At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. “If you are the Christ,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I ask you, you will not answer.”
Luke 22: 66-68 (NIV)
Scripture: Matthew 26: 57-67
After Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was placed on trial before the high priests, and the Sanhedrin. Unfortunately, many problems occurred in the trials. This devotion will explore how the three religious trials were not fair trials.
Don’t you love these guys? Here are the chief priests and teachers of the law – the guys who are the head honchos. Jesus is before them, and they say, “Just tell us.”
Jesus responses with, “What I say won’t matter a hill of beans. You wouldn’t believe Me if I tell you the truth.”
Who were these people that were brought Jesus to trial? Why didn’t He think He would get a fair trial? Since He had three religious trials, you would think one of them would have been fair.
What Was the Sanhedrin?
The Sanhedrin was also referred to as the Great Sanhedrin because there was also a Lesser Sanhedrin. Not only did the Great Sanhedrin have more members (71 as opposed to 23), but it also had fewer councils (there was only one Great Sanhedrin while there was a Lesser Sanhedrin in every city).
The Sanhedrin Religious ruled on religious matters (Num. 11: 16). The Sanhedrin Political, made up of priests, Levites, and what we would call aristocrats, ruled on political matters. This is where Jesus ended up.
The Lesser Sanhedrin ruled on most cases with capital punishment. Still, neither could sentence someone to death penalty. (That is why Jesus had to go before Pilate and Herod.) They would have gotten in T-R-O-U-B-L-E if they would have sentenced Him to die.
Jesus’ “Trial”
We aren’t really told what went down when Jesus had Trial #1 before Annas, who used to be high priest and was known for his cruelty. We do know that He shouldn’t have been tried in someone’s home (problem #1) at night (problem #2).
Trial #2 was before Caiaphas, the current high priest. It was at his home at night, also. We know this because Matthew 26: 57 says that the scribes and elders were there, too. (We’ll consider that extensions of problem #1 and problem #2).
Was Jesus really going to get a fair trial here when it was “… Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people” (Jn. 18: 14 NKJV)? I don’t think so!
Trial #3 was before the Sanhedrin. Yep, it wasn’t supposed to meet at night either (problem #2 — again) but they did (Mt. 26: 57-58; Mk. 14: 53-55). They tried to get around that by sentencing Jesus in the morning (Mt. 27: 1; Mk. 15: 1). Also, they were not supposed to try anyone during a festival (problem #3). It was Passover.
The Sanhedrin broke their own rules because they were afraid of the reaction of the people (Mt. 21: 46). Remember how the crowd had rejoiced on Sunday when Jesus entered Jerusalem? The members of the Sanhedrin wanted to get Jesus convicted and executed before could riot.
To read How Quickly the Crowd Changes, click the button below.
The trial in front of the Sanhedrin should never have happened. Remember a couple of paragraphs ago we said that the Lesser Sanhedrin heard the capital punishment cases? That was the penalty for blasphemy (Lev. 24: 15-16), of which Jesus was accused. Jesus was in front of the wrong court (Problem #4).
Instead of being innocent until He was proven guilty, Jesus was beaten before He was even brought before the Sanhedrin (Lk. 22: 63-65) (problem #5). When He was brought before them, they tried to find evidence to support their claims (problem #6), not convict Him on evidence they already had.
However, the Sanhedrin was having trouble with its witnesses. Remember, Jewish law said “… Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established” (Deut. 19: 15 ESV).
The problem that was occurring was the witnesses were saying different things. That is what happens when you make up stuff on the fly (Mk. 14: 56). Not only that, but what they were saying weren’t enough to warrant the death penalty (Mt. 26: 59-60; Mk. 14: 55-56). Finally, they established the charge as Jesus was going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days (Mt. 26: 61).
The Questions
Really, Jesus was only asked two questions. He shouldn’t have been asked them but was to incriminate Himself (problem #7). The first was, are You the Christ? The second was, are You the Son of God?
Rabbit time — where was Jesus’ lawyer? Why did He not have the representation He was supposed to have (problem #8)?
