Peripatetics: The Art of Walking
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Most of you know by now that we're in a section of Bible study where we're trying to put together the events of Easter week into some semblance of a timeline. Yesterday we discussed the arrest of Jesus, and to me, this next section is where I get most confused. The various "trials" of Christ. In other words, what happens after they arrest Him?
Don't forget: Get comfy, get out your Bible, and pray for God's leading & guidance as you study His very words to us...
The first place to start would be the events of Friday morning right after the arrest, which can be found in John 18: 12--14, and then in 19--24. Don't forget to answer the questions first, and THEN move along in the reading.
WHAT happens to Jesus in v. 12? WHO takes this action?
WHERE do they take Him in v. 13? WHO is this, and WHAT is their relationship?
WHAT answer does Jesus give in v. 21?
WHO gets involved and WHAT do they do in vv. 22? WHAT is Jesus response?
WHERE do they take Jesus next in v. 24?
Obviously, the Roman cohort, their commander, and the Jewish leaders arrest Jesus and they take Him to Annas. Annas was the father-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas. In fact, if you want a bit of history on Caiaphas, you could turn to John 11: 45--50, and we see him putting an end to a discussion the Pharisees were having about Jesus and His works. Caiaphas said it would be more expedient to kill one man for the good of the Jewish nation than for the whole nation to die because of Him. In fact, that very day, they plotted to find a way to kill Jesus.
Now, skip down to verse 19 (we'll cover the other verses tomorrow) and we see that the "trial" is pretty much a scam. The questioning begins and Jesus actually asserts His rights. He makes a plea that He doesn't understand precisely why this is being done in secret. He also informs the high priest that He is aware that He doesn't have to testify against Himself, and wants the priest to get witnesses and follow procedure. The officers strike Jesus, who remains in control of the events. He says again to follow procedure if He's spoken wrongly, but if not, you have no right to strike Me. They take Him to Caiaphas.
The correlations are found in Matthew 26: 57--68. We learn that they were trying to get false witnesses, and failed. Finally, in verses 61 and 62 they find something they can try Him on. But Caiaphus can't get Jesus to testify against Himself and finally, in verse 63, invokes a little-used courtroom rule that can force someone to testify against Himself and Christ responds in verse 64. This gives Caiaphas all the evidence he needed to give Christ a death sentence and he does so (never mind that in Jewish law there was supposed to be a 24-hour period between conviction and sentencing), and proceed to beat and slap Jesus while mocking Him.
There are more correlations in Mark 14: 53--65, but the accounts are strikingly similar.
In John 18: 28--40, the civil trials begin (Christ was convicted in a religious trial and sentenced to death...but they have no ability to execute, so they have to get the Roman government to do so). They take Christ to Pilate (carefully avoiding being ceremonially unclean by going into the Praetorium, yet oblivious that they are going to ceremonially unclean by murdering Jesus), and they accuse Christ of being an evildoer. Pilate wants the Jews to handle their own problem, but undertakes the case under pressure at approximately 6AM Friday morning. After listening to Him for a bit, we learn in Luke 23: 7 that Pilate discovers that Jesus is from Galilee and gladly sends Jesus to Herod as it's now in his jurisdiction.
Jesus and Herod have a past. See...Herod was responsible for the beheading of Jesus' cousin and forerunner John the Baptist. So, when He arrives before Herod, who questioned Him at length, and Jesus was silent before Herod. Completely. Nothing at all to say to this man. Herod, again under crowd pressure, mocks and beats Christ and sends Him back to Pilate.
In Luke 23: 13--25, Pilate calls a meeting. The chief priests and rulers are together and Pilate informs them that thus far, Christ is not guilty of anything, but in order to keep the peace, He'll be punished and released. The Jews would have none of that. A more detailed account is in John 18:33ff...Pilate questions Christ extensively and in v. 38 we see that Pilate is unconvinced of any guilt on Christ's part. He decides to let the public decide by allowing the people to choose the release of one person (as is the Passover custom). Their choices are between Jesus and a robber/insurrectionist named Barabbas.
As punishment, Jesus is scourged (whipped) by soldiers and has a crown of thorns put on His head and a purple robe (mockingly given by Herod) and they mock Him. Pilate brings Christ before the crowd and tells them he has found no guilt in Him. The crowd wants crucifixion as the punishment. Pilate again tries to get Jesus to give him a reason to let Him go, and Christ doesn't really do it. Pilate succombs to crowd pressure, and around noon the crucifixion begins in earnest.
Tomorrow, we'll pick up some pieces we left out, namely Peter's denials, but by way of application, what do these events stir up in your mind as to how to apply some things you learn? For me, it's the idea that Christ was in control of these events. At any point, He could've brought them to a screeching halt and He chose not to...for me. What it stirs up in me is thankfulness. That He knew He was facing a brutal and humiliating death, and this whole series of trials was a sham, yet He knew God's will was to sacrifice Him in order to save the world. And for that, it makes me thankful...
Brent 4:05 AM
Comments:
I really like the way that this is set up. Thanks for writing this for us. i think it's really cool.
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