Pilate had found no guilt in Jesus and said so to His accusers. They had wanted the death penalty and had been thwarted by Pilate. Pilate recognized the powder keg he was sitting on and it”™s potential to explode, and the wick was about to be lit.

Then the Jewish leaders gave him an apparent “˜out”™:

(NASB) Luke 23:5-7 “But they kept on insisting, saying, “˜He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place.”™

6 When Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.

7 And when he learned that He belonged to Herod”™s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that time.”

The Jewish leaders were thwarted in their intensity against Jesus when Pilate sent Him to Herod, the king of Israel.

How do religious leaders “˜see”™ Jesus today? Perhaps as the Jewish leaders did, as a threat to their beliefs, perhaps causing fear and they maintain a defensive attitude.

In what area of your life do you perceive Jesus Christ as a threat to your ideas, desires or way of life?

(NIV) Psalm 34:4-6, 8 “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

5Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

6This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.

8Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”

The LORD yearns for you to “˜Taste and see”™ that He is good and is a safe place in which to take refuge. An “˜attitude of defensiveness”™ can be put aside and replaced with trusting the LORD in your circumstances.