WWUTT 2116 Are You the Christ? (Matthew 26:57-68)

Jesus Before Caiaphas and the Illegitimate Trial

Jesus was arrested and he was taken to a kangaroo trial. A completely illegitimate trial that should not have even happened. And all of the things that they accused Jesus of, his accusers were guilty of.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky.

In our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we're still in the longest chapter of this Gospel. And that is chapter 26. Picking up where we left off last week, Jesus has been arrested, he's been taken before the high priest Caiaphas.

So I'm going to begin reading here in verse 57 to verse 68 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Now those who had seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.

But Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in and sat down with the officers to see the outcome. Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death.

And they did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on, two came forward and said, this man stated, I am able to destroy the sanctuary of God and to rebuild it in three days.

And the high priest stood up and said to him, Do you not answer? What are these men testifying against you? But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to him, I put you under oath by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the son of God.

Jesus said to him, you yourself said it. Nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his garments and said, He has blasphemed.

What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy.

What do you think?

They answered and said, he deserves death. Then they spat in his face and beat him with their fists and others slapped him and said, prophesy to us, O Christ, who is the one who hit you? So we come back here to verse 57.

If you'll remember, this is immediately after Jesus had been arrested in the garden of Gethsemane. And the moment that he was seized, all of his disciples fled. Remember, we've read in chapters leading up to this, 10 chapters or more, we've been reading about how the disciples expected that Jesus was going to be an emancipator for them, that he was going to free them from the tyranny of Rome.

That's what they were expecting. And I kind of wonder, I can't remember if I said this last week or not, but I wonder if this was in Peter's mind when he drew his sword and he chopped off the ear of the servant of the high priest.

And Jesus had to say to him, put your sword back into its place. For those who live by the sword, die by the sword. Peter may have thought this was it. Now it's our time. Here we go. We're going to fight back the enemy and we're going to take over this thing.

And here's Jesus telling him not to fight. Remember, Peter had previously said to Jesus, I will go with you and I will die with you. Even if all of these run away, I will not abandon you. And yet we have at the end of the last section, as we read on Wednesday, Jesus was arrested and all the disciples left him and fled, just as was prophesied would happen, just as Jesus told them that it would happen.

That included Peter. He also ran away. And so what we read here, right at the beginning of this account, those who had seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.

But Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in and sat down with the officers to see the outcome. So previously, this man, who just moments ago was drawing a sword and was ready to fight for Jesus, is now slinking away and concealing himself and trying not to be noticed.

Now we have that mention of Peter. He's there. He's among them. He's trying to watch the outcome of what it is that's going on. We're going to come back to Peter a little bit later on in verses 69 to 75 is where we have his denial.

So him being noticed and somebody saying, Hey, we know you, you're one of his disciples. You were with him. And three times, Peter denies that he even knows the man, just as Jesus has told him that he is going to.

So at one point, the disciples believing that Jesus, the Messiah, is going to be their great emancipator, freeing them from the tyranny of Rome. He is even going to kick out the Herods and assume the throne of David.

But instead, Jesus has been arrested. And it must have been going through the disciples' heads. Have we been wrong this entire time? What happened to the miracle worker that we were following? What happened to the guy who could not be touched?

And now here he is having been arrested and taken before the high priest. And they all run away and flee. They thought they were with the invincible guy. We're with the one who is the king who is going to assume the throne.

He's going to be a warrior like David. What was going through their minds now that he's been bound and taken before the high priest to be sentenced to death? So in verse 59, now the chief priest and the whole Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death.

Now this is a kangaroo trial. You understand what I mean by that, right? A kangaroo court is an unofficial trial that's held by a group of people to try someone they're predisposed to not like. They don't have good evidence.

They're already considering this person guilty. And so now they're just trying to put this trial together. Let's make it official somehow. But this really isn't a legitimate trial. There was no possibility of this being fair.

They had plotted to kill Jesus ahead of time. So this was already their desire. This was their ambition. We're having this trial, and it even says here they're looking for a reason to put him to death.

