Sermon: Caiaphas and Injustice

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Open your Bibles to the gospel according to Matthew, chapter 26. Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 26.

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We are now in the scene in the historic record here of the word of God, where Jesus has been taken before Caiaphas after the betrayal and after the crowds come against him with swords and clubs to capture him as against a robber.

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So, Matthew, chapter 26, we're starting in verse 57.

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Hear now the word of the living and the true God. Then those who had seized

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Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and elders had gathered.

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And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest.

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And going inside, he sat with the guards to see the end. Now, the chief priest and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward.

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At last, two came forward and said, this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.

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And the high priest stood up and said, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?

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But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living

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God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said so.

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But I tell you from now on, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

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Then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need?

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You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? They answered, he deserves death.

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Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, prophesy to us, you

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Messiah, who is it that struck you? Thus far is the reading of God's holy and inspired word.

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Let's pray together as God's people. God, we come before your word, your holy word.

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Breathe out by you. This is your gift to us. It is the foundation of our certainty.

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It's the foundation of our hope. It's what is the truth. Lord, let you be true in every man a liar.

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This is your holy word. We come to you as your people humbled at this gift.

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We know, Lord, in this world where you're making all things new, there are still people who love you and know you that have no access to this word.

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And so, Lord, we thank you for that gift, that we have access to hold this revelation that you've given.

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And Lord, we ask today that, Lord, you get the teacher out of the way, that you would teach by your spirit, that you use your word to change us, to renew our minds.

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I do pray, Lord, especially for this message today, I pray help me to teach in a way that glorifies you and challenges each and every single one of us to live a life not like Caiaphas, to uphold your standards of wisdom and justice, to hate false accusations and false witness.

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I do pray that, Lord, you'd grant to us the grace here at this church you've called together, Lord, to live in a way that's consistent with your law and your standards of justice and wisdom, so that you'd be glorified in how we love one another by not bearing false witness and receiving false accusations.

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Lord, allow everyone to forget my name and remember yours. In Jesus' name, amen. So here we are.

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This is a powerful moment. If you read the Gospels together, we have, of course, the

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Synoptic Gospels. Synoptic just means seeing together. You can read Matthew, Mark, and Luke together.

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The Synoptics. And at times, you're running in the same course, in the same thread, in the same discussion, in the same historical event.

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Oftentimes, you'll see Mark might shorten it a count. You'll see that Luke might give more details or change language that you see in Matthew that's very

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Jewish in nature. Maybe a Gentile won't really know what you're talking about. And so the Synoptics run together, and we have the history of Jesus.

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John, in particular, will run along the same threads, but at times gives us more information.

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John's actually my favorite Gospel because it is so undeniably intimate, and it just speaks so much to the love of God for his people.

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And here we are in this section from Matthew, where Matthew gives us details of this kangaroo court, this mixed -up, confused, convoluted trial done by the high priest

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Caiaphas. And in 2657, it says, Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.

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We already know about Caiaphas from where we were before this. We learned, of course, about Peter taking the sword that Jesus told him to take and actually using it in a way that actually was displeasing to God and cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest.

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And so there's some connection here. I wonder how much Caiaphas heard about that moment before he has

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Jesus before him. Like, were they talking about the fact, like, hey, Malchus, your ear is better. Maybe you should tell

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Caiaphas that he should take very careful words with the

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Lord Jesus, like handle him in a different way. He just healed the servant's ear. I wonder what conversations were taking place.

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But I want to talk about Caiaphas just for a moment here. We're going to talk, of course, about the injustice of Caiaphas, the evil of Caiaphas, what took place here, and what he did to the actual true high priest that was before him,

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Jesus. But Caiaphas, we've actually found his house. I'm not going to belabor this today, but you can go into the archaeological studies and you can see a lot of the stuff that's been dug up regarding Caiaphas.

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This is actually a well -known first century figure, Caiaphas. We know about him from the

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New Testament historical record, of course, but also from Josephus, Flavius Josephus.

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Josephus was a Jew, a Pharisee, who actually survived the Roman -Jewish war and the destruction of Jerusalem that Jesus predicted in Matthew 24.

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So Josephus was a Pharisee who survived by hiding under dead bodies. They found him, and later he was actually respected by a

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Roman leader, and he was chosen to actually write a history of the Jews. So if you read Flavius Josephus, if you read his works of antiquity, you can actually see some of the, at least his accounting of some of the history of the

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Jews, actually quite a bit of it. Even we actually have an account of the destruction of Jerusalem and the war between the

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Jews and the Romans in pretty vivid detail at points. But we know about Caiaphas from the

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New Testament record as well as Josephus. He was born, according to Josephus, 14

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BC and died in 46 AD. He was the son of Annas, Annas who was a high priest from 6

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AD to 15 AD. Annas and Caiaphas, Annas and Caiaphas are in the

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New Testament record. We're going to talk about that. But Caiaphas was the son -in -law of Annas.

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Josephus claimed that Caiaphas was installed as the high priest by the Roman procurator

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Valerius Gratuson in 18 AD. Now, this is what we're going to do here.

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We're going to try to get more context in terms of Caiaphas. Who was he? Where does he appear in the

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New Testament record? We can't do all of it, but there's actually more to this story. Before Caiaphas, this is important here, before Caiaphas gets

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Jesus before him in this moment, this isn't sort of his first time learning about Jesus.

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This isn't his first conversation about Jesus. You're going to learn in a moment here that actually the

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Sanhedrin, the leadership in Jerusalem, they were plotting against Jesus. They were actually working to find false witnesses.

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They're looking for liars. They're looking for him. Now, Caiaphas is the head of this whole charade at this moment.

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But this isn't the first time that ultimately he's talked about Jesus or wanted to have interaction with Jesus.

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If you go to your Bibles to John 11, you'll see some more. John 11, everybody remembers we talked a lot about the raising of Lazarus and the trouble that that caused in Jerusalem.

