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The Gospel Observer
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them
to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:19,20).
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April 20, 2014
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Contents:
1) The Jewish Trial of Jesus (Tom Hamilton)
2) News & Notes
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-1-
The Jewish Trial of Jesus
by Tom Hamilton
Upon his arrest, Jesus was taken to the house of the high priest,
where the legal proceedings were begun that resulted in his
death. In this article, we will cover the Jewish part of these
legal proceedings by considering (1) the record of what happened,
(2) the principles violated by the proceedings, and (3) the
significance of these events.
The Record of the Trial
When we piece together the events recorded in the four different
gospel accounts, we get an overall picture of what happened at Jesus
trial. In my opinion, the best historical reconstruction
reveals that there were no less than six separate trials Jesus
endured immediately prior to his execution.
1. First, there is an informal examination by the de facto high
priest Annas (John 18:12-14, 19-23). As the real power behind
the scenes in Jewish politics, this is the first person Jesus is
taken to by those who arrested him, and Annas apparently begins
questioning Jesus immediately. The questions, focusing on
Jesus disciples and teaching, may have been intended to analyze
Jesus as a political threat, comparable to innumerable other
self-proclaimed messiahs of the times (e.g., what is Jesus power
base? what activities do they have planned?). Of course,
Jesus has done nothing wrong, nor has any charge been made, and he
challenges the authorities to produce witnesses, resulting in the
first of many blows to come. Apparently, Annas interrogation
took place while the other members of the Sanhedrin were hurriedly
being summoned in the middle of the night, and when the whole
council was assembled, Jesus was sent for further, more formal
questioning there.
2. The second stage of Jesus trial is presided over by the titular
high priest Caiaphas, Annas son-in-law, in the presence of the
Sanhedrin (Matt. 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:54, 63-65).
The Sanhedrin was hastily assembled at Caiaphas house, which is
probably the same palace complex in which Caiaphas father-in-law
Annas lived and had conducted the preliminary interrogation of
Jesus. At this proceeding, the authorities found themselves in
the unenviable position of having a defendant without a legal
accusation or charge. While the normal purpose of the council
would have been to consider the charges and weigh the evidence, it
was forced by the circumstances into the position of justifying its
assembly by soliciting testimony and invent- ing a charge, all in
the middle of the night. Even then, the false witnesses could
not agree on their misrepresentations of Jesus teaching, and no
charge could be manufactured to stick. Finally, Jesus is adjured or
compelled by the authorities to answer whether he is the Christ, and
it is his admission to this question that results in an impulsive
indictment of blasphemy. The accompanying physical abuse and
mockery indicate just how rational were the deliberations of those
who presumed to sit in judgment of Jesus.
3. The third stage of Jesus legal proceedings was the formal
decision of the Sanhedrin, which was rendered at dawn and which
resulted in Jesus being sent to Pilate (Matt. 27:1-2; Mark 15:1;
Luke 22:66- 23:1). The record indicates that the primary
charge finally decided upon by the Sanhedrin was blasphemy, based
solely upon Jesus own statements. The sentence pronounced was death,
but because the council was powerless to impose the death penalty,
they needed to send Jesus to Pilate for execution.
4. The fourth stage of Jesus trial was Jesus first appearance before
Pilate (Matt. 27:11-14; Mark 15:1-5; Luke 23:1-6; John
18:28-38a). At this point, the Jewish authorities were once
again compelled to fabricate a charge against Jesus, but this time
it had to be an indictment that would be valid in a Roman court of
law. Therefore, the accusations brought before Pilate bear no
resemblance to the blasphemy charge, but are distortions of Jesus
teachings in order to misrepresent Jesus as a political and military
threat to Rome.
5. Upon discovering that Jesus was from the region of Galilee,
Pilate attempted to rid himself of the problem of Jesus by sending
Jesus to Herod Antipas under the pretense that Galilee fell under
Herods jurisdiction (Luke 23:6-12). Jesus refused to dignify
the accusations against him and silently endured the additional
mockery that was dispensed. All this interrogation seemed to
accomplish was the establishing of a friendly rapport between Herod
and Pilate.
6. Finally, Jesus is returned to Pilate, and at this sixth and last
stage of the legal proceedings, Pilate bows to the mob and condemns
Jesus to death by crucifixion (Matt. 27:15-31; Mark 15:6-15; Luke
23: 13-25; John 18:38b- 19:16).
The Errors of the Trial
One of the most intriguing aspects of the trial of Jesus is the
degree to which the Jewish authorities violated their own legal
principles and procedures in their rush to condemn Jesus.
While it is clear that some basic requirements of justice and
fairness were completely ignored, we should be careful not to commit
the same errors of judgment ourselves in unfairly condemning Jesus
judges!
The records of Judaism, including the detailed legal principles and
procedures which governed Jewish trials, only date back to A.D. 200,
a couple of centuries after the time of Christ. While it is
commonly assumed that these legal principles held precedence long
before they were written down and would have applied in Jesus day,
we cannot know for certain if this is true for every legal rule. In
addition, because it was the Pharisaic form of Judaism which
survived the fall of Jerusalem and came to be written down in A.D.
