The Adventure Link
CSI: Jerusalem
The Verdict is IN!
We continue our investigation into the murder of Jesus as we end this week of study. Lets pick up right where we left off in our last edition...
Matthew 26:65–66 says, “Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?’ ”
The tearing of Caiaphas’s clothes was supposed to signify his utter shock and outrage over an alleged act of open blasphemy.
Tearing one’s clothes was an expression of extreme grief and shock from the most ancient biblical times . However, the high priest was forbidden to tear his clothes (Leviticus 21:10).
So ironically, while Annas was theatrically feigning indignation over Jesus’ supposed act of blasphemy, he himself was actually committing a rather serious act of sacrilege, profaning the high priest’s office in a way Scripture expressly forbids. This is an often forgotten and often missed moment of these events.
Caiaphas’s artificial outrage reflected no genuine concern for the holiness of God’s name. He must have been secretly overjoyed to hear Jesus say something he could accuse Him with. The exaggerated gesture of tearing his clothes would have barely disguised the glee on his face over the fact that he was finally able to get Jesus to make a statement that had the semblance of blasphemy—or would have if Jesus had been a mere man.
But Jesus was no mere man, and His claims were not blasphemy. The Sanhedrin erred seriously by ignoring the numerous miracles Jesus had done, many of them public acts that occurred in Jerusalem, right under their noses. In fact, years earlier in Galilee, on one of the first occasions when some Jewish religious leaders sought Jesus’ life for claiming God was His Father, He defended Himself with these words:
If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish; the very works that I do; bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. (John 5:31–37)
Not only had John the Baptist given witness that Jesus was the Messiah, but God the Father Himself had confirmed the fact through numerous miraculous works. The Sanhedrin knew of these things and had witnessed some of the miracles themselves. (As a matter of fact, the raising of Lazarus was the incident that had prompted this final, desperate conspiracy to murder Jesus—John 11:46–53.) But in their zeal to eliminate Christ they discounted all the evidence that supported His claims.
As the high priest tore his clothes, he said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!” (Matthew 26:65). He now had the “evidence” he needed, and to his absolute delight there was no need for any testimony from witnesses to confirm it.
As far as he was concerned, Christ had blasphemed openly before the entire council. They all were witnesses against Him. His condemnation was now a done deal. The high priest immediately asked for a verdict from the council: “What do you think?”
They dutifully answered, “He is deserving of death” (v. 66). And thus the council rendered a summary verdict: “They all condemned Him to be deserving of death” (Mark 14:64).
Here are just a few of the issues we have seen upon review....
It was the verdict they had agreed upon long before they ever heard His case.
No one was permitted to speak in His defense.
No voice of caution was raised at any point in the trial.
No plea for mercy was entertained.
None of the evidence that supported His claims was ever considered.
Jesus was simply railroaded by the high priest’s kangaroo court into a guilty verdict that had been arranged and agreed upon long before He ever came to trial.
The adventure and investigation continues....
