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by Charlie Wolcott

Jesus was arrested and taken straight to trial by the Sanhedrin. They were ready for Him. This shows very easily that the whole thing was a setup. They needed enough of the seventy members to make a quorum, and clearly, they did not call ALL the members for this quorum, but the ones who were opposed to Jesus, not the ones who supported Him. At the seat of judgment, leading this trial, was Caiphas, the High Priest. Caiphas was very political and hated Rome with a passion, but he did everything to keep the peace with Rome, knowing that to trigger Rome would steal their power and would lead to their destruction. Rome was actually beneficial to the Sadducees because Rome kept them in power. And here came Jesus, a very clear threat to the system, and just a few days ago, he made a huge scene with the cleansing of the temple and even evading the tax question. They wanted Jesus dead, but now they had to find a reason to do so.

So they tried to get witnesses to lie about him, but they needed at least two to agree. Despite a multitude of witnesses, none of them could actually agree on it. This trial was a setup, but it was also a rush job. We have an example of another setup back in 1 Kings 21, when Jezebel got two scoundrels to testify together against Naboth and had him executed on false charges so Ahab could take Naboth’s vineyard. Yet here, the quorum could not get any two witnesses to agree until two finally stepped up and relied on Jesus’ claim to destroy the temple and bring it back in three days. And Jesus kept silent until Jesus was forced under oath to say if he was the Son of God. Then Jesus simply said, “You said it,” and then added that He wasn’t merely a human, but the Son of Man referenced in Daniel. They knew precisely what Jesus was saying: He wasn’t just claiming to be the Messiah but to be God Himself. The Sanhedrin found Jesus guilty of death; however, they only had the legal right to execute anyone on Temple grounds. So they went to their next step: appealing to the Romans.

Jesus was sent to Pilate because Pilate had to order the crucifixion. He was expected to just comply with the Jews on their sentences, but Pilate had his own political issues. He was under pressure from the Capitol for carrying out too many executions, and the political pressure with the Passover feast, where over a million people had gathered, equating the population of Rome itself. In the center of it was Jesus: the now-famed miracle-worker who had just raised Lazarus from the dead and created a scene in the Temple. Pilate wanted nothing to do with this and then sent Jesus to Herod, who played the role of a king, but knew more of Jewish custom. Both Herod and Pilate could find nothing wrong with Jesus, who did nothing to defend Himself.

Finally, Pilate got Him back and sought to set Jesus free, baffled that Jesus would not defend Himself. He wondered if Jesus was even taking this seriously enough that Pilate could have Him executed, but Jesus basically said, “You don’t have any authority over Me except what My Father lets you have.” There was nothing Pilate could find. But he had to deal with the Jews. So he offered a notorious criminal, Barabbas, thinking they’d actually choose to have the criminal executed, but they chose Jesus. So Pilate took a bowl of water, washed his hands, and declared he was not going to be held responsible for this. And with that, Pilate signaled for Jesus to be crucified.

The amazing thing in all this is Jesus’ silence. Jesus would not defend Himself. Yes, we know He had to fulfill Scripture and be silent as a lamb before shearers, but Jesus endured all sorts of slander, mockery, and insults and did not raise a finger to defend Himself. Before, He stood when Pharisees tried to stone Him and asked, “For what do you stone Me?” Not this time. Jesus remained silent, demonstrating one of His key teachings: turning the other cheek. This is echoed throughout Scripture: Repay evil with good. Scripture tells us to suffer well, even when people lie and slander about us, and live so that no accusation can be proved. This is no easy task.

There is a place to defend ourselves. Paul did to avoid another farce trial in Jerusalem while under Roman protection, and he appealed to Caesar when it showed he wasn’t going to be able to be released without facing the Jews in Jerusalem. But part of this was knowing that he was to go to Rome. Paul knew his journey wasn’t over. Jesus knew His earthly journey was over. This was to be His death, and it had to be a death in which He gave His life. It could not be taken from Him.

We have a SEVERE problem in our culture, and we don’t have a “doctrine of suffering” because we in the U.S. have not suffered. Sure, we have been mocked and ridiculed, but we haven’t experienced actual suffering for our faith. Yes, I am aware of MLK Jr., and yes, Charlie Kirk is still fresh on our minds, but those were more politically motivated as opposed to Gospel related. They weren’t killed simply because they were Christians and preaching a Christian message. They were killed because their political views, which came out of their faith, had greatly disturbed the status quo.

But we are now at the verge of facing true persecution. With AI and Deep Fakes being very easy to manipulate and perform, it is vital that we learn how to keep our mouths shut – except at the proclamation of the Gospel. We need to learn when to properly defend ourselves and when not to, and at any cost, don’t give the enemy reason to question our character because they’ll see weakness and then seek to get us to say something to incriminate ourselves. We must be watchful.

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