Jesus' Trial Before the Sanhedrin

Introduction and Prayer for Spiritual Understanding

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, September 24th, 1989, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Let us turn together in the Word of God to the 14th chapter of Mark's Gospel. And will you follow, please, in your own Bibles as I read in your hearing verses 53 through 65. Mark 14, beginning the reading at verse 53.

1:09 Now the chief priests and the whole council sought witness against Jesus to put him to death, and found it not. For many bear false witness against him, and their witness agreed not together. And there stood up certain and bear false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands. And not even so did their witness agree together.

1:52 The high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him and said unto him, Amen.

2:12 Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. The high priest rent his clothes and said, What further need have we of witnesses?

2:36 Ye have heard the blasphemy. What think ye? And they all condemned him to be worthy of death. Amen.

2:44 And some began to spit on him, to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy! And the officers received him with blows of their hands.

3:03 Dear people, as we pray this morning for the aid of the Holy Spirit, to take the things of Christ and show them to us, if ever we prayed that God would give us hearts of flesh to feel, and minds to understand, what we ought to understand it is when we come closer and closer in our expositions to that moment when our Lord will be utterly and finally rejected and hung upon a cross as a common criminal. Let us beg of God that he would send the Spirit upon us, that Jesus Christ in all of his voluntary suffering

3:47 may become precious to all of us. Our hearts, let us pray. Father, as we bow in your presence this morning, we take great comfort in the fact that you know our frame and that you remember that we are dust. And you know that when we seek to concentrate all of the faculties of our minds and hearts,

4:19 all of our faculties of perception and feeling upon a portion such as that which has been read in our hearing, we are made to feel how utterly narrow are the channels of our hearts, how utterly constricted is our capacity to feel as we ought to feel, how narrow is the conduit of our minds to take in the great mystery of incarnate deity, having his face dripping with men's spittle. Oh God, help us. Thus we pray that we may not,

5:03 with the rude and unfeeling stare of brute beasts, look upon this scene today. Take the hardest, the most insensitive, dull heart, oh God, and break it in the face of our rejected and our humiliated Savior. And take the warmest and most tender heart and make it yet more tender. And make it yet more tender.

5:28 And make it yet more tender and more warm and more passionate in its love for and appreciation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hear our cry, we beg of you this hour, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Complex Stages of Jesus' Trials

5:49 As I sat for many hours with this passage in recent days, last night sat with blank paper before me and pen in hand to write out my name, and notes in their final form, I found myself almost mentally an opening sentence as an entrance in to our study of this portion of the Word of God in our consecutive expositions of the Gospel of Mark. But of all the solemn, heartless, and tragic events recorded in human history, none can even begin to compare

6:33 with the events that occurred in the final hour of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. We take up the narrative at the point of our Lord being apprehended in the Garden of Gethsemane, forsaken by the eleven disciples and even by that unnamed young man recorded in verses 51 and 52. This morning it's my intention to open up in your hearing this next paragraph bounded by verses fifty-three and sixty-five, but before I do, it's necessary to underscore

7:14 what may not be known by some of you, and that is this, that there is no single Gospel narrative, that is, neither Matthew, Mark, Luke, nor John, which contains a comprehensive account of all of the major stages in our Lord's truth, or in other words, trial and condemnation, leading ultimately to his crucifixion upon the cross.

7:45 We must read each of the Gospel records to glean a full and comprehensive statement of all of the various stages which led to his crucifixion. But in an excellent introduction and summary of the entire complex of events at this time, one found in William H. R. A. de Niro,

8:07 Hendrickson's commentary on the gospel of Mark, there is this good little summary that may help you as you read in Mark and in the other gospel records so that you can begin to fit the pieces together in your own understanding. Mr. Hendrickson writes, to understand Mark 14, 53 to 65 and that which follows in chapter 15, it is necessary to bear in mind that Jesus had to undergo two trials. The first has often been called the ecclesiastical trial and the second the civil trial, that is the

8:48 trial before the Roman authorities. The first, the ecclesiastical, contained three stages and so did the second, the civil. The three stages of the so-called ecclesiastical trial were, number one, the preliminary hearing before Annas, the high priest emeritus. Not the high priest who was in power at that particular time, but who had been in power a short time before. And the record of this appearance before Annas