The chief priest and the whole Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death. So first of all, there was no possibility of a fair trial because they already have the outcome, the desired outcome in mind.

Secondly, this was held at night. And that was not supposed to happen. You could not try capital cases at night. So the Sanhedrin is breaking their own law here by having this trial at night. Also, they should not have been looking for witnesses to bring against Jesus after the trial had started.

Like you've got a trial when witnesses have already come forward. Somebody has already come out and said, I saw this man do this. I heard him say this. And then there's enough reason to go, okay, well, this sounds pretty bad.

Maybe we need to bring him in. And these witnesses are going to testify against that person. But here they've already brought Jesus in. They already want to put him to death. And then verse 60 says they did not find any witnesses to raise false testimony against him, even though many false witnesses came forward.

So those false witnesses should have been punished. The wrong man is on trial here. Those false witnesses should have been arrested. And you know what their punishment should have been? They're trying to put Jesus to death.

So what should the false witnesses have received?

Death.

That's what the law says. Deuteronomy 19, beginning in verse 16. If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days.

And the judges shall inquire thoroughly. And behold, if the witness is a false witness, and he has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had intended to do to his brother. So not only should those false witnesses have been put to death here, because that's exactly the desired outcome.

They want these false witnesses to falsely accuse. Well, they want them to accuse Jesus. They don't want him to falsely accuse him. They want it to be a legitimate accusation, even though they themselves know it's false.

But anyway, they want these witnesses to testify against Christ so that he can be put to death. Those witnesses should be put to death. And so should Caiaphas and the other priests there who are trying to put Jesus to death because they are conspiring to falsely accuse Jesus so that he will die.

So all the people that are there that are making these accusations against Christ, they deserve to receive what they want to do to him. Another way, this was a kangaroo court. The judgment should have been delayed until the next day.

You don't just gather together, and within a few minutes' time, you make these accusations, you pull all these things together, and boom, now we're going to issue our sentence. You've heard the evidence.

Now you need to deliberate, and a judgment needs to come at a later time. But these men want to work speedily. They want to try to move this along because there are still some people that love Jesus and are behind him.

Remember that the Pharisees are afraid of the mob. And when they were conspiring with Judas, it was said there that they were looking for an opportunity to arrest Jesus, but they were afraid of the crowd.

So they had to look for the right time. There were certainly people that hated Jesus, but these scribes and Pharisees, the chief priests, the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees among them, these people fear the mob.

So they don't want to do this in daylight. They don't want to give this time for word to get out, and then the people will rise up against the Sanhedrin and go, wait, what are you doing? This is an unfair trial.

They're trying to move this along, and because they have a fear of man. But they're going to use all their political connections to their advantage. The Sadducees in particular, Caiaphas would have been among them.

It would have been from the Sadducees that the high priest was chosen. So the Sadducees were well connected with the aristocracy. They're going to go to Pilate. They're going to go to Herod. They're going to get what they need to get in order to receive the outcome that they want.

They have to work fast here. So that they can avoid the crowd. So they can avoid people that will end up rallying to Jesus' side. And there may have been a great concern that Jesus indeed was going to be this emancipator who was going to rise to the throne and free the Jews from Roman occupation.

If that were to happen, the Sadducees would not have the power and the influence that they currently enjoy. Because that power has been given to them by the Romans. Even the Herods. They don't want the Romans to go away.

The Romans give us our power. We're doing alright with the Romans in control. That's been very lucrative for us, the Herods think. So all of this is being done speedily. It's being done in the cover of night.

Because it's those people who are threatened by Jesus and believing that if the people get what they want through Jesus, then we're going to lose everything. So they're speeding up this trial. Therefore, the judgment is happening here, within the hour that this assembly has gathered.

They're not waiting until the next day, which is really what should happen. They should not be issuing a judgment here, but rather waiting. They've heard the evidence, so now we're going to issue a verdict at a later time, once we've deliberated and considered all of this.

