THE TRIAL

Matthew 26:57-68

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

St. Matthew 26:57-68  [57] And those who had laid hold of Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. [58] But Peter followed Him at a distance to the high priest’s courtyard. And he went in and sat with the servants to see the end. [59] Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, [60] but found none.  Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward, [61] and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’” [62]  And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing?  What is it these men testify against You?” [63] But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ the Son of God!” [64] Jesus said to him, “It is as you said.  Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” [65] Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy!  What further need do we have of witnesses?  Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! [66] What do you think?”  They answered and said, “He is deserving of death.” [67] Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and the others struck Him with the palms of their hands, [68 saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ!  Who is the one who struck You?”

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord…  Over the past several weeks we have been following the events of the evening of Maundy Thursday in the Garden of Gethsemane.  We have seen our Lord commending Himself to the will of His Father, facing the task at hand, being betrayed and arrested.  Tonight we see Him brought by his captors to the Sanhedrin, where He is put on trial by Caiaphas the high priest.

Now this trial is like nothing you would see in an American courtroom today.  It is not even like anything you would see on a TV courtroom show.  At this trial the council of the Sanhedrin were not only the accusers, but they were also the investigators and the jury.  And Caiaphas the chief priest was not only the judge, but also the prosecutor!  There is not even an appearance of impartiality to this court.  The verdict is already in the minds of the judge and jury before the case even begins.  What they are looking for in this trial is an excuse to carry out their pre-determined sentence.

And so they begin to bring in witnesses to testify against Jesus.  Matthew tells us: “Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none.  Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none.”

To give false testimony in the court of that day was to invite upon yourself the punishment due to the one on trial.  In a capital case, such as this one, the punishment for false testimony was death.  And yet, it is just such testimony that the council is seeking.  And in this case, there is no danger to the one giving the false testimony.

But still the false witnesses had to agree with one another so that the verdict might have legal standing.  After all, the council was bound to the Law of Moses which said: “Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness” (Deuteronomy 17:6).

Here we see the way of the legalist.  The council has no regard whatsoever for the ethics behind this law, that a man must not be put to death based upon false testimony.  They are only interested in the outward observance – the “optics” – and therefore must have witnesses that agree, even if they are agreeing to falsehood, so that Jesus can be killed.

Finally, two men come forward who do agree.  These men accuse Jesus saying: “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’”  Note here how they twist our Lord’s words.  He never said that He would tear down the temple, but that the Jews would tear it down and He would raise it up.  But even if He had said what they accuse Him of, is that enough to sentence someone to death?  Clearly not.  Perhaps they could convict Him of delirious ravings for making such a claim, but certainly they could not sentence Him to death over it.

And through all of this corruption and kangaroo-court proceedings, Jesus keeps silent.  He does absolutely nothing to defend Himself against these liars.  Caiaphas is striving with all his might to make Jesus squirm, and yet Jesus just stands there in stony silence.  You can sense Caiaphas’ frustration: “’Do You answer nothing?  What is it these men testify against You?’  But Jesus kept silent.”

Now, one might expect Jesus to continue remaining silent, for to answer would be the death sentence from these Jews and would give them sufficient cause to send Him on to the Romans for execution.  But it is exactly at this point that our Lord finally speaks.  “It is as you have said.”  In other words, “Yes, I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

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And of course, Caiaphas does not react with repentance and faith.  Instead he tears his clothes and declares Jesus to be a blasphemer.  He condemns Him to death.  And the council answers: “He is deserving of death”.  And then they spit upon Him, mock Him, and beat Him.

Jesus seems to be defeated here.  Any innocent onlooker would conclude that Jesus is a goner.   But in reality, Jesus has taken another step toward His victory.  And this victory was not so much a victory to benefit Him, but a victory to benefit us.  He could have done all sorts of things to His own benefit at this trial.  He could have answered the false accusations.  He could have remained silent concerning His divinity.  Or, He could have exercised that Divinity and dominion over the accusing Jews and escaped from their clutches, or even destroyed them.

But Jesus was not interested in Himself here.  He was interested only in you and me.  And so He moved forward; He moved closer to the cross, where He would gain the victory for us through the sacrifice of Himself, taking on all our sins.

And that those Jews on the Sanhedrin may know it, He declared Himself openly to them.  And this too is for our benefit, that we may see that it is not defeat for Christ, but victory that He is gaining here, victory through bearing the cross.

We too are called to bear our crosses in the midst of trial.  And trials will come upon us in this Christian life.  Christians are enemies of this world.  There will be those who accuse you falsely.  There will be those who call you a fanatic or close-minded or bigoted or mean-spirited, stupid even.  And sadly, even within the Church there will be those who attack you for taking the faith seriously and not wavering. There will be those who will accuse you of legalism for defending the Gospel, the truth of God’s Word, and for promoting the pure doctrine and right practice that flow from these.

Martin Luther and the Church of the Reformation era suffered such attacks from the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire.  And yet they did not waver in their confession of the truth.  And neither should we.  Rather, we follow the path set out for us by our Lord, who heedless of His own interests and comfort, confessed the truth.

Why did the Reformers hold so steadfastly to that confession?  For that matter, why should we do the same?  And why should we follow the path of Christ?  For this reason: the Reformers knew and believed, and we know and believe that Christ willingly, deliberately, fully, and perfectly gave Himself up to those who hated Him – for you.  He allowed Himself to be tortured horridly – for you.  He let Himself be crucified – for you.  He took the full wrath of His Father against sin – for you.  He suffered death – for you.  He rose from the dead – for you.  He paid for all your sins.

And He delivers the benefits of His victory over sin, death, and the devil to you in His Gospel preached and His Sacraments of Baptism, Absolution, and Holy Supper.

Our natural reaction to trial is to try to get out of danger, to defend ourselves and not to do anything that might make matters worse.  We like to avoid the cross as much as we can.  But what is really necessary is that we confess, for the good of those who will hear and know it, even for the good of those who accuse us, that they may at least hear the truth of Christ.  We get to tell others what Christ has done for us so that they may be saved from eternal destruction and spend eternity in heaven with our Lord and us.

Christ has won the victory for us.  He has gained for us a final victory that is incomparable with anything we might gain here.  He has won our forgiveness, He has declared us righteous, and He has promised us a place with the righteous when He fulfills His promise and we see Him “sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 

God preserve us blameless and steadfast in the faith until that great day.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.