Jesus' Trial Begins

Jesus was tried before the Sanhedrin, which was the court system in place in all Jewish towns. His trial ran against Jewish custom and law on several fronts

1. Capital cases were to be tried during the daytime, and the verdict had to also be reached during the day. The Gospels are clear that Jesus was taken from the Garden of Gesthemane, tried and sentenced during the night.

2. Trials were not to be held on the day before a Sabbath or the day before a Holy Day or Festival. We also know from the Gospels that Jesus was tried during the Passover.

3. Much like the American system, the Jewish system of law required that a trial begin with reasons why the accused was innocent, not reasons why the accused was guilty. There is no record of Jesus' innocence ever being discussed. Instead, His trial was full of false-witnesses. No effort was ever made to find witnesses to testify for the defense.

4. Innocent verdicts could be reached on the same day a trial began. However, guilty verdicts had to be rendered after a "night's sleep". You could not simply do a quick trial, sentence the accused to death and then carry out the sentence. There had to be time to think through the evidence.

5. A guilty verdict could only be reached if two witnesses' testimony agreed. The Bible is clear that when the false witnesses came, no two testimonies matched up. According to Jewish law (stated in the Old Testament) if two reliable witnesses could not be found, the case must be thrown out.

6. The Sanhedrin (Jewish court system) was to meet in an inner court of the temple to try cases. Not so with Jesus. His trial took place in the high priest's home.

The Sanhedrin council deliberated then convicted him of the crime of false prophecy, which was punishable by death according to Mosaic Law. However, as a subject state, the government of Judea at the time did not have the legal authority to execute a death penalty sentence. Previously, when they had that authority, the Sanhedrin had four forms of it – stoning, hanging, burning, and decapitation – but not crucifixion. Since they lacked the legal power to kill him, they brought Jesus to the Roman Governor Pilate to ask him to do so. By this time the death penalty had long been abandoned for Roman citizens. It was only used against slaves and non-citizen foreigners.


Tomorrow's reading: Mark 15:2-20; Matt. 27:11-31; Luke 23:1-25, 63-65; John 18:28-19:16