NOTES for Luk 23:1-25
Very recently we saw that Christ does not object to paying taxes to Caesar, but now false witnesses accuse Him precisely of forbidding people to pay the tax. The accusers themselves are by no means admirers of Roman power; they call a crime, and attribute to Christ, deeds they themselves would gladly have committed. Extremes, as often happens, meet, and those who present themselves as patriots and zealots for the faith of their fathers are ready to hand an inconvenient compatriot over to pagan occupiers for execution.
According to the evangelist's testimony, Pilate and Herod became friends with each other that day. It is strange to hear of friendship between rulers accustomed to being guided by principles other than personal sympathies. Just as strange is a friendship born in the commission of a crime. But perhaps even in their reconciliation the beneficial action of Jesus was felt? After all, the hostility of rulers affects their subjects through bloodshed and deprivation...
Pilate acts according to the "will of the people." That alone would have been enough for Christians to avoid using the pagan saying, "The voice of the people is the voice of God." Sadly, they do not avoid it, and to this day every superstition and false idea insists on its truth by appealing to the large number of those who share it. Those who see the truth often have to defend it while in the minority. But there is no need to fear this; Truth itself, knowing what it is to be in the minority, is our support.