Thursday & Friday -The Trials of Jesus

And we are moving into those hours where Jesus shed his blood for us on the cross. When he died for us, we're moving into that segment of our Lord's life as we are coming to Friday in the day that Jesus died. And in fact, as we look at the timing of things, we may already be into Friday. It's a little difficult to know exactly what happened through the night, Thursday night and Friday, but we may already be into Friday as we would measure time. We are going to begin tonight, actually, with just some overview of the trials of Christ and then we'll get into Mark 14 a little bit later. But the title says Thursday and Friday. As I mentioned, we may already be into Friday. I'm convinced that we miss a lot of what happens in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and even the trials and so forth that led up to it because we think we're so familiar with that. And to some degree, we are. We're familiar with what happened, but because the death of Christ is so central to our faith and because we think we know about that, we tend to miss a lot of the details. And so as we have been doing in this study of the life of Christ, we're going to delve into some of those and take the time to really get into some of the detail and the meat of what happened leading up to and through the death and burial resurrection of Christ. Sometimes because we don't grasp the background historically or culturally, we miss a lot of what was going on too or it just kind of goes over our head. So we want to deal with some of that as well. And that is what we're going to start with tonight with an overview of the trials of Christ. Now by trials, I'm not talking about tribulations and hardships. I'm not talking about all the, although what we're going to see certainly would fit that category, I'm talking about the literal trial that Jesus went through before he was put on the cross. And we're going to see it was actually a series of trials. Let's begin by talking about the chronology of the trials. And in order to understand the sequence of events in the trials and the chronology of things, we need to start with understanding how the Jews figured time because it was different than the way we figured time. And so when times are mentioned in the gospels, it can throw us because it's different than the way we would compute time. We figure time from midnight to midnight, don't we? As far as what makes up a day, we are still on the day Wednesday and it will change to Thursday at midnight tonight or just after midnight. And Thursday goes until midnight the next 24 hours. And that's how we figure time. The Jews did not figure time that way. When did their day start? What time in our day would we would have started? 6 p.m. Yeah, the Jews figured time from 6 in the evening till 6 the next evening. That would be your day. Then start at midnight, it started at 6 in the evening. Now it's important to understand again just the geography helps a little bit. Israel is fairly close to the equator. And so the days are fairly uniform as far as darkness and light. It's not like us where we have part of the year where there's less light and part of the year where there's more light. Near the equator you get the more uniform the hours are. And so pretty much darkness is from 6 to 6, 6 at night till 6 in the morning. And daylight is from 6 in the morning till 6 in the evening. That's pretty close to that all through the year in Israel. And so that's how they figured their days. A day ends when the sun goes down. It makes sense, doesn't it? The day ends when the sun goes down. That's the beginning of the next day. So about 6 o'clock in the evening would be the way they would figure the beginning of a day. But there were also two different ways to figure time depending on whether or not it was dark or light. The darkness was computed differently than daylight. Darkness you figured by watches, what was called a watch. So beginning at 6 o'clock in the evening, you see how many watches there were throughout the night in the Hebrew way of thinking of time? How many watches were there? One in three hours. Whenever three hours, exactly. So there were four watches. Sometimes you read in the scriptures, it was the third watch or it was the second watch. Well, the first watch would be from 6 to 9 in the evening, our time. Second watch is from 9 o'clock in the evening, our time, till midnight. The third watch from midnight to 3 a.m. and the fourth watch from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. So you would have four of those three hour watches and they didn't compute time by hours. During the night, they computed it by watches. So they would say it was the third watch of the night. It was the first watch of the night and you knew generally what time it was. In the daytime, it was computed differently beginning at 6 o'clock in the morning. So for instance in Matthew 27, 45, where the Bible says there was darkness over the face of the earth from the sixth until the ninth hour, what time would that be then? Sixth hour would be... 12 o'clock. If you begin computing by the hour at 6 o'clock in the morning when the fourth watch of the night is ended, then you start computing by the hour. The sixth hour would be noon. The ninth hour would be 3 p.m. our time. So that understanding how the Jews figured