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After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, there was even people who were thinking about killing Lazarus and Jesus.

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But in John 11, verse 45, Jesus has now raised

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Lazarus from the dead. Some people believed in Jesus and some disbelieved, which is shocking to me.

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Demonstrates that miracles don't ultimately convert sinners. It takes a work of God. It takes regeneration.

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The Spirit of God opened the eyes of the blind and giving hearts of flesh where there were hearts of stone.

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But people saw the miracles of Jesus and still left him, still didn't follow him.

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But in this particular event, this caused no small trouble in Jerusalem.

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So in John 11, verse 45, it says, Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.

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But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the

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Pharisees gathered the council and said, What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.

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If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.

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They're worried. But one of them, Caiaphas, same Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them,

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You know nothing at all, nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.

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He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad.

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So from that day on, they made plans to put him to death.

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Jesus, therefore, no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness to a town called

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Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. So here we have this moment after the raising of Lazarus.

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It caused trouble. It caused controversy. And think about what they're concerned about. This is what's important.

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Why are they so after Jesus? He's feeding the poor. He's giving people their legs back, for goodness sake.

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He's putting people's ears on. He's giving sight to the blind. He's raising a little dead girl.

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I mean, he takes Lazarus out of the tomb. You would think, like, what is wrong with these people?

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Like, what are they opposed to? Why are they fighting against Jesus? And the answer is found in Jesus' indictment upon Jerusalem in Matthew chapter 23.

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He says seven woes upon the scribes, the Pharisees, and the hypocrites in Jerusalem.

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Seven woes. That means a curse on you. If you want to see what his indictments were, go back and read

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Matthew 23. We did a sermon series on that. But Jesus indicted them because they were frauds.

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They were hypocrites. They hid behind the Torah, the Tanakh. They hid behind the word of God.

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They hid behind the fact that they were technically the covenant people of God. But they were just wallowing in disobedience.

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They weren't obeying God's law. If they had believed God's law, if they had believed his word, they would have believed

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Jesus. And that was Jesus' claim to them. But what are they so troubled about? He raises

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Lazarus from the dead. And they go now and convene this council. Caiaphas is there. And what they're worried about is that this

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Jesus is claiming to be Mashiach. Now, they know their Old Testament scriptures. They know the

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Messiah is going to rule the nations. All the nations are going to stream up to God's mountain. Salvation, redemption, and justice is going to fill the earth because of the

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Messiah. They know the Messiah is going to be on the Davidic throne at the right hand of God.

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That he'll be ruling and reigning the kingdom of God. And here's Jesus. Christ means

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Mashiach, the Messiah. Wherever you see it, that's what it means. Christ isn't his last name.

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It's Messiah. It's his title. It's who he is. He's God's anointed one.

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He is the sum of the entire story of Scripture. The Messiah. And they're worried.

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Why? They're worried because Rome didn't necessarily have a problem with the theology of the

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Jews. They don't care. They're pagans. You can worship anything you want in Rome.

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They don't care what gods you worship. You can worship rocks and hay and gold and stubble and stone.

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It doesn't matter to them. They don't care. They've got people going into temples to engage in all kinds of wicked things as acts of worship with other gods.

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They don't care. You've got Caligula in the first century that calls himself

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God. Tries to set up a statue of himself in the Jewish temple. Caesar worship is a thing.

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They don't care. As a matter of fact, what's interesting here is that Jesus actually indicts them before this in Matthew chapter 26.

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Remember the betrayals happening? Who do you have coming? Remember that scene? Who do you have coming to Jesus that night in the darkness?

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You have Judas the betrayer. You also have the temple police. And what do they have? Clubs. They weren't allowed to have swords.

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And you had the Romans who were carrying swords. So you have Roman guards and you have temple police.

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Strange. Because the Romans are only concerned with violations of law like robbery, murder, rape, things like that.

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The temple police are there ultimately to enforce against theological crimes. What are they doing together?

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What are they doing together? This is convoluted. It doesn't make any sense. It's deceptive. And Jesus indicts them for it.

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Why are you coming out here against me with swords and clubs like a robber? I was with you in the temple,

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Jesus taught him. I was with you in the temple. If you ultimately, what he's saying is this, if you wanted to indict me for some theological crime, you had your chance.

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I mean, think about it. Jesus is in there cleansing the temple, flipping tables over. He's preaching against them.

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They were there and they even taught, they even tried to trip him up in theological games. And that's

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Jesus' point. What's all this about? Swords and clubs? You had your chance to indict me for a theological crime.

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He didn't do it. So what are they worried about? They're worried Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah.

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If everyone thinks he's the Messiah, maybe everyone follows him. And the one thing Rome cares about is this, if they say this is the

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Messiah, the King of Israel, he has all the authority in the world, even over Rome, that is something that Rome will not abide by.

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They won't allow it. So what they're fearful of is that if Jesus truly is the Messiah, or if people think that he is, then

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Rome will come in and take away their place. They're worried about their own authority. They don't care what the truth is.

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They're worried about their plans. They're moving forward. They're worried about their authority being stripped away.

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And that's how this starts with them. They plot against Jesus. So that's what you see here in this moment with Caiaphas.

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He's already had conversations about Jesus. He already knows how the crowd feels about Jesus. He already knows what's going on with Jesus.

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People want Jesus dead. And now Jesus in Matthew's Gospel is being brought before Caiaphas, the high priest.

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Now think about for a moment the high priest, what that entails. You're the high priest. You're the high priest.

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You're supposed to know the law of God. Amen? Yes? You're supposed to know God's wisdom. You're supposed to know God's standards of justice.

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For goodness sake, you're the high priest. Top position.

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And we're going to learn more about Caiaphas here in a moment. After the betrayal, he was taken actually in John's Gospel to Annas, Caiaphas' father, father -in -law, in John 18.

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So go to John chapter 18 to see that scene. In Matthew's Gospel, Matthew doesn't talk about this scene.

