Luke 23: What Kind of Encounter Are You Having with Jesus?

Introduction

"Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle done by him" (Luke 23:8). For Jean-Paul Burkhard, this is a key verse, and it challenges everyone: how did I come here this morning?

The message was given in Geneva during the worship service of October 11, 2026, hosted by Pastor Samuel. The preacher begins by reminding us that the building is not the Church: "We are the Church," living stones, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Then he asks his question: what kind of encounter are you having with Jesus? It is a personal question, but you need to look at what motivates it.

He moves through four passages: Luke 23, Psalm 146, John 12 and Colossians 2. The thread is the same from beginning to end: Jesus is not a show. He wants to meet you where you are, to touch your heart where it needs to be touched.

Outline of the message

1. Herod, the spectator who wanted a miracle

The verb "to see" used here, the preacher explains, means to observe closely, to look because you have an interest and want to get a little something out of it. The proof: Herod is overjoyed because he hopes for a miracle.
"Jesus, I am sorry to say it, is not a clown." Herod treats him as one. Jesus, for his part, had already said something else about Herod: he had called him "that fox" (Luke 13:32).
You may come to church with this same spectator attitude, just to see what happens. God is free, but wanting to meet Jesus is a risk, "rather a big one," because you place yourself before a person who will ask you to make a decision.
Jesus does not answer Herod's request.

2. Miracles do not guarantee your faithfulness

Israel came out of 430 years of slavery not by its own strength, but through the ten plagues that judged the gods of Egypt. Those plagues were extraordinary, and yet Israel was not faithful in the wilderness.
The people longed for "the fancy snacks of Egypt" and forgot the bricks, the straw taken away and a condition that kept getting worse.
"Living through miracles is no guarantee of your faithfulness in your walk with the Lord. We all have the same heart. It takes more than that." If your faith rests on a Jesus who performs miracles, it will not hold.
Do you come to glorify him, serve him and honor him, or to use him? The foundation is his work: he forgave you, he redeemed you at the price of his blood.
The Lord confronted Israel, weary of his table (Malachi 1:12-13). "If God's work wearies you, you are religious." Paul was worn out by persecution, but he was not worn out for God. "If you think God wears you out, you are the one wearing yourself out." Jesus calls those who are weary and burdened to take his yoke, gentle and light (Matthew 11:28-30).

3. Psalm 146: a God who gives himself without calculation

"Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God" (Psalm 146:5). "'Yahweh, his God' is already a whole sermon." The one who does not change has the power to deliver you.
He made heaven, earth and sea. He keeps faith forever, executes justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, frees prisoners, opens the eyes of the blind and lifts up those who are bowed down.
"Yahweh loves the righteous": not because of your own righteousness, but because of a righteousness that comes from the one who justified you, when you come to love him and offer yourself to him in worship.
"When you give yourself to the Lord, you give yourself to the Lord. When God gives himself for you, he gives himself for you." There is no hidden agenda for using God: that calculation is a losing one.
Yahweh watches over the foreigners. We are all strangers and pilgrims here below, citizens of heaven. Remembering the past is not meant to make us feel guilty, but to remind us of the dung heap from which we were lifted.
God reveals himself through his creation (Romans 1:20). You are not the product of chance: God wanted you in Christ, chosen from the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). He knows the hour you arrived and the hour you will depart. "What security!"

4. John 11 and 12: reading the text in its context

"A text taken out of context is only a pretext." Before John 12 comes the death of Lazarus, Jesus' friend. Being a friend of Jesus does not exempt you from trials: "as long as we are here below, we have to go through our trials."
"Jesus wept" (John 11:35). The preacher loves the humanity of Jesus: he is the resurrection, he knows he is about to raise Lazarus, and yet he weeps, because death is a tragedy. He weeps with those who weep.
In Bethany, before the Passover, Jesus eats at the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. Eating and marrying are not sins: in the days of the flood, life was going on as usual (Matthew 24:38). The danger is being "so spiritual" that you twist the Word and think you are above others.
Then comes the entry into Jerusalem: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" A week later, the crowd cries "Crucify him." "Do not seek the applause of the crowd, because sooner or later it will crucify you."

