Have you ever witnessed a complete miscarriage of justice? The trial of Jesus stands as history's most profound example of how power, jealousy, and fear can corrupt even the most sacred institutions.
As the high priest grows increasingly frustrated with contradicting testimonies against Jesus, he finally asks directly: "Are you the Christ [Messiah], the Son of the Blessed One?" Jesus's unflinching response—"I am"—provides exactly what they wanted: grounds for execution. The high priest tears his garments (itself a violation of Levitical law) and declares no further witnesses necessary. What follows reveals the cruelty behind religious facades as guards blindfold Jesus, beat him mercilessly, and mockingly challenge him to "prophesy" who struck him.
Meanwhile, Peter's story unfolds in heartbreaking parallel. The disciple who hours earlier had sworn he would die before denying Jesus now crumbles before a servant girl's questioning. His three denials culminate in cursing and swearing that he "does not know this man." When the rooster crows and Jesus catches his eye across the courtyard, Peter breaks down in bitter tears. Yet this failure doesn't define his story—Jesus later restores him completely, showing that our worst moments don't disqualify us from God's purposes.
The religious leaders, having condemned Jesus for blasphemy, shrewdly change tactics when bringing him before Pilate. Knowing Roman authorities wouldn't execute someone for religious claims, they reframe the charges as sedition: "This man claims to be a king." Throughout these manipulated proceedings, Jesus maintains remarkable composure, speaking only when necessary and embracing the path that leads to our redemption.
This ancient narrative mirrors how both secular authorities and religious establishments often deny Christian faith a fair hearing today. The world doesn't understand the profound importance of what happened that day—when the truly innocent One willingly accepted judgment so that we might go free.
How might your perspective change knowing that Jesus faced injustice so completely yet without abandoning His mission of love? What does it mean that He doesn't discard us when we fail him like Peter did?
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Last time we were in the midst of a conversation,
really a trial that Jesus washaving with the high priest, and
we left off at a veryprecarious moment where the high
priest was trying to come upwith evidence to charge Jesus,
but the witnesses were eitherlying or they didn't match.
(00:43):
In frustration, the high priestturns to Jesus and asks a
question are you the Christ, theSon of the Blessed One?
How does Jesus reply?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
He replies directly that I am, and a question might
come up.
Just a couple of verses ago itsaid he was silent and now he's
answering the priest.
In one of the other Gospels Ithink it's John he records that
at this question, the highpriest says I adjure you, and
asks the question.
Well, that's another way ofputting him under oath and by
(01:19):
doing that, this obligates theperson being accused to answer
the high priest.
So Jesus does that.
Through all of this, we seethat Jesus does exactly what the
Mosaic law calls for.
He doesn't break any of theMosaic law.
So whenever the high priestputs him under oath to ask him
(01:40):
this, he says I am very directly.
Him this, he says I am verydirectly.
And that is a way of himemphatically saying yes, I am
the Son of God, and that you'llsee the Son of man sitting at
the right hand of the hand ofpower.
That's another term for usingGod.
(02:03):
Now the high priest rents hisgarment.
This is another area where thehigh priest wasn't supposed to
rent their garments unless therewas blasphemy spoken.
Blasphemy was speaking thefour-letter word of God, yhwh.
And we see here, as you pointedout, the high priest used the
term blessed one because hewasn't going to blaspheme God's
(02:27):
name.
Yahweh Jesus, in his response,doesn't blaspheme God's name
either.
He uses the term power.
Jesus is innocent of this, butthe theatrics of the high priest
renting his garments is justthat theatrics, and he has
broken another rule that they'renot supposed to do in these
(02:51):
supposed civil trials that theyhave on these councils.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Sitting at the right hand of power is considered a
threat to the high priest aswell, who viewed himself as the
seat of power.
So in Jesus's answer he said Iam, which is a clear yes.
Number two sitting at the righthand of power is a quote from
Psalm 110.
To sit at God's throne is toclaim deity.
(03:15):
Number three, coming with theclouds of heaven, is a direct
quote from Daniel 7.13, wherethe Son of man sits with God.
There we have three times inhis answer that he's claiming to
(03:44):
be deserving of death.
Some began to spit at him andto blindfold him and to beat him
with their fists and to say tohim prophesy.
And the officers received himwith slaps in the face.
With this response, the highpriest understood exactly what
Jesus' statement meant.
(04:04):
They understood perfectly.
They call it blasphemy.
They considered it enoughevidence to be able to stop the
trial.
And again, the trial wasbecause he had been blaspheming
God's name.
They said what further need dowe have of witnesses?
He tears his clothes and saysthis is sufficient to execute
(04:25):
this man.
Therefore, the high priest andall of his people around him
understood that Jesus wasclaiming to be God.
We understand that's what hewas claiming.
What I find here interesting,steve, is that over in Leviticus
21.10, it specifically says thehigh priest will not ever tear
(04:45):
his clothes.
Now if we ask why, well one,the high priest was supposed to
be in control of himself andtearing the clothes was supposed
to symbolize.
I've heard something that's soegregious that I have to rend my
clothes.
But also it's because the highpriest's garments were quite
expensive and quite profound andthey represented holiness.
(05:07):
Therefore, the high priesttearing his clothes is just one
more illegal thing that happenedduring this trial, don't you?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
think yes.
And the other thing in verse 65, when they began to spit at him
, they blindfolded him and werebeating him.
This was another violation.
They were supposed to be kindand gentle with the person that
was being accused.
Here's another thing that'sgoing on as far as breaking the
rules that were happening thenand, as I had mentioned just
(05:37):
before, he says he being thehigh priest.
You've heard the blasphemy?
