You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Hey there, Sprouts.

Today is Wednesday, March 31st, 2021.

Today is also Wednesday of Holy Week.

Now, all week on the Catholic Sprouts podcast, we are meditating on the final day of Jesus' earthly life. And according to the Jewish understanding,

that day started at sunset. First, we had the Last Supper with the institution of the Eucharist

and washing of feet. Yesterday, we talked about the agony in the garden, the betrayal of Jesus by his

closest followers, his arrest in the garden, and his trial

before the high priest. So that all happened in the middle of the night. Today's events,

which are the trials before Pilate and Herod, these happened in the early morning. So we hear that as soon as the sun comes up, the high priest takes Jesus and goes to the Roman authority in Jerusalem, who is Pontius Pilate.

Now first, why did the Jews take him to the Romans?

Well, remember, Rome controlled Jerusalem. Rome was an empire. They were

going out all around the world, conquering places and controlling them, and Jerusalem had been

conquered. So the Romans were in charge. Also, the Jews didn't have the authority to put someone to

death. If they wanted to put someone to death.

If they wanted to kill someone, they needed to involve the Romans.

Also, the Romans, they weren't concerned about Jewish law.

The high priest had condemned Jesus because he claimed to be the Messiah, and they said

that was blasphemy, and someone needed to be put to

death for that sin. But this meant nothing to the Romans. They didn't care about the Jewish

religion. So in order for the Romans to be convinced that Jesus needed to be put to death,

they needed to make him into a political threat. The only thing that the Romans cared about was their power, and they were more

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