Jesus was put on trial six different times before three different courts.
The three Jewish trials of Jesus.
Trial 1 - READ John 18:12-14, 19-24. Jesus was forst taken to the home of Annas. History says Annas was the power in Jerusalem. He once served as High Priest. Under Rome, the office of High Priest went to the highest bidder. Annas was rich and made his money from the sale of sacrificial animals and exchange of currency in the Court of the Gentiles. He had seen to it his four sons had followed him as High Priest, and his son-in-law, Chaiaphas, became High Priest. Positions all bought and paid for. He was like the godfather of the priests, nothing happened without his approval. Jesus was brought before him first.
Trial 2 - READ 22:54; 63-71. Jesus was taken to Annas’ son-in-law, Caiaphas, who as acting High Priest, led a select few of the Sanhedrin to interrogate Jesus and find charges that were worthy of death. They found Him guilty of blasphemy, which was the only conclusion they could make since Jesus declared Himself to be the Messiah (22:67-70).
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” - C. S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
To borrow from C.S. Lewis, since they knew Jesus wasn’t a lunatic; and since they knew He wasn’t a liar; and since they refused to call Him Lord; they had but one choice - to “kill Him as a demon.”
“Caiaphas was the one who had told the other Jewish leaders, ‘It’s better that one man should die for the people.’” - John 18:14 (NLT)
Caiaphas was thinking of himself and his family maintaining their power, not the people. But God was thinking of the people. He had sovereignly orchestrated things so Jesus might die in fulfillment of prophecy for the sins of the world and the salvation of mankind.
By the way, while Jesus was succeeding in His trial before the High Priest, Peter failed his trial before the crowd outside and denied Jesus three times. 22:61 probably happened as Jesus was taken to Pilate.
Trial 3 - The most powerful members had reached their verdict. But the formal verdict could not be decided until after sunrise and a full quorum was present. They elected to endorse the high Priest’s finding that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy and sentenced Him to death. But since they weren’t granted power to execute under Roman occupation, they had to turn to Pilate and Roman authority.
The three Roman trials of Jesus.
Trial 4 - Read 23:1-7. When the religious leaders brought Jesus to Pilate, they knew that blasphemy did not a violate Roman Secular Law. So they made three accusations against Jesus, any one of which would mean He could be executed if found guilty:
1) They said Jesus was an insurrectionist;
2) They said Jesus was teaching the people not to pay taxes; and
3) They said Jesus was declaring Himself to be king over Caesar.
Pilate was unconvinced. When he learned Jesus was from Galilee, he sent the problem to Herod. Herod Antipas ruled Galilee. After Herod the great died, Rome divided Israel among him and Archelaus his brother, and Phillip, his half-brother. He’s also mentioned in Luke 3:19-20; Mark 6:27; Matthew 14:1-2; and Luke 13:31-32.
Trial 5 - READ 23:8-12. Pilate came from Caesarea to maintain order during Passover and Herod came from Tiberias to keep favor with the Jews. They weren’t friends, but by sending Jesus to Herod, Pilate tried to do two things: 1) he’d make this Herod’s problem; and 2) show courtesy which might remove Herod’s dislike of him, which it did (v. 12). The religious leaders screamed their accusations at Herod, who asked questions of Jesus, hoping He’d perform a miracle. Jesus refused to answer and did nothing. So Herod sent Him back to Pilate.
Trial 6 - READ 23:13-25 Pilate personally thought Jesus undeserving of death; but politically, he knew he had to placate the Jews to keep the peace. So to get out of the dilemma, he put the decision to the people. They chose Barabbas the thief over Jesus. He then had Jesus flogged to satisfy the crowd, but it didn’t do so. The crowd, likely filled with agitators paid for by Annas, cried “Crucify Him!” So Pilate, after washing his hands and declaring his personal innocence (Matthew 27:24), gave in to the mob and ordered Jesus’ crucifixion.
As we think about the trials of Jesus, we see three different types of individuals who reject Jesus, who were really the ones on trial.
1. The Sanhedrin - the self important person - The Sanhedrin were like many today, who rejected Christ because they didn’t want to give up what they had. Jesus was a threat to Annas and his family’s power. If they’d acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, that would mean things in their lives would change, and that was unthinkable.
2. Herod - the self centered person - Herod was interested in Jesus doing some tricks for Him. He treated Jesus as though He existed only for his amusement. So self centered was Herod that he thought like so many today, that God exists to serve them rather than the other way around. And, like Herod, when God doesn’t “perform” they reject Him.
3. Pilate - the self absorbed person - Pilate did what was politically and professionally expedient. He was short-sighted and only concerned with the “here and now.” Earthly concerns were more important than eternal concerns. So it is for many today. Self absorbed, their life is only focused only on the “here and now,” never realizing that “The greatest business of this life is to prepare ourselves for the next.”
Do you know how to make a monkey trap? A gourd is hollowed out and an opening is cut big enough for a monkey paw to go through. A treat is put in the gourd with a rope tied to the gourd and a stake on the other end. A monkey smells the treat and reaches in to get it. The opening is large enough for the paw to go in, but too small to let its clenched paw to go out. The monkey can’t escape as long as he hangs on to the treat. The hunter who set the trap, collects the monkey, and it looks like monkey meat’s on the menu tonight!
What is your monkey trap? What is keeping your from Christ?
“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”
- Matthew 5:29-30 (NIV)
“Hell is hot, sin is black, judgment is sure, but Jesus saves.” - Adrian Rogers
Why did Jesus endure His trials before these men? Why did He allow Himself to be condemned? So that you and I might not be condemned. He died so we might live. He suffered so we might be saved.
Billions of people were on a great plain before God’s throne. Some talked heatedly - not with shame, but belligerence. “How can God judge us?” said one. “What does He know about suffering?” said a Jewish woman, pulling back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured beatings, torture, death!” A black man lowered his collar showing an ugly rope burn. “What about this? Lynched for no crime but being black! We have suffocated in slave ships, been taken from loved ones, and toiled until finally death gave us release.” Across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He permitted in His world. How lucky God was to live in Heaven where there was no weeping, no fear, no hatred! What did God know about what man had to endure in this world? “God leads a pretty sheltered life,” they said. So each group sent out a leader, chosen because of their suffering. There was a Jew, a black man, an untouchable from India, a person born illegitimately, a person from Hiroshima, and one from a Siberian slave camp. In the center of the plain they met with each other, then presented their case. Before God could judge them, He must endure what they’d endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth - as a man. They said: Let Him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of His birth be doubted, so that none would know who is really His father. Let Him champion a cause so just, but so radical, that it brings down on Him the hatred of every traditional and established religious authority. Let Him be betrayed by His dearest friends. Let Him be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let Him see what it is like to be terribly alone and completely abandoned. Let Him be tortured and die! Let Him die the most humiliating death - like that of a convicted thief. As each one announced his part of the sentence, murmurs of approval went up from throngs of people. But when the last one had finished pronouncing sentence, no one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly all knew . . . God had already served His sentence.
He served His sentence to save you and me. Have you accepted Him?
Christ willingly suffered rejection for our sake. Christian, when it comes to telling others about Jesus, are you willing to suffer the inconvenience of suffering rejection for His sake?
