In The Beginning - Chapter 19 (Kangaroo Court)

Chapter 19

The temple guard brought Jesus to the home of Annas.  The Romans had conquered the entire region but had allowed the Jews to continue worshiping their God under their rule.  Annas had been the high priest, but when he perturbed the Romans they removed him from that office and Caiaphas, his son-in-law had been made high priest instead.

Caiaphas was only high priest in name, though.  It was Annas who still controlled the Great Sanhedrin – the supreme court of the Jewish nation.  Caiaphas was not altogether an innocent in the proceedings, though.

Caiaphas had been told by God that Jesus would die for the Jews, and not only that, but also that his death would gather the scattered children of God and bring them together and make them one.  He saw it as his God-ordained duty to see to it that Jesus was martyred.

The other leaders in the Sanhedrin were also worried that if everyone believed Jesus to be The Messiah the Romans would see it as a threat and dismantle the Great Sanhedrin along with the entire Jewish nation.  It was these leaders of the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem who had been plotting to kill Him and had been looking for any excuse to do so.

As a legion of God's angels stood silently, surrounding the house where Jesus had been brought, Annas began to question Jesus about what he had been teaching.  The problem with this is that Jewish law did not allow for anyone to be questioned in the matter of a capital offense at night.  It also mandated that any such questioning must be done in public.  This made this entire questioning illegal according to Jewish law.[i]

“Everything I have said I have said in public,” said Jesus.  “Why question me, ask those who heard what I said.  Surely they know what I said.”

Jesus said this because another mandate of Jewish law was that a man could not be convicted of a capital offense unless two witness could be produced who agreed with each other about what had happened and provided the same testimony.  Further, a person could not be compelled to give evidence against himself!

After Jesus replied, though, one of the officials hit him in the face.  “Is this the way you answer the high priest?”  he demanded?

Another Jewish law compelled the Jewish authorities to protect those who were taken into custody and not allow any harm to come to them until such a time as they had been convicted of a crime.  The entire setup was a sham and obviously so.

“If I said something wrong,” Jesus said, spitting a small amount of blood from his mouth, “then tell me what I said wrong, but if I told the truth then why did you hit me?”

He was pointing out all of the illegalities of His situation and everyone there understood the true meaning of His words.

Annas, feeling uneasy about what was going on and knowing that laws were being broken, had him sent to Caiaphas.  God's angels followed them everywhere they went ensuring that His ultimate will was carried out.  The demons of Satan also followed the crowd assembled in both the earthly and heavenly realms.  Satan himself stood at a distance and watched with amusement as his plan was carried out.  He was unwittingly orchestrating his own demise.

It was about half past three in the morning when Jesus arrived at the home of Caiaphas for his second illegal questioning of the night. 

Here the entire Great Sanhedrin had gathered together.  They were trying to find some evidence against him so they would have some reason to execute him.  Several people lied about him, but none of their lies agreed with with each other so none of them could legally be used against him.

Throughout all this Jesus said nothing.

Caiaphas finally looked at him and raised his eyebrows with disdain.  “Are you not going to say anything?  What is all this they’re saying about you?”

Jesus said nothing, but stared at the ground at Caiaphas’ feet.

Caiaphas bent down to look Jesus in the eye.  He furrowed his brow and said “Are you the Christ[ii], the son of the Blessed One[iii]?”

Jesus raised his head and stared directly into the face of his accuser.

“I am.”  He said, calmly.  “And you will see the Son of Man[iv] sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

By admitting here to be the son of the Blessed one and claiming the title of Son of Man he was in fact claiming to be both God and The Messiah!

A collective gasp escaped from the part of the crowd who was paying attention.  Caiaphas roared with rage and ripped his clothes in profound shock at what he had just heard.

“Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked.  “You have all heard the blasphemy!  What do you think?”

They all agreed that his crimes were worthy of death.  Then the mob mentality began to set in and they began to spit on him and hit and kick him.  They blindfolded him and hit him in the face and shouted “Prophesy!”  The temple guard watched the crowd for a while and then, emboldened by the scene, they seized him and began to beat him themselves.

All of this was against Jewish law and the members of the Great Sanhedrin knew that none of it would hold up, so they waited until the sun rose and then deliberated during the day and in public as the law required.  Then and there the reached the decision that he should be put to death.

Now this public spectacle of a trial was still not legal.  There were very strict guidelines about what was required in a capital case beyond those already decimated in these pre-dawn trials.

A man’s testimony against himself could not be used in evidence against him.  An agreement of two or more witnesses was required, but it was never provided.  Furthermore, sentence on a verdict of guilty could not be pronounced until the third day after the finding, and then only after a second vote resulting the same as the first.

