When Jesus appeared before the men of the Sanhedrin to be tried for His “high crimes and misdemeanors,” these religious authorities, who were rushing towards judgment, had trouble at first in finding any semblance of justification for what they were intending to do to Jesus (for example, see Matthew 26:57f). The initial charges brought against Jesus were false but inconsistent so they had no credibility even in this “kangaroo court.” Finally, two men came forward with the “charge” that Jesus had said he could rebuild the temple in three days (but Mark says even this was contradictory testimony, see Mark 15:57) if he were to destroy it.(Actually, John reports that Jesus had said that if his body were destroyed, that is if he was killed, he would rise again in three days, see John 2:18-22). Jesus did not dignify this ill conceived charge of his supposed desecration of the temple with an answer; in fact he remained silent for the most part here and later in the Roman governor’s judgment hall.
Then, the High Priest, Caiaphas, cleared the air and finally got down to cases; he asked Jesus point blank, “Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God (Matt. 26:63)? Suddenly, Jesus “sanctified” a question that went to the heart of the matter. He told Caiaphas in our vernacular, “You bet Mr. High Priest-go to the head of the class!” Jesus even made it “easier” for the Sanhedrin to finally achieve their goal of indicting Him on what they at least considered a legitimate charge. He continued by quoting from Daniel 7:13,14 and identified himself as the “Son of Man” who will appear in power and glory and be WORSHIPPED by all, see Dan. 7:14. That was enough for Caiaphus. He “tore his clothes” in the face of such “blasphemy” and said they didn’t need anymore evidence. Of course, they convicted an innocent man, who as the real Son of Man and Son Of God was merely telling the truth. So Jesus gave them what they needed, but if only they had realized what their real need was. They didn’t, because they were blinded by pride, and by their need to be right about Jesus rather than submit to our Lord’s authority. They loved their high position in the Roman scheme of things and zealously protected their reputation as Israel’s sages although in time they were exposed for their lack of knowledge and moral bankruptcy.
The Sanhedrin blew it all right, but so do many today. We love our independence (from God), our choice of life style, and our “right” to determine our own brand of truth. We choose to believe what is convenient and what is comfortable for us and so we reject Jesus’ absolute authority in matters of truth and ethics because to believe that he is God would mean that we must submit to his sovereignty. And so, like almost all the Sanhedrin (Nicodemus was a notable exception, see John 3, the “born again” chapter), we ignore or never seriously examine the compelling evidence regarding the claims of Jesus Christ. Space does not permit a full elaboration of this here, except that it begins with the statement that his claim to deity as given above makes him either a liar, or a lunatic, or the Real Thing. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will make you free (John 8:31,32).” Just how free are you today?
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