out of hiding

I was messing around with the 8-year old when I caught this shot. Another beautiful day to enjoy. Spent my quiet time reading about Christ's crucifixion and resurrection in each gospel. What really hit me was the nature of his "trial" - the high priest in charge of the Roman judicial system was outraged by Christ's claims, His influence a great threat to their power. Despite Pilate's reservations, Caiaphas insisted on Christ's crucifixion.

Here's an interesting excerpt from Wikipedia:

Matthew: trial of Jesus

In Matthew 26:57-26:67, Caiaphas, other chief priests, and the Bet Shammai dominated Sanhedrin of the time are depicted interrogating Jesus. They are looking for "false evidence" with which to frame Jesus, but are unable to find any. Jesus remains silent throughout the proceedings until Caiaphas demands that Jesus say whether he is the Christ. Jesus replies "I AM", and makes an allusion to the Son of Man coming on the clouds with power. Caiaphas and the other men charge him with blasphemy and order him beaten.

John: relations with Romans

In John 11, Caiaphas considers, with "the Chief Priests and Pharisees", what to do about Jesus, whose influence is spreading. They worry that if they "let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation." Caiaphas makes a political calculation, suggesting that it would be better for "one man" (Jesus) to die than for "the whole nation" to be destroyed.

In John 18, Jesus is brought before Annas and Caiaphas and questioned, with intermittent beatings. Afterward, the other priests (Caiaphas does not accompany them) take Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, and insist upon Jesus' execution. Pilate tells the priests to judge Jesus themselves, to which they respond they lack authority to do so. Pilate questions Jesus, after which he states, "I find no basis for a charge against him." Pilate then offers the Jews the choice of one prisoner to release — said to be a Passover tradition — and the Jews choose a criminal named Barabbas instead of Jesus.

Political implications

For Jewish leaders of the time, there were serious concerns about Roman rule and an insurgent Zealot movement in Beit Shammai to eject the Romans from Israel. The Romans would not perform execution over violations of Jewish law, and therefore the charge of blasphemy would not have mattered to Pilate. Caiaphas' legal position, therefore, was to establish that Jesus was guilty not only of blasphemy, but also of proclaiming himself the messiah, which was understood as the return of the Davidic king. This would have been an act of sedition and prompted Roman execution.

Acts: Peter and John refuse to be silenced

Later, in Acts 4, Peter and John went before Annas and Caiaphas after having healed a crippled man. Caiaphas and Annas questioned the apostles' authority to perform such a miracle. When Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, answered that Jesus of Nazareth was the source of their power, Caiaphas and the other priests realized that the two men had no formal education yet spoke eloquently about the man they called their savior. Caiaphas sent the apostles away, and agreed with the other priests that the word of the miracle had already been spread too much to attempt to refute, and instead the priests would need to warn the apostles not to spread the name of Jesus. However, when they gave Peter and John this command, the two refused, saying "We cannot keep quiet. We must speak about what we have seen and heard."

Before the trial had began, they'd already determined that Jesus must die. (Mark 14:1; John 11:50). No defense was even sought or allowed (Luke 22:67-71). They were not interested in giving Jesus a fair trial. In their minds, Jesus had to die. This blind obsession led them to pervert the justice they were appointed to protect, breaking several of their own "rules" in rigging the trial.

Caiaphas was a man seething in his own bitter stew. Ironically, his desperate attempt to stifle Jesus had quite the opposite effect. The same goes for many of Christ's disciples, who died cruel and horrible deaths for preaching the gospel.

Did they all die for a lie? An interesting thought.