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But in John chapter 18, we actually see that when Jesus is captured by this crowd, they actually bring him first because he was probably closer to Annas.

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Remember Annas, the father -in -law of Caiaphas? He was high priest in Jerusalem before Caiaphas.

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So he is a man of reputation. People respect him. They saw him as the high priest. And the first place the crowds take

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Jesus is to Annas' house. And in John chapter 18, verse 12, we learn about this scene.

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So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.

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First, they led him to Annas, for he was the father -in -law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.

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It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that he would be expedient, that one man should die for the people.

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Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.

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But Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door and brought

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Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, you also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?

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He said, I am not. Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold and they were standing and warming themselves.

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Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself with the crowd.

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The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to the world.

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I've always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.

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Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. You know what

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I said. When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck

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Jesus with his hand saying, is that how you answer the high priest? Jesus answered him, if what

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I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong. But if what I said is right, why do you strike me?

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Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. So there's the scene. Jesus is betrayed by Judas.

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His disciples flee, clubs and swords. They grab Jesus. They first take him to Annas.

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This scene happens. Jesus is already getting hit. He's confronting even how they're handling this injustice.

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And now they take him to Caiaphas. Now in verse 58 of 26, it says, and Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest.

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And going inside, he sat with the guards to see the ends. Peter followed at a distance.

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Don't let that miss you. It's not just an accident of the text, just sort of describing where Peter happened to be.

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You remember that Peter is emboldened by Jesus knocking down the crowd with a declaration that he is ego eimi,

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I am. They hear the words of their creator. The crowd falls. Peter is emboldened and he does something that is ultimately sinful because Jesus says, this is what

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I've come for. And Jesus heals Malchus's ear, gives him his ear back.

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And then what takes place? All the disciples flee. Like I said before, we got to give some grace and some mercy to Peter because we'd probably be in the same position.

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They flee. They leave Jesus. However, in fleeing Jesus, now the crowds are taking

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Jesus away. And where's Peter? He's following. Why?

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Can we be honest here and fair to Peter? Because he loves Jesus. Because he loves him.

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He does. He's a true believer and he fails miserably. How do we learn from his failure?

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Well, first, we see in the text that Peter's following Jesus from a distance. He could have stood as a witness for Jesus, easily.

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He could have stood as a witness for Jesus. He could have been a witness against those witnesses when they, in a moment here, we're going to see where they distort what

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Jesus said about the temple. Peter could have raised his hands and said, I'm a witness. I know what

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Jesus actually said about the destruction of the temple. He wasn't talking about what you're talking about. You're lying.

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Peter could have been a witness. Jesus had a right to remain silent. That comes from the law of God. He didn't have to help his accusers.

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That's where we get it from in our law, from the word of God. So if you like your fifth amendment, thank Moses. Jesus didn't have any obligation to help his accusers.

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But Peter, for goodness sakes, he could have said something. I'm a witness. I'm his disciple.

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I know what he actually teaches. I've heard him teach this over and over again. You're all lying on him. You're false witnesses.

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But Peter doesn't do that. Peter follows where? At a distance. I think, and again, this is me trying to consider the life of Peter and who he is and the fact that he's truly a believer.

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He loved Jesus. He's afraid. He's afraid.

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Like many of us would be afraid when the crowds are surrounding the center of righteousness.

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And they're mocking him and vilifying him. Sometimes it's much easier to hide in the crowd.

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It's easier to hide in the crowd. He felt safer, obviously, with the crowd because he's now at least with an earshot of what's going on with Jesus.

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I mean, this is nighttime, by the way. One of the things Albert Moeller talked about when he talked about this particular text, he said, look, it wasn't like today.

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When it was nighttime in this time, it's expensive to have fire and light. Why? It takes oil and lamps and all those things.

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So ultimately, Moeller points out, at nighttime, people went to bed. Right? They went to bed.

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They didn't have their screens to stay on at night just to stay up for no reason at all for hours and hour and hour. Right?

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They didn't have any of that. Wasting time or just, you know, drowning out in front of blue light. They didn't have the lights in the house to flip on.

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Wherever there was light, Moeller points out, that's where the people were. And that's where something important was going on. And this is, under the cover of night, a deceptive move against the

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Son of God. And Jesus goes to be punished and to be accused.

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And Peter follows at a distance. And now he's in the courtyard as far as away from the high priest. And where?

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He's with who? The guards. He felt safer with the crowd.

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He was trying to blend in. Sometimes, the throngs or crowds surround the righteousness of the day.

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And we feel safer sitting silent in the crowd. We deceive ourselves.

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We think, if I just don't say anything, I'm still on the side of righteousness.

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I'm not denying it. I'm just safer here.

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This was the beginning of Peter's fall. Besides, of course, running away from Jesus.

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But note that not only is he at a distance from Jesus, where he could have potentially helped

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Jesus as a witness, but he's actually staying with the crowds, with the guards.

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Peter's with the guards. But so we don't get in trouble when we get to heaven.

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And Peter's like, I heard that message you preached. Right? There's more to the story. There is more to the story, brothers and sisters.

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We know about, of course, Peter. Jesus comes and he reconciles with Peter. Peter, do you love me?

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Yes, feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? Yes, feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.

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Feed my sheep. He's restored by Jesus. But something happened in the life of Peter. Something happened.

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He goes from somebody who is ultimately sticking his foot in his mouth a lot, and he's afraid, and he's hiding with the crowds.

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He's not saying anything where the crowds are surrounding righteousness. Peter actually changes dramatically after the resurrection of Jesus, after he sees

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Jesus alive from the dead. He saw the brutality against Jesus. He saw the crucifixion.

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He saw Jesus dying, bleeding, and suffering. And then he actually touched Jesus. He ate with Jesus.

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And the Holy Spirit is poured out in the book of Acts. And something happened with Peter. And if you want to see it, watch.

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In this scene in Matthew 26, you have Annas, who was the high priest, father -in -law of Caiaphas.