9:24 is an exclusive insight given to us by the Gospel of John in chapter 18, verses 12 to 14, and verses 19 to 23. And then the second element of the ecclesiastical trial was before the Sanhedrin, that is, before this same, this body recorded here in the paragraph read in your hearing. This was the initial meeting with the Sanhedrin, occurred, sometime in the middle of the night, or we would say the wee hours of the morning. And then the third element of that ecclesiastical trial is referred to in Mark 15 and verse 1,

10:07 and it occurred early in the morning at daybreak. So there were these three facets of the ecclesiastical trial. The brief appearance before Annas, and then this initial appearance before the Sanhedrin. And then the final appearance before the same Sanhedrin in the morning. And likewise,

10:30 before the civil authorities, there were three aspects of our Lord's trial. There was first of all the trial before Pilate, and then Pilate sends Jesus to Herod, and then Herod sends him back to Pilate. Now this second aspect of the civil trial, the brief appearance before Herod, is referred to in Mark 15 and verse 1. And then the final appearance before the same Sanhedrin in the recorded only by Luke in Luke 23 verses 6 through 12. In our present paragraph then Mark 14 53 to 65

11:05 it is assumed that the preliminary hearing before Annas the former high priest has already taken place. Now understanding that basic collation of the biblical data two major trials one ecclesiastical before the religious authorities another civil before the political authorities each of them having three segments to each part. Now we come then tonight or this morning to consider the initial nighttime trial before the Sanhedrin and we shall do so under three headings

The Setting of the Initial Sanhedrin Trial

11:47 first of all the setting of the initial trial before the Sanhedrin secondly the particular stages of the initial trial before the Sanhedrin and finally the fundamental significance of the initial trial before the Sanhedrin. First of all then the setting of the initial trial before the Sanhedrin and as that setting is outlined by Mark through the inspiration of the Holy Bible the initial trial before the Sanhedrin is the first stage of the

12:23 Our attention is directed to the place where the trial occurred, the people involved in that initial trial, and then a parenthetical statement concerning Peter's whereabouts during the trial. And those three things comprise the setting, and we find this in verses 53 and 54. And they led Jesus away to the high priest, and there come together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. And Peter had followed him afar off, even within, into the court of the high priest.

13:06 And he was sitting with the officers and warming himself in the light. Now the setting is painted by Mark's pen, guided by the Spirit, first of all directing our attention to the place in which this trial occurred. Jesus had been led away from Annas, the former high priest, to the house or the palace of the present high priest, whose name was Caiaphas. In Luke 22, 54, it is stated, that they brought him into the high priest's house.

13:47 And Matthew 26, 57 names the high priest as Caiaphas. Now when we hear the word house, we must not think of this house as an ordinary three or four bedroom ranch style or bi-level home of 20th century mid-America. But rather we must think of it as a house of the high priest. And we must not think of this house as an ordinary three or four bedroom ranch style or bi-level home of 20th century mid-America.

14:09 But rather we must think of it as a house of the high priest. But rather we must think of this house as an ordinary three or four bedroom ranch style or bi-level home of 20th century mid-America. But rather we must think of this house as an ordinary three or four bedroom ranch style or bi-level home of 20th century mid-America. but rather we must think of it in terms of something halfway between one of those large ten or fourteen bedroom semi-mansions in Upper Montclair on North Mountain Avenue and a modest palace.

14:27 Some have even translated the high priest palace. And the following description will give some idea of what the house or the mansion of the high priest was like. This particular commentator describes it this way. Such a house looks into its own interior, that is, the rooms are built around an open courtyard.

14:52 So if you could imagine the center aisle of the church as a walkway leading up to an entrance gate, having come through the gate, you would immediately find yourself in an open courtyard. And if you can imagine this platform, if it were all level, as the courtyard. Then if you were to look up about the level of the air vents, you would see a continuous balcony where the main rooms of that house would be found. So the courtyard is below, and the large main rooms, are arranged above, that would be akin to an extended balcony,

15:37 so that all of the rooms looked inward and downward upon that courtyard. In this passage, the passage that comes to the inner court, there is a place in some houses of this kind, a little room for the gatekeeper. Sometimes, as also in the present instance, the court was lower than the rooms which ranged around it. Sometimes, as also in the present instance, the court was lower than the rooms which ranged around it.

