The Trial before Caiaphas & Peter's Denials

We are in Mark chapter 14 tonight. We are in one of those Passages and events of our Lord's life that is covered in all of the gospels although Quite Sparingly in John's gospel, but we're looking at Mark's account tonight the trial before Caiapus And we're also hoping to get into the denials of Peter as well tonight too We just remind you of the sequence of events Jesus has been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane Probably somewhere around two or three o'clock in the morning on Friday morning We don't know exactly the hours but trying to piece together the sequence of events knowing when the Passover meal would have started and all that would have taken place can probably estimate somewhere in the wee hours of the morning that Jesus is arrested and is taken first as we saw last week to the house of Annas the former high priest Now Annas has been out of office for over 15 years his his son and law Caiapus has been the high priest Maybe as many as 19 years, but he still Anna still has a lot of respect among the people and out of respect They take him there first and you recall that Annas Questions him and there are lots of things that are Illegal about the trials of Jesus Annas questions him and Jesus Says why are you questioning me? I taught publicly Ask the people who heard me they know what I said and Jesus basically was calling him to a point of order as you recall that You're not supposed to directly interrogate the accused in the Jewish legal system you interrogate witnesses and so Annas Realized he had been caught in something that was illegal and so he rushes him off to Caiapus and we are there At this point now with Jesus coming before Caiapus just to remind you there are actually six stages to the trial of Jesus so sometimes you refer to it as the trial sometimes as the trials Remember there are actually six separate hearings and the first three are religious in nature before the Jewish authorities and the charges blasphemy the second three are before the Roman authorities civil in nature not religious and the the charge Changes to treason So keep that in mind as we go through these trials Jesus is in the second of the hearings now Before Caiapus Just say just a word about Caiapus he had been in power for it as I said about 19 years He is called the inquisitor and We will see why tonight He was known for his aggressive no holds barred Approach to trials and and even Um questioning witnesses and so forth and we'll see that tonight or with the trial of Jesus as well Mark chapter 14 we begin in verse 55 and we'll talk first about the evidence against Jesus For 55 the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus So that they could put him to death. Okay, so you see the agenda They're looking for evidence that is worthy of the capital crime and would be worthy of capital punishment something they can charge him with So they're they're looking for this evidence. They have a particular agenda in mind But the end of verse 55 says they could they did not find any Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him We heard him say I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another not made with hands Yet even then their testimony did not agree Let's let's stop right there and consider this evidence against Jesus in the beginning of this trial They are frantically searching for some kind of evidence They really don't have anything so they're frantically searching for some kind of evidence that would enable them to build a case for capital crime and thus thus capital punishment Remember that Jewish law the law of Moses in fact requires that you you have at least two witnesses Well, they've got the best witnesses money can buy They have the best liars available The problem is it's hard to match lies, isn't it? If two or three people are telling lies, it's hard to match the details And so they couldn't find any two witnesses that would agree on a charge against him There are lots of false witnesses, but they couldn't find any two that would agree on a charge that was serious enough To warrant capital punishment So they're a real dilemma and then the text says that they They started giving this false testimony about What they heard him say I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another not made with hands What are they referring to And what what is the essence of their charge against him What were they saying Jesus would Jesus said he would do Destroy the temple right the most holy place the most holy site in all of Israel and The accusation they're accusing him of is that he had said he would tear it down and build another one. What's pretty serious charge Now where did they get that from do you remember? Did they actually hear Jesus say something like that? What was it loath Okay Okay, exactly Jesus was not referring to the building he was referring to himself It was and it was very early in his ministry it was in John chapter 2 It was in connection with his first miracle at cana of Galilee turning the water into wine and right after that He's beginning to debate some with the Pharisees and And Jesus says uh tear down this temple and I will build it back in three days and John chapter 2 The writer John indicates that the disciples understood Particularly after the resurrection that that's what he was talking about his death and resurrection. So This trumped up charge which is not even really what Jesus meant by what he said Is used against him, but notice even then He Verse 59 yet even then their testimony did not agree So they cannot agree on the details of what he said So still there is a problem getting a solid case now please remember The whole goal of the chief priests the Pharisees the religious leaders Has been to find some way to put Jesus to death They have him in their hands Can you imagine how frustrating this must have been to them To not