HANDLING INJUSTICE
Text: Mark 14:53-65; 15:1-15
Mark 14:53-65 King James Version (KJV)
53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.
54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
55 And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.
56 For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.
57 And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,
58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
59 But neither so did their witness agree together.
60 And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?
61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
63 Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses?
64 Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.
65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.
Mark 15:1-15 King James Version (KJV)
15 And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.
2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto them, Thou sayest it.
3 And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.
4 And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.
5 But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.
6 Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.
7 And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.
8 And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.
9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.
11 But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.
12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?
13 And they cried out again, Crucify him.
14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
15 And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
1. Religious Trials (Mark 14:53-65; 15:1)
1) The home of Annas (cf. Jn 18:12-23)
- Following Jesus’ arrest in the wee hours of the morning, He was taken to the home of the former High Priest, Annas.
- Annas was not the official High Priest. He was the former High Priest and father-in-law to the current High Priest, Caiaphas.
Annas had no official power or authority, but he had something better,
In this particular trial, there were no specific charges brought against Jesus.
- And in the end the only thing Jesus was found guilty of was being
- There was also no official verdict. Jesus was simply shuffled on to the actual presiding High Priest, Caiaphas.
2) Before Caiaphas and chief rulers (Mk 14:53-65)
- Caiaphas and the council are seeking to condemn Jesus, actually they have in their hearts already condemned Him to die. They just need to find the
- One witness after another failed to corroborate the other. Under Jewish Law, two witnesses have to
- The best they could do was find two guys to retell a half truth: this fellow said, “Destroy this temple and I’ll rebuild it in three days.”
But he wasn’t speaking of Herod’s temple. He was speaking of His own
The witnesses twisted His words, but it was enough to agitate the council.
However, blaspheming the Temple was not punishable by death. So the High Priest now asks Jesus under oath to condemn Himself.
The phrase Son of God can be taken a couple of ways, i.e. the
- In Jesus’ answer, He let them know that He was both, the King and the Son of God. The term Son of man is actually a term of deity not humanity.
The Jews didn’t believe Jesus although He was telling the truth so they condemned Him of
Jesus is condemned to death, but this trial is illegal. It is held at night, no formal charges were brought, and Jesus is abused during the trial.
- He is not “found” guilty, but He is declared guilty and held for sentencing until the morning.
3) Before the Sanhedrin at dawn (Mk. 15:1)
- Since the previous two trials were in the dark of night and not public, Jesus had to be officially tried and convicted by the Sanhedrin.
This was a sham trial. There was no search for the truth. This was simply a legality issue and official condemnation of Jesus by the Sanhedrin.
-Jesus is formally charged and convicted. He is now sentenced to be turned over the Romans for final sentencing.The Romans pretty much allowed any group of people they conquered to take care of their own legal matters unless the death sentence was in question.
- Only the Romans could sentence someone to death, hence the reason for Jesus being taken before Pilate, the Roman governor.
2. Civil Trials (Mark 15:2-15)
1) Pilate’s trial – Round 1 (Mark 15:2-5)
- Because the Romans could care less about the charge of blasphemy against God or the Temple, the charge brought before Pilate is the charge of
He told them He was a King. With this in mind, they now try to force the hand of Pilate to deal with Jesus as an insurrectionist. This is something that Rome had to deal with from time to time, i.e. rebels.
As Pilate questions Jesus, he emphasizes YOU with regards to Jesus. “Do YOU say You are king?”
- Jesus emphasizes YOU with regards to Pilate. “YOU (Pilate) said it.”
- The chief rulers can see they are losing Pilate on this and so they begin screaming out all kinds of charges.
- Jesus is found not guilty and sent to
2) Herod’s trial (Lk. 23:8-12)
- Herod was the tetrarch of Galilee. Jesus was Galilean. So, it made sense to let Herod deal with this man from
- Herod was happy to see Jesus. He wanted Jesus to put on a magic show (miracle show).
- When Jesus refused his desires, Herod mocked Him by putting a royal robe on Him and pretending to do obeisance.
- Herod simply sent Jesus back to Pilate to make a final decision on what should be done with Him.
3) Pilate’s trial – Round 2 (Mark 15:6-15)
- When Jesus is brought before Pilate a second time, he is thinking, “Man, what am I going to do? Jesus is innocent of charges requiring death, but the Jews are stirring up trouble for me personally.”
Pilate condemns Jesus to be flogged.
Pilate - What would you have me do with Him?
- Crowd - Crucify Him. Crucify Him.
- By
Application: How to handle injustice
- Jesus was absolutely treated with injustice. With that in mind, no matter what happens to us, how alone we may feel, how unjustly we may think we’ve been treated, Jesus knows what we are feeling and going through.
He is our great high priest who sympathizes with our infirmities.
So how should we respond?
1) Let go of any
2) Don’t be
3) Seek the