We here cries in today’s society of, “I want justice”, “Give me/us justice” or “I/we can’t get any justice.” My question is–what is justice? Is it what YOU want or what the law says is right. If it’s not good for “Me”, then it can’t be justice. That seems to be the attitude today. What I want to take a look at here is the total injustice of Jesus’s trial before going to the cross to die for you and me.
Leviticus 19:15-19
A) You shall do no injustice in judgement
B) Jews had centuries to perfect their judicial system
This founded upon Deuteronomy 16:18-20
A) You shall appoint Judges and Officers in all your towns
B) Judge with righteous Judgement
C) Never pervert or distort justice
D) No practicing of partiality
E) Never accepting a bribe
F) Administer justice and only justice.
The application here is: Be fair in justice so you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God gives you.
The Sanhedrin at all levels guaranteed:
Deuteronomy 19:15-21
A) A fair trial
B) The right of disputing charges
C) No conviction without evidence of 2 or more witnesses to the accusation
John 18:15-24
A) Jesus before Annas, son-in-law of Caiaphus, the High Priest–“Jewish Council”
B) Annas was looking to legitimize the charges to Roman Officials
C) He asked Jesus about his work and followers
D) Protocol demanded that 2 or more witnesses already exist
E) Jesus challenges Annas–“Call your witnesses”
F) Unsuccessful, Annas sent an unindicted Jesus to Caiaphus
Now occurring during the trial and making the trial contrary to Biblical principals of Justice and Jewish Law.
A) No formal charges were made, no formal basis existed for Jesus’s arrest and there had to be at least two witnesses.
B) There was no investigation by the Court to determine the merits of any accusation–Deuteronomy 19:16-18
C) Arrest took place at night in order to hide the evil that was happening, Matthew 26:14-16,20,30,47-50
D) You shall not pervert justice–Deuteronomy 16:19
John 18:28
A) Trial was at night–Jewish law only permitted proceedings that took place during daylight hours.
B) Trial began before morning sacrifice at Temple–Illegal based on Jewish Law.
C) Trial held before one of God’s annual Feast Days.–Illegal based on on Jewish Law because it began on a day before a High Holy Day (First day of Unleavened Bread–John:18:28)
D) Trial was too short (Approximately 3 hours)–It minimized the chances of the of the Council to have advocated Him and witnesses couldn’t be notified in time. Trial is one day and if death sentence is pronounced, the trial couldn’t be concluded until the next day according to Jewish Law.
E) The trial was not held before impartial Judges. The Judges at the trial hated the accused and Jewish Law forbids a person from Judging a case if they are negatively biased.
F) False witnesses were allowed to testify
G) Condemnation charge was false–charged with blasphemy when He was telling the truth.
H) Death penalty was unanimously agreed–Illegal in Jewish Law to unanimously condemn a person to death if no one testified as a witness.
I) Sentence announced in an unlawful place. The final sentence was pronounced in the High Priest’s Palace (House/home). It was illegal to sentence someone to die in any location other than the Great Sanhedrin’s appointed place, which was a chamber in Jerusalem’s Temple known as the Chamber of Hewn Stones.
J) The Court changed the charge after the trial. After the trial, the Sanhedrin again changed the charges, this time from blasphemy to treason. They changed the charges to a Roman crime so they could improve their chances of having the Romans (And not them) do the dirty job of murdering Him.
K) The rest of the story is Pontius Pilate determined He was innocent, but still turned Him over to the soldiers for crucifixion to appease the crowd.
There was absolutely nothing right with what happened–a total INJUSTICE. Today we would liken this to a Kangaroo Court.
Today we would liken this to the FBI investigation and Hillary Clinton skating.
Yes, we could.