Luke 23:8-12 James McCleery

When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

What a circus of bullies! Here was king Herod, a royal disappointment to his own people as a king, wanting to be entertained by one of his subjects. He did not care to treat this man Jesus as royalty but rather seeing an opportunity to gain political favor wanted Jesus to perform something he had never seen before. He even tried to gain approval of the local religious leaders in lending his weight of authority to theirs by continuing the same line of questioning they had started. When Jesus refused to answer and give credibility to their lies the tactics of bullying now took a turn toward physical attempts of humiliation. At failing to gain Pilate and the once at odds bullies are united in a common cause against a new victim of their sadistic games, Jesus. What a true demonstration of how evils seeks the approval of others to gain affirmation of its own weaknesses and lies.