"Who Was On Trial?” Series

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.