16:01 It is not entirely impossible that the room to which Jesus had been led was a kind of gallery from which what happened in the court where he was tried could be observed and heard in the courtyard down below. That the house here mentioned was the residence of Caiaphas is clearly implied in Matthew 26, 57, and 8, that it was nevertheless also occupied by Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas becomes clear by comparing the passage in Matthew with John 18, 13, 15, and 24.

16:40 Besides, it is not very natural to assume that these two close relatives, in mind and heart, two of a kind, would be living in the same spacious mansion, probably one wing occupied by Annas, another by Caiaphas. Now, we do know from the text of Scripture, those comments are comments based upon a general knowledge of the architecture of such homes in that day, but it is clear from the text itself that Peter was within the courtyard, this verse 54,

17:20 and according to verse 66, in relationship to the place where Jesus was actually on trial before the Sanhedrin, verse 66 says, and as Peter was beneath the courtyard, one of the maids of the high priest. So, the spatial relationship of above and beneath is firmly established by the text of God's infallible word. So, this is the place in which this initial trial before the Sanhedrin occurred. But then, under the setting, note not only the place, but the people involved.

18:02 The people involved in the initial trial. And those people can be found in two categories. Those above, in the open balcony that served as a chamber for this particular trial, or those above in a large room set apart for this purpose, and those below in the open courtyard. Now, those above were, first of all, some members of the...

18:32 the arresting party. For verse 53 says, and they led Jesus away to the high priest. So, some of the members of the arresting party, no doubt, continued with our Lord up into the room, or the open area above, where he was to be put to trial. The Roman soldiers, being unclean Gentiles, would not be allowed into, into that council of the Sanhedrin, particularly at a solemn feast day, for they most likely had made their way back to their barracks, and there in the open courtyard area,

19:17 some of the temple police would have remained. But there in the room above, were at least several of the arresting party responsible to keep the prisoner in custody. And then secondly, there was the high priest himself. For the text says, Jesus was led away to the high priest.

19:41 And as we've already seen, his name was Caiaphas. His ability as a diplomat and an administrator seems to be indicated by the fact that from reliable secular sources, we learn that he held this position for 19 years, at a time when the average, the average tenure was only four years. If ever someone had to be a clever politician, with unusual religious sensitivity as well, it was the high priest. For he had to contend not only with the different parties within the highest ruling body of the Jews at Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin,

20:25 made up of Sadducees, the theological liberals and Pharisees and their scribes, the theological conservatives, but they had to interact with the Roman power as well. And so there is every indication that this man, Caiaphas, was indeed a diplomat and efficient administrator and a politician in the sense that we use it today with the negative overtones. As high priest, he was the one who presided over the gathering of the Sanhedrin. It was he who made that shrewd remark recorded in John's Gospel and the 11th chapter,

21:08 when everyone was in a furor over the resurrection of Lazarus and fearful that all of this furor would result in a disruption that would cause the Roman government to come and to intervene with power. And Ananias says, look, look, calm down, you know nothing. And then made what he did not know was a prophetic statement that one should die, for the nation, and not that the whole nation should perish. So he had already shrewdly conceived in his own depraved breast that the way to bring peace and stability back to this whole area of Palestine was to be found in the death of Jesus of Nazareth.

21:53 But then there were not only some of the arresting party in the room above, the high priest himself, but thirdly, the Sanhedrin, in full strength. Look at this detail in verse 53. And there come together with him, the with him referring either to the high priest or to Jesus, all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. As you've been told again and again, and we only do this because we have newcomers that come in between the last time we found that terminology, that this is the official way, to describe the Sanhedrin, that highest ruling body.

22:38 And on this night, as they are about to undertake this horrible deed of condemning Jesus of Nazareth as worthy of death, they are certain that they will have an unquestionable quorum in order to conduct their business. And while they fly in the face of many of their own stipulated rules, for legal gatherings and for the righteous dealing with an accused criminal, they treat them in a cavalier way, there is no treating in a cavalier way that anyone would question the validity of their action as having been done with more than the minimum quorum.

