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Herod and Pilate - a friendship made in - where?

TurquoiseTasticTurquoiseTastic Kerygmania Host
in Kerygmania
In Luke 23 8-12 Herod is unimpressed with Jesus and sends him back to Pilate. Luke says in verse 12 that Herod and Pilate became friends after this. My question - why? And why does Luke mention it?

Comments

  • March HareMarch Hare Shipmate
    I wonder about that. I'd definitely want to ask Luke about the evidence for that statement. And it's a very 'un-Luke-like' bit of commentary, so possibly a later interpolation?

    I can't see it myself: they're very different characters. I have a lot of time for Pilate, and tried to bring out his integrity and dilemma when I played him several times in Passion plays many years ago.
  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    edited 3:09PM
    Pilate had jurisdiction over Judea; Herod Antipas ruled Galilee.
    Jesus was a Galilean. By sending Jesus to Herod, Pilate was essentially saying:

    “This man is from your territory. I acknowledge your authority.”

    That mattered. Pilate and Herod had a history of tension—Josephus tells us Pilate had previously offended Herod by killing Galileans in the Temple. So Pilate’s gesture was a political olive branch.

    When Herod sent Jesus back Herod didn't challenge Pilate's authority, Herod did not interfere with the trial.

    Both men found a common cause in neutralizing a perceived nuisance. Both saw Jesus as politically insignificant, maybe religiously odd, but not worth a revolt or crackdown.

    Luke loves irony. The two become friends not because of justice, but because they both agreed Jesus was harmless.

    Herod and Pilate didn’t become friends because they liked each other.
    They became friends because Jesus gave them a moment of shared political convenience, and Luke uses that moment to underline the tragic absurdity of the trial.

    (This is just an interpretation, my interpretation. There may be others)
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