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Jesus goes from Annas' place to Caiaphas. Peter is now standing in a distance with the crowds, trying to play it safe, trying to keep cool, trying to stay quiet.

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But Annas and Caiaphas are a part of this story. Peter's hiding because he's fearful, ultimately, of what

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Caiaphas can do to him. But something happened after the resurrection of the

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Son of Man. After the Holy Spirit was poured out, Peter's life changed forever.

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He ultimately lost his own life because of his faith in Jesus Christ. But you want to see what happened, you go to Acts chapter 4.

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Acts chapter 4. Go there, to the right of Matthew. Acts chapter 4. And look at this moment of redemption, this moment of transformation.

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Here it is, Acts 4, 1. And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the

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Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed, because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

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And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men who came to about five thousand.

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That is what happens when you are a spirit -filled believer proclaiming the truth in the public square.

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As a church body, there's not much to us. We know God, we love God, we preach the gospel, but we bring the gospel into the public square because that's what the leadership did in the first century, and they turned the world upside down.

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But notice something, Peter goes from hiding in the crowd with the guards, following at a distance, afraid, staying silent, to what?

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Now he's in the public square, proclaiming Christ, calling people to repent and believe, and now he's brought before Annas and Caiaphas.

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Both of them. On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, all, and all who were of the high priestly family.

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He got them all there. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, by what power or by what name do you do this?

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Then Peter, here it is, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, that healed a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified in your face,

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Caiaphas. Did Peter change? Yeah. He goes from warming himself with the guards who kidnapped

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Jesus at a distance to now he is in front of the same people that he was fearful of before, and what's he say?

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You killed him. You killed the Messiah. It's in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom

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God has raised from the dead. By him this man is standing before you. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders which has become the cornerstone, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

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Remember the accusation that's coming in Matthew 26, we're going to get to in a minute. What's the false accusation against Jesus?

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That he said he was going to destroy what? Their temple. That physical temple.

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That's not what Jesus was saying, although that physical temple was destroyed, ultimately by the judgment of God.

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But here is actually Peter before Caiaphas and Annas, who had a hand in the betrayal and the murder of Jesus.

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He's saying, you crucified Jesus. And he's saying, and neither is there salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

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Brothers and sisters, I've said this before. Have you heard me say this before? That what Peter is doing there is he's taking the actual statement in Rome about Caesar and he switched it and he made it about Jesus.

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They would put things, after a town had submitted to Caesar and the Pax Romana and the

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Peace of Rome, they would put things outside of that town as like a symbol, like neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved,

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Caesar Augustus. Now Peter is standing before Caiaphas and Annas, who murdered

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Jesus, took part in the murder of Jesus, and he is so direct. He says, you killed him.

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And let me tell you something. There is no salvation in any other. There's no other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved,

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Jesus. He's coming against the religious establishment and Rome.

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You can't say this without being killed. Do you understand that he's saying that Jesus has authority over Caesar?

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You do not do that or you die. The first century Christians weren't killed for their faith because they worshiped

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Jesus. Nobody in Rome cares what you worship. They are pagans. They do care if you say that this

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Jesus has all authority even over Rome. And that's what Peter's doing here.

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He changed. Something happened with Peter. He was transformed by the resurrection and the indwelling of the

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Holy Spirit of God, which was promised by Jesus to the apostles in John chapter 14 through 16.

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Now go back to Matthew chapter 26. I wanted to do that because I feel like we owe Peter some respect.

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Things changed a bit after the resurrection. So Matthew chapter 26, go to verse 59 now.

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It says, now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony. Don't get lost with that one.

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The who? Chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none.

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They can't get it to work. It's not happening. Though many false witnesses came forward.

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I think we forget sometimes that this world is filled with sinners. It's a fallen world.

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And we forget sometimes that even people that we respect as quote -unquote believers or people that we think we can trust can lie and deceive.

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And oftentimes people plot because they're angry, because they are bitter, because they're prideful against other human beings.

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What preserves us from falling into those traps? What preserves us from going along with people that give false accusations or distort stories and try to accuse people?

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It's the Word of God. God's Word is the standard. And in 59 through 60, we see that they were plotting, that false witnesses were mustered against Jesus, that the chief priests and the council, everybody was working against Jesus to try to have people present fraudulent testimony.

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What's wrong here? Think about this for a moment. These are Jewish people. They're Jews. What do they have?

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They have access to God's law. What did God say when he gave his law to his people?

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Of course, over sinners, there's aspects to the law of God that are condemning aspects. We're not under that.

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We're not condemned by the law. We have Christ. We have his righteousness. But the law itself isn't a curse. It's good.

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It's righteous. It's just. And God even says to his people when he gives his law to them, he says this is supposed to be your wisdom in the sight of the peoples.

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Deuteronomy chapter 4. That all the nations are supposed to look in at the laws and the statutes of Yahweh of Israel.

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And they were going to say, what kind of God is this? He's so near to his people and has statutes as righteous as this law.

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The law of God was supposed to be light to the nations. Justice, righteousness, love for God, love for neighbor.

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And now we have Jewish people with God incarnate in front of them. You have a high priest, but the true high priest right there in front.

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You're the people who said they were longing for Mashiach. And here he is placed in front of them.

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And they're looking for false testimony. What's God's word say? We have 10 commandments.

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And one of the 10 commandments is what? You shall not lie.

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You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. What's that based on? What's it based on?

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It's not just a code. People oftentimes do that with the law of God. They think it's just like, it's just code.

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It's just written code and law. That's not the truth. It's not merely code and law and do this and you'll be saved.

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You can't be saved by the law of God. Only through Jesus Christ. But the law is good. And God says,

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Jesus says that God's two greatest commandments are to love him with heart and soul and mind and strength and to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

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And he says this, ready? He says all of God's commandments, all the law and the prophets are built upon love for God and love for neighbor.

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So not lying about your neighbor, not bearing false witness against your neighbor.