23:23 And so Mark tells us that all of the chief priests were present and the elders, and the scribes. Now that does not mean that every last single one was there, but the vast majority of the duly constituted members of the Sanhedrin were present on that occasion. And if the records of first century historians are accurate, this august body, when meeting in formal session, would sit in a semicircle. And they would sit upon elevated chairs so they could all sit in a semicircle.

24:01 And they would all see one another. Much as some of you sitting over here in the right bank of pews, with little effort, can see those sitting over here in the bank of pews to my left. Well, they would sit in a full semicircle, and in the midst of that semicircle would be placed chairs for the accused, and also for those who would witness against him. So then we see that the people involved in this particular event, in this particular setting, are some of the arresting party, the high priest, the Sanhedrin in full strength, and then of course our Lord himself.

24:44 And they led Jesus away to the high priest. According to John 18.12, he was led away as one who was seized and bound as a criminal. And he is led to the high priest, already having borne the indignity of being rudely interrogated, and also at least stricken once, probably upon the face, in the initial inquiry made under Annas just a short time before.

25:21 And so this is the composition of those who were above in the place where our Lord would be put to trial. Now then, there is a parenthetical statement concerning Peter and those that were down below in the courtyard. Verse 54. And Peter had followed him afar off, even within, into the court or courtyard of the high priest, and he was sitting with the officers, literally the underlings, and that refers to some of these temple police, and warming himself in the light of the fire.

26:01 Down below is Peter. And Mark introduces this as a parenthetical statement because, subsequent to the record of this initial trial before the Sanhedrin, he's going to give us a detailed account of Peter's denial of his Lord. And lest we think that these were sequential events, the trial first and the denial later, rather than what they were, but rather than what they really were, concurrent events, as he begins to describe the trial going on in the room above the courtyard, he gives us this parenthetical statement of Peter's presence in the courtyard

26:46 with the temple police gathered about the fire on that cool spring evening at Passover time. But Peter was not the only disciple there. And when you read John 18, 15-18, you gain the details necessary to answer the question, how did Peter get there? Was he there alone?

27:11 Why was he there? By what means did he gain admission? And I commend to you that passage in John for the answer to those questions. Now, do you see the picture?

Stage 1: Accusation by False Witnesses

27:24 Since the Holy Spirit has not taken us directly from the arrest and the apprehension to the cross, but has chosen to set the scene with great detail, it is vital for us to use all of the faculties of sanctified imagination to bring before our mind's eye the picture as it is painted by the pen of Mark. This is the setting of the initial trial before the Sanhedrin. Now we come to what is the heart of the passage, the stages of the initial trial before the Sanhedrin.

28:06 As I wrestled with how best to fasten the various facets of this trial in my own mind, I have found it helpful to think in terms of four distinct stages of this trial. A trial filled with injustice, a trial that in many ways was a sham from beginning to end, and yet a trial that is set before us in four distinct stages. And here are the key words on which to hang those stages. Accusation,

28:50 interrogation, condemnation, and humiliation. The first stage, then, is the stage of accusation. Verses 55 through 59. Now the chief priests and the whole council sought witness against Jesus to put him to death, and found it not.

29:14 For many bare false witness against him, and their witness agreed not together. And there stood up certain and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands. And not even so did their witness agree together. This stage is the stage of accusation from false witnesses.

29:47 And what Mark has done is to give us a summary statement of this entire stage in verses 55 and 6, and then a detailed example of this stage in verses 57 to 59. Notice the summary statement in verses 55 and 56. He indicates that the chief priests and the whole council sought witness against Jesus to put him to death. In other words, the decision to condemn him as worthy of death was already made before the Sanhedrin was set.

30:31 Before they sat in this semicircle of apparent concern to ascertain the truth about the one who was led to them bound from Annas, the former high priest, it says they were seeking witness that would at least give the semblance of justification for their previous decision that he would be put to death. And if they sought cooperation and paid Judas, to tell them the whereabouts of Jesus, it is not unthinkable at all

31:06 that they actually found people and paid them off to come and to bear false witness concerning Jesus of Nazareth. However, they were in the unenviable position that their law required that in capital offenses there had to be at least two witnesses, each witness apparently giving his witness independent and apart from the presence of the subsequent witness and any discrepancies in those who claimed to be eyewitnesses invalidated their testimony. And this is what caused tremendous frustration.