Despite these miscarriages of justice, these Jewish leaders knew that the Romans had removed from them the power of passing sentence of death.  All death sentences had to be pronounced by the Roman governor, in this case Pontius Pilate.

So the temple guard took Jesus to see Pilate.  They arrived in the court outside his palace at about half past six in the morning.

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Satan had long since left Judas who had been watching the proceedings early that morning.  When Judas made the deal with the high priest had not been possessed by Satan and he had no idea their intention was to kill Jesus.  When he saw that Jesus was condemned he realized what he had done.

He watched from afar as Jesus was hauled away by the temple guard to see Pilate.  How could he have been so stupid?  How could he have been so greedy?  No amount of money could buy enough water to wash the blood from his hands.

He ran up to the chief priests after the crowd had disbursed and tried to give back the thirty pieces of silver they had paid him for his betrayal.[v]  “I have sinned, Jesus was innocent and I have betrayed him!” he cried.

“What is that to us?” one of them replied, showing the callousness with which they addressed the entire matter.  After all was it not the chief priests who where to help the people atone for their sin?  “That is your responsibility,” he said.

Judas looked down at the small purse full of coins that he held in his hands.  With tears streaming down his face the threw the money at the priests who stepped aside allowing the bag to hit the floor.  It burst open and coins spewed out rolling around the floor and coming to rest as Judas fled the temple.

One of the chief priests turned to one of the temple guard who was still there and said “Follow him.”

As he fled through the marketplace Judas noticed a man selling rope.  He still held the purse which contained what money Jesus and his band of disciples kept to pay for food and other expenses as they traveled around the countryside preaching the word of God.

His mind raced as he stopped suddenly to consider what had just entered it.  It didn’t take long for him to make up his mind.  With tears still streaming down his face he paid the man for a rope and, remembering a good spot to carry out his plans, he ran out of town.

He ran down a narrow road to a field on which stood a high ridge.  Growing on the edge of the ridge was a large tree which had a branch that stretched out over a sharp cliff.  He attached one end of the rope to a broken limb he found on the ground near the tree and threw it over the branch.  He tied the rope to the branch and fashioned a noose out of the other end.

He fell to his knees in absolute sorrow, holding the rope and hoping against hope that God would forgive him for what he had done.

The guard had followed him the whole way and stood a short distance away watching the scene unfold before him.  Several of Satan's demons stood with him with smiles on their faces.  No person is too far gone to be forgiven.  If Judas completed his act of suicide then he belonged to Satan forever.

With bitter resolve Judas placed the noose around his neck, pulled it tight and jumped off the cliff.  The rope stretched tight around his neck pulling his head sharply to the right and snapping his spine.  His body gave an involuntary spasm as his life ended.

The branch strained under the weight of Judas’ body and after a short time the branch snapped.  Judas lifeless body fell twenty or thirty feet before it struck the edge of the cliff and tumbled to the bottom striking one sharp outcropping of rock after another until it finally came to rest at the bottom.  His head and body had burst open from striking the boulders on the way down and his intestines spilled out of his body onto the ground next to him at his final resting place.

The guard was horrified; he had never seen such a thing.  He ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down to see the final resting place of the man who betrayed the Son of God.  He stood, staring at the body for a long moment, with his jaw agape and his fingers rubbing his forehead in disbelief.  The demons returned to watch the proceedings at Jesus' latest illegal trial.

After the guard had seen all he could bear he ran back to the temple and reported to the chief priests what he had seen.  They had already determined that they could not take the silver back from Judas, it was blood money and they could not by law put it back in the treasury.  That money belonged to Judas, but he was no longer around to collect it.

After considering the predicament for a while they came to an agreement.  They used the money to buy the field where Judas had committed suicide.  It could be used as a cemetery for foreigners who had no burial plot.

The guard returned to those who remained at the temple and told them everything that had happened.  Word spread quickly throughout the people and the place became known as the “Field of Blood”.

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[i] Thompson, George W. “The Trial of Jesus”, Bobbs Merrill, 1927.  Chapter 2, The Jewish Law.

[ii] Christ is the Greek word for Messiah, meaning “The Chosen One”.

[iii] Jews, out of reverence for the most holy name of God were not permitted to say the name of God out loud nor write it.  As such they used other terms for God such as “The Blessed One” and in writing in many instances even today will spell it G-D rather than spell out the word.

[iv] Son of Man is a title used in Daniel 7:13 in reference to The Messiah.  Also, claiming to sit at the right hand of God the Father is a claim to the same title based on Psalm 110:1.

