Let us praise God for this opportunity to see another Good Friday in our lives. In this devotion I intent to think about the events that had taken place 2000 years ago in Jerusalem that had divided the world into AD and BC. Here I am going to tell you about the FOUR TRIALS OF JESUS.
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives which is also known as the Garden of Gethsemane to spend the night (Luke 22:39) where he and the disciples usually go to spend the night. His mind was troubled because of the things that could happen to him during this night so He prayed for strength. When the hour came at that night, the betrayer Judas came with a group of people. Judas wanted to pretend that he had done nothing and was not responsible for the arrest. Instead of pointing the finger to him that this is the man you are searching for Judas betrayed him with a kiss.
Jesus was handed over to the rulers of the world who unfortunately became the characters of the crucifixion story. Can we say that these people were selected to bring God鈥檚 plan to sacrifice Jesus. Not at all, they were selected for this heinous crime because they were crooked and jealous. They were evil and corrupt so they were selected for this heinous act of crucifying Jesus on the cross.
聽 According to Luke 22:2, the group of people Judas brought with him were the chief priest, officials, temple guards and the elders of Jerusalem. They were the supporters of the Sanhedrin, and were a gang of people who lay wait for the blood of an innocent man, wanted to get rid of the obstacle in front of them to carry out their power on people. 聽They arrested Jesus from the Garden of Gethsemane at night. Do not be surprised if I say that we have people in this world with similar mentality, who enjoy seeing human suffering, making political plans to torpedo the development of a neighbouring nation, being jealous on other individual鈥檚 progress, killing innocent people in the name of peace, making children and women suffer because of the death of soldiers in the wars, heinous tortures in camps, all these people are with the same character as the one who crucified Jesus.
听听听听听听听听听听听 John鈥檚 gospel shows us the first trial of Jesus that he was taken to the house of Annas, who was the father in law of the High Priest Caiaphas. 聽We have to remember that Annas had no right to do a trial on a crime but they brought Jesus to his house to conspire which can bring a death penalty. It was already decided by the ruling class from the Jewish community that Jesus had to crucify; hence the trials were just a mockery to show that what they did was legal. Again Annas wanted to enjoy seeing how a person is suffering, when the temple guards release extreme torture up on Jesus he get a satisfaction. We have several Annas in this modern world, who enjoy seeing the suffering of another individual. God called us as 鈥榚cclesia鈥� not to enjoy the suffering of another person but to take the suffering of others and give peace, that is the justice of God, in doing so we become heirs of the Kingdom of God for 鈥淏lessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven鈥� (Matthew 5:10.)The suffering of Jesus invites us to celebrate the suffering for the sake of Justice and peace. 聽聽
Jesus was taken for the second trialby the Sanhedrin where the High Priest Caiaphas questioned Jesus.
People accused Him of:
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听聽聽 - This man instigates people to rebel.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听聽 听听听听听听听听听听听 -聽 This man claims to destroy the temple and he will rebuild it in 3 days.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听聽 听听听听听听听听听听听 - This man says blasphemy on the Lord.
聽Caiaphas the high pries knew none of the charges will stand for the ultimate penalty of death. He asked Jesus "are you the son of God and Christ?鈥� Jesus replied "yes I am." This was the most blasphemous statement in the Law of Moses which is against the most Holy God of the Hebrews. The Sanhedrin declared the verdict that this is a crime punishable by death, but the Sanhedrin did not have the authority to sentence a man to death. So they took Jesus to the Roman Governor Pilot.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Jesus was taken to the third trial with pilot: the High priest, members of the Sanhedrin, temple guards, elders along with the rich and affluent about whom Jesus pointing the fingers brought Jesus to Pilot the Roman Governor at Jerusalem. They levelled against Jesus all the accusations they conspired earlier and arranged people to witness. Here they added another accusation that is this man declares King against Cesar. 聽Pilot learns that all these accusations are not correct so he did not find a crime which can bring him a capital punishment. Then he learned that Jesus was from Galilee so Pilot sent Jesus and the group to the Governor of Galilee 'Herod'. Herod heard a lot about Jesus and wanted to meet him. When Jesus was brought in front of him for the trial he was happy. Jesus ignored him. In the third trial Herod also could not find any reason that Jesus should be put to death. Herod returned Jesus to the Pilot for further trial.
聽聽聽聽聽 聽Jesus was brought for the fourth and final trial: Pilot examines the accusations and accusers and find out that all these accusations are not a threat for the Roman emperor so Pilot cannot sentence the accused to death, and on the other side the high priest and the group of people strongly demand the death of Jesus so Pilot was in a miserable stage. On the other hand his wife warned Pilot not take part in shedding this innocent mans blood. Considering all these factors Pilot said
" When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility! (Matthew 27:24)
The evil over goodness triumphant once again in history, a group of blood thirsty people who were adamant upon sentencing Jesus the most heinous death got what they wanted. He was to be crucified.
So he was crucified between two criminals, so that Jesus would also be counted among the criminals, but they were wrong, one man from the cross accepted Jesus and inherited the Kingdom of God, and Jesus become the centre for peace and forgiveness, the one and only event in history which stand for peace and justice, the true and ultimate example of love. Yes He loved us up to the cross. He left us at the cross and took the journey alone for our transgressions.
听听听听听听听听听听听 At this time let me invite you to examine our life, our attitude with our friends, colleagues, family members, close relatives, distant relatives. Let us examine to find if there any amount of character resembles of these Jewish rulers in our lives? Let us keep a watch.
They were laying in wait for the life of this innocent man Jesus. Please be remembered that if there is a move to think for harm to any one, then the same pattern of the Jewish rulers comes to light.
聽聽聽聽 So brothers and sisters what shall I add.... if at any point of time you need to face suffering for the cause of righteousness let that not discourage you but inspire you that you are elected to partake in His suffering and your reward is the Kingdom of Heaven, and you represent聽 the 鈥榚cclesia鈥� the Church.
God bless you...