be able to get witnesses to agree on a charge It must have been terribly frustrating. I can imagine Caiaphas was angry He was frustrated I can imagine that he's thinking heads will roll if we botched this thing now We've got our chance. We've got him in custody. We've got it all planned. The Sanhedrin is gathering We've got an opportunity. We've arrested him in secret so the crowds won't know and rally around him This is our chance if we don't get this right Somebody is going to pay. I can just see the frustration mounting the anger and the tension mounting in the room So Caiaphas Takes things into his own hands as he was want to do Caiaphas just decides okay. This is going nowhere So I'm going to take over and so he directly questions Jesus and again that's against the law But he does it and he's not above that um from what we know about him So that's the evidence against Jesus there is none So let's move to the questioning of Jesus in verses 60 and 61 Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer Again the high priest asked him are you the Messiah the son of the blessed one Now again, let's let's stop for a moment to be able to sense really all that's going on in the room Caiaphas is enraged that this is going nowhere and if they don't get something going They're going to mess up the whole thing He obviously is enraged he is embarrassed. He's he's um Probably stung a little bit by the calmness of Jesus It's obvious that Jesus is completely in control of his own emotions and demeanor And the composed appearance and demeanor of Jesus probably is driving Caiaphas crazy And so he decides to take things on these in on his own hands and go on the attack He challenges Jesus to answer the charges that have come up Aren't you going to answer what is this testimony these men are bringing against you about tearing down the temple But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer Jesus would not dignify This court and the false accusations against him with even a response and I'm reminded Of what the prophet said about him. You remember in Isaiah 53 look at it on the screen He was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth He was led as a lamb To the slaughter and as a sheep before his sheers it sheers his silent So he did not open his mouth now that refers to the whole process of the the crucifixion But certainly you can see it happening here even in the trials where Jesus does not open his mouth He will not dignify the lies with any kind of a response So poor Caiaphas he sees another opportunity slipping through his hands. He is at his widths end And so he pulls a legal trick Matthew's gospel says he puts him under oath Okay, Luke or Mark doesn't tell us that but Matthew says he put him under oath Which means Jesus is required to answer if he is asked a question Caiaphas knows that Jesus knows that so he puts him under oath And he asks him directly are you the Messiah the son of the blessed one Blessed one is one of the ways that the Jews would refer to God without having to mention his name now Some of the other gospel say the son of the most high or the son of the living God It's obvious he's asking him this question. Are you the Messiah? Are you the son of God? Now to answer that question In the affirmative Would be what in the Jewish mind what would that what would that be blasphemy You see for him to be called the Messiah or to be called the son Not a son of God, but the son of the living God the Jews understood that clearly to be a divine title They they understood that that is a title which means he is equal with God the Father So to answer that yes would be claiming equality with God And that's the reason why Caiaphas presents it that way Because he knows if he gets him he's got him under oath now. He's got the answer if he answers yes Then they can accuse him of blasphemy and that will be a a closed case. I mean that that case will be done and they if they've got the verdict that they wanted Um, and they can condemn him if that is the case Caiaphas knows that Jesus also knows that Jesus knows exactly what's happening and I can imagine as soon as that question was asked knowing that he is put under oath and intense Silence fell over the room and everybody leaned forward to hear what Jesus response would be I can just I can almost feel the tension in the room And notice the answer the answer of Jesus in verse 62 I am said Jesus Now in this context Not using the title from Exodus 3. He's just answering a question Are you the son of God? Are you the Messiah the son? I am Said Jesus knowing that it was his time to die Jesus answers clearly strongly convincingly I am I Knowing what that would mean I am amazed at his majestic calmness His courage his strength his conviction I can imagine that his voice did not waver There was no fear in his eyes He simply answered the question with courage and conviction Are you the Christ or you the Messiah or you the son of the living God I am Now can you imagine the room when that answer came Their mouth's drop open they can't believe he is actually admitted To the charge no doubt they thought he would somehow try to weasel around it but in shocked delight They realized they got him exactly where they wanted him and so so He has confessed To exactly what we wanted him to And we've got him exactly where we want him I can just imagine that they turn to each other with smug smiles on their face nods on their heads They can have got him now Because now we can accuse him of blasphemy that is a capital crime and we can Appeal to the Romans to have him put to death And while they're looking at each other with smug smiles Jesus continues he's not finished yet I am is enough to seal the case in the Jews minds, but Jesus has more to say And look at what he says And you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one And coming on the clouds of heaven How what is Jesus referring to there See