31:49 That though the Sanhedrin had taken steps to secure incriminating witness against Jesus with the semblance of justification to put him to death, they could not find it even though, continuing the summary statement, for many bear false witness against him and their witness agreed not together. And one can only imagine the growing frustration as one witness after another comes in and solemnly swears that he is bearing witness to truth.

32:30 And one after another speaks with such glaring discrepancies from the previous testimony that none of the witnesses agree in that which they affirm. Then after that summary statement, Mark gives us a detailed example of the many who came in and focuses upon what Matthew tells us are the witnesses or was the witness of two. And there stood up certain, that's indefinite, but Matthew chapter 26 tells us,

33:08 in verse 4, I'm sorry, Matthew chapter 26 and verse 58, verse 60, that there were two of them. And these two said, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands and in three days I will build another made without hands. And not even so did their witness agree together. Certain pseudo-witnesses come in who affirm under oath that they actually heard Jesus say these words.

33:50 I will destroy this temple that is the very sacred sanctuary of God. This temple made with human hands and in three days I will build another without hands. Well the only thing Jesus ever said is recorded in the scriptures that approximates that is recorded in John 2 and verse 19 and Jesus did not make any such statement about destroy that physical, literal temple at Jerusalem made with hands and he would erect another without hands. By some creative word he had made a cryptic statement about destroying the temple of his body

34:34 and in three days he would raise it up and so they had just a semblance of a few phrases that Jesus had spoken to which they added their own lying spirit and that lying spirit caused them to make fools of themselves because even in testifying to this falsehood they couldn't even agree in their lies. And here is just one example of what Mark says were many who came in and made testimony and false witness against our Lord.

35:14 So the period of accusation or stage of accusation obviously led to total frustration of the Sanhedrin and at that point Caiaphas the high priest then steps up comes forward and that brings us to stage number two interrogation by the high priest and his interrogation begins with questions precipitated by the majestic intimidating silence of Jesus before the false witnesses verse 60 and 61a

Stage 2: Interrogation by the High Priest

35:56 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus saying Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace and answered nothing. The first questions focused upon what I have called this frustration of Caiaphas as he sees Jesus standing with majestic intimidating silence before his accusers.

36:32 Answer anything? What is it that these witness against you? You see he was hoping Jesus would say something in his defense that could be seized upon and used against him. If ever there is a beautiful example of Proverbs 26.4 it is here

36:53 Answer not a fool according to his folly Lest thou be like unto him. The accusations were so ludicrous so self-contradictory that Jesus stood in quiet majestic self-composed silence to the point that it irritated and frustrated the high priest and he asked the questions relative to the witness born against him and Jesus will not respond. Well then he turns the tables as it were and says alright we will go to the root issue. We are not going to fool around any longer.

37:37 And now he asks a question focused upon Jesus true identity 61b Again the high priest asked him and saith unto him Art thou the Christ the anointed one the Messiah the son of the blessed and according to Matthew's testimony 26.33 of Matthew's gospel before asking this question Caiaphas adjured the Lord Jesus as it were placed him under solemn oath to answer and to answer directly and honestly

38:20 and his question focused upon this matter of the identity of Jesus. Are you the Christ the son of the blessed the Messiah in your end identity are you the son of God in the uniqueness of your person and now we have the response of Jesus to that question in verse 62 and Jesus said I am and ye shall see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power

39:03 and coming with the clouds of heaven since our Lord was under a solemn adjuration and since this is not a flimsy self contradictory charge but two questions related to his identity he is prepared to answer in plain language and his response has two elements a simple affirmation and a solemn prediction the simple affirmation Jesus said I you ask me am I Messiah the son of the blessed

39:48 and Jesus in as simple a response as is humanly possible says I am I am Messiah I am son of the blessed that is I am God's unique son now how people can say that our Lord Jesus never claimed to be the son of God and Messiah in the face of this passage is beyond me he is asked in the plainest terms possible are you the Christ the son of the blessed and he answers without equivocation or qualification I am I am Messiah

40:33 I am the son of the blessed and before any response is forthcoming from this simple affirmation he then moves to a solemn prediction 62b and ye shall see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven and here our Lord combined two passages well known to that august body he combines the statement or the motif of Psalm 110 and verse 1

