THE GREAT INJUSTICE: Caiaphas’ Conspiracy
CSI: Murder of God - Week 4
MATT.26:57-68
INTRODUCTION: (Intro mpeg to CSI:31)
It’s amazing that sometimes in our twisted world that what’s right can be unjust - that some things that are legal don’t give justice to others. Perennially perky lawyer, Elle Woods understands that. She had just discovered that the mother of her Chihuahua, Bruiser, is being used in animal testing. She asks that the company release the dogs that they are mistreating with their testing but they refuse. But she finds hope when she discovers that her own law firm represents the animal testing company. Surely the partners will do the right thing for these unfortunate animals.
{Video Clip: Legally Blonde 2 - Start: Chap. 7:10:43 - End: Chap. 7:13:10 = 2:33}
While Elle’s request is played for laughs, the underlying principle behind it is serious. The partner’s response - that justice and the law are not the same thing - unfortunately, is all too often true. In fact there have been many who have used and abused the law to promote their own agendas. That is never more clearly seen than in the judicial proceedings that led to the guilty verdict of Jesus Christ.
Today, as we come to the 4th message in our investigation of the murder of God we come to Jesus’ trial before the religious leaders. The trial of Jesus Christ may have been portrayed as legal, but was the world’s greatest miscarriage of justice. Not only was Jesus innocent of the charges but He was innocent of any charge. The Bible teaches us that Jesus was a sinless, perfect, person, yet he is falsely accused. The leading character in this despicable act was a man named Caiaphas. This man, the high priest & leader of the Jewish supreme court called the Sanhedrin, was the catalyst behind the unfair trial and execution of Jesus. The Bible tells us he was envious of Jesus’ leadership, goodness and influence. So, he used the tools of his legal system to bring about his own selfish desires.
So this morning I want us to study the tactics of Caiaphas but more importantly I want us to watch the composure of Jesus. We need to see how Jesus responded to this unfair mistreatment. Jesus was a victim of lies, deceit, physical abuse, cowardice, desertion, betrayal, and manipulation. Yet never once did he lose his composure or sense of purpose. My hope is that this study will provide some comfort for those of you who are presently enduring unjust treatment but also help all of us cope better when we are treated unfairly. So, let’s look at what Caiaphas did, how Jesus responded and then apply some lessons on how we can handle injustice in our lives.
I. THE INJUSTICE OF CAIAPHAS:
First, let’s look at this man who was the leader of the unjust treatment of the Son of God. Caiaphas is described in vs:57 of our text from Matthew 26, as “the high priest.” We don’t know a whole lot about him personally from Scripture. However, historians reveal Caiaphas to be a very politically ambitious man. In fact Caiaphas was given the office of high priest by Rome in 15A.D. He did not ascend to the position due to any great spiritual depth but only because Rome did not like his father-in-law, Annas, who should of been the high priest. The fact that Caiaphas was a political appointment makes it a little more understandable, although certainly not right, why he did what he did. You see, Caiaphas had little regard for spiritual things. In fact, he is described by Jewish historians as a malicious, insecure, politically power-hungry man. One who cared nothing about the people but everything about his position and standing. And this man took his evil, malicious nature out on Jesus.
I want you to see his terrible treatment by looking at the fact that he tried Jesus illegally. In fact, according to Jewish law the entire trial of Jesus was a farce. Here are five proofs of that. (1) They met at night. The rule was that no one was to be arrested, tried and sentenced during the night because it might look like a “rush to judgement.” Good rule, but totally ignored in this case. But it’s why Jesus said in Lk. 22:53 when he was arrested, “..this is your moment... when the power of darkness reigns.” It may have been “night” chronologically, and that was wrong, but it showed how dark spiritually it had really become.
(2) They also hired false witnesses to lie about Jesus. Interestingly, they apparently didn’t have time to coach the ones they had hired to lie. Notice vss:59-60 of our text. “Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find false witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death. But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, there was no testimony they could use.” Why? Mk 14:56 gives the reason, it says: “..they contradicted each other.” They paid these men to tell lies but un-coached their testimony was obviously a put up job. Vs:61 says that two of them heard Jesus say he would rebuild the temple in three days finally came forward and agreed. But even that was taken out of context because Jesus, when speaking about the temple, was actually referring to His own body, not a building. No honorable judicial system would ever condone the prosecutor hiring false witnesses.
