The Charges Against Jesus

from Google Images

After finding Jesus guilty of blasphemy, a verdict requiring death under the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 24:16), the Sanhedrin, immediately, brought Jesus to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate (Luke 23:1; cf. 3:1), because, under Roman Law, the Jewish authorities had no right to execute anyone for a crime (John 18:31).

 

Should We Pay Tribute to Caesar?

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Everybody loves a debate between friends and enemies they know. Presidential debates in the United States are some of the most watched of televised controversies. The Kennedy-Nixon debates preceding the 1960 Presidential Election are probably the most famous in modern times, and may even be responsible for our present interest in seeing the presidential candidates go toe-to-toe in taking on the important issues that face the leaders of our world today. The problem is that most politicians, while making a great show of answering these questions, in reality evade taking a stand on any of the issues, because they fear what effect their words will have on the electorate. In other words, they fear the people. Such was true in Jesus’ day, as well, except for one thing. Jesus went toe-to-toe with his accusers and didn’t evade anything. It cost him his life, but the Gospel narratives show that Jesus did, indeed, stand for something, unlike what we see today in American politics or in 1^st century AD Judaism.

 

Hatred Toward Jesus and the Publicans

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As far as the collection of taxes was concerned, the official responsible to Rome during the time of Jesus, would have been Herod Antipas for Galilee and Peraea. Matthew would have been one of Herod’s agents. In matters dealing with Judea and Samaria, the official agent responsible to Rome for collecting taxes would have been either Pilate or the president of Syria, and Zacchaeus would have been one of his agents. It seems, however, that the text places a greater responsibility upon Zacchaeus than upon Matthew, who may have been responsible for only a specific location in or near Capernaum. Zacchaeus, on the other hand, seems to have been the taxing authority in Jericho, and, no doubt, he had other taxing agents working under his authority. These agents would have been responsible to him, but he was responsible to the Roman authority accountable for collecting taxes for Rome.

 

Zacchaeus, the Chief Tax Collector

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Who is Zacchaeus? His name is a form of Zechariah, which means righteous one. We find him only in Luke’s Gospel account, and then only in Luke 19. We are able to understand that he at least heard about Jesus, if he hadn’t already met him. He is a short man, and, because he cannot see Jesus passing by, he ran ahead of the disciples in order to climb a tree and thereby get a glimpse of Jesus over the heads of the crowd, as Jesus and his disciples passed by. One has to wonder what this is all about. It seems from the text that the Lord looked for him, because he says he must stay at his home overnight, as though he had a prior appointment with him.