5. John 12: "We want to see Jesus"

Some Greeks who had come up for the feast approach Philip: "Sir, we want to see Jesus" (John 12:21). Greeks look for wisdom, Jews for miracles (1 Corinthians 1:22). For the preacher, it is "the same thing as Herod": seeing in order to test, for our own benefit, to get answers.
Jesus' answer disappoints many: "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified." This is not the glory of miracles, it is the glory of the cross: glorified, lifted up, raised.
"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24). "If anyone serves me, let him follow me." The preacher points back to the worship song: "Jesus, I will follow you." How far?
"Now my soul is troubled" (John 12:27). "Meeting Jesus will touch you right where it needs to touch." He fed the crowds, healed, did good, and all humanity gave him was a crown of thorns and a cross. "If there is anyone who can understand your distress, it is Jesus." He knew he had come for the cross, "not to play the clown."
A voice comes from heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." Jesus explains that it came for their sake. The preacher adds: because of their unbelief. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him (John 1:11).
"I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32). "Walk while you have the light": nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus was already saying it, and the darkness has advanced since then.
Then Jesus departs and hides himself from them (John 12:36). He has compassion on the crowds, but he is not a man of the crowd. He said what he had to say. "You cannot put him in a box."

6. Colossians 2: buried and raised with Christ

"Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead" (Colossians 2:12). Baptism does not save: the thief on the cross was not baptized. But it is "part of the process of salvation": "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16).
The preacher speaks to those who took communion without being baptized: "We are not here to judge you," but go and get baptized, or follow the baptism course while putting your life in order. He also encourages the young people present who are taking this course.
Physical circumcision foreshadowed the circumcision of the heart, the cutting away of the flesh. There is a struggle: the flesh has desires that are contrary to those of the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). If you are still fighting this battle, do not condemn yourself: it is the Holy Spirit telling you "stop." If you no longer feel it, that is serious.
You must watch and pray so as not to enter into temptation. "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts" (Galatians 5:24). The only merit the flesh has is to be crucified with its passions and desires. At some point you say "enough."
To take communion in order to be forgiven and then continue in sin, "you are in danger." The preacher does not want to trample underfoot the blood of the covenant by which "we have been sealed" (Hebrews 10:29).

7. The only show: the cross

God showed us grace for all our offenses. He wiped out the record that stood against us with its demands, and destroyed it by nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14).
"Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15). "There it is, the show."
At the cross, there was no crowd anymore: everyone had abandoned him. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). This show was staged before powers that were utterly defeated.
According to the preacher, the word translated "show" carries the sense of "example": what Jesus did is an example for us. "I want to die to myself in order to live in Christ."
Like a lamb, Jesus came to the cross with no defense at all (Isaiah 53:7). He carried your sin to set you free from it. "Are you continuing in sin? Stop."
The message ends with a call: "Prepare to meet your God" (Amos 4:12), because Jesus is coming back soon.

Key takeaways

You can come to Jesus as a spectator, like Herod, to watch and get something out of it. Jesus does not respond to that expectation: he is not a show.
Miracles do not guarantee faithfulness. The foundation of faith is the work of Jesus, who forgave you and redeemed you.
God gives himself without calculation. He expects you to give yourself to him in the same way, with no hidden agenda.
Jesus was glorified through the cross: the grain of wheat dies in order to bear fruit. Following him means accepting to die to yourself.
Baptism, communion and the fight against the flesh are not religious gestures: they are responses to the encounter with Jesus.

Personal application

With what attitude did you come to Jesus this week: as a spectator, to get something, or to serve him and glorify him?
Does your faith rest on what God does for you, or on what Jesus accomplished at the cross?
Does God's work wear you out? What burden do you need to lay down in order to take his, which is gentle and light?
"Jesus, I will follow you." How far are you ready to go, and in what area do you need to accept dying to yourself?
Is there a sin you need to say "enough" to, or a step like baptism that you are still putting off?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

Why did Herod want to see Jesus in Luke 23:8?

Herod had heard about Jesus and hoped to see him perform some miracle. According to Jean-Paul Burkhard, he came as a spectator, to get something out of it: he treated Jesus like a clown. Jesus does not answer this request, because he is not a show.

Are miracles enough to keep your faith?

No. Israel came out of 430 years of slavery through the ten plagues of Egypt, and yet it was not faithful in the wilderness. The preacher draws this lesson: living through miracles is no guarantee of your faithfulness in your walk with the Lord. The foundation is the work of Jesus, who forgave you and redeemed you.

What does the show of the cross mean in Colossians 2:15?

Jesus stripped the principalities and powers and made a public show of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Jean-Paul Burkhard stresses that Jesus is not a show for the crowds: the only show is the cross, where he stood alone, like a defenseless lamb, and which becomes an example for us.