The Trial - Part 2

When: Morning, Friday, April 7, 30 AD
Where: Palace of Caiaphas, Jerusalem, Judea

JUDAS ACTS:

Judas, who had led the guards to Jesus, now knew that Jesus would be true to his word not to use his spiritual power as the Messiah to gain a military victory over the Romans and possess a political kingdom over the people of the world. Judas had watched, as Jesus was led from the presence of the Sanhedrin condemned as "deserving death", and being turned over to the Romans.

This was not going as he had hoped. Judas was ready to die with Jesus in a revolt against the Romans. But Judas had misunderstood Jesus. Now, because of his actions, Jesus was in serious trouble. He must do something to help Jesus. In desperation Judas went into the palace and demanded a meeting with Caiaphas. His only thought was to return the money and to "call off" the deal that had delivered Jesus into their hands. But when he made the offer to return the money for Jesus' freedom, Caiaphas laughed. This was working out very well. Very soon the Romans would find Jesus guilty, and the religious leaders would be rid of a serious thorn in their side. And, as a bonus, Pilate would be in their debt.

Judas, frustrated with impotent rage at the injustice, wanted to strangle these unjust priests. Instead, because of the guards, he threw the coins at their feet.

While Judas was being evicted from the palace, he bitterly complained that now he was an accessory to the shedding of innocent blood.

After his departure Caiaphas had the money picked up. The priests decided to consider the money as a donation to the temple and to use it to purchase a potters field, as Zechariah prophesied, southeast of the city, in an area called Topheth, near where child sacrifices to Chemosh and Molech had occurred in the time of Solomon, and where now they would bury foreigners who died near Jerusalem "in faith and in poverty".

When: 6:30 am, Friday, April 7, 30 AD
Where: Antonia Fortress, Jerusalem, Judea

FIRST TRIAL BEFORE PILATE:

Pilate had only been in charge for four years. He usually lived in Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast, but came up to Jerusalem for the major festivals. The Roman procurator knew the kind of trouble that could get started in Jerusalem, given the wrong circumstances, and it was a good practice to be where trouble might begin.

The Romans had worked out an arrangement with the Jews of Jerusalem. If a non-Jew enters the Temple, then it was OK to kill them in a fit of religious passion. But in other cases, where a trial might take place, the Romans had to be informed and give their consent for the death penalty.

The temple guards, and the representative of the religious leaders, marched Jesus to the Fortress Antonia where Pilate was staying while in Jerusalem. The Romans took possession of the prisoner at the gate and escorted him inside. But the Jews, not wanting to "dirty" themselves because tonight they wanted to celebrate the Judean Passover, did not enter inside.

Pilate, wanting to get some "political mileage", publicly asked them what the charges were against Jesus. 'Misleading people with bad teaching?' Pilate clearly saw that the religious leaders were trying to make the Romans look bad, and he decided to turn the tables and make them look bad in front of the people. 'What kind of charges are these? They won't hold up in a Roman court. Has this man broken any Roman laws?'

The leaders did not want to go this route but were now forced to begin that journey. They pressed on, having received instruction from Caiaphas. 'He claims to be the long awaited Messiah, kind of like a king.'

Pilate's response was "dripping" with humorous sarcasm and poisonous barbs. 'Let me get this straight, you are turning over your own king to the Romans for trial?' Pilate knew that the story would get out and the zealots, and others, would never forgive, nor trust, the leaders again.

                                            

Pilate's work at the gate being done, he went inside to confront Jesus. When Jesus was brought before him, Pilate went straight to the heart of the charges. 'Tell me straight, are you a king?' he asked.

After a pause, Jesus answered. 'King is your word. Do I look like a king of the Jews?'

Pilate responded, 'How would I know. I am not a Jew.' Then Pilate went through the list of charges asking Jesus to respond to each one. But Jesus remained calm and said nothing throughout the proceedings, as though he were dealing with foolish children's questions rather than the powerful Romans. And by the end of the first round of questions Pilate was getting a queasy feeling about Jesus. Pilate felt that he knew Jesus well enough so as not to believe that Jesus was a terrorist or revolutionary.

