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Those who had arrested Jesus took him to the house of the high priest, Caiaphas, where the teachers of the law and the elders had gathered together. Peter followed from a distance, as far as the courtyard of Caiaphas' house.

The Jewish leaders were looking for false evidence against Jesus to have him put to death, but they could not find any. Eventually, Caiaphas demanded of Jesus “Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Jesus answered him, “So you say. But I tell all of you: from this time on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right side of the Almighty and coming on the clouds of heaven!” Caiaphas declared this was blasphemy, so the guilty verdict was passed. Then they spat in Jesus’ face and beat him.

Background

There were a number of reasons why the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus put to death:

• He challenged their authority, calling them hypocrites.
• He broke their laws about Sabbath observance. Jesus healed people on the Sabbath, but the Jewish leaders defined this as ‘work’ which was forbidden.
• He mixed with people the Jewish leaders regarded as ‘unclean’ – sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors.
• He made claims about himself that the Jewish leaders could not accept – that he was God’s son and the promised saviour.

Jesus was accused of blasphemy by the Jewish leaders. Blasphemy is a religious offence, when a person says or does something regarded as being disrespectful to God. In the eyes of the Jewish leaders, when Jesus claimed to be God’s son he was insulting God. Blasphemy was taken very seriously and the punishment was death by stoning.

After Jesus was arrested, he was put on trial by the Sanhedrin. This was the highest ruling council of the Jews. There were 70 members, mostly made up of Sadducees, Pharisees and priests plus the leader who was the high priest. When Jesus was on trial the high priest was Caiaphas. The Sanhedrin was still allowed to exist under Roman rule, but their power was limited. They could find a person guilty and give the death sentence, but they could not carry it out. Only the Romans could put a person to death.

The Sanhedrin had in place a number of rules regarding the conduct of their own trials:

• A trial could not take place at night or during the time of an important festival.
• The death penalty could not be passed immediately if a person was found guilty, the Sanhedrin had to wait overnight to pass sentence.
• All trials had to take place in the Hall of Hewn Stones, the official place for trials located in the temple.
• Two or three witnesses were needed and they had to agree on every detail. Anyone giving false evidence would receive the same punishment as the person on trial.

Understanding the text

Jesus was arrested late on the Thursday night after the Passover meal. He appeared before the Sanhedrin immediately as the Jewish leaders wanted him tried as quickly as possible. In their haste, the Sanhedrin does not appear to be concerned about a fair trial. They are looking for false evidence. False witnesses come forward, misquoting Jesus’ words. Jesus is accused of threatening to destroy the temple. This could have been a distortion of Jesus’ teaching about the resurrection, when he said his body (temple) would be raised in three days.

Jesus remained silent and again this fulfils Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah. Finally, the high priest said to Jesus “Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Jesus replied “So you say." This was enough for the high priest to accuse Jesus of blasphemy. The high priest tore his own clothes to show his horror at hearing blasphemy - this was a custom among very self-righteous Jews. The death sentence was then immediately passed on Jesus and they hit him and spat in his face.