time helps us to determine when Christ was put on the cross. And the three hours of darkness began at noon and ended at 3 p.m. in the afternoon. We know that's when He died. So we missed some of those details if we don't understand the difference in the way time was computed in the Jewish thinking. With that background, with that in mind, what I want to do next is take a look at the timing of the trials. We're going to see that there are basically six trials that Jesus went through. We might call them six hearings. If you want to think of them as one trial, there are at least six parts to it. Six hearings that Jesus went through, but I like to think of them as six different trials. But I want to lay out the sequence of time first, but also the sequence of location. So let's look at this map. I know it's going to be hard for those of you further back to see it, but here's the Garden of Gethsemane. Here's the Temple Mount. This is the Mount of Olives. So Jesus is arrested here. That's the reason for the number. This is the sequence of events in the arrest and trials of Jesus. Jesus will be arrested here. Now, when was Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? It was our time, Thursday night. Some believe that it was probably between midnight and 3 a.m. That Jesus was actually in the Garden of Gethsemane praying. It's difficult to know for sure, but that seems to kind of jive with the sequence of events. Somewhere in that time frame. Jesus is first taken to, and this is the route in which you would be taken, into the city. This is often called the Via Dolorosa. You know what that means? Flatten. So some of you surely should know that. If you're familiar with Sandy Patty's song, you know what it means. The way of suffering. The way of suffering. Via Dolorosa. And this is what is referred to there. If you go to Jerusalem, you would actually find markers along the way. Where it is supposed Jesus may have stumbled or they stopped or whatever. Of course, no one really knows that for sure. But this is the route which you would take first of all to the palace of the high priest. Now, actually the first, we're going to see the first phase of the trials, or the first trial was before Annas. The former high priest somewhere around, possibly around three o'clock in the morning on Friday morning. Again, I'm talking our time, the way we compute time. Then he would go, be sent to Caiaphas. Caiaphas, this is probably Caiaphas's house, the palace of the high priest. Nobody is really sure where Annas lived. Some believe it was the same complex. And we'll get into who Annas and Caiaphas were in just a few minutes. But the first stop is at Annas II, Caiaphas, probably around three thirty in the morning. And then he is sent before the whole Sanhedrin, the whole group of the Jewish Council of 70 Jewish religious leaders. That probably is still here in the palace of the high priest or somewhere thereabouts. So really the first three phases of the trial take place, possibly at least in the same place. He's before the Sanhedrin by daylight. The Bible says it was daylight. There are a number of things that happen between Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin that we'll see later. Some of the beating of Christ, blindfolding of him, and so forth took place after the hearing with Caiaphas. Then the Sanhedrin would gather at daylight around six o'clock for their examination of Jesus. Then he would be sent to Pilate. Pilate is in the palace of Herod the Great, the Praetorium, which is the place where the Roman governor would hold court. And so this is where Herod or Pilate would be. He was seen by Pilate, questioned by Pilate, then sent to Herod. We'll get into all these phases of the trial in some depth. Just giving you the sequence. Probably with Pilate, the first interrogation by Pilate, somewhere around 630 in the morning. Then he is sent to Herod somewhere around 7 in the morning, possibly. Then Herod doesn't keep him long, sends him back to Pilate. Pilate probably is done with him by 730 to 8 o'clock. Then there are several things that happen. The scourging, the preparation for the journey to where the crucifixion would be to Galgotha. That all probably happened around 8 o'clock between 8 and 9. By 9 o'clock, Jesus is placed on the cross. That's the sequence of events. There are six separate trials or phases of the trial of Christ. They all happened between probably 3 o'clock in the morning and 8 o'clock in the morning. Then by 9 o'clock, Jesus is placed on the cross. They have made it to Galgotha. Any comments or questions? About just that general overview of the trials. Chronology. Have all of you taken to your place to find the people from the sea? If someone has to do it, it's just what it is on to. There's a lot going on. That's a good observation, Jim. In fact, we're going to see later that it was against the law for one thing, against the Jewish law for them to even do that. But they were ready. Probably what had happened is when Judas has conspired with the chief priests to go out to the garden, then probably at the same time, messengers were sent together to Sanhedrin. They began filtering in. Some of them were there, even by the questioning with Aniston Caiaphas. But surely all of them were there by daylight. But evidently, messengers were sent together. This was all