Well, the blasphemy was theactual priest.
You've heard the blasphemy?
Well, the blasphemy was theactual pronouncement of the
four-letter word YHWH, yahweh.
Jesus never said that, so it'sanother false accusation that
just continues on here.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
With this, they have concluded that he is blasphemed
and they're going to start theprocess of executing him Right
here is where the beatings start.
This is the first of the trialsand the beatings start here.
This isn't where the beatingsend.
This isn't the only one, butremember where they are they're
in the residence of the highpriest.
(06:19):
This is where they start toreally beat Jesus.
They would put a blindfold onhim and the guards would punch
him in the face hard.
Then they would remove theblindfold and hold their fists
up to him and see if he couldpick out which one hit him.
That's when they said prophesy,tell us which one hit you.
(06:41):
And of course, in the game, theprisoner would never get it
right, so they could keeppunching him.
They'd put the blindfold on andsomebody would punch him hard
again, and they would take turnsat this, pulling off the
blindfold, saying prophesy, canyou guess who hit you?
And of course, the game wasreally rigged so that they could
just keep beating the prisoner.
(07:01):
The leaders of the temple guardwere supposed to be
professional and reserved andrepresented holiness, but they
hit Jesus in the face like crudemen.
Remember, these were supposedto be the people that were
leaders of the country, butthey're acting like young
heathen.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Glenn, as I'm sitting here listening to you, it's
coming to mind that it reallyshows the vitriol that some of
these Sadducees, pharisees, thecouncil have for him, because
why is it that you're wanting toslap him and beat him?
And, of course, they blindfoldhim.
I think they blindfold him sothat they can't be identified as
(07:44):
to what's going on.
And also, why would you do it?
You're only going to do it ifyou think you're going to get
away with it.
It just brings out a little bitof character of these people
that apparently the frustrationand the hatred actually that had
been building up amongst theseleaders because of what Jesus
was doing.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Anger from these men had clouded their judgment to
where they were doing thingsthat really didn't make much
sense, and it all again stemmedbecause of anger and jealousy
and hatred of everything Jesusrepresented.
In the next little vignette, weturn back to Peter.
Next little vignette, we turnback to Peter.
(08:24):
Now, remember Peter, just hoursearlier in the upper room, had
vowed I will go to my deathbefore I deny you.
And then, just minutes earlier,prior to this scene we're about
to read, had been one wherePeter tried to pull out a knife
and tried to kill a man tryingto arrest Jesus.
(08:44):
Well, we're going to see nowhow well he follows through.
Steve, can you pick up withverse 66 and read down to 72?
We'll find out how Peter reacts.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the
servant girls of the high priestcame and seeing Peter warming
himself.
She looked at him and said youalso were with Jesus the
Nazarene.
But he denied it, saying Ineither know nor understand what
you are talking about, and hewent away onto the porch.
(09:13):
The servant girl saw him andbegan once more to say to his
bystanders this is one of them.
But again he denied it.
And after a little while thebystanders were again saying to
Peter Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too.
But he began to curse and swearI do not know this man you are
(09:36):
talking about.
Immediately, a rooster crowed asecond time and Peter
remembered how Jesus had madethe remark to him Before.
A rooster crows twice, you willdeny me, three times.
And he began to weep.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
We have Peter, so bold in the upper room and so
bold in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Now he's in the courtyard ofthe high priest before a young
servant girl who has nopolitical power and no influence
, theoretically, on anyone, andPeter will not even admit that
he knows Jesus.
I question here, steve, it'sreal easy to sit here and point
(10:16):
fingers at Peter.
My question is are we sometimesjust like Peter?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I know that there have been times that I've acted
like Peter not to the extentthat he has but I have been
around people and I didn'tnecessarily want them to know
that I was a Christian and I amashamed of that, looking back at
some of those times in my years.
So, yeah, there are timeswhenever we do act like that,
(10:42):
and I think many times theremight be situations just like
Peter Peter was afraid that hewas going to be arrested and he
denied it.
There are times whenever thereare Christians that are being
persecuted, I think that do that, you're a Christian, aren't you
?
And they'll say no because theywant to protect their life.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
There's been times that I've been like Peter, and
if I ask myself how many timesthat I have let Jesus down, I
tend to lose count.
The times that I could havedone ministry the Holy Spirit
was prompting me to do ministry,to say something, and I
remained silent were ones thatare just as bad as Peter's
(11:22):
denial.
When you don't do what God asksyou to do and puts you in these
situations to witness to others, and you remain silent.
It is just as bad as Peter'sdenial.
All of us are like Peter attimes where we should speak up
and we don't.
We, for whatever reason, areweak and we need his Holy Spirit
(11:43):
to give us strength.
Now remember this is the samePeter that, just days into the
future, is in the main parts ofthe temple proclaiming Jesus
under threats of death.
Well, what's the difference?
The difference is the HolySpirit fills this man, but here
he's weak and he denies.
So here's another question,steve, here we have Peter who
(12:08):
denies Christ three times, herein this courtyard, in front of
the servants.
Did Jesus throw Peter awaybecause Peter failed him?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
No later on, after his resurrection, we see that
Jesus restores Peter and giveshim three opportunities to
announce to him, or commit tohim, how much he loves him.
So no, he didn't throw him away?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Does Jesus throw us away when we let him down?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
No, he doesn't throw us away, glenn, and I'm so glad
that he doesn't throw us away.
If it would have happened, Imight have been thrown away many
, many years ago.
But it comforts me to know thathe will restore us and that he
loves us that much, that hecares for us that much and that
we can continue to have thatrelationship with him.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
And it wasn't just Peter, it was all the disciples
failed him and he still usedthem.