(3) The jury, which was the Sanhedrin, had already decided Jesus’ guilt before the trial. As a police officer for over a dozen years, I was involved in many trials and as a lead investigator on some cases I was able to see the selection of the jury. Both the prosecutor and defense attorneys try to pick a jury that will be sympathetic to their side. However, both sides only have a certain number of “challenges” where they can remove a candidate from the jury if they feel they are more sympathetic to the other side. It’s a tedious system sometimes, but it’s done to try and ensure impartiality on the part of those who will render a verdict. Here it was the jury that had the defendant arrested. They had obviously already decided Jesus was guilty! The defendant would have no chance in that situation, to receive anything close to impartial treatment.
(4) The judge, who was Caiphas, became the prosecutor. After the two witnesses told about rebuilding the temple in vs:62, Caiaphas said, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” Jesus, however, doesn’t answer so Caiphas says in vs:63- “I demand in the name of the living God that you tell us whether you are the Messiah (Chosen One), the Son of God.” In our day if the answer is self-incriminating you don’t have to answer, but here, Jesus is being forced to incriminate himself by the judge! Can you imagine that happening in a courtroom today? The judge all of sudden leaps up and say, “Hey! Tell me if you are guilty or not!”
(5) Improper determination of Jesus’ blasphemy. Now, blasphemy in those days was pretending that you were God and calling yourself such. In answer to Caiaphas question, Jesus says in vs:64 - “Yes, it is as you say.” Now, if you were presiding at an impartial court of law, wouldn’t the next proper step be to determine whether what the accused said was true? Let’s say somebody said, “I am the son of Bill Gates and therefore am the heir to all his assets.” You might think he was a liar and an opportunist, but legally you’d have to say, “Okay, what evidence do you have to prove that claim?” Jesus answered the judges question about being the Son of God by saying, “Yes, that’s true.” Legally, Caiaphas should of said, “Okay, what proof do you have.. And be careful, because if you can’t prove it, you will be guilty of blasphemy.” Jesus then could of used the prophecies and called witnesses to his miracles. Lazarus, for example, who He had raised from the dead to prove his claim. But there was no such opportunity on this dark night. After Jesus answered yes to the charge, vs:65 reads: “Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror, shouting, `Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?’ ‘Guilty!’ they shouted.’”
Five steps that demonstrated how hateful and unjust Caiaphas and this “kangaroo court” really were. But they didn’t stop there. Not only did they try him illegally, they treated him inhumanely. Vs:67- “They spit in Jesus’ face..” Ever been spit on? I have.. As a police officer making an arrest and once during an interrogation after catching the suspect in a lie. It is by far, one of the most repulsive acts that can be done to you. You know what my reaction was? My first reaction was to wipe it off. My second.. Well, I’ll leave that to your imagination by telling you I’m not real proud of my second reaction. And to think that Jesus couldn’t even wipe it off because he was bound! One author wrote when that happened he thinks 10,000 angels turned to the Father just hoping He would give the order to attack. But God didn’t, and the angels remained silent and Jesus did not respond. And these ungodly men did not stop there. In the true response of a mob.. Vs:67- they “..hit him with their fists. And some slapped Him, saying, `Prophecy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?’” He must have been blindfolded at that time. But here is judge, jury, bailiffs, all abusing the accused in court! I know many of us are visual learners so watch as this travesty of justice in Mt. 26 comes to life.
{Video Clip: Passion of the Christ. Start- Chap. 8:26:01 - End- 28:30 - 2:29}
We are all outraged when we see a senseless beating by police in an arrest or by citizens in a riot. How much more when what you just saw happened to a man that was completely innocent!
II. THE COMPOSURE OF JESUS: 1 Peter 2:21-25
But did you notice that through it all Jesus, somehow, kept His composure? So much so that when He was lead before the Roman governor, Jesus impressed Pilate. Caiaphas had Jesus led to Pilate so that Jesus could suffer the death penalty. Now, blasphemy wouldn’t bother Rome so Caiaphas has them change their charge and said that Jesus was leading an insurrection claiming that He was King in place of Caesar. In Matthew 27:11-ff we are told that once again Jesus did not answer or even speak out against the charges that were brought against Him. Mt. 27:13- “‘Don̓t you hear their many charges against you?̓ Pilate demanded. But Jesus said nothing, much to the governor’s great surprise..” And that word “surprise” carries with it the meaning of “awe.” Pilate respected Jesus, was amazed by his composure.