planned. Everybody's in on it. It was a very detailed planned thing that occurred through the night. Very good. Any other observations or questions? Some general observations on the trials, just to make sure we understand what's happening, there are two kinds of trials. Remember, there are six in all, but there are two different kinds of trials. Three in each set. So the first three trials, Aniston Caiaphas, Sanhedrin, are all religious in nature. These three are all before the Jewish authorities. And what did they charge him with? Do you remember? Blasphemy? Yes. That's exactly what they charge him with. Blasphemy. Because their concern is religious. These are the Jewish authorities, former high priest Anus, current high priest Caiaphas, Jewish ruling council, Sanhedrin. All three of those hearings are religious in nature. And what they want to establish is his crime in their eyes, which is blasphemy, that he claims to be God. The second set of trials, the second three, are before the Roman authorities, they are civil in nature, not religious. They are civil there before the Roman authorities, pilot, hered, pilot. Three different questionings, three different hearings. And what is the charge there? Treason. The charge there is treason. The charge is clearly that he claims to be a king. A different charge, different charge completely. Why? Why do you think the charge would change? Okay. Romans didn't want to interfere with the religious practices of people that they conquered, certainly. And do the Romans even care what blasphemy is? They don't even know what blasphemy is. To them, the Emperor is God. And so they're not going to even understand what the Jews charge is. If the Jews bring a charge of blasphemy to the Romans, the Romans are going to laugh them out of court. That doesn't mean anything to them. They don't care about that. The crime that warranted the death penalty. A crime that warranted the death penalty. Now, in the Jewish mind, blasphemy was enough to warrant the death penalty. But the Romans don't see that. They would never put someone to death for blasphemy. So the Jews know that if they're going to get the death penalty from the Romans, they've got to have a different charge. And treason is enough to get the death penalty. That's exactly what was happening. So the charge has changed in the civil trials to a secular charge, not a religious charge. And the secular charge is going to impress the Romans. Actually, it's going to take some doing to get that done, but they will eventually get it done. Let me ask you this. Why were there two sets of trials to begin with? In other words, why did the Jews even have to go to the Romans? They weren't permitted to put me by the death, exactly. The Jews could try people in their courts, but they could not carry out capital offenses. Only the Romans could do that. That's one of the things the Romans did enforce on the people that they conquered. They had the final say in any capital offenses. And that was obviously a part of keeping order for them. They tried to pacify the Jews, let them operate their religious system as best they could. But when it came to capital offenses, the Romans are going to take charge of that. And so nobody is able to give the death penalty or executions except the Romans. So you see this strange bedfellows kinds of thing, this strange collusion of Jews who hated the Romans, but realized in order to put Jesus to death, they need the cooperation of the Romans. And so that's the reason why they take Jesus to the Romans to pile it, and they change the charge so that they can get a capital offense on a civil charge rather than a religious charge. So that's what's going on with these trials, and that's the reason for the two different kinds of trials. I do want to say a word before we get into them specifically about the illegality of the trials. There is no greater sham on the record of law in human history than what happened this night. There were numerous laws broken, flagrantly. The Jewish Talmud, which the Talmud was the Jewish interpretation of the law and how it worked out in the nitty-gritty daily issues of life. That was the writings of the rabbis who interpreted the law and said, this is how things ought to be done. That was called the Talmud. The Jewish Talmud made it very clear several things that were broken. First of all, there would be no trials at night. It's one of the reasons why they waited for the Sanhedrin until daylight at 6 o'clock in the morning. They were trying to sneak in on that one, but they'd already had two hearings, which were illegal before they got to that. The Jewish Talmud made it clear. No trials at night. The accused must have someone to speak for him, a lawyer. That was broken. Jesus is directly questioned without anyone to represent him, so that was illegal. You could not declare someone guilty unless you had two or three credible witnesses, and they tried that as we're going to see, but they couldn't get it. They couldn't get two or three credible witnesses, and so the high priest is going to take things in his own hands and ramrod it through anyway. We're going to see that very clearly in just a moment. That was illegal. The Sanhedrin was not permitted to render an immediate verdict according to the Jewish Talmud. They were supposed to hear the evidence, hear the witnesses, and then they