41:12 which speaks of Messiah sitting at the right hand of the power and the majesty on high and Daniel 7 and verse 13 which speaks of the son of man who receives a kingdom and who in the expression of that kingdom is seen by Daniel as coming in the clouds of heaven and so our Lord's solemn prediction is nothing less than a prediction that because he is Messiah and son of God he will be the judge in the last days

41:57 he is the son of man of Daniel's vision to whom an everlasting kingdom is given a kingdom that shall break all other kingdoms a kingdom that shall not end and he is the one before whom all nations shall be gathered in the last day this then brings us to the third stage of the trial from the stage of accusation and then interrogation now thirdly condemnation by the entire Sanhedrin verses 63 and 64 the high priest rent his clothes and saith

Stage 3: Condemnation by the Sanhedrin

42:41 what further need have we of witnesses you have heard the blasphemy what think ye they all condemned him to be worthy of death first of all the condemnation from the lips and the histrionic actions of the high priest he dramatically rends his inner tunics in a pretended show of shock and horror throughout the scriptures and in many cultures today when someone wishes to show unusual grief and shock and emotional trauma they will tear their garments open and they had very specific regulations

43:22 as to where and how far the garments were to be torn and in this very theatrical manner the high priest as though he is utterly shocked at these claims he rends his garment and then he exclaims why bother with witnesses to establish a just charge he is self condemned out of his own mouth he has blasphemed that is he has degraded God by claiming the prerogatives of God by detracting from the honor and glory of God the God whom we worshipped who has promised us the Messiah

44:04 will never stand before that will ever stand before us bound like a common criminal forsaken by all of his followers this is blasphemy this man who is obviously just a man is claiming to be Messiah and son of God he is blaspheming we don't need any more witnesses well this was his way you see of stopping the charade it was just embarrassing him more and more the more the witnesses came the more embarrassing and frustrating it became and so a politically minded and shrewd Caiaphas steps in and dramatically tears his garment

44:44 appeals to the entire Sanhedrin based on Leviticus 24.16 which warrants the capital punishment for blasphemy and then the entire Sanhedrin contrary to their normal pattern of a written expression of their mind in the judgment on any case they are asked to give an immediate voice vote in favor of the death of Jesus and so it says when the question reaches their ears what think ye they all condemned him to be worthy of death but you see our Lord had predicted

45:28 that this is exactly what would happen he had said in chapter 10 in verse 33 of this very gospel that he would go up to Jerusalem and would be condemned to death now it's interesting to note as one has remarked that according to Jewish legal procedure in capital cases the verdict could be passed only at a second session of the court that was convened on another day and never on the same day then the verdict had to be taken in a fixed formal way two scribes recorded the votes which had to be written out

46:10 the one scribe tabulating the votes for acquittal the other those reading guilty all these legal safeguards which had been established in the interest of justice were summarily overthrown yet not a single voice was raised in question to say nothing of a protest the hatred of Jesus which focused in the passionate demand of Caiaphas carries away every judge present they all without a single exception by a voice vote then and there condemned him to be guilty of death no reflection no careful consideration is needed

46:54 and all that had of course been attended to when the plot for the judicial murder of Jesus had been definitely laid and so our Lord is summarily condemned in a way that was utterly illegal and outside the framework of the ordinary principles of jurisprudence by that initial appearance before the Sanhedrin in the middle of the night but then we come to stage number four the humiliation the humiliation from accusation interrogation condemnation now humiliation

Stage 4: Humiliation of Jesus

47:38 by some who were present at this initial trial verse sixty five and some began and in the original there follow four present infinitives an infinitive is a verbal expression he began to speak to speak and we have four present infinitives and some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him with their fists and to say unto him those are the four infinitives

48:20 spit cover buffet say prophesy and the officers received him with blows of their hands now that the pronouncement is made any semblance of legal propriety and judicial dignity is totally swallowed up by the blind rage and the venomous anger toward our blessed Lord look at these four present infinitives describing actions that were not done just once but were done until they had vented the greatest pressure of their hatred