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Hold on to this. Do not lose this. When you resist the temptation to lie and spread news about a neighbor that's false, when you resist the temptation to do that, you are loving

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God and you are loving your neighbor. It is love for God that should cause us to hate false witness and false accusations.

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And here you have religious leaders doing what? Hating their neighbor. They have the law of God. They know better than this.

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They know how God takes so seriously false witness and injustice.

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And now they're in a court proceeding, kind of, and they're looking for a false witness and they can't make it work.

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God commands us to love our neighbor and God hates injustice. This was the high priest and the leaders of Jerusalem.

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They should have known better. But what was the problem? Jesus' assessment of them was absolutely correct in Matthew 23.

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Yes, he used a serrated edge. Yes, he said they're full of dead men's bones. Yes, he called them fakes and frauds.

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Yes, he slaughtered them with the truth. That's because he knew they were liars.

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He knew they were hypocrites. He knew they weren't obeying the law of God. And so he indicted them. That's why he cleansed the temple.

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You got a high priest that does this. They're looking for false witness. You know, there's a lot of good commandments in scripture.

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A lot. And this basically small revelation compared to the mountains of legislation in the city of Phoenix alone.

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A small book of legislation. How about just 10? Can we whittle it down to just 10?

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And how about just one of the 10? Don't bear false witness against your neighbor. They can't even do that right.

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They should have known, but they were corrupt. What's God saying is law. Here's what you need to come with me, guys. Come back. I'm going to lay out some foundations for what ought to Caiaphas have done.

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Number one, what's the law of God say in Exodus 20 verse 16? You shall not lie.

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What's that mean? You shall not bear false witness or false testimony against your neighbor.

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You shall not lie. Why? Because God's not a liar. You and I are made in the imago dei, in the image of God.

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We are, think of it like a mirror laid up against a wall that you shine a light into in darkness or you shine a laser into.

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What's it do? It hits that mirror and it shoots back out into the world. It reflects the light back into the world.

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You are the image of God like that. God created you in his image to shine his light forth into his good creation.

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You are to reflect the character of God. God cannot lie.

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Love does no harm to its neighbor. God is love. And so the foundation of not lying about your neighbor is to love

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God, love neighbor, and to reflect God's character into the world. God cannot lie. That's Exodus 20 16.

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Go to Proverbs chapter 18 verse 13. This is the wisdom of God given to the king.

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Do you know that? Did you love that other book of Proverbs? We read the Proverbs because it's God's wisdom. And it is principles of wisdom for all of us.

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But who's it written to? Leadership. This is supposed to be how you execute justice.

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Proverbs chapter 18 and Proverbs 18 verse 13.

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Proverbs 18 verse 13. God's wisdom here. Listen closely. If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.

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What's that mean? You're a fool. Can we say that? It's shameful and foolishness if you decide a matter before you've heard the entire thing out.

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Pause. Man, are we guilty? Don't say you're not because we are.

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We are so guilty. We are like that, aren't we? We hear one person giving a convincing side of their story, they tell you a tale, and you immediately decide the matter before you've even heard the other side.

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You decide the matter before you've heard all the details. You make decisions based upon hearing one testimony.

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And the scripture says, what is wisdom? What is wisdom? If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.

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Do you know what's good sometimes? Is to stop, be quiet, contemplate, pray, seek out answers before you come to a conclusion.

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Oftentimes, we even within the Christian church, within the body of Christ, will hear an accusation from one person about another brother and sister.

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And what do we do? We immediately bite down. We say, okay, I'm going with them.

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What's another standard of God's justice? No personal favoritism. That's also a sin.

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You can't say, well, I really love this person, so I'm going to go with them and believe their story.

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God says, that's shameful. And that's folly. You've heard one thing, and before making an actual wise decision, you've bit down, and God says, folly and shame.

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So when we think about Caiaphas and all this leadership bringing together false witnesses, it's next level.

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It's not just disobeying wisdom in terms of hearing a story. It's next level. They're plotting to destroy

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Jesus. They're literally looking for people who are going to lie about Jesus. But how should the high priest have handled the accusations against Jesus?

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He should have waited to find contrary witnesses to refute those testimonies.

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As a matter of fact, when he goes to Jesus, do you know how perverse this is? When he starts asking Jesus to answer for himself, he should have known better as high priest.

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If these accusations aren't working, if the stories actually aren't coming together,

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Jesus doesn't have to answer a thing. He doesn't have to help Caiaphas. He doesn't have to help the false witnesses.

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He has, we'll use the modern, the right to remain what? Silent. Again, if you like that law, the right to remain silent,

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I want to assure you atheism didn't give that to you. That's from Moses. You're welcome, secularists.

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The right to remain silent is biblical law. What is Caiaphas doing asking

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Jesus to answer for himself? It's perverse.

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He can't get it off the ground, so he goes after Jesus. Help me out, Jesus. Give me something to work with.

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If the testimonies aren't working, Jesus doesn't have to do a thing. Jesus knows the law of God, I think.

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But Proverbs 18, 17, just go a little further down, another example.

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The one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him.

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Brothers and sisters, bury that into your hearts. Bury it. You want to solve many of the issues that happen in the world, or in the courts, or within the body of Christ, with God's standards?

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Have this buried. Teach it to your kids. The first person that speaks seems right, right?

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You ever been in a situation like that? Someone tells you a story, you're like, oh my gosh, that's horrible. They seem like it's right. Next thing you know, you hear the other side, you're like, wait, that's not what happened.

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It's completely different. There's two sides here. We need to hear them out. And God's wisdom says the one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him.

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What should we do as good judges over matters? Stay quiet.

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Stay patient. Assume the innocence of the person being accused in front of you. Assume their innocence always until there is evidence, good evidence, two to three witnesses or lines of evidence that demonstrate without question that this person is truly guilty.

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That's when we can get this going. Otherwise, I won't accept it. I'm going to assume your innocence always until I have proof to the contrary.