were supposed to recess for two days. They were supposed to eat and drink lightly so that their judgment would not be impaired. Then after two days, they were to come back together, hear the testimony again. In case they'd been thinking about it and realized they didn't hear something clearly, or didn't remember something clearly, it would all gel with that second giving of the testimony. Then they would vote, this is according to the Jewish Talmud. They were supposed to vote one member at a time, beginning with the youngest member, and working up to the oldest, so that the youngest ones would not be swayed by the older ones. Obviously in their culture, if you started with the older ones and the older ones said guilty, then the younger ones not going to go against that no matter what he thinks. They start with the younger and they move one by one, voting up to the older, and there are 70 people on the Sanhedrin. This is going to take a little while. Obviously, you can see that everything about that process was broken. They passed judgment quickly in a matter of minutes, really. They did it simultaneously. They took one vote. Everybody voted at the same time evidently. They did it very emotionally. There was not two days to kind of weigh the evidence and think about it. They did it quickly and it's clear it was very emotional. There is a severe beating that takes place of Jesus that we'll see, which was illegal also. So everything about what happened was illegal. But at this point, who cares among the Jews, among the Jewish leaders, they are so full of hatred, and they've been waiting for this moment for so long that it's just like everything spills out of them uncontrollably. They don't care about the rule of law. All they care about is accomplishing their mission of putting him to death. Let's do it as quickly as we can before the crowd out here finds out what's going on. Let's do this quickly and get it done. It was a terribly illegal process. Pile it. We'll find no evidence of guilt. You remember that? I find no fault in him. He says he found no clear evidence of guilt. And he would turn him back over to the Jews, but the Jews pressed the issue to where a pilot finally just said, hey, I'll wash my hands of this thing, do whatever you want, but he's not guilty of anything. So everything is illegal that takes place in the trials. Probably the greatest sham of justice in the annals of history. And yet it was all in God's purpose and plan, and we're going to see that Jesus is controlling every move that is made. Where everybody else is out of control, he is majestically in control. It is incredible when you begin to look at the details of what happened and how he calmly moves through each segment to accomplish what God had sent him here to do. It's an amazing, amazing scene. Okay, any other comments or questions about just the trials, but we have an overview. What? Yeah, they could do that and they could do other punishments of the mosaic law. Things that the mosaic law said could be done. Yeah, fines or judging someone guilty, putting them in prison for lesser crimes. They could do that. They just could not put anybody to death. Yeah, they could do things like that. They could pass judicial sentence according to their laws. And the Romans tried to give freedom for people to do that, but when it came to capital offense, the Romans said that's where it stops. We decide that. And of course, the Romans also had their own jurisdiction if they didn't like what you were doing, if they wanted to do something, they would do it over top of you. And often that was about mere force. Okay, very good. Good questions. Any others before we move into the actual trials themselves? I'm trying to think of examples where there may be the only examples I know of that I'm thinking of right off the top of my head were Roman prisons in the book of Acts where the apostles were thrown. I'm trying to think of like when Paul was arrested, he was taken to the Antonia fortress when he was arrested in the temple. The Romans guards came in and rescued him from the lobby in Acts 22. He was taken to the Antonia fortress, which was right beside the temple. That was a Roman fortress. So he was under the authority of the Romans, then he was sent to Cessaria, which was a Roman prison. The Jews wanted him tried back in Jerusalem, but I'm not sure if there were two prisons or not. I'm not real sure about that. The only ones I'm thinking of are Roman prisons. That would be an interesting study. Look that up. Okay, any others? All right, let's look at the first trial then. The trial before Annas, and this is in John chapter 18. So let's find our place there. John 18, verse 12. Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They've bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people. You may recall that event. That was right after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead in John chapter 11. And the Jewish leaders pulled the sent header together and said, man, this thing's getting out of hand. He's going to convince everybody who he is if we don't do something quick. And it was Caiaphas who spoke up and said, you don't understand that it's best for one person to die for the people. And what he was talking about is what we need to do is put him to death and that will take care of the whole nation. And John interprets that in a different sense, prophetically of Jesus dying for others in our place as the sacrifice. Well, let's talk a bit about Annas then. What's the reason for coming to Annas? Annas has not been high priest for 15 years. He is the former high priest. He is the father-in-law of Caiaphas who is now the high priest. But he is still very much respected and looked up to. He's kind of the patriarch of the high priestly family, even though he's no longer officially the high priest. Something this important and something that the priests and the Jewish leaders, religious leaders have been wanting to do for so long, obviously they're not going to leave him out. And he may have even requested to be a part of this. So they bring him to Annas first, probably out of deference, out of courtesy respect for his age, his position, kind of the high priest emeritus, if you will. Kind of like a retired pope. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I don't think he was Margin Tina though. Let's take a look at this. This is a cutaway of a large complex home palace kind of complex in Israel at the time. Many believe it is kind of a model of what the high priest's palace would look like. Okay. It's a little difficult to see. I know. But this part right here and all of this right here is a cutaway. In other words, the roof and walls have been taken away so we can see the inside. However, this area right here is a courtyard. And although it's enclosed by walls, it would have no roof. And so you would come into this courtyard and the Bible says that's where Peter was. Peter was in the courtyard warming himself and we'll get to that not tonight, but we'll get to that later. It would be in this area. It would be within the enclosure of the palace. But it was still technically outside because there's no roof. And that's why you would have a fire there to be warming yourself. But you could see what was going on in what's this reception room, reception place is where the trial would actually be held where the questioning would be done. And you would probably be able to see in there in this large room here. There are other rooms and so forth, but there's a large room here where where the 70 and the Sanhedrin would easily fit. And that's probably where the questioning would take place. Okay, let's move on to the questioning and Jesus response. In verse 19, we're going to skip in John's account here, the first denial of Peter verses 15 to 18. We're going to combine the denials altogether because although they put place over a sequence of events, we're going to put them together a little bit later. We're going to look at the trials right now. Verse 19, meanwhile the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Okay, rule number one of the Talmud has just been broken. Actually, we're already into some that have been broken, having a questioning and trial at night. But when he asked Jesus, there's no lawyer there to represent him. They've made no attempt to make this official. That was a breach of the law and that's exactly what Jesus is going to point out. And if you don't understand that cultural background, then you don't understand what happens in this next interchange of dialogue here. The high priest is questioning Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Okay, now notice what Jesus does. Verse 20, I have spoken openly to the world Jesus replied. I always taught in synagogues or at the temple where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Now notice his questions. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said. Now is that, is that kind of impudence? Is that out of order to challenge the high priest like that? Not at all. Jesus is simply pointing out a point of law. You are not supposed to be questioning me. You're supposed to be questioning witnesses. Surely there are plenty of witnesses as to what I thought. I didn't teach anything in secret. Obviously taught his disciples some things in secret. But basically Jesus' point is I taught openly in the temple. There are plenty of people who heard me. You're supposed to be questioning witnesses, not me. And there are plenty of witnesses. So Jesus is really challenging the high priest on a point of law. This is not impudence. This is not out of order. Jesus anises the one out of order. And Jesus is pointing it out to him. Why are you questioning me? You're supposed to be questioning witnesses. And there are plenty of them. I've taught openly in the synagogues and in the temple. There are plenty of witnesses you could call. But notice what happens next. Verse 22, when Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. Is this the way you answered the high priest he demanded? Was Jesus out of line? Was he out of order? No. And notice what Jesus says next. If I said something wrong, Jesus replied. Testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me? Now Jesus is talking about the truth of the statement he's just made. The truth of the statement he's just made is I'm following the law here. I'm following the what is supposed to be done. You're not supposed to be questioning me, right? You're supposed to be questioning witnesses. If that's not true, point it out to me. Is what Jesus is saying. If I'm saying the truth, then why was I struck? I guarantee you at that moment, Anus realizes he's in hot water. He's