He didn't throw them away, hedidn't dismiss them, he still
used them.
They were still in a loverelationship and he was the one
(13:31):
that was faithful, even thoughthey weren't.
So we can take deny Christ, hecursed and say I do not know the
man.
This was a strong denial.
Remember, peter said he wouldnever deny him.
But he does Right at this point.
Over in Luke 22, 61, it says atthis point Peter saw Jesus
(13:53):
through the doorway.
Remember, jesus was inside thebuilding at this point being
pummeled by the guards.
Jesus turns and looks at Peter.
Just at this point when Peterdenies Christ, jesus looked him
in the eye.
Not only did Peter deny him,but he saw his Lord look at him
(14:14):
and recognize you failed me,peter, just like I said you
would fail me.
And it says Peter begins to cry, he begins to weep bitterly.
At this point Peter felt he letJesus down.
Peter, at this point, is abroken man.
He just denied his Lord withcursings, and three times, in
(14:38):
front of people that were justthe servants, just a young
servant girl, nobody of anypower or political importance.
He denies him in front of ayoung girl and Jesus looks at
him and realizes what he doesand Peter breaks down and cries.
This is a real low point forthis man.
We all have to ask ourselveshave we been at a low point Just
(15:02):
because we wake up one day andrealize that we failed the Lord?
And he's looking us in the eye.
Realizing that we faileddoesn't mean he's going to
dismiss us and throw us away.
He could still use us.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
In our introduction to Mark Glenn, we talked about
that this could be Markaccounting Peter's story.
It could be Peter himself usingMark to write this down as his
accounting of what happened.
If that is the case, it'scurious to me that Peter
(15:35):
included this Now.
Obviously it was included insome of the other Gospels as
well, because it is a pivotalmoment.
But it does strike me, if thisis Peter recounting to Mark,
he's agreed to put this in and Ithink that if he has done that,
I think he's done that for apurpose, because, as you
mentioned, a few days later he'sgoing to be speaking in the
(15:58):
temple and the gospel messageand then his life goes on.
So I think that possibly Peteris including this, even though
it's an embarrassing moment forhim.
Possibly Peter is includingthis even though it's an
embarrassing moment for him.
It's included here to give justthe impression that you're
talking about that Jesus didn'tthrow him away and that Jesus
(16:18):
won't throw us away either.
I think it's just interestingthat if Peter is the one that's
giving this account to Mark towrite down, this is something
that was quite bold for him toinclude, because it's quite an
embarrassing moment that bringsus to chapter 15.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
We have here the next phase of Jesus' trial.
Steve, can you read the firstfive verses of Mark 15, where
Jesus is brought to the chiefpriest and the elders?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Early in the morning the chief priests, with the
elders and scribes and the wholecouncil, immediately held a
consultation and binding Jesus.
They led him away and deliveredhim to Pilate.
Pilate questioned him are youthe king of the Jews?
And he answered him it is asyou say.
(17:06):
The chief priests began toaccuse him harshly.
Then Pilate questioned himagain, saying Do you not answer?
See how many charges they bringagainst you.
But Jesus made no furtheranswer.
So Pilate was amazed.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
In verse 1, it says it was early in the morning.
The chief priest with theelders and the scribes and the
whole council this is the entireSanhedrin.
They meet very early in themorning.
The account here just saysimmediately they hold this
consultation and then they sendthem to Pilate.
This section here with theSanhedrin is really just a
(17:46):
rubber stamp.
They'd already decided what todo, so they're just going
through a formality, goingthrough the motions.
They already knew what theywanted to do.
So what I see here, steve, isthat now you have the entire
group that is just pushing Jesusthrough the system, because
that's what the group wants todo.
(18:06):
None of them stop and say waita minute, should we give this
man a fair trial?
And they send Jesus onto Pilatewith that.
I always found this to beinteresting, that really there's
no one here that acts mature,there's no one here that stands
up for an innocent man, and Ialways wondered what would
happen if I were to be in such asituation innocent man and I
(18:29):
always wondered what wouldhappen if I were to be in such a
situation.
Would I go along with a crowdand do something evil just
because everybody else is doingit?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Pilate is a government official.
Remember, this is the Passoverfeast.
The city has swelled to severalhundred thousand people.
There's people camping out intents all around the city
because they've come in for thisfestival of the Passover and
then the Feast of UnleavenedBread that lasts a total time of
(18:56):
eight days.
Pilate wants to keep the peace.
He doesn't want to get a largeuprising for it to get back to
Rome to question him as towhat's going on.
They are serving at the behestof the Senate, the Roman Senate,
and they don't want things togo awry.
(19:18):
So, Pilate here.
They made this accusation, theybrought him to them.
We do see Pilate try andrelease him but, Glenn, like you
say, ultimately he does killhim.
Even though Pilate says andrelease him, but, Glenn, like
you say, ultimately he does killhim.
Even though Pilate says severaltimes this is an innocent man,
he still gives him the judgmentof guilty and crucifies him.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Now, the real motivation of why the high
priest and the chief people herewere trying to execute Jesus
was because he was claiming tobe God.
But that charge is not going tocarry any weight with the Roman
governor, Pilate.
Pilate's not going to execute aman because of a charge of
(19:59):
blasphemy.
They had to have some sort of atrumped-up accusation that
would give Pilate enough reasonto take his life.
I submit verse 2 here.
Chapter 15, verse 2,.
Pilate has a question thattells us what the accusation
were.
So what is Pilate's question toJesus when they send him to it?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Are you the king of the Jews, and you're exactly
right in what you're saying.
Now, all of a sudden, they'vecome to him, they being the
council, and they've brought himbefore Pilate, and this is what
they've told him.