A man's life is literally on the line. And a man's life who has done nothing wrong. Another way that this is a kangaroo trial is that it was held the day before the Sabbath. And it's also being held during Passover.

The feast is going on. The first day of Passover was just the day before, just a few hours before. On Thursday, here they are in the early, early morning hours on Friday. That's when all this is taking place.

So it's still dark, obviously, cover of night, but it is technically Friday. Because remember, according to the Jewish calendar, that the next day starts at sundown. So once the sun went down on Thursday, it's Friday.

For us, in an American context, the next day is at midnight. You'll watch your phone, and when it hits midnight, it will roll over to the next day. Well, for Hebrews, the next day began at sundown. So on Friday at sundown, that was the start of Sabbath.

And Saturday at sundown, that was the end of Sabbath. So here we are on Friday. It is the day before the Sabbath, and it's in the middle of Passover. It's right at the start of the week of Passover. So these kinds of trials were not to be held during these holidays, and especially not before the Sabbath.

Because they shouldn't be issuing a verdict on the same day anyway. So they would be hearing all of the evidence against Christ, and then when would the verdict come down? Would it come down on Saturday, on the Sabbath?

Well, then they would be breaking the Sabbath. So the timing in which all of this is happening also is what makes this trial illegitimate. And finally, last of all, another way that this is a kangaroo trial, they never even consider Jesus' testimony.

None of them are asking of him to give his word. Jesus is remaining silent, and he has the right to remain silent. You've heard that in the Miranda rights that have been in every cop show in the history of television.

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Jesus is not going to incriminate himself, especially with all of these false accusations that are being levied against him.

So when they ask him to speak, he does not speak. Until the question comes, are you the Christ, the Son of God? And then he answers in the affirmative. And of course, he tells the truth. That's not a claim for which he deserves death.

But that was the claim that the priests got. It was enough for what they wanted, to accuse him of blasphemy and being able to put him to death. Now, they did have a mob that was on their side. It probably wasn't the majority of the people.

But there were people among them that were willing to be a part of this crowd that was therefore going to go to pilot and demand that Jesus be crucified. Crucify him, they would cry out. There may have been some people in that group that were among those who just a few days before were singing Jesus praises when he came into Jerusalem on a donkey.

But don't think, as it's often said, that the crowd shouting crucify him was the same crowd that was singing his praises. There may have been a few people that were in both crowds, but you shouldn't think of it as the mob just so quickly changed their attitude, their regard for Jesus.

The Sanhedrin had the people that they needed so that they could speedily move this thing along and put Jesus to death, protecting their positions and their authority. So again, we have here in verse 60, there were two more witnesses that came forward and said, this man stated, I am able to destroy the sanctuary of God and rebuild it in three days.

Oh, yeah.

Now, now here he's talking about a terrorist attack. Who's going to do this himself and the disciples who are with him? They're going to attack the temple of God and they're going to tear it down and rebuild it in three days.

Of course, they didn't understand that Jesus was talking about his own body. That he was going to be torn down, giving his own life and his life was going to be taken back up again. So in verse 62, the high priest stood up and said to him, do you not answer?

What are these men testifying against you? And of course, Jesus kept silent and the high priest said to him, I put you under oath by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the son of God.

Now, Jesus answer here is very straightforward. It's very clear. But there are skeptics out there that have said Jesus did not actually claim to be the son of God with this answer. Are you the Christ?

Are you the anointed one? Are you the one promised in the prophets? Are you the one who is going to free Israel and sit enthroned over us? Are you the son of God who is promised? And Jesus said to him, you yourself said it.

I don't know if you've ever seen Jesus Christ Superstar, the rock opera that came out. It was in the 70s, wasn't it? Written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the same guy who did Phantom of the Opera and Cats and a lot of those big Broadway shows that came about at the end of the 20th century.

Well, Andrew Lloyd Webber is a is a blasphemer and hates Christ. And Jesus Christ Superstar is one of the blasphemous retellings of these things that has ever been put in entertainment. But where the way that they portray Christ answering those questions is is basically you've said it as though Jesus is not actually confessing to be the Christ as they are asking him.