Yet Pilate was determined to use this situation to his advantage, as any shrewd politician would. The idea crossed his mind to play the crowd against the religious leaders. The religious leaders expected him to announce a finding of guilty and the people expected Roman "injustice" to come to the same conclusion. Good news for the religious leaders, bad news for the people. So when Pilate announced that he found no crime in Jesus, the religious leaders panicked and the people took hope.

The religious leaders re-grouped, and again demanded that the Romans find Jesus guilty and condemn him to death. 'He thinks he is a king, and he is stirring up trouble in Judea just as he had in Galilee', they argued. Here was a bit of new information. 'This could be useful', thought Pilate, and had Jesus brought back in.

When: 7:30 am, Friday, April 7, 30 AD 
Where: Palace of Herod Antipas, Jerusalem, Judea

ANTIPAS QUESTIONS JESUS:

It was now about 7 am and Pilate was being challenged by the religious leaders about his conclusion that Jesus was innocent of the charge of sedition. They were describing how Jesus was 'stirring up' the crowds when they mentioned that some of these events occurred in Galilee. Though Pilate had known Jesus to be a Galilean from his accent, clothes, ideas, and the political jealousy Jesus aroused in Jerusalem, he had not considered that Jesus might have caused trouble for Herod Antipas, the tetrarch.

Now it happened that Antipas was in Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Pilate and Antipas did not "get along" especially well. They were competitors for power. Here was an opportunity for Pilate to put Antipas "on the spot", while appearing to be considerate.

Antipas was awakened when the messenger arrived at the Palace of Herod informing him that Jesus was being delivered. Antipas was also briefed on the charges and informed that his opinion of Jesus would be of value. This was a nice gesture by Pilate. In the past Pilate had killed some of Antipas' subjects who were worshiping at the temple. That had challenged the authority of Antipas. Now Pilate was acting appropriately by sending Jesus to him for an opinion.

Thus when Jesus was brought before Antipas, who came out of his palace to sit in the courtyard, Antipas was ready. He had long wanted to see this Jesus, of whom he had heard so much. Was this John the Baptizer returned from the grave? Jesus had never really irritated Antipas the way John had, so Antipas was a bit less antagonistic toward Jesus.

Yet Antipas had a well-deserved reputation for abusing anyone with less power than his own. Jesus was a toy to be played with. Herod had heard stories about Jesus, the miracle worker, and wanted proof, one way or another, of the power Jesus might possess, and whether or not he was John returned.

Antipas began cautiously. But when Jesus said nothing, and showed no evidence of power, Antipas became bolder, and more sadistic. Yet finally Antipas sent Jesus back to Pilate at the Fortress of Antonia with his personal thanks. Antipas now knew that Jesus was NOT John returned and was no one to fear.

When: 8:30 am, Friday, April 7, 30 AD
Where: Antonia Fortress, Jerusalem, Judea

SECOND TRIAL BEFORE PILATE:

Antipas had returned Jesus to Pilate. 'Thank you for allowing me to question Jesus', noted Antipas, 'but I do not believe that Jesus has any political ambitions'. At the Fortress of Antonia, Pilate met again with the religious leaders and a small crowd of people, the majority of which were supporters of the leaders and had been gathered by them.

Pilate had given the matter some thought. One question kept coming to mind. 'Why are the religious leaders so afraid of Jesus?' Then Pilate devised a test. Do they fear Jesus more than they fear the Romans?

Pilate would give the leaders a choice. Pilate would set one prisoner free. Would they choose Barabbas, a known terrorist [or freedom fighter], and thereby antagonize Rome and betray their own God? Or would they choose Jesus of Nazareth, a religious teacher, and have peace with Rome and show loyalty to their God?

Pilate took Jesus and Barabbas out to face the leaders and the crowd, and said to them, 'Jesus offers you peace. Barabbas offers you war. Which shall I set free?'

