Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Mark

The Ultimate Miscarriage of Justice

Mark 14:53-65

 

Before we get to our study of Mark 14 tonight, I want to turn to Deuteronomy 16 and take a look at a passage to help us understand what we’re going to see in Mark. 

 

As you’re turning their, I’ll try to briefly give you a little setup for what we find in the book of Deuteronomy.  Deuteronomy means “the Second Law” and it’s called that because on the brink of entering into the promised land, God gave instruction to Moses to give to the people to prepare them as to how they would live when they entered into the land of Canaan, took over the land and became the nation that we know as the nation of Israel.

 

So even though it’s a fairly long and wordy book, it actually only covers a very brief period of about a month as Israel is on the brink of entering the Promised Land. 

 

Now if you’ve ever read the book, you know it’s not the most exciting read you’ll ever have in the Old Testament.  In addition to a review of how the Law was first given on Mt. Sinai, there are  all kinds of instructions about spiritual life and social life and how they were to live among the nations and conduct the feasts and festivals and Passover, and in general, how to live as a Jew. 

 

 

And what we have in chapter 16 is a portion that deals with justice and how the court system was to function. 

 

Notice what we read in verses 18-20

 

Now from the very beginning of the nation, there was an effort to take this instruction seriously.  In fact, the Jews had a very sophisticated system of jurisprudence and justice, and they were proud of it.  And just as an aside, our American system of law and justice was modeled to a great extent after Jewish law. 

 

And by the time Jesus was on the scene, law keeping was really a big deal in Jewish life.  Just follow the Pharisees around and you would discover that.  Not only did they follow God’s law to the letter, they went beyond God’s law and imposed extreme conditions and requirements on the people.  

 

So suffice it to say they were very proud of the fact they were keepers of the Law of Moses, and in particular what we find herein Deuteronomy 16.  

To have a system of Law and courts and judges and court officials, prosecutors and defenders who would be able to maintain justice was a big deal.

 

And just to illustrate how serious they were about keeping the Law, the Law was applied in every locality. There was no place in Israel that could be defined as lawless.  There were synagogues in virtually every place and every town and the synagogue essentially was the center of justice.

 

 

If a town had 120 men in the town, they would have a local court called a Sanhedrin.  That court would be composed of 23 men.  They had an odd number so they couldn’t end a vote in a tie.  Those 23 men were designated as elders and they sat as judges on that court and basically all judgment for any matter regarding Jewish law was placed under their authority. 

 

If a community had fewer than 120 men, they were still required to choose some of the elders out of their little village and appoint them as judges and there always had to be an odd number and these councils, or courts were responsible for governing every community. They were the ones who made the decisions about legal matters of every kind.

 

Jerusalem had the Supreme Court, the Great Sanhedrin it was called, seventy-plus one, the High Priest. It was broken down into 24 Chief Priests, 24 elders and 24 scribes and Pharisees minus one, to make the number odd.

 

Also, regarding Jewish law, their laws were absolute and binding. Once there was a law, there were no exceptions. Furthermore, all trials had to be public and all trials had to provide both a prosecution and a defense, and no accusation could be accepted against anyone without the familiar two or three witnesses which was also established in Deuteronomy.

 

False witnessing was a very serious crime.  We call it perjury today and it is still a very serious crime, unless your name is Hillary Clinton. 

 

Just as an example of how they viewed perjury, listen to

 

Deuteronomy 19:16

 

If a man accuses someone falsely of a crime, whatever the penalty is for that crime that the man would receive if he were guilty is to be enacted against the false witness, up to the death penalty.  It was an extremely serious thing to go into a court of law and bear false witness, because if the penalty of death was the verdict, then that’s what you would receive for your false witness.

 

Speaking of the death penalty, when the penalty of death was given, there was a mandatory waiting period of 24 hours before the sentence could be carried out, just in case any evidence surfaced that might affect the case. 

 

Also, witnesses whose testimony determined guilt, had to inflict the first blows of execution. If someone was being executed by stoning, then the witnesses that lead to the conviction had to throw the first stones.  That was intended to add the last degree of authenticity to the trial. This is a very carefully thought out system of Law.

 

By the way, no criminal trials could take place at night.  In fact, no criminal could be tried in the afternoon. Judges had to fast through the trial as a demonstration of how seriously they took the responsibility.  Trials were never allowed on a Sabbath, never allowed on a feast day such as a Passover, and never allowed on the day before a feast day. If the judges were unanimous, the criminal was given freedom.

Now I’ve shared all of that with you, and there isi much more we could look at, but I’ve shared that to say, the Jewish trial of Jesus violated all those laws.  It violated all principles of justice that Jews held dear and had practiced from the time of Moses. 

 

Not only did they violate their own standards, they perpetrated the greatest miscarriage of justice ever. It was illegal from the beginning to the end in every possible way. That’s the Jewish trial, and the Gentile trial was just as bad and as equally unjust. 

 

And keep in mind, the Jewish trial had three phases as did the Gentile trial.  The Sanhedrin trial had the arraignment before Annas, the trial before Caiaphas, and the public retrial by the Sanhedrin in the morning.

 

The secular, Gentile trial had three parts as Jesus was brought before Pilate, then sent to Herod, then brought back to Pilate for the final death sentence.

