Condemned by the Righteous
Mark 14: 53-72
This is a map of the city of Jerusalem. You’ll notice the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s at the base of the Mount of Olives. From there, while Jesus was praying, he could see the temple across the Kidron Valley. When Jesus is arrested in the Garden, he makes his way back down the Kidron Valley led by the temple guard with hands and feet bound. As he does, he walks past the gate where Elijah says he will one day place his feet. He walks by the temple itself and its pinnacle, where he was tempted by the devil to cast himself down and prove he was the Messiah. He comes to the pool of Siloam, where Jesus encountered a blind man and he bent down, took some spit and dirt in his hands and rubbed it on the man’s eyes, told him to wash in the pool and he was healed and could see. Then he walks into the lower city of Jerusalem and begins to climb the 36 steps (picture of steps) to the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest. All in all, the journey was about a mile in length and would have taken about 20 minutes. When he arrived, it was probably close to 3 AM Thursday morning. Picture. The Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu has been built over the top of what was believed to be the house of Caiaphas. On the left spire is a rooster. Commemorating Peter’s denial. As you walk into the church, you go down two floors which used to be a cistern (picture of Caiaphas cistern or prison and picture of the hole in the celing) but served as a prison cell where Jesus would have been kept while they waited for the rest of the Sanhedrin to arrive. They lowered him down through a hole in the floor above. Imagine what it must have been like for Jesus as he listened to the Sanhedrin debate his fate.
Picture of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the council of 71 elders of the people of Israel prescribed by Numbers 11:16 where God told Moses after he was overwhelmed and exhausted that it was not good for Moses to rule Israel by himself. Call 70 other people to rule with you, God said. The Sanhedrin ruled over the religious life of the Jews while Rome ruled over the political life of Israel. Their duties would have included overseeing the temple and its practices, the religious festivals of the year and the teaching and interpretation of the law. They were considered to be the most pious, religious of the people of Israel. The irony is that the ones who were seeking God the most and working hardest to do the will of God, failed to recognize God in human flesh through the person of Jesus. Just like the emperor who longs to know his subjects and thus puts on common clothes and lives among his people without anyone really recognizing him, God chose to walk upon this planet and live among his children as an itinerant teacher and preacher. He was right in their midst and they failed to recognize him.
The High Priest was the highest office of the faith and was the head of the Sanhedrin. He was also the representative of the Jewish people before the Roman governor. During Jesus’ life, this office was held by the family of Annas. Slide: Family of Annas as High Priest (Annas 6-15 AD; Elazar, Annas’ son, 16-17 and Joseph Caiaphas, Annas’ son-in-law, 18-37). At the time of Jesus, Annas, Elazar and Caiaphas formed an inner circle within the Sanhedrin. It is for this reason Mark speaks of all the high priests to whom Jesus was taken. Herod introduced fixed periods of service in accordance with Greek custom but the Romans took on themselves the prerogative to install and divest the high priests as they saw fit, probably by how well the Romans could control them and how well the High Priest could control the Jewish people. Caiaphas’ long tenure speaks of his great diplomatic skills of juggling the religious practices of the Jews and still fulfilling the expectations of the Romans. Picture of High Priest.
One sign of control Rome had on the High Priest was when Herod confiscated the priestly garment worn for the Day of Atonement when the priest would enter the Holy of Holies. Herod stored the garment in the Antonio Fortress next to the temple and humiliatingly, the High Priest would have to retrieve it days before the important holidays.
Jesus and Caiaphas. When Jesus was brought to Caiaphas, he questioned Jesus and sought to condemn him. Caiaphas already had a pre-determined plan to remove Jesus because he was a growing problem. Caiaphas said, “It is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” John 11:50 This is the language of a cunningly realistic and determined politician. The hopes of the people for a messiah to lead the people against the Romans could result in an uprising, which they would surely would be defeated and would end up with the Romans further enslaving the Israelites and removing the religious freedom they enjoyed. Caiaphas’ concerns were also personal, hoping to keep his own powerful position which ensured him a life of wealth and luxury. So John 11:53 reports, “from that day on they plotted to take his life.”
It was never in Caiaphas’ mind to give Jesus a fair trial but to remove Him any way he could. So the trial was not a legal trial. Slide: An Illegal Trial: First, they had a trial by night. Jewish law stated that the Sanhedrin could meet only during the daytime. Second, they were restricted to meet in public in the temple courts. Thus, they could not meet in the High Priest’s house. Third, they could not meet during the religious festivals, the Passover being one of them. Fourth, they brought false witnesses and even they didn’t agree with one another.
