Recapitulation
At the end of Matthew 22, we looked at a question Jesus tossed
back to His questioners earlier in the week.
They had been asking Him trick questions which He answered handily and
then He said, Let Me ask you something, “Whose Son is the Christ?” Yes, He is David’s son but why, then,
does David call Him “Lord” in Psalm 110:1?
The inescapable conclusion was that the Messiah must also be the Son
of God but they were unwilling to say that publicly when so many were on
the verge of proclaiming Him to be the Messiah.
Are You the Messiah?
But now that they have arrested Jesus in the dead of night
and have Him in front of the Sanhedrin and the elders and the high priest
Caiaphas, this question will be used against Him. But first, let us look at the passage in Matthew 26:57-68.
Condemned by Caiaphas
Matthew tells us that the mob who had arrested Jesus took
Him to the home of Caiaphas the high priest.
But we learn in John 18 that they made a stopover at Annas’ house before
going to see Caiaphas. Annas was the
father-in-law of Caiaphas. Matthew
apparently wants to get right to the official proceeding before the Sanhedrin
which would result in Jesus’ condemnation.
John is pointing out that the whole procedure was so highly irregular
that no one seemed to know where to take Him while Matthew was examining the
condemnation itself.
Peter’s Determined Surveillance
Matthew has this interesting interplay between what is
happening with Jesus and what is happening with Peter. We learn from Matthew that Peter was
following at a distance. He had been
pretty bold in his insistence that he wouldn’t deny the Lord so, heart
pounding, he follows even though he had nearly taken one guy’s head off. But at
Caiaphas’ house, his fellow disciple John tells us that he got Peter past the
guard into the courtyard because he was “known” to the high priest. John could apparently come and go—unlike
Peter. Matthew skips this information about
John and only tells us that Peter was in the courtyard warming himself by the
fire with the soldiers. The night was
getting colder. So far, Peter was
determined to see this thing through to the end. We will look at how his determination to
remain loyal to Jesus worked out next time.
But so far, He is sticking by his word.
Night Court
Meanwhile, inside the house—which was more like a palace—the
official Jewish religious court, called the Sanhedrin, had been summoned—in the
middle of the night—to hear the case against Jesus. They normally heard cases in the daylight in
a chamber adjoining the Temple. But, this
trial was held at night lest the people get wind of it and begin
rioting—causing problems for the Sanhedrin with the Roman government
The Sanhedrin’s Case
So, what was the Sanhedrin’s case against Jesus? So far, they had nothing legally but notice
that they had either already assembled and were only awaiting the arrival of
Jesus for a secret trial or were summoned after midnight! They were meeting at a time and place that
would allow the trial to proceed without fear of interference by rioting. Matthew has already pointed out in several
places they had already predetermined they wanted to execute Him for a couple of
reasons. 1) He was a danger to the precarious political
balance of power in Israel which could cost them their power and position. 2) He had offended them greatly in exposing
their hypocrisy and collusion with Rome before the people. And they were already between a rock and a
hard place—between Roman politics and Jewish moral sensitivity. Jesus had to die. But they needed a legal pretense—something
that would satisfy both the people and Rome.
Surely somebody could find some dirt somewhere!
The Search for Sin
Matthew has already indicated that the process of looking for
something to charge Him with had been going on for some time. Remember how they had spent the week asking
Him trick questions? And tonight they
began interviewing potential pairs of witnesses—people who would swear to
having witnessed some infraction of the law.
The law required two witnesses for any charge to stick. But they couldn’t come up with two accusers
who could agree on a valid accusation.
Finally, they found two guys whose accusation was pretty
flimsy and more of a technicality, but they swore before God that they heard
Jesus say that “I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in
three days.” Now Jesus HAD said
something like this in John 2:19 although Matthew did not record it. According to John, Jesus was asked for a sign
early in His ministry right after the first cleansing of the temple and He told
them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” John notes there that Jesus was speaking of
the temple of His body. So, Jesus was
not threatening to destroy THE temple but rather to restore it after THEY
destroyed it. These witnesses had heard
Him wrongly –and perhaps this is reasonable after three years for them to get
it wrong—or perhaps it was a deliberate bearing of false witness. And, the technicality they seized upon was
that you weren’t supposed to speak evil against the temple of God and so now
they had false witnesses who swore that Jesus had blasphemed against the holy
temple. The irony is that THEY were
planning to destroy Jesus’ temple!
Cross-Examination
Flimsy, but enough to allow Jesus to be cross-examined about
this accusation. But, Jesus refused to
answer. He wasn’t about to defend
Himself. There was nothing to
defend. This exasperated the High Priest
so much that he finally exploded, “I adjure you, by the Living God, tell us if
you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
Aha! This is also the answer to
the very question they refused to answer a few days earlier in public. The Messiah—the Christ—was not only David’s
son but also the Son of God! And they
knew it yet refused to admit it publicly.
But would Jesus now admit that He was the Christ?
Jesus’ Confession
Many people have made the claim that Jesus never said He was
the Christ. Or never said He was
God. But look at Jesus’ reply! “You have said so,” in the ESV and NIV. “You have said it.” (NLT) “You have said it yourself,” (NASB).
“Yes, I am,” (God’s Word Translation).
In today’s vernacular He might have said, “Bingo,” or “You got it.”
But not only that. He
added, “And the time is coming when you will see the Son of Man seated at the
right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (My translation). This is a well-known quote from Daniel 7:13
where Daniel has a vision of the return of the Messiah in power and great glory. The high priest was well-acquainted with the
passage and knew that Jesus was claiming to be this Holy One that Daniel saw.
Condemnation
He was horrified that a mere man would claim to be the
Christ. In his eyes, this was blasphemy
indeed. No need for false accusations! He tore his robes and said, “What more
do we need?” (Later in the book of Acts,
Paul and Barnabas had healed a lame man in the town of Lystra and the people
assumed they were Roman gods come down in the guise of men and wanted to sacrifice
to them! But Paul and Barnabas tore
their clothes and told them the truth and could barely restrain them.) The
Sanhedrin was also shocked by Jesus affirmation. They quickly condemned Him to death.
Striking the Shepherd
Now, it is possible that some members may not have
agreed—like Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea.
We do not have the names of those who were present. But Matthew tells us
that they took turns hitting Him and spitting on Him and abusing Him before
delivering Him to Pilate the governor for sentencing and execution. The Romans did not allow the Sanhedrin to carry
out capital punishment.
The Offense of the Messiah
Isn’t it interesting, that 2,000 years later, people, even
believers, are still offended by and resist Jesus’ message. Why?
It is really for some of the same reasons the Sanhedrin accused
Him. 1)
He still exposes hidden sins. 2)
He calls for change in our lifestyle. 3)
He challenges our most deeply held beliefs—and unbelief. And there are many ways Jesus will continue
to challenge us even after we begin to follow Him. Peter was one of those we will look at next.
© 2018 Eric Thimell
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