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Hear both sides. Another one in terms of God's law and standards that Caiaphas knew and he should have employed.

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Go to Deuteronomy chapter 19. Deuteronomy, that's part of the first five books of Moses.

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Deuteronomos means second law. It's the second giving of the law, explanation of the law.

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It's bringing out further details about God's standards of justice. Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 15.

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A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed.

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Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. Pause. That is repeated in the

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New Testament several times. It's done by Jesus and by Paul.

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They both uphold that as valid today, abiding relevance in a new covenant church.

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Jesus says in Deuteronomy chapter, sorry, Matthew chapter 18, in terms of church discipline, what does he say?

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If your brother's in sin, what do you do first? You go to him privately. Solve it then.

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If he won't turn from the sin, you bring what? Witnesses. And if he won't turn then, then you bring it before the church to do what?

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Discipline. Jesus affirms the goodness of this standard of witnesses and accusation.

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And what's the apostle Paul say to Timothy? He says, receive no accusation against an elder unless it's on the basis of two to three witnesses.

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Now, by the way, that principle is not just for elders. That's for everybody. That's just him talking about in the context of an elder, don't receive any accusation unless it's on the basis of two to three witnesses.

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That applies to all of us. So where's that come from? Deuteronomy chapter 19. God's law says two to three independent lines of witness.

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But pause. It doesn't mean that if two or three people are saying something, that it's true.

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You had multiple witnesses coming up before the trial of Jesus. And what were they doing? Lying through their teeth.

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So just because you have two or three people saying something does not mean you accept it as gospel.

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Now begins the process, according to God's law, of hearing the case out, examining the accusers, the witnesses.

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And here it is right here. It says, verse 16, if a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the

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Lord, before the priests and the judges who were in office in those days. The judges shall inquire diligently.

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And if the witness is a false witness and is accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother.

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So you shall purge the evil from your midst and the rest shall hear and fear and shall never again commit any such evil among you.

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I've talked about this quite a bit. If we had this in the courts in America, this law from God, that false witnesses will get the punishment that they intended to bring upon the accused, what do you think that would do for justice in our courts?

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Solve quite a few problems. It's not going to stop all liars from lying, because liars be lying.

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However, it would actually establish justice. Why? Because if you're a false witness and you know you're lying, and you're going to accuse somebody in a court and it's discovered that you were lying in the accusation, you will get what they were going to be punished with.

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Why? Equal justice. In God's eyes, equal justice. So if you accuse somebody of theft and you're lying, now you've got to repay.

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If you accuse somebody falsely of rape, that's a capital crime.

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That's a capital crime. If you accuse somebody falsely of murder, capital crime.

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It preserves, and God says, it will cause fear to fall on people because they will be afraid of the consequences.

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Now, Caiaphas knows this. He knows that the law of God forbids him to behave in this way.

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He knows about what's happening. What was he losing? The assumption of innocence. The assumption of innocence, always.

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We have to assume the innocence of all of our neighbors until we are proven wrong.

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Until you see evidence to the contrary, everybody is to be assumed innocent.

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By the way, does that sound familiar? We are innocent until what? Proven guilty.

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Where do you think that came from? Moses? God? You see how much in our own nation here, this

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Great American Experiment, how much has been broken? When we move away from God's standards, we have courts that look like Caiaphas.

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False witnesses are allowed and even helped by the courts. Not punished, ultimately, for the crime of bearing false witness, trying to get somebody in trouble.

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And I want to tell you right now, just a brief side note here. I've gone to court in the last five or six years, twice, to support brothers who were falsely accused.

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In both cases, falsely accused. In both cases, the witnesses either were not telling the truth, provably not telling the truth, or the state was just trying to destroy somebody.

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And I'm going to tell you right now, it is so disheartening to see we've moved away from God's standards, and in today's courts, it looks like Caiaphas.

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It looks like the elders, the chief priests. Actually, now, what I've seen in my last five years of going to watch two people accused in the courts,

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I've seen from the moment they walked into the court until they were sentenced, they were treated as though they were guilty the whole way through.

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They were even sanctioned during the process of the trial. In other words, punished during the process of the trial, and then they were ultimately seen as guilty.

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It's like they are guilty before proven innocent. What does God's law say? Innocent until what?

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Proven guilty. We need God's standards. And so I want to say that should have been underneath all of what was going on.

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Final word here, Jesus had the right to stay silent. He doesn't have to help his accusers.

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None of us do. And there should have been two to three witnesses against Jesus with cross -examination.

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Go back to Matthew 26 now. And in Matthew chapter 26, verses 60 through 61, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward.

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At last, two came forward and said, this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.

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I'm able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. So here's a problem with liars, is that liars often in their false witness or false testimony, they use a kernel of truth.

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Just a small bit of truth. And then they twist it like Satan in the garden.

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That's the tactic of the enemy. Use the same terminology, use some of the same words, confuse, distort.

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And what they heard Jesus saying was that he was the temple of God. Destroy this temple, the temple of his body.

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And in three days, I will raise it up again. And what they do is they come in and they say that he says he's going to destroy the temple and in three days, raise it up again.

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That is not what Jesus said. If you read John chapter 2, verse 19, you'll see that Jesus did say destroy this temple, the temple of his body, and in three days,

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I'll raise it up again, referring to the temple of his body. They twist that story and they say, he's going to destroy the temple and in three days, raise it up.

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They're lying. Jesus actually was everything the temple spoke about.

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Think about for a moment what was happening in this moment. The high priest is in front of Jesus, but Jesus is actually our high priest.

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He's the one who truly intercedes for the people of God. Think about it for a moment. The high priest in Israel throughout its history, they would go into this temple edifice, they'd go into the

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Holy of Holies, first sacrificing an animal sacrifice for themselves because they were sinners. And then they would go and they would offer the scapegoat and then the sacrifice itself.

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They would go into the holiest place. They would offer blood there and they did it every single year.

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The day of atonement, the day of atonement. Every year, it's a reminder of your sin. It's not finished.