talking about Second coming That's part of it What else What is he what's the first thing he says Okay resurrection is included Because you're going to see him where Sitting at the right hand of the mighty one the god the father Okay, so in order for that to happen I mean they're They feel like they've got the death sentence now they they can enforce the death penalty They've got him caught in blasphemy and Jesus is already talking about his resurrection And he's already talking about his ascension And he's already talking about his second coming But he's not just throwing something in their face. I think there's a purpose for what he says actually Jesus is referring to two Well-known old testament passages That all of these religious scholars would know and they would know what they referred to He almost quotes them word for word. It's such a direct reference reference that the religious leaders could not have missed it He's referring to two passages the first one is Psalm 110 and verse one The Lord says to my Lord the Lord Jehovah says to my Lord Sit at my right hand Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet all right That's talking about the ascension to Jesus of Jesus to the right hand of the father But sit here until what I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. What that's what's that talking about It's judgment. Yeah, that's judgment If Jesus subjugates his enemies has them under his feet that is clear victory in judgment And that's what Jesus is referring to you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one Sitting at his right hand clear reference to Psalm 110 and everybody knew that was a reference to Messiah The one who sits at the right hand, but there's another passage at Jesus quotes or at least refers to and it's Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 In my this is Daniel speaking in my vision at night. I looked and there before me was one like a son of man That is a title not just like a child of a man, but like a son of man Coming with the clouds of heaven and then that what Jesus says coming on the clouds of heaven He approached the ancient of days. There's the ancient of days Jesus is referred to as ancient of days. Yes, but here in this passage Okay, Jesus is approaching the Son of Man is approaching the ancient of days So probably referring to God the Father And was led into his presence now look what happens next he was given authority glory and sovereign power All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him his dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed Jesus is attacking Everything they are going to say about him Are you the king of the Jews? Yes, and my kingdom will last forever Are you the son of the living God? Yes, I am the son of man who approaches the ancient of days and receives an eternal kingdom from him And will judge all of my enemies. So what Jesus is saying I mean they they thought they got him when he said I am but Jesus is not done Basically, he's saying to them not only am I the Christ the son of the living God But don't forget what the Old Testament says about the Christ I am going to be seated at the right hand of the Father with power and authority And then I'm going to come again at the second coming after having received that kingdom I will come back at the second coming to judge my enemies and put them under my feet referring at least in part to whom Come on talk to me the Jews the people who were questioning Okay, he's being judged by them and what Jesus says is wait one day. I'll be judging you He turns the tables on them Amazing again He's in complete control He is not threatened at all He is not fearful at all Jesus is is describing a time when yes, you can judge me now and that's all a part of God's plan But don't forget one of these days. I will be given The eternal kingdom from the ancient of days and I will come back to judge you It is a warning Okay, so the the guy who's on trial is giving a warning to the judge and the jury Again as we've seen so many times in these proceedings who is in control here It's obviously Jesus It's Jesus and anything that happens to him he is allowing to happen As he said before no one will take my life from me I'll lay it down willingly and I'm able to raise it back up Everything that happens he's allowing to happen, but he's in complete control of what's happening So that's that's his answer then notice the response Notice the response of chiafus and others We're 63 the high priest tore his clothes. What does that mean? Did he uh something catch on his little throne as he was getting up and ripped his garment? Is that what happened? What's going on here Okay What a waste of money anger is no doubt involved shame grief anguish Yeah, all of those are involved The the rinding of the clothes or the tearing of the clothes was done purposefully and it was typically the outer garment that this happened to The high priest probably took his outer garment and ripped it that was a sign of horror of of grief yes at times when a loved one would have died But of horror and shock and of the fact that this man has just condemned himself to death That a man would say such a thing that a man would would uh In their minds be guilty of blasphemy to equate himself with god and even be so bold as to say that he will sit at God's right hand and he will come back again and judge us Ha He was horrified and shocked now maybe part of this was just show for effect To get the others kind of riled up But basically he uh he does this as part of the proceedings to indicate what the verdict should be and notice then he speaks He says why do we need any more witnesses? He asked You almost hear the relief in that don't you they haven't had much success with any witnesses That all the people have lied about him and they can't get their stories to match So I think Caiaphas is quite relieved to be done with witnesses We don't