Here is somebody that has beenpreaching sedition.
He's claiming to be a king.
Well, that was in directopposition to Caesar, who was
(20:42):
the king over the Roman Empire.
This now was something of acharge that Pilate did have
authority over, and you'reexactly right, glenn.
This is at least one of thecharges that they brought
against him to Pilate to get theRoman government involved.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
They went to Pilate and said this man's claiming to
be king and he has a largefollowing that follows him
around.
That would get Pilate'sattention.
We know this was the accusationbecause of Pilate's question in
verse 2.
Are you the king of the Jews?
I think Pilate is a smartenough man to where he sees
through all of this.
(21:20):
Here is this itinerant preacher, this itinerant rabbi, with no
real weapons, no power.
There's no soldiers here.
He's a speaker on the streetcorner.
Pilate realizes very quicklythis man is not really a threat.
Pilate asks Jesus are you theking?
And Jesus answers what it is asyou say.
(21:43):
Jesus' answer is yes, he'sclaiming to be the king of the
Jews.
And it says then in verse 3,the chief priest began to accuse
Jesus, and it uses somelanguage there harshly.
They bring many accusationsagainst him At this point.
Were these accusationsjustified?
(22:04):
Were they fair?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Oh.
There's nothing about thiswhole situation that's fair or
justified.
They're just hurling more andmore false accusations against
him to make sure that Pilate isgoing to pronounce the judgment
on him and to kill him, to takehim out to be crucified.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
The evidence wasn't any greater in front of Pilate
than it was in front of theSanhedrin, so there wasn't
enough real evidence here.
It was just the anger of thehigh priest and the crowd they
were able to whip up.
So what I want to ask abouthere, Steve, is that here we
have Pilate that represents theRoman world and we have these
(22:48):
Jewish priests and scribes thatrepresents the Roman world and
we have these Jewish priests andscribes that represent the
religious world, and then wehave Christ and his message.
How does the secular world andeven the religious world that's
not really attuned to God's Word, how do they view the Christian
message?
(23:09):
If we open up our Bibles andreally look at what is the
Christian message, how does thatcome across to the secular
world as represented by Pilate,and the non-Christian religious
world that's represented bythese priests?
How do they receive theChristian gospel?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
The bottom line to answer your question, glenn, is
that the secular world couldcare less.
They really could care lessabout all of this intrigue of
what's going on here and Jesusbeing killed.
They don't believe in him atall, they mock us and they make
fun of us, and they could careless, whereas you and I, as
(23:53):
Christians and believers, we getthe meaning of what's going on
here.
Jesus, the Messiah, who hascome and is perfectly innocent,
is about to be sacrificed andpay our sin debt so that we
might have eternal life.
So we're understanding and welike to go through these verses
(24:14):
here and learn about it a littlebit more.
As far as what's going on andthe emotions that are carried on
both sides, both with thereligious people and with the
Roman government, and theintrigue that's happening here
because we have a relationshipwith Jesus Christ, that's
something that the secular worlddoesn't have and they don't
(24:36):
understand, and the bottom lineis they could care less.
I think it's the same thing herewith Pilate.
Pilate could care less whoJesus was, as long as he wasn't
bringing sedition and stirringup people against him and trying
to overthrow the Romangovernment and cause problems.
He really could care less.
But because of their response.
(24:58):
Now we see the religious peoplestirring up the people.
They're forcing Pilate's handthat he has to do something in
order to quell down the peopleso that doesn't get out of hand.
But the bottom line is secularpeople.
They could care less about anyof this stuff that we're talking
about.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Jesus here is not getting a fair trial in front of
the secular world.
He's also not getting a fairtrial in front of the religious
world as represented by thepriest.
If we carry that to today, willChristians get a fair hearing
in the world of ideas?
Does the secular world and thereligious world—I'm thinking of
(25:39):
there's a large number of veryreligious people that aren't
really interested in what thetext of the Bible says and what
it actually teaches.
They have their own ideas ofwhat religion ought to be.
Do we get a fair hearing in theworld of ideas in front of
people like this?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
We don't, and I've had several conversations.
In fact, I had a manager onetime that would often come to me
and he was kind of in betweenan agnostic and an atheist, but
he would come and ask mequestions and I would answer him
and it just came to the pointwhere he really just wanted to
argue.
So after a while I just reallydidn't want to answer him the
(26:20):
questions and I actually toldhim one time.
I said look, you know I'm oneof your best employees and
you're impressed with all of thework that I do.
You know that I'm anintelligent person because you
talk with me, yet when it comesto this subject, you kind of
treat me like I'm an idiot andI'm gullible because I'm
(26:42):
believing in Jesus Christ.
I asked him.
I just said does that reallymake sense?
How can it be that you're okaywith the work that I do and
depend on me to get work doneand give me tough things to do
because you know that I'mdependable and will do the right
thing, but at the same timeturn around and really insult me
(27:05):
and say that I'm a gullibleperson?
That's just one instance withme.
I think that you've had many,many others.
No, they don't give us a fairshake, so to speak.
They think that we're reallydumb people.
And again, the scriptures arevery, very deep.
There's a lot, a lot ofinformation that's here, and
when you look at them in contextof both the Old Testament and
(27:28):
the New Testament, it reallydoes make sense if you go and
look at it that way.
A lot of interesting stuffthat's here.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
In Pilate's residence .
The chief priest had accusedJesus of claiming to be king.
Pilate asked him are you theking?
Jesus responds it is as you say, which means yes.
That's the point where verse 3,the chief priest right there
began to accuse him very harshly, very angrily.
Many accusations it's whenJesus claimed to be king,
(28:01):
claimed to be God.
