Day 89 | The King of the Jews

January 1, 2015 - WEEK THIRTEEN

Guercino, Christ Crowned with Thorns, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, [Public domain ], via Wikimedia Commons.

DAILY READING

Matthew 27:1-14
Mark 15:1-5
Luke 23:1-12
John 18:28-38
For Younger Disciples

CONSIDER AS YOU READ

  • If any of the accusations against Jesus were true, how would that have affected the atonement?
  • How do you deal with injustice? Are there times in your life when “answering nothing” is the proper response?

SUPPLEMENTAL READING

Whatever fear Herod had once felt regarding Jesus, whom he had superstitiously thought to be the reincarnation of his murdered victim, John the Baptist, was replaced by amused interest when he saw the far-famed Prophet of Galilee in bonds before him, attended by a Roman guard, and accompanied by ecclesiastical officials. Herod began to question the Prisoner; but Jesus remained silent. The chief priests and scribes vehemently voiced their accusations; but not a word was uttered by the Lord. Herod is the only character in history to whom Jesus is known to have applied a personal epithet of contempt. “Go ye and tell that fox,” He once said to certain Pharisees who had come to Him with the story that Herod intended to kill Him (Luke 13:31, 32). As far as we know, Herod is further distinguished as the only being who saw Christ face to face and spoke to Him, yet never heard His voice. For penitent sinners, weeping women, prattling children, for the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the rabbis, for the perjured high priest and his obsequious and insolent underling, and for Pilate the pagan, Christ had words—of comfort or instruction, of warning or rebuke, of protest or denunciation—yet for Herod the fox He had but disdainful and kingly silence. Thoroughly piqued, Herod turned from insulting questions to acts of malignant derision. He and his men-at-arms made sport of the suffering Christ, “set him at nought and mocked him”; then in travesty they “arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to Pilate” (Luke 23:11). Herod had found nothing in Jesus to warrant condemnation (James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1915, 589).

ADDITIONAL MEDIA


Jesus is Condemned
Before Pilate

FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES


To This End Was I
Born—Trial with Pilate

QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES

  • What did Jesus mean when he said that his kingdom was not of this world?
  • So you think Pilate believed him?