need any more witnesses Why He says you've heard the blasphemy What do you think and so he calls for a verdict And what is the verdict? They all condemned him as worthy of death Okay, so they got their charge They have their verdict And what happens next is one of the most disgraceful scenes in all of the annals of human justice Look at it in verse 65 Then some began to began to spit at him They blindfolded him struck him with their fists and said prophesy And the guards took him and beat him All right now I want us to understand what's going on here In the Old Testament to spit on someone communicated something See if I know what it was Worthless Okay, that's that's kind of behind it A Rebuke yes, it was it was a review Okay Personal insult is really kind of the motivation behind it It it includes the other things that have been mentioned But the idea of spitting on someone showed the ultimate disdain toward someone Disgust with someone you are worthless Is what it was communicating and and basically saying You are done you are the lowest of of all creatures To spit on someone basically communicated that ultimate rejection And so really this is what they've been doing all of Jesus ministry haven't they've been rejecting him But now it is done in this visible symbolic way Of spitting on him Okay, now next it says they blindfolded him struck him with their fists and said prophesy now the other gospels add a little bit to it give us the full Thing that they said They they would blindfold him then hitting with their fists and say prophesy who wasn't that struck you Now What's going on there actually has a connection to an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah at least as it was understood in Jewish culture and if you hold your place here, let's go back to Isaiah chapter 11 Isaiah chapter 11 I Isaiah 11 was a well-known messianic prophecy In the words of foretelling of the Messiah and what he would be like who would be Verse one says a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse from his roots a branch Will bear fruit now obviously Talking about a descendant of David right Jesse's David's father So from the stump from the family of Jesse David's line A shoot will come up from his roots a branch will bear fruit and that's that's a reference to the one who would rule as Is promised in the Old Testament from the line of David and there's more description of him verse two the spirit of the Lord will rest on him the spirit of wisdom and of understanding The spirit of counsel and of might the spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord In other words the Messiah the one who comes to rule on David's throne from the family of David will be completely controlled and filled by the Holy Spirit That was clear from the Old Testament now look at verse three and he will delight in the fear of the Lord Now here's the part that was interpreted by the Jews in a way that will will see in This blindfolding incident he will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears But with righteousness he will judge the needy with justice. He will give decisions for the poor of the earth now as the prophet Isaiah is speaking of Jesus Just judgment his righteous government the Messiah will have a righteous and just Government as he speaks of that he basically saying he will not judge by what he sees or hears in other words It will not just be by human perception. It will always be by justice and righteousness But now you know the Jews would often take the Old Testament and and dissect words and phrases and build more things on them We're familiar with that from what Jesus accused the Pharisees of with their interpretations of the law and so forth Well, they did that with passions like this too and when they came to the end of verse three This is the way they interpret it whoever the Messiah is will not need to judge people's character Or who they are or what they're doing by what he sees or by what he hears They even went so far as to say he will be able to judge by his smell Who people are and what they're doing? Now that was the Jewish interpretation of this verse So when they blindfold him and then hit him and say now prophesy tell us who hits you What they're doing is they're going back to Isaiah 11 And I'm saying if you're really the Messiah you don't need to see who hits you You don't need to hear who it is You'll be able to tell by the way we smell So we're gonna test you to see if you're really the Messiah This is all part of the torture that's gonna be taking place But really in their minds it's not just outlandish torture It basically is a mockery and a ridicule of who he's claimed to be are you the Messiah? I am Okay, let's find out Isaiah 11 says you will not have to judge by what you see and what you hear we're gonna blindfold you We're gonna knock you around okay tell us prophesy who wasn't that hit you this time Come on tell us Boom another hit come on who hit you that time And what they're doing is they're putting Isaiah 11 into effect in their warped Hostile minds, but that's what they're doing. It's not just a game. This is a mockery and a ridicule of his claim To be the Messiah That's what's really going on And then notice what happens next The guards get caught up in it. I mean It's like you get a bunch of Roman guards watching this and they're gonna be whipped into a frenzy about what they're seeing when they you know They're like sharks when they see a little bit of blood they go for it And so the guards start in on it and they took him and beat him But everything that's happening to him is basically geared toward the anger and the hostility The frustration of these religious leaders being unleashed against him They finally have him like they've wanted him all along And they just it just it looks like the damn breaks Now, please remember these are cultured highly educated highly trained well-respected leaders