That's what made them the mostangry.
They again respond with quite abit of emotion and anger.
Pilate replies verse 4, don'tyou answer?
See how all these charges areagainst you, but Jesus didn't
answer.
Why was Jesus silent?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
It goes back to what you had said earlier.
His mission is to go to thecross.
He asked God, the Father in thegarden if this cup can be taken
from me, so be it.
You can do it, but not my will.
But yours be done.
The mission is to go to thecross.
So here he is.
(28:43):
He's going to go to the cross.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
He is headed to the cross and he'll get there next
time on Reasoning Through theBible.
We're going to pause here rightnow, but we're at a somewhat
precarious point.
We have here Pilate, we havethe chief priest and the leaders
, and we have a Jewish crowd andwe've got Christ himself.
So we're in the midst of a verydramatic scene that will get
(29:08):
resolved next time on ReasoningThrough the Bible.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
Last time we were in the midst of a conversation,
really a trial that Jesus washaving with the high priest, and
we left off at a veryprecarious moment where the high
priest was trying to come upwith evidence to charge Jesus,
but the witnesses were eitherlying or they didn't match.
(00:43):
In frustration, the high priestturns to Jesus and asks a
question are you the Christ, theSon of the Blessed One?
How does Jesus reply?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
He replies directly that I am, and a question might
come up.
Just a couple of verses ago itsaid he was silent and now he's
answering the priest.
In one of the other Gospels Ithink it's John he records that
at this question, the highpriest says I adjure you, and
asks the question.
Well, that's another way ofputting him under oath and by
(01:19):
doing that, this obligates theperson being accused to answer
the high priest.
So Jesus does that.
Through all of this, we seethat Jesus does exactly what the
Mosaic law calls for.
He doesn't break any of theMosaic law.
So whenever the high priestputs him under oath to ask him
(01:40):
this, he says I am very directly.
Him this, he says I am verydirectly.
And that is a way of himemphatically saying yes, I am
the Son of God, and that you'llsee the Son of man sitting at
the right hand of the hand ofpower.
That's another term for usingGod.
(02:03):
Now the high priest rents hisgarment.
This is another area where thehigh priest wasn't supposed to
rent their garments unless therewas blasphemy spoken.
Blasphemy was speaking thefour-letter word of God, yhwh.
And we see here, as you pointedout, the high priest used the
term blessed one because hewasn't going to blaspheme God's
(02:27):
name.
Yahweh Jesus, in his response,doesn't blaspheme God's name
either.
He uses the term power.
Jesus is innocent of this, butthe theatrics of the high priest
renting his garments is justthat theatrics, and he has
broken another rule that they'renot supposed to do in these
(02:51):
supposed civil trials that theyhave on these councils.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Sitting at the right hand of power is considered a
threat to the high priest aswell, who viewed himself as the
seat of power.
So in Jesus's answer he said Iam, which is a clear yes.
Number two sitting at the righthand of power is a quote from
Psalm 110.
To sit at God's throne is toclaim deity.
(03:15):
Number three, coming with theclouds of heaven, is a direct
quote from Daniel 7.13, wherethe Son of man sits with God.
There we have three times inhis answer that he's claiming to
(03:44):
be deserving of death.
Some began to spit at him andto blindfold him and to beat him
with their fists and to say tohim prophesy.
And the officers received himwith slaps in the face.
With this response, the highpriest understood exactly what
Jesus' statement meant.
(04:04):
They understood perfectly.
They call it blasphemy.
They considered it enoughevidence to be able to stop the
trial.
And again, the trial wasbecause he had been blaspheming
God's name.
They said what further need dowe have of witnesses?
He tears his clothes and saysthis is sufficient to execute
(04:25):
this man.
Therefore, the high priest andall of his people around him
understood that Jesus wasclaiming to be God.
We understand that's what hewas claiming.
What I find here interesting,steve, is that over in Leviticus
21.10, it specifically says thehigh priest will not ever tear
(04:45):
his clothes.
Now if we ask why, well one,the high priest was supposed to
be in control of himself andtearing the clothes was supposed
to symbolize.
I've heard something that's soegregious that I have to rend my
clothes.
But also it's because the highpriest's garments were quite
expensive and quite profound andthey represented holiness.
(05:07):
Therefore, the high priesttearing his clothes is just one
more illegal thing that happenedduring this trial, don't you?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
think yes.
And the other thing in verse 65, when they began to spit at him
, they blindfolded him and werebeating him.
This was another violation.
They were supposed to be kindand gentle with the person that
was being accused.
Here's another thing that'sgoing on as far as breaking the
rules that were happening thenand, as I had mentioned just
(05:37):
before, he says he being thehigh priest.
You've heard the blasphemy?
Well, the blasphemy was theactual priest.
You've heard the blasphemy?
Well, the blasphemy was theactual pronouncement of the
four-letter word YHWH, yahweh.
Jesus never said that, so it'sanother false accusation that
just continues on here.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
With this, they have concluded that he is blasphemed
and they're going to start theprocess of executing him Right
here is where the beatings start.
This is the first of the trialsand the beatings start here.
This isn't where the beatingsend.
This isn't the only one, butremember where they are they're
in the residence of the highpriest.
(06:19):
This is where they start toreally beat Jesus.
They would put a blindfold onhim and the guards would punch
him in the face hard.
Then they would remove theblindfold and hold their fists
up to him and see if he couldpick out which one hit him.
That's when they said prophesy,tell us which one hit you.
(06:41):
And of course, in the game, theprisoner would never get it
right, so they could keeppunching him.
