DAY #79: March 20, 2009 - Mark 14:53-72

By now it was very early Friday morning, before daybreak. Jesus was taken under guard from the garden back into Jerusalem. First he was questioned by Annas, the former high priest and father-in-law of Caiaphas. Annas had been Israel’s high priest from a.d. 6 to 15, when he had been deposed by Roman rulers. Then Caiaphas had been appointed high priest. He held that position from a.d. 18 to 37. According to Jewish law, the office of high priest was held for life, but the Roman government had taken over the process of appointing all political and religious leaders. Caiaphas served for eighteen years, longer than most high priests, suggesting that he was gifted at cooperating with the Romans.

After that preliminary hearing, Jesus was taken to the high priest’s home. That all the religious leaders had been speedily assembled shows that this was a trial by the Jewish council of religious leaders consisting of seventy members plus the high priest. Because of their haste to complete the trial and see Jesus die before the Sabbath, less than twenty-four hours later, the religious leaders first met in Caiaphas’s home at night to accomplish the preliminaries before their more formal meeting in the Temple at daylight. They finally had Jesus where they wanted him, and they were determined to accomplish their plans as quickly as possible.

The trial by the Jewish leaders had two phases. This first phase occurred during the night; then another meeting was held “very early in the morning” to satisfy a law that allowed trials only during the daytime. That meeting was a mere formality held at daybreak, during which the verdict was given and Jesus was led off to the Roman procurator for sentencing. The Jewish council was the most powerful religious and political body of the Jewish people. Although the Romans controlled Israel’s government, they gave the people power to handle religious disputes and some civil disputes; so the council made many of the local decisions affecting daily life. But a death sentence had to be authorized by the Romans.

Upstairs in the high priest’s palace, the leading priests and the entire high council (meaning the group of seventy-one leaders of the Jews—priests and respected men) assembled in the middle of the night to get this trial under way, but they had a dilemma on their hands. They were trying to find witnesses who would testify against Jesus, so they could put him to death, but they couldn’t find any—only false witnesses who contradicted each other.

The obvious conclusion should have been that Jesus was innocent of any crime. But this was not a trial for justice; it was a trial to accomplish an evil purpose. These leaders held a trial, in keeping with all the trappings of their law, while their whole purpose was to kill Jesus. Ironically, these religious guardians of the law were breaking one of the Ten Commandments, “Do not testify falsely” (Exodus 20:16).

Finally they found some men who would testify against him with a lie regarding Jesus’ words about the Temple. These men twisted Jesus’ words because their testimony, even on this same point, did not agree. Caiaphas, the high priest, was getting frustrated. Now his only hope was to get Jesus to say something that would give them evidence to convict him. The religious leaders had tried and failed on prior occasions to trap Jesus with trick questions; Caiaphas tried to make up in intimidation what was lacking in evidence. He asked Jesus to answer his accusers and then to explain the accusations against him.

Jesus refused to say anything. He had nothing to say to the group of liars who had spoken against him, and he had no reason to explain a bunch of false accusations. So he made no reply. With Jesus’ silence, the court proceedings ground to a halt. But Caiaphas had another tactic up the sleeve of his priestly robe. He decided to ask Jesus point blank, “Are you the Messiah?”

The council must have held its collective breath in anticipation. Here was the question that could make or break the entire plot. Would Jesus outright claim to be the Messiah, the Son of the blessed God? We may wonder why Jesus refused to answer the first question and then chose to answer this one. Matthew’s account points out that Caiaphas put Jesus under oath so that Jesus would be forced to answer by law (Leviticus 5:1); thus he would be forced to incriminate himself. Caiaphas’s action was unlawful in trial proceedings, but no one voiced that fact to him. As mentioned above, this trial had nothing to do with justice; it was merely a ploy to get rid of Jesus.

To the first questions, Jesus made no reply because the questions were based on confusing and erroneous evidence. Not answering was wiser than trying to clarify the fabricated accusations. But if Jesus had refused to answer the second question, it would have been tantamount to denying his deity and his mission. So Jesus answered without hesitation, “I am.” The two words, “I am,” both answered the high priest’s question and alluded to Jesus divinity.

Blasphemy was punishable by death (Leviticus 24:15-16). “Why do we need other witnesses?” asked Caiaphas without expecting any answer. Jesus had incriminated himself. Caiaphas asked for their verdict. The Jewish leaders had the evidence they wanted, so they all condemned him to death. Next some of the members of the council acted in a most brutish way. Jesus was blindfolded, and they took turns hitting him and then asking him to tell who it was that hit him. When they finished with Jesus, the guards came and also beat Jesus. Yet even this had been prophesied in Scripture (Isaiah 52:14). Jesus suffered great pain, humiliation, and brutality to take away our sin.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

I am so very humbled. Jesus was brutalized for my sin.

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

Isaiah 53:3-10 (NIV)

What is my response to the price paid for MY sin?

"We try to live in such a way that no one will ever be offended or kept back from finding the Lord by the way we act, so that no one can find fault with us and blame it on the Lord. 4 In fact, in everything we do we try to show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure suffering and hardship and trouble of every kind." 2 Corinthians 6:3-4 (LB)

"We stand true to the Lord whether others honor us or despise us, whether they criticize us or commend us, or even when they call us liars." 2 Corinthians 6:8 (LB)