The Day Jesus Remained Silent! Matthew 26:57-67

 Jesus Before the Sanhedrin

57 Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. 58 But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome. 59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 60 But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward 61 and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” 62 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” 63 But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” 64 “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66 What do you think?” “He is worthy of death,” they answered. 67 Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him 68 and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”

The Sanhedrin was a group of 71 Jewish men who ruled over the Jewish people.  They were made up of both Pharisees and Sadduccees (the two major religious groups) and the scribes and elders.    Caiaphas was the high priest who oversaw the temple.  He went into the temple (the holy of holies) once a year during Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) to sprinkle the altar with the blood of the unblemished lamb to provide atonement for the sins of people of Israel.  Over time the high priesthood became more politicized and even bribery began to happen in the 2nd century b.c. 

Because they saw Jesus as a threat, they were looking for any offense that would merit capital punishment. Note Peter followed at a distance. After his recent three-fold denial, perhaps he was looking to redeem himself.  Many came forward with false charges against Jesus. But the leaders knew they needed a legitimate reason to kill Jesus, to avoid inciting another insurrection among Jesus' sympathizers. This also points to the exemplary life that Jesus led that they could not find anything on him.  

The only thing that seemed legitimate was a false accusation that Jesus saiid he was going to detroy the temple.  But this statement Jesus made was taken completely out of context.  Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up."  And, of course, Jesus was referring to his body. Rather than trying to defend himself, Jesus was silent.  This was in fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah 53:7, "He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth." 

Lacking anything substantive, the high priest got straight to the point.  He asked Jesus, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the living God?"  "Seeing the trial going badly, Caiaphas confronted Jesus, acting more as an accuser than an impartial judge." Guzik

Again rather than trying to defend himself, Jesus merely says the truth, "You have said so."  But then he adds that in the future they would see him at the right hand of the Mighty One (another word for "God" which was used to avoid pronouncing God's name - Guzik). With this statement Jesus was clearly claiming equality with God which gave the high priest evidence for the official charge of blasphemy. The term would have been correct had Jesus' statement not been true.  The consequence someone blaspheming the name of the Lord, according to Leviticus 24:6, was death.  

With this hurdle cleared, we now begin to see the abuse heaped upon Jesus leading to his crucifixion.  It is only when we remember that Jesus was indeed God that we can truly grasp the horror of this treatment.  The anger of these men began the cruel and inhumane treatment from which Jesus never lifted a finger to defend himself.  

“As one reads this story one wonders more and more at the greatest miracle of all, the patient suffering of the spotless One.” (Morgan)

What does this whole situation teach you about Jesus' character? When you are charged with something unfair, how do you react?  What it be like to be silent and let God bring justice to your cause?