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THE VIA CRUCIS / STATION 3
JESUS IS TRIED BY THE SANHEDRIN

Matthew 26:1-5, 57-68 (The Message) 1-2 When Jesus finished saying these things, he told his disciples, “You know that Passover comes in two days. That’s when the Son of Man will be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion.”
3-5 At that very moment, the party of high priests and religious leaders was meeting in the chambers of the Chief Priest named Caiaphas, conspiring to seize Jesus by stealth and kill him. They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. “We don’t want a riot on our hands,” they said.
57-58 The gang that had seized Jesus led him before Caiaphas the Chief Priest, where the religion scholars and leaders had assembled. Peter followed at a safe distance until they got to the Chief Priest’s courtyard. Then he slipped in and mingled with the servants, watching to see how things would turn out.
59-60 The high priests, conspiring with the Jewish Council, tried to cook up charges against Jesus in order to sentence him to death. But even though many stepped up, making up one false accusation after another, nothing was believable. 60-61 Finally two men came forward with this: “He said, ‘I can tear down this Temple of God and after three days rebuild it.’”62 The Chief Priest stood up and said, “What do you have to say to the accusation?” 63 Jesus kept silent. Then the Chief Priest said, “I command you by the authority of the living God to say if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” 64 Jesus was curt: “You yourself said it. And that’s not all. Soon you’ll see it for yourself: The Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Mighty One, Arriving on the clouds of heaven.” 65-66 At that, the Chief Priest lost his temper, ripping his robes, yelling, “He blasphemed! Why do we need witnesses to accuse him? You all heard him blaspheme! Are you going to stand for such blasphemy?”
They all said, “Death! That seals his death sentence.”
67-68 Then they were spitting in his face and knocking him around. They jeered as they slapped him: “Prophesy, Messiah: Who hit you that time?”

A very long time ago I took a class on Criminal Law and Procedure. The instructor, Professor Cohen, was one of the most popular and entertaining teachers I ever had. He was also probably the only Jewish teacher I ever was taught by (except by a certain Jewish carpenter and his followers). I still have my notes from that class, and never forgot one of his lessons.

Professor Cohen was very proud of the fact that much of the history and development of jurisprudence in Western Civilization was heavily influenced by Judaism, both ancient and modern. He did give a passing nod to Greek and Roman culture, but was pretty certain that they were only copying Jewish traditions. One day we were discussing how civilizations only survive from one generation to the next based on how well they adhere to the rule of law and truth, instead of the whims of demagogues, tyrants, doddering old kings and queens or a ruling class desperate to stay in power. (And we wonder why our country is in so much conflict.)

A student in class asked for an example and Professor Cohen became quiet for a moment, looked around the room and stated, “When you wrongfully convict an innocent man, it can cause all kinds of trouble, just ask the Jews and Romans about Jesus! We work hard to make sure that never happens again. Unjust Civilizations, and oppressive governments rarely live for more than a generation and never much more than two.”

If you want to, you can find up to eighteen (18) serious errors and outright violations of Mosaic law in the Sanhedrin’s trial of Jesus. Pilate’s hand washing hearing flouted all semblance of Roman justice as well. Having the trial at night, and virtually in secret, was a travesty. Witnesses could not agree, a bribe was paid for the betrayal of Jesus and even the verdict of blasphemy was not the charge passed on to Pilate for his review and sentence. The Sanhedrin changed the charge to treason for Pilate to rule on, of which there was no proof ever taken.

Of course, the verdict had been decided weeks before and the trial was rushed by the opportunity that Judas the Betrayer had provided. In their rush to kill Jesus, the Jewish leadership and Pilate’s Circus Court killed any semblance of the legitimacy of their governments. Indeed, from that moment forward in history all good government is only found in Jesus, for all government of mankind is forever placed on His shoulders. Isaiah 9:6. All other trials since this one whether just or corrupt, pale in significance.

When you can, fight injustice, stand up for the innocent, protect the victims, and plead the case for the orphan, the widow, the refugee, the foreigner, or the stranger in your midst. (Leviticus 19:34, Deuteronomy 10:18, Zechariah 7:10, Matthew 25:35) Work for good and Godly government, for this is the Lord’s work. If you do not, if you sneer at the truth or play politics for power, you may never have anyone to stand up for you.

Peace. Phil Parsons

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From Rodger:

You need to back up four paragraphs and read it again – especially this line:  “Unjust Civilizations, and oppressive governments rarely live for more than a generation and never much more than two.” 

Wow!  Talk about speaking prophetically!  It may not have applied to Rome at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, but think about the “powers that be” that were represented by the Sandhedrin; the priests, Pharisees, Sadducees;  those who held not only religious power (of an unlimited and truly oppressive nature) but also – as the toadies of Rome – held worldly, secular and economic power over the people of Palestine.  Do the math; how many ‘generations” were there between sometime like 33 – 36 AD and 70 AD?  That’s how long it took for that unjust civilization to essentially be annihilated.  In 70 AD, Rome had had enough of the “Jewish Problem,” so they sacked the temple, burned most of Jerusalem to the ground, and wiped out practically everything the Judaism of Jesus’ day held dear.  About the only thing left were the zealots under the leadership of Eleazar ben Ya’ir holed up at Herod’s summer palace atop Masada; and they would be gone by 73 AD when the Lucius Flavius Silva and the Roman X Legion finished their giant ramp and siege engine.  All of which pretty much bears out what Phil’s professor claimed above.

All of which reinforces a thought which I’m almost certain will make its way into my Palm / Passion Sunday sermon in a couple of days.  Recently I overhead a parishioner’s comment to another person: “I really liked today’s sermon, since he didn’t get “political.”  I wonder about a statement like that:  Do we really have any clue what Jesus was up to in Jerusalem that last week of his life among us?  Do we not realize that, if the Gospel isn’t political – in more ways than we are probably willing to admit – then it’s really not much of anything at all.

I just read a piece in the Presbyterian Outlook Magazine in which a life-long member of my church, child of a pastor, former church worker, and one of thousands of those currently being demonized and discriminated against by one action after another of the current administration.  In that, they said “Because I didn’t ask to be political. I didn’t ask to be forced to live my life in opposition. But I am not going to deny the person I am, the person God made me. I need you, who promised to love me fully, to stand with me in opposition to the hate and the vitriol and the terror being inflicted on so many people in and outside our congregations.  I know it is scary to sacrifice your comfort to stand up for someone else.  I know we hate rocking the boat or causing conflict amongst our members, but now is not a time to simply look past our differences. While you sit comfortably in your boats, I, like so many others, am drowning in the water. Will you rock your boat to pull me in with you? I am telling you there is something you can do. You have resources to help the many vulnerable people who are being hurt by Trump’s administration.”

Kind of amazing, isn’t it?  How all we have to do is look around to see history repeating itself right in front of our very eyes?  And if Holy Week isn’t “political?”  Then why bother actually figuring out what it means?