April 22, 2002
BaptistWay Bible Study for Texas lesson for May 19
The plans of God and men met in the crucifixion
___By Debbie Chisolm
___Mark 14:53-15:20
___14:53 They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together. 54 Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.
___55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. 56 Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.
___57 Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 58 "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.'" 59 Yet even then their testimony did not agree.
___60 Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" 61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
___Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"
___62 "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
___63 The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. 64 "You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"
___65 They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him.
___66 While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.
___"You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus," she said.
___68 But he denied it. "I don't know or understand what you're talking about," he said, and went out into the entryway.
___69 When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, "This fellow is one of them." 70 Again he denied it.
___After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, "Surely you are one of thevm, for you are a Galilean."
___71 He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, "I don't know this man you're talking about."
___72 Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept.
___15:1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
___2 "Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.
___"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
___3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of."
___5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
___6 Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
___9 "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
___12 "What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.
___13 "Crucify him!" they shouted.
___14 "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
___But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
___15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
___16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. 17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 And they began to call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
___Mandy was 14 years old and played on her school's volleyball team. She had an awesome serve and the ability to give the game her full focus. I loved watching her play.
___The season was barely over when Mandy noticed a lump on her neck. The doctors' diagnosis was cancer, and Mandy began to battle for her life. She underwent surgery to remove the lump and began chemotherapy. The chemo treatment was brutal. Her body rejected several drugs, and she endured violent reactions. Not only did the chemo kill the cancerous cells, it damaged healthy organs as well, caused her hair to fall out, weakened her immune system and kept her in the hospital and out of school.
___But Mandy had no choice, no decision to make. She would do whatever necessary to kill this dangerous foe. The cancer had to be destroyed, or it would destroy her.
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___A matter of life and death
___The religious leaders of Jesus' day must have felt the same way concerning Jesus that Mandy felt toward her cancer. Jesus had to be annihilated or he would destroy them. Jesus would put an end to their power over the people, their prestige in the community and their control of the Temple. If Jesus' popularity continued to grow, not only would they be stripped of their title and position, but they were in danger of losing their wealth and financial security.
___There's no way for us to know for sure what their true motivation was. Some think it was envy, others that they felt that they were so powerful they could get away with anything. I think it was the desperate act of self-preservation.
___When Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead, they knew he was dangerous; when he walked into the temple and with absolute authority drove out the merchants and the money changers, they knew he had to die. They didn't have a choice. It was either him or them. This decision was made long before they put him on trial.
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___Trial before the Sanhedrin
___Jesus was arrested and taken to the Sanhedrin, which is usually interpreted "council" in the English translations of the Bible. The Sanhedrin was the supreme ruling council of the Jews. The council had 71 members headed by the high priest. It consisted not only of the Jewish aristocracy, but expert interpreters of the Torah, known as scribes.
___The lay and priestly aristocracy belonged to the religious party known as the Sadducees, while the scribes were closely aligned with the group known as the Pharisees. Most biblical scholars agree that the Sadducees were the ruling element within the Sanhedrin. It isn't known how one became a member of the Sanhedrin, though the appointment was probably for life.
___The Sanhedrin worked in conjunction with the ruling sovereigns of Judah. Therefore, they exerted authority under the watchful eye of the Romans. Roman leaders allowed conquered people, such as the Jews, to follow their own legal system so long as they didn't abuse their privilege. Generally, they allowed the chief priests considerable autonomy and authority; however, their actual authority was dependent upon how much power the sovereigns allowed. This is why the chief priests had to convince a Roman judge their demand for capital punishment was justified.
___The Sanhedrin had legislative, judicial and executive powers only over the Jews of the Roman province of Judea. Therefore, Jesus did not come under their authority until he hazarded into Judea. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Lord was under their jurisdiction, and so it was the police force of the Sanhedrin that arrested Jesus that dreadful evening.
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___Broken rules and convenient charges
___They held the Jewish trial at night hoping Jesus' supporters would be asleep and unable to protest his arrest. The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy, a capital offense under Jewish law (Leviticus 24:16). Jesus was taken to Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest, Caiaphas. Annas had been high priest in A.D. 7-15. He probably was the most influential member of the Sanhedrin.
