A Devotional Verse From The Gospel of Luke
And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.
Luke 23:2

     The accusation is that Christ was perverting the nation. Here are some of the things He taught: the One true God cares for all creation, and loves humanity so much that He sent His own Son into the world to be Savior to any who will believe, any, without regard to race, class, clan, height, width, or any other such label. Jesus taught that righteousness is a matter of the heart that leads to righteous behavior; that earthly death is not final, that life is eternal, and that God speaks to our world through His word about all these matters. He taught that serving other people is true greatness. Jesus taught that children matter, that the poor matter, that God expects sincere faith, and that those  with sincere faith in the Son that God sent  into the world are made into a new family: men, women, boys and girls, of all sorts and conditions. And Jesus taught that one day there will be a day of reckoning.

     Is that what they called perverting the nation? No, I think it's clear that what they were talking about was His claim to be Christ, Messiah; thus, the Savior, the Son of God and, as such, the One with authority regarding faith and living. For all the good that He did and taught there should not have been any condemnation of Him because the religious leaders of that day would have agreed to most of Jesus' teaching if it were lifted out of the context of having been done by Jesus. It was He, Himself, that they could not abide. His call to people to believe in Him is what they considered the perversion.Of course they tried to use the excuse that He was unpatriotic towards Rome telling people not to pay taxes calling himself a king, and as it were, setting himself up in opposition against Caesar.

     It's an interesting comparison to modern day people, isn't it? Because today's people latch on to the things that Jesus did and said that they like, and feel fits into their determination of life and lifestyle, but because He claims to be Christ, the Son of God, and speaks with authority calling them to live by the standards of His word, they too, reject Him as well: even to the point of saying some of the Bible's teaching regarding sin has perverted the thinking of those who follow it.

In 2000 years specific circumstances have changed, but the rejectors of Christ are much the same.