in trouble. You see, this thing has been rushed to try to be done in secret because they fear the crowd. Remember they fear the people, the leaders do. We've seen that repeatedly. But I think Anus realizes now, well, I've broken the law. What I've done is against the law. And so, verse 24, he gets him out of there. Anus sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. It's like Anus is saying, okay, I don't want any more of this. I'm getting him out of here before I get any more trouble because you see really Jesus, Jesus could have pressed the issue. He will not, but he could have because Anus is out of line, out of order. He's broken the law and Jesus has pointed it out. You're questioning the wrong person. And so, Anus says, okay, I'm going to get him out of here, get him over to Caiaphas. So that's what happens with with Anus. And once again, you can see that Jesus is the one that's completely in control. Isn't this amazing? Isn't this majestic in his glory that Jesus calls the high priest to a point of order in the proceedings that he has violated? And so, I think that's just amazing to see with everything that has already happened to him and with everything that he's facing, that Jesus is completely in control of the proceedings. And knows exactly what to do. And very calmly speaks a point of legal order in the first trial. Amazing. Okay, comments or questions before we move on to Caiaphas. Yes, Carolyn? That shows that he was in control of that part of the process of the legal order. So he was pointing out to that everything that they are doing in the shoes is pointing that to the people who can make a difference. Yeah. Are they doing everything they are doing? Yes. The thing is, the only people who are there at this point are the religious leaders, all of whom want him put to death. So they're going to shove it through any way they can. Obviously, they're doing this away from the crowds. It's not a public hearing. So, I think that's a great deal of the big football about what the challenges would take to move these passionate friends. They would be offended if they used for the reason why things were so good for the kids. Right. And the conclusion was that all of us were comfortable, and we were comfortable with the football. But that was a big deal, 1900 years away from the crowd. Yes. And you had that exactly when you were the leader for making the football? Right. He was. You're exactly right. He was pointing out their responsibility and culpability for what was happening. Now, what really is amazing and what I see in Jesus here, and I want to make clear what I'm talking about, I'm not talking about Jesus controlling the world. I'm controlling the trial as such to manipulate what's being done. What I mean basically, he is totally in control of himself. For him to point out that you have violated the law here shows that he's not intimidated. He's not frightened. He's not scared of what's taking place. He's moving through these phases of the trial very calmly, knowing exactly what's going to happen. And yet in complete control of his own demeanor, his own feelings, his own emotions, his own mind, everything. And he's pointing out the illegality of what they're doing to this point. Yes. Yes. Now, there will be plenty of points along the way where Jesus will not say anything. He will not point out illegalities. He'll let them happen. But at the very beginning here, he does. It's interesting. There were two men in the Sanhedrin who may well have stood up for him and would later in the proceedings. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, particularly Nicodemus. So there may have been some that would have come to his defense. But obviously it's a reason Jesus doesn't press this. He's not looking for an acquittal. He's not looking to be declared innocent. He's not looking for a mistrial. He's just showing who really is in control here. Anas is out of control. He's violating the law. And Jesus is in such command of everything that he simply points out that to him as they go along. It's masterful. But he's not trying to manipulate the trial or get a mistrial or anything like that. But I think there may have been at least not yet, but when the Sanhedrin gathers in a couple of hours, there would have been at least one that was in that group that would have stood up for him. Maybe both. All right, let's, well, we've got two minutes. We really don't have time to get started on the trial before Caiaphas. We'll get to that next week in Matthew chapter or Mark chapter 14 where he goes before before Caiaphas. Let's go ahead and close in prayer. Father, we are amazed at our Lord and save you once again. We thank you, Father, that even in the face of all that is happening, he is in complete control of his emotions, of his will, of his mind. Father, I thank you that he will stand true to the Father's will, to your will, that he will not crack under the pressure, that he will now proceed deliberately, willfully all the way to the cross, through terrible inhumane treatment and injustice. He will resolutely march to the cross. And Lord, we know He did that because of us. He did that for us. So we stand in awe of our majestic Savior, thanking you for His willingness to die for us, thanking you even in how He did it that we can see His majesty. And we thank you in His very name, amen.