49:02 and utter disdain of our Lord and hand him back to the temple officers it says they began to spit upon him spitting upon another is the universal language of the most degrading contempt and detestation how it has become this I do not know but I have yet to be in a country or a culture where the greatest insult you can direct to anyone is to look upon them contemptuously gather sufficient saliva in your mouth to discharge it in their face to spit upon a person

49:46 to spit upon the flag is the way people show contempt for their country or another country and what they were doing was saying we hold you self-same Messiah in the deepest form of contempt and detestation they come up close enough to spit upon his sinless face and then the verb the infinitive translated in our Bibles the 1901 to cover his face literally means to cover around

50:28 it's the concept of blindfolding him or placing a veil over his head so that he could not see and they did that that they might do the other two things that they might buffet him which literally means strike with the fist and then having struck him with the fist they were saying to him exercise your gift of prophecy since you're Messiah you are the greater than Moses just smacked into the raw flesh of your cheek they were buffeting him

51:13 and then they were saying to him exercise your gift of prophecy and then when their devilish play was over and they had vented sufficient measures of their hatred of Christ they then handed him over to the temple police who watching the treatment of their revered religious leaders like fathers like sons it says they received him not with the dignity due to a man who had stood in majestic silence before his accusers whose bearing and demeanor bespoke innocence from head to toe

51:57 but they received him imitating the conduct of the others with blows of their hands now dear ones I have not dragged into imaginative detail the treatment received by our Lord that I call humiliation this is Mark's unembellished account of that sham trial before an illegally called and lawlessly conducted tribunal involving accusations interrogation condemnation and humiliation and as we come to consider in our closing moments this morning

Significance: Glory of Christ and Human Depravity

52:40 the significance of the initial trial before the Sanhedrin what is the Spirit of God seeking to say to us as I have wrestled with this passage literally wept in the contemplation of what was done to our Lord have felt outrage at the wanton shameless degrading of the Son of God I've asked the question over and over Lord what is the real significance of this stage in my Lord's voluntary submission to the men and events that will inevitably lead to his immolation upon the cross while a host of thoughts have flooded my mind it seems to me that the most crucial significance

53:24 of this initial trial before the Sanhedrin is that it sets in sharp focus the dominant motifs of all that will follow like the magnificent overture to a well written musical composition an opera will take some of the major melodic motifs and weave them together and prepare you for them so that when you hear them in the unfolding of that composition you make the connection it's as though the Spirit of God is guided Mark to give us by his pen an emphasis upon the major motifs that will unfold

54:09 with ever increasing clarity and crescendo until they break upon us with a spiritually deafening sound in the events of the cross and I would say those motifs are basically two and I submit them to you for your prayerful meditation and consideration number one the unparalleled glory of the Lord Jesus as the meek submissive Lamb of God that's the first motif and here in this section of Mark we see him as we've never seen him in all of our previous studies taking the posture of the Lamb

54:51 that is led to its slaughter dumb and opening not its mouth the unparalleled glory of the Lord Jesus as the meek submissive Lamb of God and secondly and this motif will again come through again and again until it comes to a crescendo that is almost difficult to listen to in the language of scripture when there before the cross some of the same tongue rolled in his face you that you could destroy the temple and raise it again from the cross and what is that second motif it is this

55:36 the unrivaled display of human depravity and hatred to the Lord Jesus and his claims upon men it seems to me that that is the twin motif of this paragraph the unparalleled glory of the Lord Jesus in his meekness and submissiveness as the Lamb of God and the unrivaled display of human depravity and hatred to the Lord Jesus and his claims upon men behold the glory of our Lord in his dignified self-possession before this parade of false witnesses and their lies one after another Mark says

56:20 many false witnesses were brought before him and yet our Lord not once opens his mouth but stands with majestic dignity as a lamb before his shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth no wonder Peter wrote who when he was reviled reviled not again behold the glory of our Lord in his dignified self-identification before an assembly of blind and unbelieving bigots you that to say the words was the sign of death warrant

57:04 but he did not shrink back from the truth though they had no place in their thinking for a Messiah who would come in weakness he who has come to bear witness to the truth with a dignity that almost takes our breath away signs his death warrant in this self-identification and in that marvelous prediction you shall see me in a totally different manner in the future you see me now with my hands bound in a few moments you will see me my face dripping with spittle once rising on my face

