Jesus was killed on political charges, and nothing else. Many people seem to think that Jesus ran afoul of the authorities because he committed blasphemy or offended the religious sensitivities of the Jewish leaders of his day (Pharisees, e.g.; or the Sadducees of the Sanhedrin; etc.). But in fact, the Romans didn’t care TWIT about Jewish blasphemy or about internal Jewish disputes about doctrine and/or practice. Moreover, the record is crystal clear what the charges against Jesus were. They were political in nature. He had been calling himself the King of the Jews. He didn’t mean it in a spiritual sense and the Romans didn’t interpret it in a spiritual sense. Being King meant being the political leader of the people of Israel. And only the Roman governor or someone the Romans appointed (like Herod) could be king. Anyone else who *claimed* to be king was usurping Roman prerogatives and was seen as a threat, or if not a threat, at least a public nuisance. Romans had ways of dealing with lower class peasants who were trouble makers and public nuisances. They crucified them.
Awesome message. I'm teaching on this message in a little while and have been struggling on how to tackle it. Watched and listened to a bunch of other messages but your message takes the cake. Thanks man!
