It only took us eight days to go through Luke 22, so we’re moving on to Luke 23. The story is just going to get harder to chat about with our children. I pray that you don’t shy away from the hard truth but find the best way to share the story with your little ones.
Read: Luke 23:1-16
Notes:
- The Roman government did not allow Jewish leaders to decide about a criminal’s execution. So the Jewish leaders sent Jesus to Pontius Pilate.
- The Jewish leaders knew Pilate wouldn’t care about the religious issues so they made up false accusations that would bother Pilate.
- Stirs up the people
- Told them to not pay taxes
- Claimed to be king instead of Caesar
- Pilate didn’t think Jesus was guilty, so he passed Jesus to Herod because Jesus was from Galilee and that is where Herod ruled.
- Herod wanted to see Jesus perform a miracle so kept questioning him. If he had truly been sincere, he would have attempted to see him prior to his arrest because Jesus wasn’t preaching and teaching in hiding. There were plenty of chances for Herod to have seen him.
- Religious leaders hated Jesus, Pilate was too scared to stand up for what he knew was true, and Herod couldn’t take him seriously.
- Pilate tries Jesus again and finds him not guilty. But agrees to punish him and then release him.
- The punishment was chastising. This would have been a punishment of beating. The beating would be with a leather whip of many strands and those had bone or metal in the ends of each strand.
- Depending on your translation there is no Luke 23:17. “Now he was obliged to release one man to them at the festival.”
Discuss with Kids :
*Some questions will be repeated so we can learn and build off of each topic.
- Jesus Storybook Bible // A Dark Night in the Garden. Page 294
- What does it mean to falsely accuse another person?
- How can we make sure to stand up for what is right?
- What would have happened if Pilate was brave enough to share what he really believed? (Jesus’ being innocent)