifling with holy things which caused
Him this exquisite torture! Lord Jesus, Substitute for me, let all
these transgressions of mine be put away once and for all by Your
meritorious passion."

Finally, we read that Herod and Pilate were made friends from that day
on and I hope if there are any here that are true-hearted Christians,
if they have had any ill-will towards one another, they will think it a
great shame that Herod and Pilate should be friends and that any two
followers of Jesus should not be friends at the sight of the suffering
Master! As for those two foxes, Pilate and Herod, they were tied, tail
to tail, that day by our great Samson! Our Lord has often been a point
of union for wicked men–not by His intent and purpose–but because
they have joined together to oppose Him. I have often smiled in my
heart to see how superstition and skepticism will march together when
they are anxious to oppose the Gospel. Then the Sadducee says, "Give me
your hand, dear Pharisee. We have a common interest here, for this Man
would overturn us all." The Gospel is the mortal enemy both of the
skeptical Sadducee and the superstitious Phari-see–and so they lay
aside their differences to assail it.

Now, then, if the wicked unite before our Lord Jesus when He wears the
white robe, should not His people much more be united, especially when
they remember that He said, "A new commandment I give unto you, that
you love one another." I charge you by your homage to Him you call
Master and Lord, if you have any difference of any sort with any
Christian Brother or Sister, let not yon sun go down till you have
ended it by hearty love for Jesus' sake! Let it be seen that Christ is
the great Uniter of all those who are in Him. He would have us love one
another even as He has loved us! And His prayer is that we may be one.
May the Lord hear that prayer and make us one in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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A Home Question and a Right Answer