They'd put the blindfold on andsomebody would punch him hard
again, and they would take turnsat this, pulling off the
blindfold, saying prophesy, canyou guess who hit you?
And of course, the game wasreally rigged so that they could
just keep beating the prisoner.
(07:01):
The leaders of the temple guardwere supposed to be
professional and reserved andrepresented holiness, but they
hit Jesus in the face like crudemen.
Remember, these were supposedto be the people that were
leaders of the country, butthey're acting like young
heathen.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Glenn, as I'm sitting here listening to you, it's
coming to mind that it reallyshows the vitriol that some of
these Sadducees, pharisees, thecouncil have for him, because
why is it that you're wanting toslap him and beat him?
And, of course, they blindfoldhim.
I think they blindfold him sothat they can't be identified as
(07:44):
to what's going on.
And also, why would you do it?
You're only going to do it ifyou think you're going to get
away with it.
It just brings out a little bitof character of these people
that apparently the frustrationand the hatred actually that had
been building up amongst theseleaders because of what Jesus
was doing.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Anger from these men had clouded their judgment to
where they were doing thingsthat really didn't make much
sense, and it all again stemmedbecause of anger and jealousy
and hatred of everything Jesusrepresented.
In the next little vignette, weturn back to Peter.
Next little vignette, we turnback to Peter.
(08:24):
Now, remember Peter, just hoursearlier in the upper room, had
vowed I will go to my deathbefore I deny you.
And then, just minutes earlier,prior to this scene we're about
to read, had been one wherePeter tried to pull out a knife
and tried to kill a man tryingto arrest Jesus.
(08:44):
Well, we're going to see nowhow well he follows through.
Steve, can you pick up withverse 66 and read down to 72?
We'll find out how Peter reacts.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the
servant girls of the high priestcame and seeing Peter warming
himself.
She looked at him and said youalso were with Jesus the
Nazarene.
But he denied it, saying Ineither know nor understand what
you are talking about, and hewent away onto the porch.
(09:13):
The servant girl saw him andbegan once more to say to his
bystanders this is one of them.
But again he denied it.
And after a little while thebystanders were again saying to
Peter Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too.
But he began to curse and swearI do not know this man you are
(09:36):
talking about.
Immediately, a rooster crowed asecond time and Peter
remembered how Jesus had madethe remark to him Before.
A rooster crows twice, you willdeny me, three times.
And he began to weep.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
We have Peter, so bold in the upper room and so
bold in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Now he's in the courtyard ofthe high priest before a young
servant girl who has nopolitical power and no influence
, theoretically, on anyone, andPeter will not even admit that
he knows Jesus.
I question here, steve, it'sreal easy to sit here and point
(10:16):
fingers at Peter.
My question is are we sometimesjust like Peter?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I know that there have been times that I've acted
like Peter not to the extentthat he has but I have been
around people and I didn'tnecessarily want them to know
that I was a Christian and I amashamed of that, looking back at
some of those times in my years.
So, yeah, there are timeswhenever we do act like that,
(10:42):
and I think many times theremight be situations just like
Peter Peter was afraid that hewas going to be arrested and he
denied it.
There are times whenever thereare Christians that are being
persecuted, I think that do that, you're a Christian, aren't you
?
And they'll say no because theywant to protect their life.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
There's been times that I've been like Peter, and
if I ask myself how many timesthat I have let Jesus down, I
tend to lose count.
The times that I could havedone ministry the Holy Spirit
was prompting me to do ministry,to say something, and I
remained silent were ones thatare just as bad as Peter's
(11:22):
denial.
When you don't do what God asksyou to do and puts you in these
situations to witness to others, and you remain silent.
It is just as bad as Peter'sdenial.
All of us are like Peter attimes where we should speak up
and we don't.
We, for whatever reason, areweak and we need his Holy Spirit
(11:43):
to give us strength.
Now remember this is the samePeter that, just days into the
future, is in the main parts ofthe temple proclaiming Jesus
under threats of death.
Well, what's the difference?
The difference is the HolySpirit fills this man, but here
he's weak and he denies.
So here's another question,steve, here we have Peter who
(12:08):
denies Christ three times, herein this courtyard, in front of
the servants.
Did Jesus throw Peter awaybecause Peter failed him?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
No later on, after his resurrection, we see that
Jesus restores Peter and giveshim three opportunities to
announce to him, or commit tohim, how much he loves him.
So no, he didn't throw him away?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Does Jesus throw us away when we let him down?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
No, he doesn't throw us away, glenn, and I'm so glad
that he doesn't throw us away.
If it would have happened, Imight have been thrown away many
, many years ago.
But it comforts me to know thathe will restore us and that he
loves us that much, that hecares for us that much and that
we can continue to have thatrelationship with him.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
And it wasn't just Peter, it was all the disciples
failed him and he still usedthem.
He didn't throw them away, hedidn't dismiss them, he still
used them.
They were still in a loverelationship and he was the one
(13:31):
that was faithful, even thoughthey weren't.
So we can take deny Christ, hecursed and say I do not know the
man.
This was a strong denial.
Remember, peter said he wouldnever deny him.
But he does Right at this point.
Over in Luke 22, 61, it says atthis point Peter saw Jesus
(13:53):
through the doorway.
Remember, jesus was inside thebuilding at this point being
pummeled by the guards.
Jesus turns and looks at Peter.
Just at this point when Peterdenies Christ, jesus looked him
in the eye.
Not only did Peter deny him,but he saw his Lord look at him
(14:14):
and recognize you failed me,peter, just like I said you
would fail me.
And it says Peter begins to cry, he begins to weep bitterly.
At this point Peter felt he letJesus down.
Peter, at this point, is abroken man.