___If this trial were a formal meeting of the Sanhedrin, then several rules were broken. The council was not supposed to meet at night nor during Passover. Whenever a person was accused of an offence and brought before the Sanhedrin, they were always allowed two witnesses. If the trial was nothing more than an informal meeting of Jewish leaders, rules would not have to be followed. And so perhaps, this was more of an informal gathering of the Sanhedrin rather than a formal trial.
___The charge of being a messianic figure would not have enraged the Jews, so the chief priests focused on the issue of divine sonship. Even though this blasphemy was enough to satisfy the Jews, it would never persuade the Roman government to sentence Jesus to death. In the Roman trial before Pilate and Herod Antipas, the charge of blasphemy never was mentioned.
___When the Jewish leaders brought the Lord before these sovereign rulers, the charge was he claimed to be a king. This accusation sounded very much like treason, and to the Romans there was no greater crime. That would be sufficient to cause Rome to agree to a death penalty. They already had experienced much political unrest in Judea caused by the Zealots and others. Everything was falling into place. The Jewish leaders were confident this Galilean cancer would be removed and destroyed.
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___A disciple denies
___While all this was going on, Peter, whose personal name means "stone" or "rock", was following from a distance. Peter is credited with being a leader of the 12 disciples whom Jesus called. Whenever the Bible lists the names of the disciples, Peter's name always is first. Peter often served as the spokesman for the disciples and usually was the one to say out loud the questions they all seemed to be asking.
___Sometimes when Jesus was teaching, he would single Peter out and share something with him that was intended for the entire group. As a member of the inner circle, Peter was present with Jesus to witness special moments and miracles. It's not surprising that of all the disciples, it would be Peter who would follow Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.
___Once inside the courtyard, Peter tried to mingle into the crowd, and so he sits with guards, warming himself at the fire. Jesus will be questioned before the Sanhedrin, and Peter will be questioned in the courtyard. Peter's behavior under questioning by those in the courtyard and Christ's by the high priest would be quite different. The Lord confesses, but the disciple denies.
___Peter's first denial was directed to a maidservant when he pretends not to understand. This is followed by an attempt to get away from the courtyard and from public attention. The persistent maidservant pursues him, and so Peter is forced to deny his role as a disciple when he declares he is not one of those associated with Jesus. A third denial exaggerates the shame, because Peter swears an oath he does not know Jesus. As Peter says this, he curses. Many scholars think Peter is cursing Jesus. If that is so, then he has surely reached the lowest depths of degradation in his call to discipleship.
___According to Mark
___Of the four gospels, Mark paints the most brutal picture of Peter. Not only does he share the fact that Peter curses, but he is the only one to include the conversation in Mark 8:33 where Jesus calls Peter Satan. (There are some who believe Mark portrayed Peter in a highly negative light in order to discredit him, because he opposed a form of Jewish Christianity centered in Jerusalem.)
___In coming years, many Christians would face martyrdom rather than deny or curse Jesus, including Peter. Tradition holds Peter died as a martyr, crucified on an upside down cross in Rome in the 60s. But that would be the Peter filled with the Spirit that transforms the timid into the bold.
___The instant the curse is uttered, Peter remembers Jesus' prophetic words about a triple denial and he is moved to tears.
___Isn't it ironic that at the very moment Jesus is being mocked by the Sanhedrin's challenge to prophesy, in the courtyard his prophecies were coming true? It must have been an eerie scene. Jesus and Peter in the same place and time being questioned and pursued. I wonder if Jesus was thinking about Peter, knowing that he was outside, wanting to be strong but finding only weakness. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak"--Jesus knew him well.
___And so the evening ends as Jesus knew it would while he was praying in the garden. The One who would not abandon a woman caught in the very act of adultery, the Lifegiver who would not desert his Lazarus to the grave, the Savior who would not betray his friends even though he knew before the morning came they would betray him was now abandoned, deserted, betrayed. No one will come to his defense, not even his Father. Jesus will die alone.
Questions for thought and discussion
___Have you ever had to fight for your life? In the midst of such a battle, what are some of the thoughts and emotions that would be filling your head? Is it a sin to kill someone who you believe is intent on killing you?
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