Jesus On Trial

The role of the Great Sanhedrin was to uphold the law and God clearly states here that they were to make an example of any false witnesses as a way to discourage the malicious practice of perjury for personal or multifarious gains. Mark doesn’t tell us what happened to these people who gave false testimony against Jesus but the law clearly states that they were to be put to death since their purpose was have Jesus put to death as a result of their false testimony. Ironically, Jesus Himself had been brought before the Great Sanhedrin to be made an example of so that any future false messiahs would think twice before claiming they were the long-awaited and anointed king appointed by God and stir up the people to overthrow the Romans and establish a never-ending kingdom.

I hate to tell you this, but the verdict of the Great Sanhedrin has not changed over the centuries. Most Jews today still consider Jesus to be a false messiah. Some Jewish People are willing to go so far as to believe that Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher, or even a prophet … but the Messiah … never. That is still considered to be the highest form of blasphemy. In one article I read, it said that it is blasphemous and forbidden in Judaism to worship ANY human … to state that any human can be part divine … or claim that God ever appears in the flesh. The article goes on to say that the “Tanakh” … or the Jewish Old Testament … gives detailed, specific instructions on how to precisely identify the real “messiah” and Jesus, they claim, is the exact opposite of what is described in the Tanakh (how many men claimed to be Israel's messiah before Jesus? | Yahoo Answers). There are many Bible scholars, on the other hand, who claim that Jesus has fulfilled well over 300 prophesies of the Messiah and His coming in the Old Testament.

Which leads me to the conclusion of Jesus’ trial and the darkest irony yet. None of the witnesses could agree. It looked like the Great Sanhedrin wasn’t going to be able to build a case … until the high priest asked Jesus: “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” (Mark 14:61). “Son of the Blessed One”… devoted Jews, especially men like the high priest and the members of the Sanhedrin, never pronounced the name of God. I point this out to show you that these men were incredibly devout Jews. They were the real deal … the leaders … the examples for all the rest of Israel to follow … and I have no doubt that they believed in their hearts that what they were doing was for the good and future of Israel.

Unlike those who bore false witness against Jesus, Jesus tells the truth and ends up bearing witness against Himself in the eyes of the Sanhedrin: “I am” … Yikes! The high priest could have stopped Him right there! But Jesus goes on: “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power’” … with a capital “P” … “and ‘coming with the clouds of Heaven’” (Mark 14:62) … double, triple YIKES! Jesus is quoting from Daniel, Chapter 7: ““In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 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” (Daniel 7:13-14).