He just denied his Lord withcursings, and three times, in
(14:38):
front of people that were justthe servants, just a young
servant girl, nobody of anypower or political importance.
He denies him in front of ayoung girl and Jesus looks at
him and realizes what he doesand Peter breaks down and cries.
This is a real low point forthis man.
We all have to ask ourselveshave we been at a low point Just
(15:02):
because we wake up one day andrealize that we failed the Lord?
And he's looking us in the eye.
Realizing that we faileddoesn't mean he's going to
dismiss us and throw us away.
He could still use us.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
In our introduction to Mark Glenn, we talked about
that this could be Markaccounting Peter's story.
It could be Peter himself usingMark to write this down as his
accounting of what happened.
If that is the case, it'scurious to me that Peter
(15:35):
included this Now.
Obviously it was included insome of the other Gospels as
well, because it is a pivotalmoment.
But it does strike me, if thisis Peter recounting to Mark,
he's agreed to put this in and Ithink that if he has done that,
I think he's done that for apurpose, because, as you
mentioned, a few days later he'sgoing to be speaking in the
(15:58):
temple and the gospel messageand then his life goes on.
So I think that possibly Peteris including this, even though
it's an embarrassing moment forhim.
Possibly Peter is includingthis even though it's an
embarrassing moment for him.
It's included here to give justthe impression that you're
talking about that Jesus didn'tthrow him away and that Jesus
(16:18):
won't throw us away either.
I think it's just interestingthat if Peter is the one that's
giving this account to Mark towrite down, this is something
that was quite bold for him toinclude, because it's quite an
embarrassing moment that bringsus to chapter 15.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
We have here the next phase of Jesus' trial.
Steve, can you read the firstfive verses of Mark 15, where
Jesus is brought to the chiefpriest and the elders?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Early in the morning the chief priests, with the
elders and scribes and the wholecouncil, immediately held a
consultation and binding Jesus.
They led him away and deliveredhim to Pilate.
Pilate questioned him are youthe king of the Jews?
And he answered him it is asyou say.
(17:06):
The chief priests began toaccuse him harshly.
Then Pilate questioned himagain, saying Do you not answer?
See how many charges they bringagainst you.
But Jesus made no furtheranswer.
So Pilate was amazed.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
In verse 1, it says it was early in the morning.
The chief priest with theelders and the scribes and the
whole council this is the entireSanhedrin.
They meet very early in themorning.
The account here just saysimmediately they hold this
consultation and then they sendthem to Pilate.
This section here with theSanhedrin is really just a
(17:46):
rubber stamp.
They'd already decided what todo, so they're just going
through a formality, goingthrough the motions.
They already knew what theywanted to do.
So what I see here, steve, isthat now you have the entire
group that is just pushing Jesusthrough the system, because
that's what the group wants todo.
(18:06):
None of them stop and say waita minute, should we give this
man a fair trial?
And they send Jesus onto Pilatewith that.
I always found this to beinteresting, that really there's
no one here that acts mature,there's no one here that stands
up for an innocent man, and Ialways wondered what would
happen if I were to be in such asituation innocent man and I
(18:29):
always wondered what wouldhappen if I were to be in such a
situation.
Would I go along with a crowdand do something evil just
because everybody else is doingit?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Pilate is a government official.
Remember, this is the Passoverfeast.
The city has swelled to severalhundred thousand people.
There's people camping out intents all around the city
because they've come in for thisfestival of the Passover and
then the Feast of UnleavenedBread that lasts a total time of
(18:56):
eight days.
Pilate wants to keep the peace.
He doesn't want to get a largeuprising for it to get back to
Rome to question him as towhat's going on.
They are serving at the behestof the Senate, the Roman Senate,
and they don't want things togo awry.
(19:18):
So, Pilate here.
They made this accusation, theybrought him to them.
We do see Pilate try andrelease him but, Glenn, like you
say, ultimately he does killhim.
Even though Pilate says andrelease him, but, Glenn, like
you say, ultimately he does killhim.
Even though Pilate says severaltimes this is an innocent man,
he still gives him the judgmentof guilty and crucifies him.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Now, the real motivation of why the high
priest and the chief people herewere trying to execute Jesus
was because he was claiming tobe God.
But that charge is not going tocarry any weight with the Roman
governor, Pilate.
Pilate's not going to execute aman because of a charge of
(19:59):
blasphemy.
They had to have some sort of atrumped-up accusation that
would give Pilate enough reasonto take his life.
I submit verse 2 here.
Chapter 15, verse 2,.
Pilate has a question thattells us what the accusation
were.
So what is Pilate's question toJesus when they send him to it?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Are you the king of the Jews, and you're exactly
right in what you're saying.
Now, all of a sudden, they'vecome to him, they being the
council, and they've brought himbefore Pilate, and this is what
they've told him.
Here is somebody that has beenpreaching sedition.
He's claiming to be a king.
Well, that was in directopposition to Caesar, who was
(20:42):
the king over the Roman Empire.
This now was something of acharge that Pilate did have
authority over, and you'reexactly right, glenn.
This is at least one of thecharges that they brought
against him to Pilate to get theRoman government involved.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
They went to Pilate and said this man's claiming to
be king and he has a largefollowing that follows him
around.
That would get Pilate'sattention.
We know this was the accusationbecause of Pilate's question in
verse 2.
Are you the king of the Jews?
I think Pilate is a smartenough man to where he sees
through all of this.
(21:20):
Here is this itinerant preacher, this itinerant rabbi, with no
real weapons, no power.
There's no soldiers here.
He's a speaker on the streetcorner.
Pilate realizes very quicklythis man is not really a threat.
Pilate asks Jesus are you theking?
