Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Who’s Really Ruling Your Heart? | The Gospels | Luke 22:66–23:25

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

What are you turning to for comfort, control, or affirmation? Why do those things never fully satisfy? And what does it look like to loosen your grip on lesser masters and trust Jesus instead? In today’s episode, Tanya shares how Luke 22:66–23:25 reveals the confrontation at the center of Jesus’s trial and the invitation to surrender to the only King who can truly give us rest. Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: Luke 22:66–23:25

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Usually we think of confrontations as heated or uncomfortable moments. How do you feel about confrontation? By the way, that's what I should have asked to start. Confrontations are usually one party addressing a fault or a problem that needs to be dealt with by the other party. And know that in Christian circles, confrontations are supposed to be seen as something that we look to to be restored. and good, and I do believe that. And I believe the Bible says that, but I also think they're really, really hard. Most of us avoid confrontation at all cost, because it usually brings to the light some issue or feeling we would rather not have to address. Well, today we're in the gospel of Luke. We're in the end of chapter 22, beginning of chapter 23. It's the trial of Jesus. But Luke helps us see this trial as kind of a confrontation that's happening in Pilate's own heart.

And when we look at it, we get to examine what is happening in Pilots' heart and think about what is happening in our own hearts and are we letting Jesus be the king of her lives? So that's kind of setting the table for where we are today. Now, the Gospel of Luke is written by someone who is insightful, he's direct, he's detail-oriented. I just love to read the Gospel of Luke. And if you haven't, you should just kind of take time to read it through from beginning to end. But in Luke's account of Jesus' trial before Pilate and Herod, we get information about feelings and power struggles and even the friendship that was formed between Pilot and Herod. in the middle of all of this.

Now to set the table for the trial of Jesus, Luke points out details that reveal the true intentions of those involved. First, this was the Passover just before the Sabbath, and some scholars believe the Jewish law would have prevented a trial on the Passover because it carried with it Sabbath-like rules and intentions. And the trial was also abrupt in nature, and that was not supposed to happen because this would avoid falsely accusing someone without due cause. Second, the trial took place in private.

It was at one of the chief priest homes, and the trials were supposed to be public. And third, it took place under the cover of night. Leaders hastily rushing here and there transporting Jesus from Pilot to Herod and back again in a way that was anything but customary or legal. Now, those details alone should give us pause. When we rush, when we hide, when we shrink from what is publicly acceptable, like what is happening here in this trial, when we avoid the light, we should recognize that a confrontation is happening in our own hearts. And by the way, we're handling it privately in the dark without letting

people speak into it. Evil is most likely winning. Now, there is only one person in this trial who is humble, who is truthful, who is faithful, Jesus, the light of the world is the only light in the darkness of this situation. When Pilate is looking for a reason to find him guilty, he asks, if you are the Messiah, tell us. And Jesus said to them, if I do tell you, you will not believe. And if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on, the son of man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Jesus knew the scriptures and the prophecy. He knew what was coming. He knew the physical suffering, and even more the spiritual weight of taking the punishment for our sin. But he also knew the outcome. He would be glorified, seated at the right hand of the father,

the true king who would come to save this world. But as Jesus said, the crowd, and especially Pilate, would not listen. In this battle between good and evil, they turned inward, outward, they turned anywhere, but toward the one who could offer the peace they were searching for. Pilate knew there was no lawful reason to punish Jesus, and the internal struggle he felt comes through clearly in Luke's account. The first time Pilate tried to release Jesus, he asked him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered, if you say so. Pilate told the chief priest in the crowd then that he found no grounds to charge him, but they insisted. So Pilate, knowing that Jesus was a Galilean, tried to pass the responsibility to Herod and had Jesus sent to him instead.

Now Luke tells us that Herod had been waiting to meet this man who he'd heard could perform miracles. And Herod kept asking him questions, but Jesus didn't answer. So Herod had him mocked and ridiculed. He asserted his earthly power over the one who had been quietly threatening that power for years. Then Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate. Pilate told the crowd he'd found no grounds again to charge Jesus and said he should be whipped and then released. But the crowd insisted, they cried out together. there to release Barabas instead and crucify Jesus. They were shouting, crucify him, crucify him.

So a third time, Pilate asked, what has he done wrong? But the crowd kept up the pressure, and their voices won out in Pilate's mind and in his heart. As Luke wrote, Pilate decided to grant their commands. Now, we look at all kinds of things. You and I do. We look at all kinds of things to answer our quandaries and our problems. Pilot looked to Heron. He look to the crowd, and in doing so, he fulfilled exactly what Jesus said at the beginning, that he would not believe or answer the one who could give him what he was searching for. We do the same thing. We look inward for confidence and courage, and we wonder why we feel anxious and overwhelmed. We look outward for affirmation, and we wonder, why do we still feel

insecure. We look to our phones when we want distraction and wonder why we feel overloaded and empty at the same time. We focus on everyone else's faults when we feel guilty and wonder why we still don't feel good enough. None of those offer a real solution. We circle right back to where we started. We're more secure, more isolated, more unsatisfied, and more confused, because every one of those took us further from Jesus instead of toward him. Other voices, like the crowd in Jesus' trial, will lead us further from the truth and light that come from listening earnestly to him.

The confrontation in Pilate's heart, and this trial held in the dark hours of the night, for shadow what the kingdom of God is all about. If Jesus is the king of the Jews, if he is who he says he is, then every earthly power gets pushed down. For Pilate and Herod that was threatening because it meant losing control.

It still is, and it still does. If you place your hope in yourself, you will fight that same battle every day. You'll keep looking for another voice, another answer, another source of confidence or comfort, and it will keep coming up empty. But faith is the decision to stop, to loosen the grip on other things that we've been running to, to abandon your addiction to lesser masters, and turn your full attention to the master who is at, actually worth it, the Son of God. When we pray your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, there is real comfort in those words. Because the Father, in his gracious and redeeming love, has chosen to give us his kingdom. He invites us to come under his rule. He invites us under a rule

that is always wise, always loving, always faithful, always true, and always good. And in doing so, he rescues us from the exhausting little kingdom that we've been trying to manage on our own. The call is to let go, to stop the addictive cycle of running to other things, to stop looking for other glories to make us feel good, and to stop looking at other people and their words to make our heart feel protected, and to stop looking at other distractions to make us feel free, and to come and worship and sit at the feet of the one who is, truly glorious.

Those other things are okay too, but they're not meant. They're not meant to fill those holes in our heart. Only Jesus is. And when we come to him, when we come to his feet, when we come to him in worship and in gratitude, that is where rest is. Not in the next answer you find on your own, but in the one who already has the final word. Lord Jesus, will you just silence our hearts so that we can hear your voice so that we can know your truth and so we can experience your light.

We ask this in your holy name. Amen.