349. TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION
"He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter"
The Apostle Paul wrote that € Christ Jesus € before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession € . There was in fact a series of trials, none of which revealed any sin or crime on the Lord € s part. Each was a mockery of justice. So he was taken, as an innocent Lamb to the slaughter, and by wicked hands, crucified and slain. It was € their hour and the power of darkness € . While the Father above allowed them to do their evil deed, He showed His pleasure by strange signs, and provided an honourable burial for His beloved Son.
The aim of this lesson is to show how great the love of God is for us in giving His Son as an offering for our sins; and to show how great were the trials and hence the obedience of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, that he might be perfect.
Matthew 26:57-75; 27:1-61; John 18:28-40; 19:1-18
TRIALS BEFORE JEWISH ELDERS-
First Trial: Before Annas (Jn.18:13, 19-24).
The trial of Jesus took place in six stages, three before the Jewish elders and three before the Gentile authorities. Only John records the firsts stage which was before Annas, who though deposed as High Priest by the Romans, received recognition among the Jews (e.g. Lk. 3:2; Acts 4:6). He was immensely rich and powerful and head of the Sanhedrin. Annas asked him of his disciples and doctrine. Jesus referred him to those who had heard him, for as he pointed out, he had spoken openly wherever he had gone. For this he was smitten by one of the officers. The first blow thus fell on his cheek. It was the first of many which would disfigure those noble features until he was € marred more than any man € (Isa.52:14). Annas then bound Jesus and sent him to Caiphas (v.24).
Second Trial: Pre-Dawn Trial Before Caiaphas (Matt. 26:57-68).
The arrest of Jesus probably occurred in the early hours after midnight (cp. Jn. 18:3; Matt. 26:43, 74; 27:1). So Jesus was brought to trial before Jewish elders in the cold, dark, fore-dawn hours. Such a trial was illegal as no capital cases were to be considered after sunset. Caiaphas had summoned a large number of loyal elders to be present to fabricate a charge € to put him to death € . They had passed their judgement before hearing the evidence.
A number of false witnesses testified but confusion reigned for they contradicted each other (cp. Deut. 17:6-7; 19:15-21). At length two came forward saying that Jesus had claimed he could destroy and rebuild the temple in three days. It seems that they were misrepresenting an earlier statement of the Lord (Jn. 2:19). Their statement amounted to sacrilege and sorcery. Both of these charges could have been used to secure the death penalty by Jewish law. But Caiaphas needed more than that, for what did Pilate care about sacrilege and sorcery? There must be a more dangerous charge than that. Caiaphas was desperate. Time was going and nothing was emerging. In a few hours the Passover pilgrims would be filling the streets and flocking into the courts looking for the prophet from Galilee. The High Priest was in danger of losing his prisoner. The strained atmosphere was heightened by the silence and detachment of the prisoner. It was a bat tle of character.
The Lord stood composed and resolute in the midst of their frantic disarray. Caiaphas gibed at Jesus for not responding to the charges, but he held his peace (cp. Prov. 26:4; Isa. 53:7). Feeling the strain, the high priest resorted to the law of adjuration, "Tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God" (Matt. 26:63; cp. Lev. 5:1). Jesus' reply was a straightforward confirmation, combining the warnings of both Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13: "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven". Here was the confession Caiaphas wanted: he could now charge Jesus with blasphemy before the Jews and treason before the Romans. He led the elders in an emotional outburst. Rending his clothes, he charged that in the light of such "blasphemy" they had no further need of witnesses! Rending garments, though an approved gesture of dissociation from blasphemy, was forbidden for the high priest (Lev. 21:10)! Thus Caiaphas, standing before the true High Priest (who, in the terms of Psalm 110 so recently quoted, would van quish his enemies and establish a new Melchizedek Priesthood), tore asunder the garments of his office and unwittingly disqualified himself! Yet for the moment his action brought its intended result. Those present rose up like puppets and pronounced the Lord "guilty of death". Then they spat upon him, buffeted his meek form, and mocked his claims. Scripture and the power of God was confirmed by these actions (Matt. 20:17-19; Mk. 10:33-34; Isa. 50:5-8).
Third Trial: Formal Sentencing Before Sanhedrin At Sunrise.
Both Matthew and Mark make it clear that at sunrise a more formal and full assembly of the 70 elders was called to ratify the decision (Matt. 27:1; Mk. 15:1; Lk. 22:66). They confirmed the death sentence, but since they had not the power to inflict it, they sent Jesus bound to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate (Jn. 18:31).
