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Continuing our analysis of the penultimate chapter of Luke’s Gospel, this week, please read verses 3-12. If possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 23:8-11 (NLT)
‘Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer. Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations. Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.’
For most people under the age of 25, it is seemingly impossible to survive in this world without a smartphone and social media. The Internet was originally intended to be a system of communication that could be sustained even if vast numbers of computers were destroyed or inaccessible. The communication would just be re-routed via other computers all connected in one huge network. It was also to be used as a means of sharing the power of one computer with the user of another less equipped computer. For example, if I had a very low-powered computer in my office, I could actually tap into the much greater resources available in huge universities the other side of the world. These days, everyone has immense computing capability contained in a small device that is carried in their pockets wherever they go. Mobile phones have transformed people’s lives like nothing else ever has.
Take a walk down any street in any town and you’ll see countless people walking along with their heads down, staring at their phones. Many people are so addicted to the things that they get withdrawal symptoms if their device is unavailable for even short periods of time. They use the phone for almost everything. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that most youngsters would be unable to find their way around without some form of navigation app telling them which turn to take. Every purchasing decision they have to make is researched on the internet and will only buy something that has been highly recommended by their peers. Every aspect of their life is ‘on-show’ to the whole world and this leads to a huge amount of pressure. There is a constant demand to look good and to be liked. Many young people are driven to desperate lengths just so that their Facebook post is liked by enough people. They tell the world what they are eating, they inform everyone where they’re going and with whom. I saw a photo of someone the other day, and despite knowing this person for many, many years, I just did not recognise them. Whenever a photograph is taken, in order to always look good, there have to be filters applied. I spoke with one person recently who was horrified at the prospect of having a picture posted that hadn’t been doctored in some way. It seems that no-one wants to be seen as they really are.
Yesterday, we read of Herod being keen to meet Jesus and that while the priests were accusing Jesus, Herod was seemingly content just to ask Jesus questions with the hope of seeing some miracle. Jesus didn’t speak and wouldn’t ‘perform’ for Herod and at that point, Herod’s ‘Instagram filter’ was switched off. He was then seen in his true colours. Jesus’ lack of cooperation made Herod too angry to release Jesus and he was too scared to condemn Him to death. We see Herod as he really is in the way he treated Jesus. He mocked the King of kings by placing a royal robe on Him and sent Him back to Pilate.
Jesus sees us all as we really are. We can’t apply any filters. May we all guard our hearts against all forms of pretence and come before God in honesty and humility.
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