 

Six different times He stood before a judge or judges in a period of less than five hours. All the phases of trials, with the exception of the final appearance before the Sanhedrin, were over before dawn and they only did that one because they knew it was illegal to have trials at night.  And Jesus is on the cross by 9 A.M., the judgment of God falls between 12 and 3, He is dead at 3 and buried before sundown.

 

Now, with that background in mind, tonight I want to begin a study of these trials, and it is a fascinating study.  Let’s pick it up at verse 53.

 

Mark 14:53-62

There are at least four illegalities found here in this text regarding the trials of Jesus.  Chances are we’ll only have time to look at one of them tonight.  We’ll being with

 

 

Verse 53

 

Now we already know the verdict was decided before the proceedings ever began. The decision was made as to what they were going to do with Him a long time ago.  They were going to kill Him and the procedure was nothing more than a formality to discover some reason to explain why they were killing Him.

 

Matthew and Mark give us a record of His main trial before the Sanhedrin in the house of Caiaphas. John adds the first phase. So we have to leave Mark at this moment and go to John 18 for just a minute.

 

I’ll do my best to establish the time line as we move along.  When we read Mark 14:53, we get the idea something else has happened between the arrest in the Garden and what we read there, and John 18 tells us what it was. 

 

John 18:12-13

 

So why did they take Him to Annas first?  They did it because he was the real power behind the Sanhedrin.  Even though Caiphas holds the office of High Priest, Annas was calling the shots.  He was the one who would pronounce the indictment.  He was like a one-man Grand Jury.

He had been High Priest for five or six years, twenty years earlier. He’s now in his eighties. And for whatever reason, the Romans had forced him to step down.  But the next five High Priests were sons of Annas and now his son-in-law Caiaphas is in office. 

 

And just like our presidents or Supreme Court justices, they kept the title of High Priest for life.  And now he is behind the scenes orchestrating everything. And he sees Jesus as a very serious threat.  So his job is to come up with an indictment. After all, if you’re going to have an execution, you need to have a crime.  So first of all, they take Jesus to him.  

 

Meanwhile, the Sanhedrin is gathering together to do their dirty work and Peter, John tells us, is outside the house of Caiaphas warming himself by the fire. 

 

So you have all these scenes going on at the same time. 

 

John 18:19

 

Just to be clear, this is Annas who is questioning Jesus. Once again, this is illegal.  This is an interrogation without representation.  It violates the protection of self-incrimination. But Annas is poking around trying to come up with someone with which to accuse Jesus.

 

In verse 20, Jesus answered him. 

 

Verse 20-21

 

In other words, it’s all out there. My life is an open book.  I’ve got nothing to hide.

By the way, verse 21 is an appeal for a fair trial with a legal process.  He’s calling for witnesses.  He’s entitled to due process. 

 

Well, Annas didn’t like that.

 

Verses 22-23

 

Annas can’t cope with Him so he sends Him to Caiphas. 

 

verse 24

 

So now we move to the main Jewish trial.  And remember, it’s all a sham.  The decision is already made. The whole indictment attempt is illegal. First of all, there is no crime. Second of all, there are no witnesses. Thirdly, it is the middle of the night. Fourthly, it isn’t in a court. Fifthly, there aren’t any duly appointed judges and there are no legal authorities, prosecutors or defenders. The whole thing is a sham. Without a crime, without any testimony to corroborate a crime, they want Him dead and they’re trying to figure out how to do it.

 

So they ramp up the violations of justice in a mad dash to get it done before the light breaks and the people start to show up.

 

Matthew 26:57 says they sent Jesus to Caiaphas, as it says here in verse 24, and by the time Jesus arrived at the house of Caiaphas, the entire Sanhedrin had gathered there as well. 

 

 

 

That is another breach of justice.  The Sanhedrin was required to meet in the hall of judgment at the temple complex and not in the middle of the night.  Trials were to be held in daylight and in public.  They were in the wrong place and at the wrong time.

 

Furthermore, according to Jewish Law, the Sanhedrin could not initiate charges. They could only investigate charges. That’s what courts do today. You have to have an indictment before you can have a trial. You can’t investigate the charge until the charge has been established.

 

Well let’s go back to Mark and before close for the evening, I wasn’t us to catch up with Peter. 

 

Mark 14:54

 

There’s something very expected about Peter being there, isn’t there?  I think it is a mixture of curiosity, and good intentions and morbid dread. 

 

But he’s in a dangerous place physically and spiritually.  And for the moment, Mark just locates Peter.  He’s in the courtyard of the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest, sitting with the officers warming himself at the fire. He’s trying to blend in and stay warm. He’s on the side stage. But, boy, is he in a dangerous spot, as we’ll soon see.  But for now, we just know he’s there.

 

And the Sanhedrin’s inside, hard at work. They’re going to need to work fast. This trial’s got to be done and over before dawn. One of the reasons we get to locate Peter is because time is being kept according to Peter.  His denials will take place before the cock crows. 

That would be 3 A.M. and it’s still ahead of us in Mark’s accounting. So this trial has to be happening before Peter’s denial which is before 3 A.M. They shouldn’t be even meeting in the middle of the night.

 

Jesus is in a large room, Peter outside in the dark courtyard near a fire with Roman guards, temple police and other servants. He’s caught between curiosity and cowardice as an illegal arraignment of His Lord and Savior is taking place. 

 

We’ll stop there and pick it up next time with the illegal testimonies that are being given.