Christ's Jewish Trials

1. "His own” were the Jews, who were God's chosen people.

2. The Jews had been the kingdom of David, and they were waiting for the descendant of David to come and establish the throne again. Jesus was that descendant, but when He came they did not receive Him. Instead, they rejected and killed Him.

1. Annas had been high priest, but he was deposed by the Romans and replaced with his son-in-law Caiaphas. The Jews still regarded Annas as the legitimate high priest because the office was to be held for life (Num. 20:28; 35:25).

2. It appears that Annas still had quarters in the court of the high priest. The Lord's trials before both Annas and Caiaphas seem to have occurred in the same location.

3. Jesus was brought before Annas in order to obtain his sanction, which was important to the Jews.

1. Annas' asked Jesus about matters that were already well known – His disciples and His teaching. These questions were intended only to find grounds for accusing Jesus.

2. Jesus pointed out that His works and words had been presented publicly (unlike these trials). Rather than questioning Him, Jesus suggested that Annas should question witnesses of Jesus who would give legal testimony.

3. Because Jesus said this, an officer struck Him. This was an illegal attack, for no offense had been committed by Jesus against Annas and no judgment had been made against Him.

1. Caiaphas became high priest by appointment of the Romans, and so his involvement was necessary for the Romans to take the matter of Jesus seriously.

2. The Sanhedrin (Council) of the Jews was an assembly of seventy-one members, which included chief priests, elders, scribes, and other prominent members from among the Jews. They assembled to make decisions for the Jews as a sort of pseudo-government.

3. Still in the court of the high priest, the Sanhedrin sought false testimony against Jesus. They heard false witness after false witness, none of whom could corroborate their testimony.

4. At last, two witnesses testified that Jesus had said, "I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.”

a. This was a false interpretation of what Jesus had said (John 2:18-22).

b. When Caiaphas questioned Jesus on this matter, the Lord said nothing.

5. Finally, Caiaphas found the charge he thought that he needed to condemn Jesus.

a. Caiaphas asked Jesus directly if He was the Christ, the Son of God.

b. Jesus answered, "You have said it yourself…”

c. Because of this answer, Caiaphas declared that Jesus was a blasphemer, and the rest of the Sanhedrin agreed that He deserved death.

d. They then spat in the Lord's face, beat Him with their fists, slapped Him, and said, "Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?”

B. It was during this time that Peter denied Jesus three times (Matt. 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 55-62; John 18:15-18, 25-27).

1. Peter and John followed the mob from Gethsemane to the court of the high priest. John was known by the high priest, and so he gained entrance for both of them into the courtyard.

2. While Jesus was being tried by Annas and Caiaphas, Peter was recognized as one of Christ's disciples. Three different times Peter denied knowing Jesus just as the Lord had predicted (Matt. 26:30-35; Mark 14:26-31; Luke 22:31-34; John 13:36-38).

3. When Peter had denied Him for the third time, Jesus turned and looked at him, and Peter went out of the courtyard and wept bitterly.

1. This was prophesied in Isaiah 53:7-8 – "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?”

2. The Lord fulfilled this prophecy when:

a. He did not demand His rights from His fellow Jews.

b. He did not remind His accusers of the laws they were violating.

c. He did not exercise His divine authority or miraculous power.

1. Jesus was arrested first and charged later. This was a reversal of legal procedure.

2. The Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus long before the trial (John 11:45-53), which led to an unfair and biased trial lacking evidence. Essentially, they sought for a way to make His murder legal.

3. Jesus had no legal representation when He was tried, which was a violation of the Jewish civil laws of that time.

4. Jesus was tried by the Sanhedrin under the cover of darkness, which was an illegal procedure. This is why the Sanhedrin had to reconvene in the morning in order to give the trial a sense of legality.

5. Jesus was tried on the Day of Preparation and on the eve of a feast day (Passover), both of which were violations of Jewish law.

6. The chief priests and the Sanhedrin sought false testimony against Jesus, which showed their bias and lack of true evidence.

7. Even the false witnessed who testified could not agree, which means that their testimony could not stand according to both civil law and the Law of Moses (Deut. 17:6). The only witnesses who agreed did not accuse Jesus of anything punishable by death.

8. Judgment was passed upon Jesus without an official vote of the Sanhedrin, which was an illegal procedure.

9. When the Sanhedrin reconvened in the morning, it was a false trial, for the verdict had already been determined.

10. The Sanhedrin had no authority to condemn Jesus to death. They had to take Jesus to the Romans in order to achieve their evil objective.

1. Jesus suffered violence, shame, and oppression, but He had committed no crime. His trials were a complete mockery of justice.

2. His sorrow was surely multiplied by the fact that He was afflicted by His own people whom He came to save. They rejected the only Savior they could ever have.

1. In our next lesson, we will consider the Lord's trials before the Romans.

2. Of course, the ultimate injustice against Jesus was the execution of His sentence of death on the cross.