This is the most unorthodox trial and the very God the Sanhedrin seek to know is the one they unwittingly put on trial for blasphemy, a crime punishable by death. They find him guilty, condemn him to death and begin to spit on him, blind fold him, mock and strike him saying, “Prophecy, tell us now who struck you”. And then they turn him over to the guards to be beaten and whipped further. The very people who were supposedly closest to God and sought him are the ones who convicted God. You hear people say, “If God would just show up, if he would make himself real, if he would come to me.” He did that once and see what God’s people did.
But this story is not about 71 men 2000 years ago. It is a story about the human condition. It is a story about you and me. Why did they fail to see Jesus for who he was and why did they condemn him to death and treat him as they did? The Sanhedrin Problem: I think the answer is fear. We are made with a desire deep within us to be safe. When we get into a situation where we feel threatened, we choose between fighting and fleeing. Unfortunately, our self-preservation instinct is coupled with our sin. There is something in us which is broken when we put ourselves first, seek our pleasures and our hopes and dreams and our will above all else. When we feel threatened or are afraid, we often find ourselves acting in ways which are not necessarily in keeping with our faith. Suddenly, doing the right thing or the moral thing is thrown out the window if our safety feels jeopardized.
Show images where we were afraid & acted in ways
Jesus was a threat to the Sanhedrin. He threatened the social order, their authority, their power and their standing in the community. When Jesus preached to the crowds, they said he preached with such authority, not like the authority of our religious leaders. And so they laid plans to rid themselves of this nuisance, the very one who came to save them, they say must die. This is the way we act when we’re afraid. Fear gives birth to hate which often leads us to doing the wrong thing.
We can’t go back and change the decisions we’ve made in the past, but we can change how we react in the future. Perhaps you can ask, “Lord, what is it that you would have me see? What would you have me do?” But we can only do that when we recognize we are Sanhedrin. I might have voted for Jim Crowe laws. I might have hooked up the electrodes in Abugrade prison I might have imprisoned Japanese Americans in WW II. And I might have stood among the Sanhedrin and condemned Jesus. Fear motivates us to do things which we later regret. And if you can play upon people’s fears, you can get them to do all kinds of things. People do that and politicians do that. When you act out of fear, we often do the wrong thing.
Slide with 1 John 4, “God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment because in this world, we are like him. There is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” The thing we need to ask is not what is will make me feel most secure but what is the most loving thing to do? In the end love conquers in a way that hate and fear cannot do.
Picture of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. There are 71 men in the Sanhedrin who meet that night, hear the charges and debate about Jesus. I cannot believe that all 71 men believed they were doing the right thing by condemning him, spitting on him, beating him and sending him to his death. Some of them must have questioned what was happening and even knew in their heart of hearts that this was wrong. And yet in all 4 Gospels, everyone of the Sanhedrin agree on Jesus’ sentence to death. How did that happen? What happens if too many people agree on the wrong thing? It’s easy to be afraid to stand up and take a stand. Nobody wants to stick out or speak out and nobody wants to be on the receiving end of the ire of other folks. We’ve all been there, when the group takes a stand and deep in your soul, you know it’s wrong but you’re afraid to speak out. And when it is all said and done, you say to yourself, Why didn’t I say anything?
Pastor Martin Niemöeller lived in Germany as the Nazi’s came to power. He said, “First they came for Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up becauee I was a Protestant. Then they came for me and by that time, there was no one left to speak for me.” British Philosopher and politician Edmund Burke said, “The only thing that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Keeping silent when you know it is wrong. What would have happened if one person spoke up early on against Hitler? What would have happened if one person challenged Stalin’s gulags? What would have happened if one person took a stand at Enron? This not about pointing out other people’s sins. That’s offensive and obnoxious. What we’re taking about is taking a stand and saying, “I just have a question. It just doesn’t seem right.”
I was getting my haircut in Slidell several years ago. I got up early so I could be the first in the chair. As I walked in the back door and sat down in the chair, the barber went and unlocked the front door. There was an African American gentleman sitting on the front bench waiting to go inside. When the door opened he stood up. My barber said, I’m sorry but we don’t cut hair like yours here. If you go over onto 190, you’ll find a place which cuts hair like yours.” I was flabbergasted. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, in Slidell in the 21st century. The man silently walked away. My barber turned to his partner and said, he had never cut a nigger’s hair in that shop and wasn’t about to start to. I was speechless. Now I know there were at least two Christians in that barbershop that day, myself and one of my former church members from my last church. And I said nothing. I was wrong and regret it to this day. I didn’t want to stick out or make a scene. I’m ashamed I didn’t say anything but that morning as I drove away, I vowed never to return and I never have. But what would have happened if I spoke up?
All it takes is one person. What would have happened if just one of the Sanhedrin had stood up and said, This can’t be right. I don’t believe this is in keeping with God’s teaching, regardless of what we think about this man.”