The story is told of the King of England that he once visited the prison in London and the King asked every prisoner what he had done. Every prisoner said his imprisonment was unfair that they were innocent! Finally, the King came to one prisoner who said, “King, I am in here because I stole food from the market.. I am a thief and am being treated justly for my crime.” Immediately the King shouted to the guards, “Release this man, before he contaminates all these other innocent prisoners!” Pilate was use to criminals pleading their case, claiming innocence, blubbering for mercy, shout back at their accusers. And so he began to be impressed with Jesus̓ composure, His calmness in light of what he knew to be trumped up charges because Matt. 27:18 says- “He knew very well that the Jewish leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.”
And why wouldn’t Pilate be impressed? Against all odds Jesus resisted the temptation to strike back.1 Peter 2:23 tells us: “When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats..”(NIV) Through it all, Jesus kept His composure, through it all he did not lower himself to his opponent’s tactics even though their injustice knew no bounds.
III. THE LESSONS TO APPLY WHEN WE CONFRONT INIUSTICE:
Now, before we go home I want us to look at three lessons to apply from this incident to our lives when we confront injustice.
(1) When you are mistreated take the time to evaluate the circumstances objectively. Before we protest about how badly we are being mistreated it might prove beneficial to objectively evaluate the circumstances. How can we do that? It may be beneficial to spend some time alone with God and get away from the circumstances some. It may include a discussion with friends who are not emotionally involved. Many times it’s best to just keep our mouths shut, remove ourselves from the emotion of the moment and evaluate the circumstances. Let̓s admit that unlike Jesus we may not, by ourselves, be able to perfectly evaluate the scenario adequately. We can make quick assessments and later find out that we weren̓t mistreated at all. 1 Peter 4:15- “If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs.” I know this is tough but when you̓re going through some unjust treatment try to just take a moment to make sure that you̓re suffering and not imagining you̓re suffering.
(2) When you are mistreated don’t be surprised by the meanness of people. The people of this world can be exceedingly corrupt! Did you see in the newspaper some time ago that con men were calling families of soldiers who had been sent to Iraq and impersonating a telephone operator. The con-man would say, “We have your son/daughter on the line from Iraq or Afghanistan, would you give us your credit card number so we can complete the call?” And wanting to talk to their children they would give their credit card numbers and then the con-men would hangup, there would be no caller and they would use the number to purchase items over the phone. People can sink to unbelievable depths. Jeremiah 17:9- “The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” Now, that’s not to say there are not any good people, but let’s be honest, people are selfish. You know how I know that? Because I’m selfish and maybe this has never happened to you but there have been times in my life where I have acted first for my own personal advantage.
Our goal needs to be that we face the meanness of people with the composure of Jesus. When Jesus was illegally, unjustly and inhumanly mistreated He still kept His composure in the way He displayed His attitude. It’s not enough to just not strike back, we need to watch our attitude too. We can walk away but inside we are scheming to get even. Jesus didn’t lose his cool, he didn’t seek revenge.
And you know who loses the most when they lose their composure and you act in ways that you think will right the wrong? You. Gal. 5:15: “If you criticize, gossip and attack each other, watch out! You’ll end up destroying yourself.”(TEV) Getting even isn’t ever even. We really only hurt ourselves. It festers within & poisons our spirits when we lose our composure, hold grudges or take revenge. We become no better than those who hurt us. Rick Warren said, “If you don’t release those who hurt you, you will begin to resemble them." We hurt ourselves when we take matters into our own hands. We lose God’s peace and sink to the depths of the hurter instead of becoming a healer. Make sure your attitude is one of kindness, keeping your composure.
(3) Trust God even when you don’t understand. When life let’s us down we have a tendency to blame God. Sometimes we wonder if God is aware of our problems and that can lead to being disappointed that He isn̓t acting the way we think He should. If allowed to fester that disappointment can turn to disillusionment and even hatred. But when circumstances are adverse and you don’t think God understands would you think about the last few hours of Jesus̓ life? He was treated so unjustly, he got abuse and mistreatment beyond anything we will ever endure and God did not intervene. It wasn’t that He was being unfair but it was that He was moving according to His plan, according an ultimate goal. If you had been there you would never of thought that Jesus̓ mistreatment made sense, but it ends up not only making sense but being our salvation! God never lost control, God never was ringing His hands, saying, “Oh, my what am I going to do?” No, He allowed the mistreatment of His Son for a purpose and that purpose was so Jesus complete the goal of going voluntarily to the cross and take our punishment. You see God’s purpose makes sense for eternity! Let’s take our cue from Jesus...
“When they hurled their insults at him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats.. Instead.. He entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly.”