Are you the Christ? And there are a lot of skeptics, a lot of liberal theologians in particular, that will say the same thing. They will they will make the same determination about these words that Jesus says he's not actually professing to be the Christ.

You want to accuse me of being the Christ, then you've said it. But Jesus doesn't call himself the son of God. And that's just absolutely false. He plainly says that he is the son of God. And in case there's any confusion about it, just go over to Mark 1462, where Mark says that Jesus response was, I am.

So there you go.

You can't you can't consider that any other way. Jesus has said in the affirmative that he is the son of God. We might say in our modern American vernacular, interpreting this statement, you yourself said it would have been Jesus saying, yeah, you got that right.

OK, that would have been the way an American Yankee might have said something like that. But Jesus response to him is you have said right or you have expressed it correctly. That's what he means by you yourself said it.

Nevertheless, I tell you, Jesus says hereafter, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. This is a reference back to Psalm 110, verse one of Jesus being seated at the right hand of the father.

And then also Daniel 713. I kept looking in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the ancient of days and he came before him and to him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and men of every tongue might serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not be taken away. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Now, Jesus says here hereafter. You will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power.

In other words, the statement hereafter is to say this will soon happen. This will soon take place. And it will be at his resurrection, his ascension into heaven, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the gospel going out into all the nations.

And it could also be in reference to the day of judgment. So there is a spiritual sense in which this thing is fulfilled immediately after Jesus ascends into heaven or even as he's ascending into heaven, ascending to sit at the right hand of the father.

And so then you see the spiritual fulfillment of that with him ascending into the clouds, the spirit going out, the nations coming to Christ and worshiping him. And then there's also a final judgment aspect to it.

So spiritually, it's fulfilled with Jesus ascension into heaven. And then it will even literally be fulfilled on the day that Christ returns with judgment in his hands. You will see him coming on the clouds of heaven.

And we know by what is said in various accounts concerning that day, the whole world will see it. The living and the dead. Everyone will be participants in that day of Christ's return when he judges the nations in righteousness.

Everyone will see it. Those who worshiped him and those who did not. And so in verse 65, realizing what Jesus has confessed to even proclaiming that he is the fulfillment of these scriptures that have said he is God with everlasting dominion.

The high priest tore his garments and said he is blasphemed. He has said of himself that he is equal with God. What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy. So all their attempts to try to get witnesses together to falsely accuse Jesus.

We don't even need that anymore. We have the blasphemy claim and we can put him to death for that. That's enough to rally the troops behind us. What do you think? The priest said, and they answered, he deserves death.

And so they spat in his face and beat him with their fists and others slapped him. And they said, prophesy to us. Oh, Christ, who is the one who hit you mocking and blaspheming him? Aren't they? So we see over and over again throughout this account, the very things they accused Jesus of.

They were actually guilty of. They wanted to put him to death. And really, according to the law of God, they deserve to be put to death. They accused him of blasphemy. And really, it was them. They were blaspheming him right to his face.

And all of this happened to fulfill what was said in the prophets. As we have been reading about in Isaiah 53. That's been our reading lately on Thursday. It's providential. We're in Isaiah 53 at the same time that we're reading this account in Matthew.

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hide at their face, he was despised. And we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried.

Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But as we're going to read about as we continue in this account. From Matthew 26 into chapter 27. He was pierced through for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our peace fell upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the passage that we have read today. And I pray that we recognize our guilt.

Jesus is sinless and guilty of nothing. We are guilty of everything. If we've broken one law, we've broken all of it. What we deserve is judgment and death because we rebelled against the creator of the universe.

The king who sits enthroned on high. Convict us of our sin. And may it be a conviction that leads to a godly grief. So that we would repent of this sin, not walk in it anymore. Asking that it would be taken from us.

That we would be forgiven by the one who gave himself as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. For as said in 1 John 1 .9, if we ask forgiveness for our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

Create in us clean hearts, oh God. And renew a right spirit within me. It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

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