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You're not, it's not solved. You don't have ultimate peace. We got to keep doing this because the blood of bulls and goats will never take away sin.

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But the temple itself was supposed to speak to the Jewish people truth about God.

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There's a veil separating the people of God from the center place of God. You didn't have access there.

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You had to have someone interceding for you. There must be bloodshed. There has to be death for your sins.

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And all they're doing is rehearsing and rehearsing and rehearsing and rehearsing and rehearsing.

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And now here's the big day. Now is the big day. Here's the real high priest, what it was pointing to the whole time.

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Here's the true lamb of God, what that was pointing to the whole time. Here's the one that's going to go through that veil into the very presence of God and he intercedes for us.

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But guess what? This one actually offers a sacrifice once for all.

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Jesus was everything the temple was pointing to. And what's amazing is they distort his story.

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And they say he's talking about the physical temple itself. Now here's what happens. In 63 through 64, the text says, but Jesus remained silent and the high priest said to him,

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I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you're the Messiah, the son of God. Tell us if you're the

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Messiah, the son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said so. But I tell you from now on, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

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This is so powerful. Do you guys know? And you would, of course, go, obviously, this is

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God incarnate. He's going to argue better than any of us. He has wisdom that is unsurpassed.

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It's incomprehensible. This is the very source of knowledge and wisdom standing in front of him. Caiaphas, of course, has this fraudulent trial going on, false accusations.

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And he asked Jesus to respond to the accusation. And Jesus does what?

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He stays silent. They're lying about Jesus. He doesn't have to help them while they're lying. So he stays silent, like a sheep led to the slaughter,

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Isaiah 53. But what's amazing here is this moment. Something happened here that I don't know if Caiaphas fully intended.

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He said, tell us if you're the Christ, the son of God. Do you know what he did? He just combined two concepts from the

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Old Testament together into one. Christ, the son of God. He obviously understands that the

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Messiah is himself divine. But you know what's amazing? Do you ever wonder what

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Jesus did there when he said, you've said so? Basically, he says, when he asked him, are you the

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Christ, the son of God? And Jesus said, you said it. You said it.

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And then he, of course, says, blasphemy, and he tears his clothes in shock and horror.

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Jesus said to him, you said it. Why? Because he's about to accuse

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Jesus of blasphemy. What is blasphemy? The Jews saw blasphemy as not to even speak it.

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Don't miss that. Not to even speak it. It's not how we oftentimes think about blasphemy.

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It's like just a dirty word. You're not supposed to say that. They saw blasphemy as this. Ready? It is so offensive to God, you are not even to speak of it.

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Don't get around the edges of it. Don't speak of it. Don't utter the words. Blasphemy to the

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Jews is like that. It's not like a curse word. Blasphemy is something you do not even speak of.

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It's so offensive to God. You don't utter it. Nobody does. And what's Caiaphas do?

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He says, are you the Christ, the son of God? Who's blaspheming?

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Caiaphas, you're not even supposed to utter it, right? If it's so untrue, if it's so unholy, if it's so unrighteous, then why are you speaking it?

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Why'd you say it out loud? And so when Caiaphas is trying to get these testimonies to work in this fraudulent testimony, they're lying about Jesus.

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And when he teaches, he says, tell us, are you the Christ, the son of God? Jesus said, you said it.

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Y 'all just hear him blaspheme, right? That is spectacular wisdom.

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If it is untrue and so wrong, then why did you just utter it out loud?

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You said it. But then Jesus helps him. On his own terms, he says, you said it, but I tell you from now on, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

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Do you know what he did? He just combined two texts. Psalm 1101, which is

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God's favorite Bible verse, quoted the most in the New Testament from the Old Testament. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

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So the Mashiach, the son of David, is going to be at the right hand of power by the

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Father. And he combines Daniel 7, which actually is interesting.

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It's the scene of Mashiach coming on the clouds of heaven, receiving all the nations as part of his kingdom, having a dominion which will never pass away, and a kingdom which will never be destroyed.

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But there's something interesting about Daniel 7 that people often miss, is that it doesn't just say that the son of man is coming on the clouds, which is where God comes from, by the way, in the

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Old Testament, on the clouds in judgment, Isaiah chapter 19, verse 1, but it says that it's divine.

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Go there. I want you to see it. Daniel chapter 7. So he, the high priest, is accusing

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Jesus of blasphemy while uttering the blasphemy himself by combining the concept of Christ and son of God, but then

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Jesus quotes from Daniel 7, which actually says that the Mashiach is divine.

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The son of God. In Daniel chapter 7, start at verse 9. Here's what it says.

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As I looked, this is Daniel's vision, we'll finish on this today. As I looked, thrones were placed, and the

01:00:07

Ancient of Days took his seat. Now, pause! This is what we miss. Don't miss it.

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It's massive. In this vision, thrones, plural, were placed.

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Not one throne, thrones. And it says what?

01:00:29

The Ancient of Days took his seat. So we have, of course,

01:00:34

Yahweh, the Father, taking his seat, but there are thrones, plural.

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His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire, a stream of fire issued and came out from before him.

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A thousand thousands served him, and 10 ,000 times 10 ,000 stood before him.

01:01:00

The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. So here's a scene in Daniel where you have thrones set.

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The Ancient of Days takes his seat, and then it moves us into the story of the

01:01:14

Messiah. And what does it say? It says in verse 13, I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man.

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And he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him, and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

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His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

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Here is Jesus combining two concepts the Jews knew of, Psalm 1101 and Daniel chapter 7.

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And both those texts speak to Jesus, his full authority, and to his divinity. And so when the high priest is saying, are you the

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Christ, the son of God? He's the one that uttered the blasphemy. And then Jesus says, you will see.

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The son of man coming on the clouds. But I want to remind you that the cloud coming concept is how

01:02:13

Yahweh comes in judgment at times. Isaiah chapter 19, verse 1.