Back on track. Did His accusers really want to know the answers? No, they just wanted to convict Him. They weren’t going to see if He really was Who He said He was. So, they really weren’t asking in a lawful spirit (problem #9).
Talk about loaded questions. In the minds of the members of the Sanhedrin, Jesus could only answer one question “yes,” but not both. I am sure what was going through their minds was, “Will He commit treason or blasphemy?”
Their first question was asking Jesus if He was the Messiah — Who, they thought, He claimed to be. They would say the answer was a resounding “no,” because He definitely did not fit their bill of the military Messiah for which they were looking. Of course, if He did say “yes,” that would get Him in trouble with Rome.
To read What Were the Israelites Expecting in a Messiah?, click the button below.
The more important second question asked if He was God — Who He was. If the members of the Sanhedrin were to answer for Jesus, it would be with a resounding “no.” If they thought there was even a remote chance of Jesus being Messiah, they didn’t believe the Messiah would be God.
Jesus' Answers
We get a little discrepancy between the gospels as to whether Jesus answered the first question. Matthew 26: 63 and Mark 14: 61 say He ignored this question. I can see that – it wasn’t the most important question. He waited until the charge was complete to answer.
Luke 22: 67-68 and John 18: 20-21 showed Jesus answering with sass. John didn’t record the question. Part of Jesus’ answer that he recorded was, “Excuse me, you heard what I said in the temple.”
Luke kind of put the two questions together in His account. When asked the first question, Jesus not only said, “Whatever I say, you won’t believe,” but added the answer to the second question. Matthew (26: 64), Mark (14: 26), and Luke (22: 69) wrote Jesus said some version of “…And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mk. 14: 26 NKJV).
Look at the Drama King. The high priest tore his own clothes (Mk. 14: 63). That was problem #9. Leviticus 21: 10 says, “The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the garments, must not dishevel his hair or tear his garments” (HCSB).
But because of the drama, did they take a vote? No, they just proclaimed Jesus was guilty. Problem #10 was they were required to take a vote.
The Verdict
The Sanhedrin sentenced Jesus to death — which they did not have the authority to do (problem #11). Even if they would have had the authority to rule for death penalty, it shouldn’t have been carried out as quickly as it was (problem #12). They were required to wait a night — not a few hours like they did — before the execution was to take place.
How Do We Apply This?
A somewhat typical reaction of some nonbelievers is to not believe the it plan of salvation. You can lay it all out, have all your ducks are in a row. Every point they bring up is counterpointed.
So, everything is right there in front of them. All they have to do is believe.
But they refuse to believe. It almost feels like they are saying, “Tell us, but it won’t change our minds.”
Jesus also said, “If I ask you, you won’t answer.” Well, it seems like everyone has an answer these days – all the way from the Big Bang Theory to evolution. Every answer – but the correct answer.
These answers are proffered because they won’t accept the correct answer. If they agree God created the world, then they would have to accept Him as a Supreme Being. They won’t do that because then they would have to let Him have control of their lives.
But, you know. It doesn’t matter what we think or don’t think. Jesus was God. Jesus is God. Always has been. Always will be. With or without us. What we think or don’t think doesn’t change that. Our rejecting Him won’t make Him “less” God.
Acts 2: 23 says, “Though He was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail Him to a cross and kill Him” (HCSB). The Sanhedrin and the Romans were just the instruments that carried out God’s plan. His plan is going to be accomplished.
Because of us. For us.
Great Three in One. You don’t need us. Our adoration of You adds nothing to Your greatness. But You want relationships with us. You wanted relationships with us so much, You sent Your Son to die for us. Forgive us for our unbelief. Forgive us for our refusal to allow You to control our lives. Thank you that Jesus is even now preparing a place for us in heaven. Amen.
If you have not admitted that your relationship is not right with God,
have not asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior,
and have not confessed your sins,
please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
What do you think? What part of Jesus’ trial disturbs you the most and why? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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