And Jesus answers what it is asyou say.
(21:43):
Jesus' answer is yes, he'sclaiming to be the king of the
Jews.
And it says then in verse 3,the chief priest began to accuse
Jesus, and it uses somelanguage there harshly.
They bring many accusationsagainst him At this point.
Were these accusationsjustified?
(22:04):
Were they fair?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Oh.
There's nothing about thiswhole situation that's fair or
justified.
They're just hurling more andmore false accusations against
him to make sure that Pilate isgoing to pronounce the judgment
on him and to kill him, to takehim out to be crucified.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
The evidence wasn't any greater in front of Pilate
than it was in front of theSanhedrin, so there wasn't
enough real evidence here.
It was just the anger of thehigh priest and the crowd they
were able to whip up.
So what I want to ask abouthere, Steve, is that here we
have Pilate that represents theRoman world and we have these
(22:48):
Jewish priests and scribes thatrepresents the Roman world and
we have these Jewish priests andscribes that represent the
religious world, and then wehave Christ and his message.
How does the secular world andeven the religious world that's
not really attuned to God's Word, how do they view the Christian
message?
(23:09):
If we open up our Bibles andreally look at what is the
Christian message, how does thatcome across to the secular
world as represented by Pilate,and the non-Christian religious
world that's represented bythese priests?
How do they receive theChristian gospel?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
The bottom line to answer your question, glenn, is
that the secular world couldcare less.
They really could care lessabout all of this intrigue of
what's going on here and Jesusbeing killed.
They don't believe in him atall, they mock us and they make
fun of us, and they could careless, whereas you and I, as
(23:53):
Christians and believers, we getthe meaning of what's going on
here.
Jesus, the Messiah, who hascome and is perfectly innocent,
is about to be sacrificed andpay our sin debt so that we
might have eternal life.
So we're understanding and welike to go through these verses
(24:14):
here and learn about it a littlebit more.
As far as what's going on andthe emotions that are carried on
both sides, both with thereligious people and with the
Roman government, and theintrigue that's happening here
because we have a relationshipwith Jesus Christ, that's
something that the secular worlddoesn't have and they don't
(24:36):
understand, and the bottom lineis they could care less.
I think it's the same thing herewith Pilate.
Pilate could care less whoJesus was, as long as he wasn't
bringing sedition and stirringup people against him and trying
to overthrow the Romangovernment and cause problems.
He really could care less.
But because of their response.
(24:58):
Now we see the religious peoplestirring up the people.
They're forcing Pilate's handthat he has to do something in
order to quell down the peopleso that doesn't get out of hand.
But the bottom line is secularpeople.
They could care less about anyof this stuff that we're talking
about.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Jesus here is not getting a fair trial in front of
the secular world.
He's also not getting a fairtrial in front of the religious
world as represented by thepriest.
If we carry that to today, willChristians get a fair hearing
in the world of ideas?
Does the secular world and thereligious world—I'm thinking of
(25:39):
there's a large number of veryreligious people that aren't
really interested in what thetext of the Bible says and what
it actually teaches.
They have their own ideas ofwhat religion ought to be.
Do we get a fair hearing in theworld of ideas in front of
people like this?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
We don't, and I've had several conversations.
In fact, I had a manager onetime that would often come to me
and he was kind of in betweenan agnostic and an atheist, but
he would come and ask mequestions and I would answer him
and it just came to the pointwhere he really just wanted to
argue.
So after a while I just reallydidn't want to answer him the
(26:20):
questions and I actually toldhim one time.
I said look, you know I'm oneof your best employees and
you're impressed with all of thework that I do.
You know that I'm anintelligent person because you
talk with me, yet when it comesto this subject, you kind of
treat me like I'm an idiot andI'm gullible because I'm
(26:42):
believing in Jesus Christ.
I asked him.
I just said does that reallymake sense?
How can it be that you're okaywith the work that I do and
depend on me to get work doneand give me tough things to do
because you know that I'mdependable and will do the right
thing, but at the same timeturn around and really insult me
(27:05):
and say that I'm a gullibleperson?
That's just one instance withme.
I think that you've had many,many others.
No, they don't give us a fairshake, so to speak.
They think that we're reallydumb people.
And again, the scriptures arevery, very deep.
There's a lot, a lot ofinformation that's here, and
when you look at them in contextof both the Old Testament and
(27:28):
the New Testament, it reallydoes make sense if you go and
look at it that way.
A lot of interesting stuffthat's here.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
In Pilate's residence .
The chief priest had accusedJesus of claiming to be king.
Pilate asked him are you theking?
Jesus responds it is as you say, which means yes.
That's the point where verse 3,the chief priest right there
began to accuse him very harshly, very angrily.
Many accusations it's whenJesus claimed to be king,
(28:01):
claimed to be God.
That's what made them the mostangry.
They again respond with quite abit of emotion and anger.
Pilate replies verse 4, don'tyou answer?
See how all these charges areagainst you, but Jesus didn't
answer.
Why was Jesus silent?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
It goes back to what you had said earlier.
His mission is to go to thecross.
He asked God, the Father in thegarden if this cup can be taken
from me, so be it.
You can do it, but not my will.
But yours be done.
The mission is to go to thecross.
So here he is.
(28:43):
He's going to go to the cross.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
He is headed to the cross and he'll get there next
time on Reasoning Through theBible.
We're going to pause here rightnow, but we're at a somewhat
precarious point.
We have here Pilate, we havethe chief priest and the leaders
, and we have a Jewish crowd andwe've got Christ himself.
So we're in the midst of a verydramatic scene that will get
(29:08):
resolved next time on ReasoningThrough the Bible.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
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