of the community and they're acting like a pack of wild dogs Now that's what hatred does to you That's what when when bitterness and sin Get entrenched in the heart to the point that you hate someone so bad you want them to die When you have your opportunity finally that's the kind of thing that comes out That's kind of thing it just spews out of the heart Now it would be very easy for us wouldn't it to accuse these These religious leaders of the utmost indignity and treachery and and demonic behavior And every one of us is potentially guilty of the same thing Every one of us has the same potential where no different than them It may be a neighbor or a family member or someone who's hurt you in the past That you may hate so much that you wish they they would die If you had the same opportunity You would have the potential to do the same thing and I would do When the damn breaks When there is no longer any restraint What's really in the heart pours out and that's what we're seeing here. I'm not trying to excuse them in any way It was it was awful what they did But it was the result of a very natural process of the building up of anger and hostility that any of us Under the same circumstances could be guilty of Okay, so that's that's what's happening here We remind you of a couple of other verses in the Old Testament. There's so many prophecies that Jesus fulfills and you see it happening here I offered my back to those who beat me my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting again the prophet Isaiah Prophecying that first Peter 223 Peter remembering this event Later on would say when they hurled their insults of him he did not retaliate When he suffered he made no threats Instead he entrusted himself to him who judges Justly and I want us to pause for just a moment To reflect on the glory of the Christ the Messiah Watch him in all of his glory He did not crack under this assault on him He did not retaliate and Peter's using that as an example of how we should not retaliate when we are ill treated I know what our natural response is I mean, I know it because it's in my heart too Our natural response is to strike back when anyone mistreats us or harms us or does anything to us or says anything about us That's not true our natural response if anyone hurts me then I'm gonna get him back That's our natural response Jesus never did that never retaliated And so Peter says well to be looking at him if we read the whole passage You would say consider the example of Jesus look at him. We need to follow in his steps Peter literally says in this particular response The treatment that was Inhuman And so just back up for a moment and watch him and and be awed by his glory And his resolve to go to the cross And his humility and his strength His courage His control I Think we need to pause at at moments like this and just Be amazed and awestruck at at our Lord Any any comments questions before we move on for a few moments at least at least introduce the What's happening with Peter at the same time? You Right Yeah No question No question his power had already been demonstrated at the very beginning of this when they approach him in the garden He makes it clear right off the bat that all I have to do is say the word and you're done and That power has already been demonstrated which indicates at any point through this whole process. He could have ended it If he wanted to Well, I'd have to look at the Greek ego a me would be the Greek and I think that's what it probably is I'd have to get my Greek text out to make sure but um If even if it is He's he's answering in a different context here Um, we're looking who are you looking for in the garden? um We're looking for Jesus of Nazareth I am Okay, it's not really the appropriate answer to the question. It's more of a statement right in in this case He's literally answering a question. Are you The Messiah the son of the living God I am so I don't think he's using it in the same way as the title but even if he did Like you said al he has withheld his power unlike what he did in the garden. He is purposely withheld it on this occasion That's already been demonstrated The time now is is here for him to yield and go to the cross and so that even if it is the same the nuts or same announcement of who he is He's saying it in a different way Yeah Okay, any other comments or questions. That's a great one Okay Time is up and it's probably best because once we get into what happens with Peter this such an intriguing story We'll have to take three of the gospels and put them together to get the full story of what's going on with Peter And actually by this point some of what's been happening with Peter has already happened But you understand the gospels are treating events that are happening at the same time And so we've we've chosen to go ahead and take Jesus through the trial with Chiapas And we're going to back up then in time to the point where that started and Peter is outside The the room where the trial is taking place Peter is outside and there are several things that are happening with Peter And again, while I've taken three of the gospels and they're accounts to put it all together There's some fascinating details in the gospels about what happened to Peter Next week I will not be here. I'll be preaching in Trinidad Kevin Shari will be taking this this time and speaking but two weeks from tonight we'll get back to Peter, okay? Let's pray Father, we are grateful for the opportunity to behold the Son of God Pilot will later say behold the man And we have the opportunity to behold Son of God Lord, we are thankful that what we witness is the courageous Confident bold resolve to go to the cross And we cannot forget that he did that because He was being obedient to you and submissive to your plan And because as much as you loved us, he loved us also Thank you Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus Amen