TRIALS BEFORE GENTILE AUTHORITIES €
First Trial: First Appearance Before Pontius Pilate.
It was no accident that the Son of God was brought before the Gen tile authorities. All flesh had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It was fitting, therefore, that Jew and Gentile should be ac complice in the greatest sin of human history (Rom. 3:9, 20, 23).
Moreover, scripture had foretold that they would. In Psalm 2 (quoted in Acts 4:25-26 and given an application to the first coming), it is declared that Jew and Gentile rise up and take counsel against the anointed (vv.l, 2). Scripture and Jesus had foretold that he would die by being "lifted up" € a form of death carried out by the Romans (Jn. 3:14; 12:32-33; Isa. 11:10), as distinct from the Jewish method of stoning (cp. Jn. 18:30-32).
Pontius Pilate's imperious manner had already riled the Jews; his inadequacies had been reported in Rome. He could lose his position if another major upheaval occurred. Thus, although Pilate could find no fault in Jesus, he wanted "to content the people" (Lk. 23:4; Mk. 15:15). In his Judgment Hall he continued to question Jesus who had been charged with a "perverting of the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King" (Lk. 23:2). These charges were very serious, and Pilate, bearing in mind his own tenuous hold on power, could ill afford to treat them lightly. Yet he did not want to yield to their demands because he knew that "for envy they had delivered him" (Mk. 15:10). He could scarcely believe that the battered and humble figure before Him was a mover of sedition! Besides this, his wife had brought him strange tidings, pleading that he should have no part in putting to death "this just man" for she had "suffered many things this day in a dream because of him".
After Pilate had questioned Jesus, as recorded at length in John 18:33-38, he passed his verdict, "I find no fault in him" (Jn. 18:38; Lk. 23:4). But the Jews reacted vehemently, "He stirreth up the peo ple, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee unto this place" (Lk. 23:5). When he found that he was a Galilean, he took op portunity to temporize. He would send him to the adjacent building to be tried by Herod Antipas. It was a fatal mistake. From that moment Pilate had become a tool of the priests, and no struggling would save him now. Under their pressure he had reopened the trial that was judicially over.
Second Trial: Before Herod (Lk. 23:8^12).
Only Luke records this incident. Herod Antipas, "that fox", sought to satisfy his curiosity about Jesus of whom he had heard so much. He hoped to see a miracle. Jesus' disdain for this evil and sen suous man is shown by his silence: "he answered him nothing" (v.9; Lk. 13:32). Piqued, Herod set his men of war upon Jesus, who mock ed his claims to royalty by placing kingly garments on him (cp. Mk. 9:33-35; Isa. 52:14; 53:3)! So Jesus was returned to Pilate and Pilate and Herod "were made friends together".
Third Trial: Second Appearance Before Pontius Pilate (Matt. 27:15-24; Lk. 23:13-25; Jn. 18:33; 19:16).
Justice could not now be expected from Pilate. He had changed his mind once and it was only a matter of time before he would yield fur ther to the pressure of the Jews. He attempted to put Jesus forward as the prisoner to be released at Passover, for such was the custom. But the people, moved by the chief priests, refused the offer and cried out for Barabbas who had been condemned for murder and insurrection against Rome, the very crime they had baselessly brought against Christ (Mk. 15:7; cp. Isa. 53:12; Mk. 14:48)! John's record gives the details and shows the personal turmoil of the Governor as he strove to avoid the guilt of slaying an innocent man. In order to please the Jews, he had Jesus scourged. The soldiers mocked him and crowned him with thorns and dressed him in a purple robe (Jn. 19:1-3). This done, Pilate brought the beaten man before the Jews, and appealing to their humanity, said, "Behold the man!" But there was no pity. Fearing lest Pilate should weaken, the chief priests and officers cried for his blood, "Crucify him, crucify him".
Then they perceived a strategem. They would insinuate that he was disloyal to Rome if he let Jesus go; "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar (Jn. 19:12). Faced with this challenge to his allegiance to Rome, Pilate, despite his many statements of Jesus' innocence, yielded to the Jews and delivered Jesus to be crucified (Matt.. 27:24).
"He took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, say ing, 'I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it'." It was a pathetic attempt to absolve himself from the crime his weakness had sanctioned. But the stain of sin cannot be so easily removed.
Others were more than willing to accept the guilt: the Jews said, "His blood be on us and on our children" (Matt. 27:24-25). It was a terrible prophecy: the sufferings of the Jews over the past 1900 years have their birth in the rejection of the Messiah.
