On the Friday of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, Jesus is accused by his own people – mainly by the religious rulers and is crucified by the Romans under Pontius Pilate. On Thursday evening, Jesus had taken his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemani. For Jesus, midnight did not lead to sleep. Jesus’ day begins with His arrest following Judas’ betrayal. Judas leads the band of Jewish authorities to the garden and there Jesus is arrested.
They
take Jesus first to the elderly (former) High Priest, Annas. He had turned over His High Priestly duties
to his son-in-law, but he was still the power behind the Jewish leaders.
“So the band of soldiers and their
captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year.
It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that
one man should die for the people” (John 18:12-14).
Peter, and most likely John,
followed behind, and the unnamed disciple had some standing with the High Priest
and was permitted to enter the courtyard to watch the proceedings. Peter is confronted for the first time when a
servant asks if he is not one of Jesus’ followers, and he emphatically denies
it. John records what he saw next:
“The high priest then questioned
Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always
taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have
said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I
said to them; they know what I said.”
When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus
with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but
if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”
Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest” (John 18:19-24).
Jesus’
time there is short, and soon He is passed on to Caiaphas. Caiaphas is not interested in hearing from
Jesus, or learning from him…he wants Him out of the way. The trials, according to Jewish law, are illegal.
They are sham trials because they are not objectively looking for the truth,
but have determined that Jesus must die.
Caiaphas is politically motivated, so he calls an “illegal” meeting of
the council – the Sanhedrin – to whom the Romans had given power to govern
their religious affairs.
“Now the chief priests 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. 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.’”
And the high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer to make? What is it
that these men testify against you?”
But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by
the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, 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.”
Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy.
What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.
What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.”
Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him,
saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?” (Matthew
26:57-68).
In all
likelihood, it is early in the morning, and daylight is beginning to emerge. The charge against Jesus is based on his own
words, but taken out of context. When
Jesus declares his authority on earth and in heaven, they have had enough. Of course, Jesus had not threatened to
destroy the Temple, but he spoke of the temple of His body which was about to
be destroyed and would be restored in three days. They didn’t ask what he meant because they
weren’t interested in who he was, or what he was about to do. Who is Jesus?
The Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Messiah.
Now begins
the earnest torture of shaming, and humiliating Jesus, even spitting on him and
hitting him. Jesus is the suffering
servant of God as the prophet Isaiah had prophesied 700 years previously. In this humiliation, Peter responds to
questions of whether he was a disciple of Jesus by denying he knows Jesus for
the third time – “and immediately the rooster crowed” (Matt. 26:74). It was of God’s will that none would stand
behind Jesus in His suffering. He alone
had to face the wrath of God for the Sin of the world. Peter, ashamed, and humiliated,
leaves weeping. Now, all the disciples are
scattered…Jesus is alone. Soon, daylight
comes, and the actions begin to move faster.
“When morning came, all the chief
priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to
death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the
governor (Matthew 27:1-2).
“Now Jesus stood before the
governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus
said, “You have said so.” But when he was accused by the chief priests and
elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate
said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?”
But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor
was greatly amazed” (Matthew 27:11-14).
Luke’s
Gospel records that Pilate passed Jesus along to Herod Antipas because Herod
was the Roman ruler in Galilee. Herod
had wanted to meet Jesus, in hopes that he could see him perform one of his
signs, but eventually Herod returned Jesus to Pilate for a second time without
any charges against him. Pilate is not
sure what to do, he vacillates knowing that Jesus is a problem, but Roman law
demands a just sentence, and Jesus is not an insurrectionist. Pilate offers a solution in offering to
release Jesus over the true insurrectionist, Barabbas, but the leaders will not
have any of that.
“Now the
chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and
destroy Jesus” The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you
want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”
Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called
Christ?”
They all
said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But
they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27:20-23).
It is
early Friday morning, and Jesus has the whole world turned against him. All
turned brutal and the painful suffering only intensified:
“Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole
battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and
twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in
his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King
of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the
head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put
his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him” (Matthew 27:27-31).
It was
9:00 a.m. when they arrived at Golgotha – the place of the crucifixion.
“And they
crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to
decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they
crucified him”(Mark 15:24-25).
The
disciples have all scattered, fearful of their lives that the Jewish leaders
and the Romans would hunt them down and kill them also. Judas had taken the 30 pieces of silver and
returned them to the High Priest. He was
distraught, and though regretting what he had done, he did not repent, but
instead went out and hung himself.
Pilate had washed his hands of the whole incident. He felt no responsibility for ordering Jesus’
death. Caiaphas and the rest of the council thought, “There, now we are rid
of this problem.” Everyone justifies
their actions, and no one understands their guilt, their Sin, and their need
for Jesus.
Beloved,
remember this…all of this was done according to God’s will. Sin is not excused or overlooked, it is paid
for…sacrificially…the Passover lamb is to be slain. Jesus is the “lamb of God who takes away
the Sin of the world”. His blood
forever is about to be spilled as the Passover lamb. We remember in our creed…
“I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried”
Yes, there
is more, and we praise God for the more.
What is it we should see on this day – today? We should see that there’s a bit of all of
these people in us. We fail to stand up
as Peter did. We fail to take
responsibility as Pilate did. We fail to
repent and blame God as the Council did.
When we remain silent we continue to say “Crucify him”.
Over the
next few days, we will return to the cross, for there is much to learn from
what happened there on that infamous Friday, we call Good.
Peace
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