Jesus is on the witness stand and they have been bringing in false witnesses and they can’t agree. In frustration, Caiaphas asked Jesus, “Are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed one?” Slide: There are three things we learn about Jesus from his answer. First, Jesus is God. Jesus answered with one sentence: “I am.” It’s easy to see this just as a simple answer to the questioned posed. The Greek is “ego emi” which is used throughout the Gospel of John in Jesus’ “I am” sayings. Yet this simple answer causes the High Priest to tear his garments. Picture of Moses and the burning bush. Jesus answer goes back 1200 years when Moses was in the wilderness and saw a burning bush but it was not being consumed by the fire. Out of it comes the voice of God, I want you to go to Egypt and set my people free. After much deliberation and flat out excuse making, Moses agrees and asks, Who shall I say sent me? And God says, My name is ‘I am.’ Go tell the Israelites I am sent me. When Jesus looks at the High Priest and says, I am, he is claiming the identity of God.
Second, Jesus is claiming the power of God. Jesus goes on to say, you will see the Son of Man coming on clouds from heaven. This is a reference to Slide with Scripture Daniel 7:13: "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 (that is God) and was led into his presence. Jesus uses this reference to himself throughout the Gospels. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men 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 makes allusion to this text and is counting on the fact that the High Priest will recognize it and know Jesus is saying he is fulfilling it and when he comes, he will rule and God will give him authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, will worship.
Third, Jesus is claiming the authority of God. Jesus says he will sit at the right hand of God and that is the position of power. Slide with Psalm 110:1-4 Jesus is referring to Psalm 110:1 “The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” This Lord is Jesus and the enemies are the Sanhedrin seated around the room. They must have bristled at this. “The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth.” Now listen to this: The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." 1600 years before the time of Christ, Abraham had fought a battle in what was the city of Salem. It was the forbearer of the city of Jerusalem. A mysterious figure comes out to Abraham and offers him a meal of bread and wine. Just hours before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus offers his disciples a meal of bread and wine. Jesus is a priest and he is a king and his coming was foretold even in the time of Abraham. He offers himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the people. He is the king of peace.
And with this they tore their robes and said, do we need any more of this? This man has blasphemed. We would say today that He has told the truth. Jesus makes clear who he is in this answer to the question from the High Priest.
Picture of Peter in the courtyard. As all of this is taking place, Peter listens from the outer courtyard. It’s easy to judge Peter by this one event but we must not forget that it was Peter who first called Jesus the Christ. It was Peter in the Garden with Jesus who sought to intervene and save Jesus. When Jesus is led away, all the disciples abandon except Peter who follows at a distance. Now there’s two things for us to consider here. First, how many of us follow Jesus at a distance. We come to worship and maybe even attend a Bible study seeking more knowledge but we never let the word of God penetrate our hearts. We never change our lives and our priorities to be in line with God. We may serve but only when it is a convenience. God is a part of our lives but God is never our life and Jesus never asked for anything less. We remain Christians but Christians at a distance.
Peter sneaks into the trial of Jesus listening from the inner courtyard, risking his own life. He does something bold and courageous but his courage takes him only so far. First comes a servant girl who accuses him of being one of the disciples and Peter says, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Peter then runs away to the outer courtyard and another woman accuses him of being a disciple but again he denies. Finally, a group of people come to him and say, we can tell by your accent, you are one of his. Peter calls down curses from heaven and loudly proclaims, “I don’t know the man!” The cock then crows and Peter remembers the words of Jesus. He is convicted to the heart. At that moment, Luke tells us Peter and Jesus’ eyes meet and he began to weep bitterly.
Peter is the only one who is a witness to these events. How did the Gospel writers know the story and all its details. Peter told the story when he went out to preach. I denied and betrayed him but by his grace, he took me back. From that moment, Peter never denied Jesus again, even when he was crucified upside down for proclaiming Christ. Through Peter we are reminded that all of us will betray Jesus somewhere along the way. When have you denied Jesus if not through your words, then through your thoughts or your actions.
Are you willing to be known as a follower of Jesus Christ? Not just here at church among other believers but at work, in the community or in our neighborhood? It’s easy for us to go through life without anybody else knowing we’re a follower of Jesus. Are you willing to pause when out with friends and say a prayer of thanks for the meal you’re about to eat? Would you be willing to reach out to the unreachable or socially unacceptable at the expense of your friends? Would you be willing to take a stand in a group because what is being decided is wrong and goes against everything you believe? Are you willing to be counted among the followers of Christ? There is grace offered to Peter which carried him through the rest of his life and ministry. But we also see the boldness which was instilled in him when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples at Pentecost. That same boldness is available to you and this story today is an invitation to follow Jesus and do it boldly so that through you all people in your life might not only know Jesus but the grace you have received and which is available to them too. Are you willing to be counted among the followers of Christ?