CRUCIFIED!
To picture the Roman soldiers driving large nails through the hands and feet of the Lord into the timber of the stake, fills one with righteous indignation. He was crucified at 9 a.m. (Mk. 15:25), outside the walls of the city at a place called "Golgotha" (or Greek "Calvary"), meaning "The Place of a Skull" (Heb. 13:12; Lev. 16:27; Mk. 15:22; Lk. 23:33). For his thirst they offered him an un palatable mixture of vinegar and gall (Matt. 27:34; Psa. 69:21). They also crucified two thieves and placed them, one on his right hand, and one on his left (v.38; Isa. 53:12; Lk. 22:37). All joined in to ridicule the Son of God. Among his mockers were barbarous Roman soldiers, the vicious taunting priests, passers-by, and even the two thieves crucified with him (vv.36, 39, 41, 44; cp. Psa 22:6-8). After distributing his garments the soldiers sat down to watch him, like a group of savage dogs gloating over their prey (vv.35-36; Psa. 22:16-18). Pilate wrote a title "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews" and set it on the cross by Jesus' limp and bleeding body (Jn. 19:19-22). The Jews wanted to rob the statement of its power by making Pilate add the words, "he said . . . ". But Pilate with belated courage dismissed them.
The reviling failed to provoke retaliation (cp. 1 Pet. 2:23; Isa. 53:7). Jesus' mind turned to the hope of converting those who vented their hate: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Lk. 23:34). He gave a gracious promise of salvation to the repentant thief; he also made thoughtful provision for his grief-stricken mother (Lk. 23:43; Jn. 19:26-27). Such a love for others in the face of shame and suffering leaves the beholder wondering at the obedience of the Son of God Surely he is our example; "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts" (Gal. 5:24). Jesus' actions honoured his Father: God's will was done and the flesh shown to be rightly related to death (Jn. 12:27, 28; Rom. 3:25-26).
Though it was God's will that he should die, He revealed His displeasure by sending an eerie darkness over the land as well as an earthquake (Matt. 27:50-54; Lk. 23:44).
BURIAL (Matt. 27:57-66; Jn. 19:38-42).
Again the Old Testament was verified, for the two who cared tor the body of Jesus were rich and respected elders (Isa. 53:9). Joseph of Arimathea, a faithful elder and hitherto secret disciple of Jesus, beg ged the body of Jesus from Pilate (Mk. 15:43; Lk. 23:51; Jn. 19:38). He was joined by Nicodemus, once a secret admirer of the Lord, but now a bold and open disciple. Together they lovingly embalmed the body of their Messiah, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in Joseph's own new tomb hewn in a rock. Mary Magdalene remained in the garden, beholding every detail until finally the huge stone door of the tomb was rolled into its place (vv.60-61; Lk. 23:55).
LESSONS FOR US:
- Jesus prayed that God would forgive his enemies who crucified him. So we should love those who hate us.
- As followers of Christ we too must "crucify the flesh with the af fections and lusts".
- If we please men we will not be the servants of God.
- "The flesh profits nothing: it is the Spirit that makes alive".
- Our first duty in life is to give glory to God for He has revealed His unlimited grace towards us in the offering of His only beloved Son (Jn. 3:16).
- "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". The love of Christ for us should constrain us to loving obedience and service.
REFERENCE LIBRARY:
"A Life of Jesus" (M. Purkis) € Book 7, Chapters 12-14
"The Gospel of John" (J. Carter) € Chapters 18 and 19
"The Story of the Bible" (H. P. Mansfield) € Vol. 12, Pages 56-134
PARAGRAPH QUESTIONS:
- What charges were brought against Jesus during the course of his trial?
- How was Jesus given an honourable burial?
- Caiaphas rent his garments. What did this signify?
- "When he was reviled, he reviled not again" (1 Pet. 2:23). How was this principle seen in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.
- How was Jesus' care for others seen when he was crucified?
ESSAY QUESTIONS:
- Make a list of events in the trials, death and burial of Christ that were foretold in the Old Testament.
- Make a summary of the trials Jesus underwent before his crucifix ion. What lessons are there for us in these trials?
- Write a brief essay on the shame, the suffering and the loneliness of Jesus when he was crucified.
- Describe Jesus' trial before Pilate showing how Pilate changed his mind.
- Outline Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin.
- What lessons do we learn from Jesus' example on the cross?