“THE TRIAL”
There are many unusual aspects about the trial of Jesus of Nazareth, prior to His conviction and execution. It was hardly legal even for the law of those far off days, and unless it had been the will of God for it to happen as it all did, the case against Him would probably have fallen through. It is an interesting study to investigate the charge and the proceedings against Him.
The whole matter was the outcome of the enmity of the Scribes and Pharisees, and depended much upon the politics of the day. The first matter to consider is what the trouble was all about. There were three main charges brought against Him:
• l. He had threatened to destroy the Temple:
(Mark 14:57-60) And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
But neither so did their witness agree together
• 2. He claimed to be the Son of God:
Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I AM: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. (Mark 14:61-62)
• 3. He had caused unrest against the Roman rule:
This last was a trumped up charge, and would probably be thrown out by modern court. However, the High Priest, Caiaphas, had put the issue to Pontius Pilate in such a way that he was put on the spot. The High Priest and his associates said:
….the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. (John 19:12)
We must now examine why the Jew had to bring Pilate into the matter. At first sight it would seem an internal or parochial problem. The Romans were not concerned with the first two accusations. This was where the High Priest proved to be clever. Even though the Jewish court had condemned the prisoner to death, the Jews had no legal right to carry out an execution.
Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and Judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death: (John 18:31)
Only the Roman rulers could order this, hence Caiaphas’ appeal to Pilate. The Roman Proculator dared not to let such an accusation pass without a trial, for it was treason against Caesar, and Pilate, as Governor, was in duty bound to uphold the rule of Caesar. The Jewish religion and the belief in a coming Messiah did not concern the secular overlords, unless and until there came a threat of sedition and revolt. The Romans had already had to contend with several attempts to overthrow their imposed rule on a reluctant conquered people, so they were very sensitive about any whiff of disaffection.
If we look at the details of Jesus’ arrest, we realise that there was an atmosphere of haste and deception. In the first place, the arrest was late in the evening, for Jesus had gone to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane after an evening Passover meal shared with his disciples . Remember that the disciples had fallen asleep while Jesus prayed, and it must have been that when the Temple Guard came to arrest Him, they had torches, and Jesus probably saw the lights approaching through the trees, for St. Mark tells us in chapter 14, verse 42 that Jesus came to His sleeping disciples and said:
Rise up, let us go; Lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.
There are various aspects of this arrest that are unusual, if not illegal. It was not a general practice to arrest a prisoner at night. It was not legal to send the Temple Guard to make the arrest, for the charge should first have been brought by the witnesses according to the Mosaic Law, and then the arrest should have taken place. The witnesses were not called until after Jesus was taken prisoner. We are told in Deuteronomy 17:6-7 how such a matter should be conducted:
At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you. (Deuteronomy 17:6)
The only witness who accompanied the Temple Guards was Judas Iscariot.
It was illegal to try a capital charge by night. According to the Mosaic Law, only trials about financial matters could be held after sunset. We should also notice that at the trial before the members of the Sanhedrin, the witnesses’ testimonies did not agree, and this should have disqualified the trial. (Mark 14:61-62). Also, according to Mosaic law, false witnesses should have been put to  death.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong:
Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother,
Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.
And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. (Deuteronomy 19:15-21)
Apart from these irregularities, the High Priest was careful to observe minor points of procedure.
Another interesting aspect of the case is that the accusations changed during the trial.
As in our Common Law, soon, alas, to be superseded by Corpus Juris, imposed by Europe, the Mosaic Law presumed the accused innocent until he could be proved guilty. It seems strange, that if the false witnesses were in the pay of the High Priest, he had not ensured that they all sang from the same hymn book! Be that as it may, the evidence of these witnesses was rejected by the court, perhaps on technical grounds. The testimony of what the Lord said about the Temple was subtly misquoted, according to the Gospel writers. Their accusation amounted to sacrilege, and also implied some kind of magic, which was illegal. So why was the charge thrown out? It would appear that Caiaphas did not have things all his own way in the Sanhedrin, and that there were certain members of the Court who opposed him and argued against the false witnesses. We can  surmise that Nicodemus and Joseph  of Arimathea were amongst these dissenters, for after Jesus’ crucifixion they proved their loyalty to Him. If we read what Jesus actually said, as St. John has recorded it, we shall see how the witnesses perverted His words:
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise It up.
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
But he spoke of the temple of his body. (John 2:19-21) .
When the evidence of the false witnesses was thrown out, the High Priest changed his tactics, and questioned Jesus, hoping to trip Him into saying something worthy of the death sentence.
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. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
And Jesus said I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses?
Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. (Mark 14:60-64)
St. Matthew tells us what the High Priest said:
But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless 1 say unto you Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. (Matthew 26:63-65)
Notice that the High priest “adjured Him by the Living God”. This was the famous Oath of the Testimony, and bound Jesus to answer. Being the perfect Lord, He answered absolutely truthfully. The Evangelists all word His reply slightly differently; Matthew says: “Thou hast said”, St. Mark says: “I am”., and St. Luke says in Chapter 22:70): “And he said unto them, Ye say that I am”. The operative words are “I AM”, for this was the Name of God, as we read in Exodus 3:13-15:
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he. said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, l AM hath sent me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel. The Lord God of your fathers. the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac , and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations .
The scene is very dramatic, for the High Priest rent his clothes in a fury and called for a conviction of blasphemy. Then he had to move on to obtaining the permission of the Roman authorities to enact the penalty for blasphemy.
We have already noted that the Roman Procurator of the time was Pontius Pilate. He had, according to tradition, been born in Spain, at Seville. He became a soldier, and fought under Germanicus in Germany. He married a Roman girl of good family, Claudia Procula, who was the illegitimate daughter of Claudia, the third wjfe of Tiberius. He was appointed Procurator of Judaea in A.D. 26, and took his wife out to Palestine with him. His Procuratorship was not without incident, and he seems to have been a rather obstinate man, somewhat lacking in political guile. He caused a furore by sending the ensigns of the legions into Jerusalem, which caused great indignation amongst the Jews, who considered that he had defiled the Holy Places with graven, images. He was besieged at Caesarea for six days, and he threatened wholesale massacre of the dissenting Jews, later capitulating and withdrawing the ensigns. Another Roman soldier, Petrorlius, faced with a similar situation, was sensitive enough to the political climate to negotiate and reason, in spite of being ordered by a mad Emperor to place the imperial image in the Jewish Temple. Pilate was not so diplomatic. Pilate also angered the Jews by taking the treasury money to finance the building of an aqueduct. This would have benefited the city, but Pilate did not discuss his idea with the appropriate authorities, he just confiscated the money. He also angered the Herodian kings by putting Roman votive shields in their palace  and Tiberius had to reprove him for that piece. The Gospel accounts of his behaviour when Jesus was brought before him by the Sanhedrin do not give the same impression of tactlessness and insensitivity. He appears to be bending over backwards to keep all parties happy and seems to be torn two ways. He wanted to acquit the prisoner, which he showed by washing his hands, and offering the mob the choice of Barabbas. It was only the sly accusation, “Thou art not Caesar’s friend”‘,which eventually frightened him into complying with the wishes of the High Priest.
And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. (John 19:12)
He was also worried by a dream which his wife had had during the night before the trial. We read that:
when he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. (Matthew 27:19)
The Romans were superstitious, and such a dream would have been taken very seriously. It would appear that Claudia sent the message in haste to her husband as soon as she learned what was happening. There are ancient traditions that one of Jesus’ followers was a friend of Claudia’s, for we are told in Luke 8:3 that:
And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.
Perhaps Joanna had gone to Claudia with the news. We can only conjecture. However, some of Jesus ‘ followers were in high places, so it is a feasibility.
The form of a Roman trial consisted of a public accusation (Accusatio),and an interrogation (Interrogatio), and if we read St. John’s account we see that this is the order which Pilate followed when confronted by Jesus :
Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?
They answered and said unto him. if he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee .
Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death :
That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake signifying what death he should die.
Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?
Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?
Jesus answered,My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born., and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all . (John 18:28-38)
The Jews had obviously not followed Jesus into the Judgement Hall because they did not wish to be defiled by contact with the heathen and be unable to eat the Passover. This question of the Passover shows why there was undue haste in the proceedings. Claudia must have known this too, hence her anxiety to send her message to her husband, in case all the proceedings should be finished before she could warn him. It could have been that Pilate had gone to the Judgement Hall prepared to rush the Prisoner to His death, in order not to impede the Jews, who were obviously in a hurry, and in order to encroach upon his own time as little as possible. Claudia’s message must have made him hesitate, hence his indecision.
It was a battle of wills between Pilate and the High Priest’s faction, and the demands of the mob. Pilate, as we have observed, was an obstinate man, but after the High priest’s threats, he was very worried, having already been rebuked by his Emperor. No man in his position dared risk any more Imperial displeasure. He bowed to the mob and delivered the Prisoner to His fate. He must have been a sad and frustrated man after this .
A small but significant incident recorded by the Evangelist throws light on his subsequent state of mind:
And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek. and Latin.
Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. (John 19:19-22)
An obstinate man, indeed, but in this act of selfÂwill he fulfilled the Lord’s Will, for the Saviour of mankind and the Redeemer of Israel received His proper title at the time of His supreme sacrifice. The Lord’s Purpose was worked out, through the agency of an unjust trial, and the obstinacy of a Roman governor. The Lord works in mysterious ways!
AMEN