200, there is the additional consideration of how many of these
Pharisaic principles might have applied in a time when the Sadducees
were in control, as they were in Jesus day. Finally, due to
the brevity of the gospel record, there is sometimes the question of
whether a particular action qualified as a trial (e.g., was Annas
interrogation of Jesus just an informal chat or an official legal
proceeding?). However, there are still more than enough
serious violations of Jewish legal requirements in Jesus trial.
Jewish law provided that no trials were to be conducted at night,
and yet Jesus was twice subjected to nighttime legal
interrogations. The fact that the Sanhedrin held a special
dawn meeting to pass the official sentence (Matt. 27:1; Mark 15:1;
Luke 22:66; John 18:28) suggests how these legalists justified their
illegal behavior and rationalized that their earlier behavior was
not bound by any such rules.
They were also apparently not bound by the rules prohibiting (1) the
admission of conflicting testimony, (2) the use of false witnesses,
(3) the interviewing of witnesses in one anothers presence, or (4)
the acceptance of a charge without a plurality of corroborating
witnesses (even if one of the witnesses was the defendant
himself). Caiaphas statement that no further witnesses were
necessary (Matt. 26:65; Mark 14:63; Luke 22:71) is an obvious effort
to bypass the required legal procedures, including the requirement
that witnesses appear on behalf of the accused, which was never
done.
Perhaps the most egregious violations involved the Sanhedrins very
purpose for meeting. Instead of assembling to consider the
merits of an accusation, the judges assumed the role of accuser and
began fabricating a charge to justify Jesus arrest. When one
charge wouldn't work, they would simply try another, and finally
invented an altogether new charge for Pilates consideration.
No charge ever even came close to having collaborative testimony.
The requirement of justice is to begin with every effort made to
disprove any charge brought before the Sanhedrin, but in the case of
Jesus, just the opposite was done -- every plausible effort was made
to incriminate him.
Finally, several minor principles also appear to have been ignored,
such as the requirement that no single judge preside at any legal
proceeding, no capital case be tried in a single day or on the day
before the Sabbath, or no sentence be pronounced before the morning
sacrifice.
The Significance of the Trial
While it is helpful to enumerate the many legal principles violated
by Jesus judges, we should remember, of course, that this was not
the focus of the gospel writers. They do not provide an
exhaustive catalog of trial errors or argue legal
technicalities. They are content to provide enough information
that any honest reader, regardless of what legal system he was
familiar with, could recognize the injustices done at Jesus trials.
In the case of the majority of the trial errors indicated by the
gospel record, it is irrelevant whether the principles that were
violated existed in codified form in Jesus day or were only
developed at a later time. After all, these legal precedents
were largely just simple applications of common sense and justice,
governed by the universal principles of right and wrong, as opposed
to subtle legal niceties and technicalities. It is the basic
principle of justice with which the gospel writers are ultimately
concerned, and which is ultimately violated by Jesus judges.
We should avoid the one extreme of finding legal errors under every
rock and behind every tree, because there are legitimate questions
regarding what principles of Jewish law may have applied in Jesus
day and which actions qualified as violations. After all, some
of the supposed violations are based upon legal technicalities and
legal quibbling.
On the other hand, we should not go to the other extreme as modern,
liberal scholarship has done, denying that we can conclude any legal
errors were committed. This approach is nothing other than
political correctness to absolve the Jews of any complicity in Jesus
death -- some even going so far as to argue that the Sanhedrin
actually tried to save Jesus from the Romans! The indisputable
fact remains that the Romans executed Jesus, but would have had
absolutely no reason to do so apart from the agitation of the Jewish
leaders.
But such efforts to point the finger of blame are ill-conceived and
miss the real significance of Jesus trial -- that no sinful man is
fit to sit in judgment of Jesus and we are all responsible for the
death of Jesus.
-- Via Truth Magazine Vol. XLIV: 1 p 5 January 2000:
http:www.truthmagazine.com/ archives/ volume44/v440106007.htm
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-2-
News & Notes
Norma Burton, who is in her early 90s, recently fell and
broke her hip, which required receiving a pin. She is now
undergoing physical therapy. Let those of us who are
Christians be keeping her in prayer for a complete and speedy
recovery. She has been a member of the church of Christ in
Waycross, Georgia, for about 60 years.
Richard Crews' is coming along well, following his two-hour
surgery (on April 16) for the rotator cuff that had become
torn in his right shoulder, along with a torn bicep and
ligaments. He no longer is having the pain he previously did
and is having physical therapy three times a week.
Let us also continue praying for Candy Wise who was
recently diagnosed with breast cancer that is aggressive, and for
the health of Virginia Fontenot, Shirley Young,
Cheryl Crews, Peggy Lefort, and Terry and Pam
MacDonald.
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The Steps That Lead to Eternal Salvation
1) Hear the gospel, for that is how faith comes (Rom.
10:17; John 20:30,31).
2) Believe in the deity of Christ (John 8:24; John
3:18).
3) Repent of sins (Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith in Christ (Rom. 10:9,10; Acts
8:36-38).
5) Be baptized in water for the remission of sins
(Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4; Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet.
3:21).
6) Continue in the faith; for, if not, salvation can
be lost (Heb. 10:36-39; Rev. 2:10; 2 Pet. 2:20-22).
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Park Forest
CHURCH OF CHRIST
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