01:02:19

That's a powerful section. And what Jesus is doing here is he's saying to Caiaphas, my authority is higher than yours.

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You might have captured me. I might be bound in chain chains right now, but my authority is higher than yours.

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Caiaphas had mortal soldiers, a very confused band of mortal soldiers.

01:02:38

And Jesus is God himself in the flesh. He has access to legions of angels, legions of angels at his disposal.

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So, of course, you know, Caiaphas says here no more witnesses are needed.

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He's confessed. He tears his robe in shock and horror. And in 67 through 68, let's go ahead and do it.

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It says, then they spit in his face and struck him.

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After, of course, they said that he deserves death. And some slapped him saying, prophesy to us, you

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Christ. Who is it that struck you? Have you ever read that and wondered why that?

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It's wicked through and through. From the bottom to the top, it's wicked.

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They're beating their own creator. This is lies upon lies upon lies.

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It's injustice. He is the Son of God, the Messiah. He's what it was all pointing to.

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He is the true temple. And they say he deserves to die. And now they start striking their own creator in the face and they spit on him.

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Now that, by the way, hasn't changed. That hasn't changed in 2 ,000 years of history.

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That is one of the most demoralizing things and shameful things to do, to spit in someone's face.

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In Jewish thinking, your face meant a lot. Your face meant a lot.

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So when Jesus says that someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other, that's regarding the backhanded slap.

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That's the insult against somebody. And where's the insult come from? To the face. And it's not just a punch.

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It's a slap against the face because the face was everything. So much of your face expresses the image of God, traits of the image of God.

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So much of your face is so important to see. Remember that today. And so what do they do?

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They spit on him and they say to him something really interesting, prophesy to us, you

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Messiah, who is it that struck you? You ever wonder, like, why that? Why that accusation?

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I think, and many agree with this, what's happening here is that they knew his power and they had heard the stories about him.

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As a matter of fact, they probably didn't just hear the stories about Jesus. They probably saw it themselves with their own eyes.

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You ever remember in the New Testament record where Jesus, like, will come upon somebody and he'll call him up by name or he knows about them before they actually had met him?

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Right? And they're freaked out about the fact that Jesus somehow has information about people. He knows them intimately before they've actually had a conversation.

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And it trips people out. They're like, how's this guy know about me? And at times Jesus even knew what people were thinking before they said it.

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Because he's God. But do you remember the story of the woman in Luke chapter 8 who had the issue of blood?

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Look at it. In Luke chapter 8, Luke chapter 8, 43, it says,

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As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. So Jesus got this massive crowd now, right? And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years.

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And though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone.

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She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment. And immediately her discharge of blood ceased.

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And Jesus said, who was it that touched me? When all denied it, Peter said,

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Master, the crowd surrounds you and are pressing in on you. But Jesus said, someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.

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And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him, declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed.

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And he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. She had heard the story that the Messiah is so powerful.

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If you just touch the edge of his garment, you'll be healed. That's how powerful the Messiah is when he comes. If you could just touch the edges of it, you'll be healed.

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Now there's massive crowds pushing in on Jesus and she just so desperately wants to be healed. She's just reaching through the crowd trying to touch the edge of his garment.

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And when she does, she's healed. And Jesus immediately knows that power has come from him to heal this woman.

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She didn't touch his body. She touched his clothes. And now these guys, they know these stories.

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They know what Jesus is famous for. He knows when someone's touching his clothes and what's going on. And they're like, prophesy to us,

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Messiah, which one of us touched you? That's powerful.

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That's deep. Matthew 26. This moment is filled with injustice and fraud and lies.

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They know who he is. They saw his power and they hate him. Don't be a

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Caiaphas. Don't be a Caiaphas. Brothers and sisters, let me charge you with this.

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We must always have the assumption of innocence with one another. God demands that of us.

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We need to always remember that in this fallen world, people lie even within the covenant people of God.

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People lie. Sometimes people lie maliciously, even in the church. God demands of us two to three witnesses.

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And even when there's two to three witnesses, God demands of us cross -examination. I'm going to challenge you with this because this goes a lot of ways in terms of our fellowship with one another, our interactions with one another.

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Always with the assumption of innocence, never accusing somebody ultimately without proper evidence and cross -examination and thinking through and meditating on it.

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But this affects us a lot. It affects women a lot in relationship. Women, you have special gifts from God that men just don't have the same level.

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We have emotions. Men have emotions. Men get drawn into one another's experience and love one another.

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But women have been given gifts as females and mothers. We need your entering into a person's pain.

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We need your emotional connection to one another. But oftentimes, you'll see women within the context of the church, godly women, separating from one another, not trusting one another.

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Why? Assumptions. Right? Do you think she thinks this about me? I think she said this.

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Why isn't she responding to me? She looked at me cross way. And you start assuming things about this person and ultimately in your heart kind of charging with a crime already, charging them with sin.

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Right? Because oftentimes, we're so consumed by our emotions and overwhelmed by our emotions that we even at times begin to accuse other human beings of guilt and we treat them accordingly based upon assumptions, based upon emotions.

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Men, you do it too. I think mothers, women, wives are very susceptible because of your spectacular

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God -given gifts of emotional connection that we need. But oftentimes, we can be so overrun by emotions that we allow those emotions to turn into accusations and we again begin accusing others of sin.

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Or how about within our community, if you hear a story about somebody and something that they've done, what should our first response be?

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Assumption of innocence. What should our first response be when we hear just a single witness bringing a charge against somebody without proper evidence?

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I can't receive it. I can't receive it. And maybe ultimately, an accusation is true.

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So allow that evidence to come forward, but we don't just accept a claim based upon a person making the claim.

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We have to have evidence. Don't be a Caiaphas. Stand for justice. It's what killed

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Jesus. Let's pray. I pray that, Father, you bless the message that went out to you for your glory and kingdom.

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Grant to us the grace. Father, the strength to glorify your name by upholding justice and righteousness in our lives.