GUILTY AS CHARGED

Again the high priest asked Him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”  “I am,” Jesus said. Mark 14:61b,62a

“Are you the king of the Jews? asked Pilate. “It is as you say,” Jesus replied. Mark 15:2.

There was a deep irony in Jesus’ trial. The religious leaders had both a reason and a motive for wanting to kill Him. For years they had hounded Him for healing people on the Sabbath. This was the worst form of sacrilege for them because the Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic covenant (Exodus 31:14-17). To break the Sabbath was to cut oneself off from the blessings and privileges of the covenant. Jesus responded by claiming the right both to heal and to forgive sins on the Sabbath because He was the Son of God.

This enraged them even further because He was adding to His guilt of Sabbath-breaking, the sin of blasphemy, which was punishable by death, because He claimed to be equal with God. They thought they had a watertight case against Him. This may have been legitimate if the evidence did not point to the truth that He was the Son of God. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was honest enough to recognise that He was special.

Their motive for wanting to kill Jesus was envy, according to Pilate (Mark 15:9, 10). Envy has a deeper connotation than coveting what someone else is or has. By His compassionate and merciful treatment of the people whom they despised because they thought they were better, Jesus had shown the religious leaders up for what they were, selfish, greedy hypocrites and they hated him for that. He challenged their idea of God by revealing the Father in His words and works and they wanted to silence Him.

As Jewish leaders, they could legitimately charge Him with blasphemy, but they could not execute Him. Only the Roman government could do that. The Sanhedrin tried Him for blasphemy, and He was found guilty on His own admission. The only problem was that He was found guilty because of their prejudice, not because they had examined the evidence. In fact, Jesus was guilty of the claim He had made, not of blasphemy, according to their interpretation, but of being the Son of God.

To pass the death sentence, Rome had to find Him guilty of treason – claiming kingship in opposition to Caesar. And so, He was sent to Pilate for his verdict. Once again Jesus himself admitted to His claim to be king of the Jews but not, as the Sanhedrin accused Him, to oust Caesar but king of the Kingdom of God. Not even Pilate bought into their lie, but he gave in to their demands to save his own skin.

Was Jesus guilty as charged? No. He was not guilty of blasphemy or treason according to the indictment of the Sanhedrin but, yes, He was guilty of the claims He had made. He is Son of God and He is king of the Jews!