[v] 30 pieces of silver was the cost of a slave.

In The Beginning - Chapter 18 (The Kiss of Death)

Chapter 18

Jesus and his disciples left the house where they had been celebrating Passover, the time when the Jews remember their rescue by God from the bondage of slavery to an evil king brought about by covering the entrance to their home with the blood of a lamb.

A powerful formation of angels encircled them as they proceeded along their way.  Satan's forces of evil were everywhere, but they dared not attack.  They knew their time was coming and they had their orders.  Each of the disciples had an angel assigned to them for their protection, but on this special day, a multitude of heavenly hosts was on hand.

They crossed through a valley to an olive grove called Gethsemane.  Judas knew it well because Jesus had often taken his disciples there.

Jesus left his disciples there in the grove and went a short ways away and began to pray.  He took Peter, James, and John with him and asked them to keep watch while he prayed.  Ever since Satan had entered Judas back at the house his heart was heavy with despair.  He knew what he had to do, but the thought of giving in to Satan was disdainful to his divine nature in the extreme.

Likewise, his human side was struggling mightily with the pain he knew he was about to endure.

Walking a short distance from the three, he fell to the ground and began to speak to his father.  “You can do anything!” he pleaded.  “Isn’t there another way to redeem your creation?”  But even then he expressed his obedience.  “But let your will be done, and not mine,” he said.

The troupe of angels who had protected them at the house and had accompanied them to the garden now drew close to him to provide protection and comfort.  Jesus was struggling mightily with sorrow and despair when Gabriel, God’s messenger, walked up to Jesus, placed his hands on his shoulders bent his head down low and spoke words of comfort and strength into his ear.

Jesus' spirit began to calm and his will once again became resolute.  His emotion was in check and he knew it was time.  This was the defining moment in the history of the world.  It has been ordained by God since the original sin of Adam and Eve in the garden, so long, but then such a short time ago.  This was God’s perfect plan and it would be as He had ordained it.

Jesus returned to find Peter, James and John sleeping.  It was about one in the morning and the day had been long and tiresome.

“Why are you sleeping?” he shouted, pointing across the garden.  “I’ve been betrayed into the hands of sinners and here comes my betrayer!”

The three awoke quickly and were alert.  As they looked through the olive trees they saw Judas approaching with a bunch of armed guards.  The rest of the disciples had moved quickly to Jesus’ side and were now standing around him ready to protect their master.

Judas walked through the others and up to Jesus.  “Teacher!” he said, and then moved forward to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Jesus pulled back incredulously.  “Are you going to betray me with a kiss, Judas?”

Judas leaned forward and kissed him lightly on each cheek.  This was the signal to the temple guard that they should move forward and take into custody the one who was kissed.

Everyone stayed still as the temple guard looked at Jesus and his disciples and they looked back wondering what would happen next.

“Who is it you want?” he asked.

“Jesus of Nazareth,” one of them replied.

“That’s me,” he said.

Immediately the temple guard stepped backward and fell to the ground.  There had been much talk around the temple about Jesus.  Many had claimed that he was The Messiah, the one who would come to save the Jews from their oppressors and rule the Earth with them as his ruling party.

Some said that He could do miracles and most of the temple guard was afraid of him.

“Who is it you want?” Jesus asked them again.

Timidly, the same soldier replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

“I told you that is me.  If you are looking for me then let these others go.”

Seeing Jesus was about to be arrested, Peter, who had brought a sword with him, drew it and lashed out at one of the temple guards.  The guard, whose name was Malchus, was taken a little by surprise and almost managed to dodge the blow completely, but was just a bit too slow.  His ear was severed from his face and he screamed in agony holding his hand up to the side of his bleeding head.

Emboldened by this attack, the temple guards raised their weapons and moved into an offensive posture, planning to slay all of Jesus’ disciples and take Jesus away by force.

Jesus stepped up immediately and yelled “Put your swords away!”

Everyone stopped and looked at him.  He spoke with such authority one couldn’t help but obey.

He walked over to Malchus who was holding pressure on his wound trying to stop the bleeding.  Jesus bent down and picked up his ear.  Malchus looked at him cautiously.  Jesus put his hand to Malchus’ arm and pulled it away from his face.  The bleeding had stopped.  He then put the ear back to the side of Malchus’ face and held it there for a few seconds.  When he removed his hand the ear had been re-attached.  It was completely healed and Malchus felt no pain.  Only the blood remained as a reminder that there had been any injury at all.

Jesus turned to face his disciples and said, “Should I not drink the cup the father has given me?”

At that the temple guard took him by both arms and tied them together.  It was about half past one in the morning.