The Messiah and His Miracles

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah

The Death of the Messiah

The first element in the sign is the death of the Messiah. The Sanhedrists, politically manipulating the Roman justice system, terminated the life of the Messiah at a bloody execution outside Jerusalem.  The opponents of Jesus of Nazareth finally silenced the One who had weighed their lives, their work, and their culture, and found them wanting.  Using a charge of insurrection, the Chief Priests in their capacity as the main mediators between Israel and Rome, finally obtained the execution order they had been seeking for more than a year. Anticipating the actions of the Sanhedrin and Pilate, Jesus knew that everything was to culminate in the sign of Jonah. Therefore, He began His final journey in the knowledge that His life would soon end. But His eyes were not so much on the cross, as on the ascension: “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem”.[1] The writer to the Hebrews also says He looked for heaven and home: “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”.^[2]  Jesus tried to prepare the disciples by giving them additional detail of how He would be despatched. “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” [3]  It was less than a week before His death that He spoke for the first time of the mode of His execution, crucifixion! 

The Trials of Jesus

The Pharisees’ rejection of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah was mainly the result of His rejection of the oral law.  They felt they were fighting a battle, as did the Hasidim before them, against someone who was intent on bringing down the traditions they had sworn to uphold.  However, to facilitate their aim and defeat their enemy, they were prepared to break many of the laws they were committed to defend. These events served to demonstrate that the Pharisaic Sanhedrists were unprincipled hypocrites. When it served their purpose, these so-called defenders and upholders of the oral law trampled over it with impunity. In their ambition to kill the One who branded them as “blind guides”, “whitewashed tombs”, “sons of hell”, “fools”, “serpents”, “lawless hypocrites” and “brood of vipers”, they threw aside any and all respect for the oral law, and rushed to judgement.

The section of the Mishnah called ‘Sanhedrin’ gives the rules for trying capital cases.  These were the regulations that governed trials at the time of Christ. Some examples are as follows:

No arrest was allowed that was effected by a bribe. 

Charges could not originate with the judges.

Judges were to be humane and kind.

Judges were not allowed to participate in an arrest. 

There should be no arrests or trials after sunset.

There were to be no secret trials only public trials.

All trials should be in the Temple compound - normally in the chamber of hewn stones.

No prisoner should be scourged or beaten beforehand.

There should be no trials before the morning sacrifice.

All Sanhedrists may argue for acquittal but not all may argue for conviction – at least one must argue for acquittal.

Witnesses (2 or 3) must agree.

The accused is not allowed to testify against himself, and cannot be condemned on the basis of his own words alone.

An accusation of blasphemy is only valid if God’s name, YHWH, is pronounced.

The verdict could not be pronounced at night only during the day time.

Voting for the death penalty had to be done by individual count, beginning with the youngest, so that older members could not influence the younger.

The trial and guilty verdict could not occur the same time but had to be separated by at least 24 hours.

There had to be a gap of 3 days from the guilty verdict to the declaration of the sentence.

To summarise, the laws, formulated to govern the trial of those accused of capital crime, were humane and considerate. Every precaution was included to ensure a fair and proper trial. Where, when and how a trial was to take place was included in the law.  It had to be during the daytime and open to scrutiny, and in a place where the public could observe.  Justice had to be done, and had to be seen to be done.  A member of the Sanhedrin was required to take up the defence of the accused. Witnesses, whose testimony agreed, were required.  The accused would be forbidden to testify against himself – no forced confessions here!  There had to be a break between the trial and the verdict, to give time for the proper consideration of the facts of the case.  The law timetabled the sentence even further ahead – they built in the delays to allow time for the discovery of new evidence that might aid the case for the defence. 

In the trial of Jesus of Nazareth, in their ambition to silence the one authoritative voice that opposed them, they ignored all these regulations.

The defection of Judas had greatly helped the scheming Sanhedrists. With a disciple from the inner circle on board, it would be possible to frame an accusation before Pilate and have Jesus executed as an insurrectionist.  They presented Judas to Pilate as a political witness, using his testimony to support a political charge. On the testimony of Judas, the procurator signed the order for the use of force to arrest Jesus, and he allocated a unit of Roman soldiers for this purpose.  Understanding the need for haste during the festival, Pilate also committed himself to be ready early in the morning, to deal with the case.

So the long night, prosecuted by the power of darkness,[4] began with a betrayal.  Judas went to the garden of Gethsemane, with Roman and Temple guards, to arrest the Messiah.[5]  In the garden of Gethsemane, demon-possessed Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss.  Kissing a Rabbi was a sign of discipleship and a sign of homage.  Even the mode of betrayal was itself a betrayal, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” [6]

The arresting party first took Jesus to Annas. Annas had continued to exert the power of the High Priest even though Rome had deposed him in AD 14. It was in his residence that the first interrogation began. This hearing before Annas, the second hearing before Caiaphas, and the later third hearing before the Sanhedrin, all had the appearance of trials under Jewish law, but were without any of the safeguards of the Mosaic and Mishnaic codes. The first two were held at night, (against the law), and in secret, (against the law) and during the night, the accused was physically humiliated (against the law).

In these hearings, special attention was paid to the law of blasphemy.

From the home of Annas, they took Jesus to the palace of Caiaphas, who was son-in-law to Annas and the current holder of the office of High Priest. At this examination, the testimony of the witnesses did not agree, a situation that in normal circumstances should have ended the trial. Because the witnesses failed to bring convincing evidence, Caiaphas was compelled to use his high office and unlawfully question Jesus directly, using a formula that compelled a response. The oath, and the question that Caiaphas put to the Messiah, and which demanded an answer was, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God!” [7]  Here Caiaphas put his finger on the significant elements in the matter.  Here is a moment in time, when the decision by the nation would gain its final official status. Jesus answered clearly and responded in the affirmative, “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”. [8]  The whole counsel acted unanimously (and illegally), and proclaimed Him guilty of blasphemy and called for the death sentence.  Here, the law-breaking leaders of the nation judicially rejected their Messiah.  That all these activities took place at night made them unlawful, and served to demonstrate that these were the servants of the Prince of darkness, and enemies of the Light of the world.

Others in attendance that night, who claimed to be committed to the regulations of the Sanhedrists, ignored the instructions in the law that required them to act humanely, and perpetrated against the prisoner, actions that were high indignities. They abused the Lord of glory with fists, (which under other circumstances would carry a fine of several days’ wages); slapped Him across the face, (which could carry a fine of more than six months’ wages); and worst of all, in Jewish eyes, spat upon Him, (which could carry a fine of more than a year’s wages).

Those that rejected His Messianic claims because He broke the oral law, had no compunction about breaking the same law in at least twenty different instances.  The law’s requirements regarding the conduct of capital cases were completely ignored, thus proving, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”. [9]

During the humiliation of Jesus, Judas returned the blood money to the Chief Priests, recanted his actions, and then hanged himself.  In the morning, as many of the Sanhedrin as could be mustered were gathered together to confirm the verdict and give the proceedings a look of legality.

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[1] Luke 9.51

^[2] Heb.12.2

[3] Matt.20.18,19

[4] Luke 22.53

[5] John 18.3

[6] Luke 22.48

[7] Matt.26.63

[8] Matt.26.64

[9] Jer.17.9