To the religious leaders the choice was simple: Jesus must die! Barabbas could never win the hearts of the people and lead the nation against Rome. Jesus could win many, but must ultimately fail. And all the power of Rome would fall upon Israel and they would lose their religious freedoms. Jesus was the greater threat. The leaders had NO choice left. They stirred up the crowd to demand that Barabbas be freed [then they could blame the choice on "the people"].

The choice had been made. Now Pilate needed to decide what to do with Jesus. 'What threat did the religious leaders perceive, such that they were willing to betray one of their own and antagonize the Romans?'

So Pilate brought Jesus back inside and questioned him some more. Pilate wanted to set Jesus free in order to antagonize the religious leaders that had already damaged their credibility with their own people. If only Jesus would provide Pilate with some excuse. It was at this time that Pilate received a message from his wife. She had a dream that Jesus was innocent and that Pilate needed to get out of the situation.

But Pilate was just a tool and Jesus had no intention of letting Pilate stand in the way of the choice that the religious leaders had made. Just as it was necessary that someone hand Jesus over to the religious leaders in order to force their decision, so it was necessary that someone carry out the death sentence.

Pilate brought Jesus before the leaders and those that they had gathered. But this time he was going to push the religious leaders. 'I find no crime against Rome that warrants death', Pilate said.

But the religious leaders were ready with their final argument. 'He says that he is a king', they argued. 'What would Caesar do to you if you allowed a rival of Caesar's to live?'

Pilate felt fear! Caesar would have Pilate killed (or worse). The implied threat angered Pilate. 'You threatened my power', he thought, 'then I will threaten your power'. Pilate decided to set the religious leaders against their people. Pilate asked, 'what should I do with YOUR king?'

'We have no king but Caesar', someone shouted in the heat of the moment, to be sure that Pilate would condemn Jesus to death, though Israel claimed they had no king but God.

When Pilate asked what he should do with Jesus, in a moment of religious passion, some there started shouting, 'crucify him'. That was not what Caiaphas would have preferred, but the majority got carried away with religious fervor and there would be no stopping them now.

Now the people would know that their religious leaders had arranged for an innocent man to be killed by foreigners. Just as David had done when he had foreigners kill Uriah. That act of injustice had angered God then and would surely anger God now.

Now Pilate chose to "twist the knife". He had a basin of water brought out and he announced that he would allow Jesus to be crucified, but that he "washed his hands" of the responsibility for the spilling of the innocent blood of Jesus just as elders in Israel had done in the past. As he was washing his hands someone in the crowd yelled out that they would accept the responsibility for the death of Jesus.

At around 8 am, Pilate turned Jesus over to his soldiers to be executed, NOW!

Jesus would be treated just as hundreds of other leaders that opposed Roman rule had been treated. He was a rebel and he would suffer. The guards took him into the courtyard, where Jesus was stripped. He was tied to a post and whipped, with a short whip with metal tipped thongs, until he was bloodied and weak. The flesh hung in strips down his back, from his shoulders to his knees. But before he could pass out, they stopped. The guards were now free to "play" with this "so called" king.

They gave Jesus a crown, like Caesar's wreath crown (only this one had short thorns) from twigs taken from the fireplace. The thorns were pressed onto the head of Jesus.

They gave Jesus a scarlet robe, like Caesar's royal purple robe.

They even gave Jesus a symbol of authority, a scepter (a stick that was lying nearby), like Caesar's scepter. Then the guards pretended that Jesus was a king and bowed to him, and then hit Jesus with the scepter and spit on him. 'Greetings, king of the Jews', they spat.

As they put Jesus on display in front of the people who were gathered outside, they said, 'Behold the man who would be your king'. Sadism was not uncommon under these circumstances and was prophesied by Isaiah.

Then the guards took Jesus back inside and made him get dressed in his own clothes. But they left the crown on, to remind everyone that Jesus is their king, and they prepared for the procession thorough Jerusalem, to the place of execution.

Now the Judean Jews could spend their time in preparation for the Judean Passover. But now they stood condemned by God for this final act of injustice. 

Continues......