This is an excerpt from my book “40 Moments From Christ’s Final Days.” Click here to get it from Amazon using my affiliate link.
Find this moment in: Mt. 26:47-27:32, Mk. 14:43-15:20, Lk. 22:47-23:25, Jn. 18:2-19:15
On their own, Christ’s arrest and trials are fairly straightforward. Judas carries out his betrayal, injustice is done, and the only sinless person in history is condemned as a criminal. But by understanding a bit more about how things worked in Israel and Rome’s justice systems, we can better appreciate how evil this situation truly was. Remember that different gospel writers provide us with differing details, allowing us to get the full story by understanding all four of them.
Arrested (Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-49, Luke 22:47-53, John 18:2-11)
Judas arrived where he knew Jesus would be and gave him a kiss to indicate to the guards who they should arrest. John tells us a group of Roman soldiers arrested Him, while the other writers say a mob with clubs and swords arrived at the behest of the Jewish leaders. The mob was likely riled up to either attack Jesus or prevent His escape, but the Roman guards followed a large, armed group to keep the peace and arrest someone the religious leaders told them was a criminal. This unnecessarily large force became more ridiculous when Jesus not only calmly surrendered, but even took a moment to heal an enemy that Peter injured with one of the two swords they owned.
Annas (John 18:13-23)
They immediately took Jesus to Annas, the former high priest. Although not officially powerful, he held enough sway to have the enemy of the Sanhedrin brought to him before officially appearing before the high priest. It was against Jewish law to have a trial before a Sabbath or feast day,[1] so they likely hoped to get rid of Jesus without involving the courts. After this, Annas sent Him to his son-in-law, the acting high priest, hoping to find some way to get rid of this troublemaker.
Caiaphas (Matthew 26:57-75, Mark 14:53-72, Luke 22:54-65, John 19:24)
Jesus then appeared before the official high priest, Caiaphas, and some false witnesses. Deuteronomy 19:15 demands that two witnesses must be present to accuse someone, but the priests couldn’t get their false witnesses to keep their stories straight. Once Jesus was put under the “oath of the Living God,” Jesus confirmed that He was God by identifying with two Old Testament passages, Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13. His identification as God was so clear that the priest happily charged Him with blasphemy. They determined that Jesus was guilty but couldn’t make it official until the sun rose.
The Sanhedrin (Matthew 27:1-2, Mark 15:1, Luke 22:66-71)
Although the Jewish leaders broke their law against holding court before a Sabbath, they followed proper protocol when they officially condemned Jesus for blasphemy. Their law demanded that no criminal could be charged under cover of night, but that their deeds needed to be exposed during the day. Thus, a short meeting of the Sanhedrin, the official name for the Jewish council, met and judged Him guilty before sending Him to be executed by a Roman official. We don’t know how many members participated in this, but there were enough to vote for His conviction.
Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:2, 11-14, Mark 15:2-5, Luke 23:1-5, John 18:28)
The Jews couldn’t officially execute Jesus, so they took Him to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. The politics of how they handled this were a mix of cleverness and evil. When delivering Jesus, the Sanhedrin changed their charges from blasphemy to crimes against Rome. They claimed that Jesus told people not to pay taxes to Caesar and that He made Himself out to be a king, both of which were acts of insurrection that warranted the death penalty.
Luke 13:1 shows that Pilate hated the Jews. Not only would Pilate likely jump at the chance to execute a Jew for treason, but the Sanhedrin would have looked loyal by exposing a traitor from their own people. Despite all of this, Pilate couldn’t condemn Jesus for the unfounded charges the religious leaders brought against Him. Realizing that Jesus spent most of His time in Galilee, Pilate shifted responsibility to that area’s ruler, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
Herod Antipas (Luke 23:7-12)
Herod may have been the only person excited to see Jesus on that day. Like the crowds excited about Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem, Herod hoped to see Jesus perform a miracle. When Jesus refused to entertain him, Herod and his soldiers mocked Christ and dressed this “King of the Jews” in a robe before sending Him back to Pilate.
Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:15-26, Mark 15:6-15, Luke 23:13-25, John 18:28-19:16)
Christ’s final trial brought Him back to Pilate, who held power to spare or take His life. Pilate found this ridiculous and tried to reason with the crowd. Failing that, he tried to find a middle ground by beating Christ and shoving a crown of thorns on His head. He likely thought some violence and humiliation would satisfy them, but it didn’t.
As part of Israel and Rome’s agreement, the Jews could have one prisoner released at Passover. Pilate presented them with Barabbas, a known criminal rightfully convicted of insurrection and murder. Letting them choose between someone as widely popular as Jesus and clearly hated as Barabbas may have been Pilate’s attempt to see this ridiculous trial reach a rational end.
Pilate asks Jesus a final question. “Where are you from?” Pilate was a product of his day and believed in a pantheon of gods and their demigod children. He wondered if this man who called Himself the Son of God might truly be divine. John implies that Pilate continued trying to reason with the crowd, possibly fearing the wrath of the gods, but they would only settle for the release of a known murderer and a brutal crucifixion for Jesus Christ.
The scene ends with Pilate protecting his position. The crowd grew desperate and threatened to tell Caesar that Pilate had allied himself with a self-proclaimed king. Pilate conceded and proclaimed judgment on the King of the Jews, sentencing Him to death. The chief priests respond by claiming that Caesar is their only king, further cementing the reality that they had completely rejected God’s authority.
Stop and think: In Mark 10:33-34, Christ told His disciples this would happen. Christ’s enemies were willing to break their own laws to seize a sudden opportunity. Pilate desperately struggled to reason with an angry mob. However, this was always according to God’s will. How does understanding God’s power, even in situations as evil as this, help us see His ultimate goodness in all situations?
—
Click below to order your own copy of the book and read about all 40 moments!
[1] Lemann, A. (1887). Jesus before the Sanhedrin. Southern Methodist Publishing House.