57:47 from the blows of wicked men but you shall in clouds in power in glory I say there is a majestic dignity in the Lord Jesus Christ behold the glory of the Lord in his self-submission to the manifold illegalities of this kangaroo court my friends if ever civil disobedience was justified on the basis of the inequities of the court that is acting it was here but one commentator has noted

58:30 that in giving an answer to the Sanhedrin as well as in taking an oath Jesus submits to this human governmental authority although he was no less a person than the son of God he submits as a man he does this even though this governmental agency is abusing its authority and its power in the most flagrant way no word or act of Jesus can be cited in support of rebellion against unjust and tyrannical government his example is entirely to the contrary and that motif will come through again and again he looks he looks the Roman authority straight in the eye and he begins to strut and say don't you know I've got power to put you to death he says you'd have no power

59:15 except it were given you from heaven you see this is a motif that will come through again and again when our Lord meets false accusation when he meets brutal and heartless treatment when he meets personal demeaning and degradation humiliation there is the unparalleled glory of the Lord Jesus as the meek submissive of God and then that second motif behold the shameless abuse of religious and civil authority and position our Lord stands before a kangaroo court meeting without any justification

59:58 according to its own rules they seek out false witnesses having already prejudged the case and yet before all of that shameless abuse our Lord is silent but now what is it that gives birth to that abuse I say it is a commentary on human depravity and the hatred that is in the heart of every man by nature to the Lord Jesus and to his claims upon men you see in the person of our Lord Jesus God's law comes to full expression and God's claims comes to concrete expression

60:39 and when the Lord Jesus stood before these men they were but manifesting the disposition that is latent in the heart of every single human being by nature we look at that and say how shameful that they should spit upon him that they should blindfold him and strike him with their fists and then mock him and tell him to prophesy my friend listen if Jesus Christ were to come back in the same form as he came then your heart is not changed by sovereign grace you would do the same thing

61:22 because in his life of perfect obedience to the law of God there would be exposed the fact that you as a carnal man woman have a disposition that is enmity against God is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can it be the truth that this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because you see the Lord Jesus comes before many of you week by week some of you day by day at family worship week by week in public teaching and preaching day by day as you sit in your Bible lesson in the Christian school and what is the disposition of your heart

62:06 is it to fall at his feet and say my Lord my Messiah my Savior oh son of God exercise all of your rights and claims over me I gladly give myself to you I joyfully trust only in your perfect life and in your shameful death upon the cross I unreservedly desire to be bound to you in courts faith and love and obedience Lord Jesus be to me all you deserve to be to a hell deserving sinner

62:49 the supreme object of affection the one who is jealously loved and obeyed that's not your disposition my friend don't throw stones at those who spat on him left to yourself you and I will do the same and that motif will come through with increasing clarity all through the accounts leading to the crucifixion and I believe the great significance of this first picture of our Lord utterly forsaken now by disciples just two of them down there in the courtyard trying to see what will come of him God is setting before us

Application: Conformity to Christ and Trust in His Salvation

63:34 a new dimension of the glory of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and the horrible picture of the human heart apart from the grace and the salvation that Jesus was procuring by his voluntary humiliation and death and oh how can we look upon our savior and ever justify a spirit of carnal retaliation how can we ever justify a desire to vindicate ourselves when people bear false witness against us we are like Christ when with a Christ-like majesty of composure the composure of a blameless conscience before God

64:18 we can be silent before the most ludicrous accusations that men may hurl at us may God grant us to be like our savior to trust in him to pray that the spirit will conform us to him let us pray our Father we thank you for the picture you have given us of your beloved son we confess oh Lord that our frail human spirits stagger before the very effort to draw near and to take in what is conveyed in the words of scripture but we pray that your Holy Spirit

65:02 will so work upon our human spirits that we may indeed be enabled to grasp something of the glory of our Lord Jesus as the meek, submissive, suffering Lamb of God and oh Lord may we recoil in horror from our own hearts knowing that they too even as we sang this morning would crucify the Lord Jesus we pray that you will so subdue our love of sin and love of self that Jesus Christ in his mighty power to deliver from sin will be the sole object of our trust and the supreme object of our devotion and love

65:45 seal then your word to our hearts we plead in his worthy name Amen