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Today we will continue with our study of the events of the week of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. When we left off last time Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane where He was praying and His disciples were sleeping.
Mark 14:36; We see from Jesus' prayer that physical life on this planet in the devil's world is expendable. Physical life is a means to an end not an end in itself.
We also see that God''s love was demonstrated by Jesus' suffering and His deaths. John 3:16; Rom 5:8;
Mark 14:40-49; Jesus' capture in the garden was the result of Judas' betrayal. Judas came with the Jewish party bosses along with a mob with swords and clubs to capture Him because they were afraid of Him and for good reason.
He let them take Him because it was in the decree of God. Matt 26:53-54; Net note 66
Judas kissed Him to identify Him to the mob and they seized Him. The Greek word translated "seize" is "krateo" means to grab violently and haul off.
One of the disciples (John 18:10; tells us it was Peter) took his sword and tried to defend Jesus but only ended up cutting off part of the ear of the high priest's servant (Malchus). Net note 26
In the upper room Peter had said, "I will die with you," but this shows us that sincerity is insufficient. He was sincere, he meant it, and he was personally very courageous as demonstrated by the fact that his sincerity put him into action doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason in the wrong way, at the wrong time.
Sincerity is not a Christian virtue. Sincerity is strictly human energy and determination that inevitably results in failure. The principle is that sincerity can't carry you only doctrine can carry you. There is no substitute for accurate doctrine because accurate doctrine is derived from God's immutable decree.
So when Peter should have been relying on the sword of the Spirit that is the Word of God, he instead relied on a physical sword and failed. Eph 6:17;
This is a perfect illustration of a person who is functioning in energy of the flesh with a lot of sincerity and good intentions. Peter intended to keep his promise, he intended to defend the Lord to the end, he intended to die with the Lord; but his good intentions in the energy of the flesh inevitably resulted in the worthless production of the evil of human good.
Peter hadn't learned anything from Jesus previous rebuke. Mark 8:33;
Peter had good intentions but His good intentions were neutralized by his ignorance of God's Word. In God's plan there is a way to operate and this was the time to be waiting and praying. This was the time to stand fast, do nothing, and wait on God. There is a time to fight but this wasn't it.
Mark 14:50-52; Then all of His disciples including Peter abandoned Him. Even Mark who was also following Jesus but when they tried to seize him he escaped by slipping out of his robe and running away naked. No one remained with Jesus, everyone abandoned Him. Net note 74
Mark 14:53; Jesus' trial before the Jewish religious authorities (The Sanhedrin).
Mark skips a trial. This is the second trial. John recorded the first trial because John didn't run too far away. He turned around and followed from a distance, as did Peter. John tells us that he first trial was held before Annas because Annas was the political party boss of the Jewish ruling class.
Annas was a former high priest, and now he is in charge of "murder incorporated" and the Sanhedrin and about everything else in Jerusalem that was Jewish.
No trial could begin without Annas' approval. John had turned around and followed from a distance so he saw this first trial and records it in John 18:12,24;
Mark skips it and comes to the second trial. The second trial is an official court session. The high priest must be present and the Sanhedrin acts as the supreme court of the land. They are fully assembled for this purpose in Mark 14:53;
Mark 14:55; This was a kangaroo court because they had predetermined Jesus guilt with no witnesses so this was a trial in search of a crime.
They know they have nothing against Jesus but under their law they must find two witnesses who will agree and take their testimony separately but that was impossible. Deut 19:15;
The trial completely illegal. It was held at night which was contrary to Jewish law, all trials must be held in the daytime.
There was no council for the defense. There was illegal procedure in the courtroom. In attempting to procure an indictment they deliberately seek false witnesses and they deliberately encourage perjury.
The judge attempted to get the accused to incriminate Himself under oath. The judge and the jury were prejudiced. There was violence in the courtroom. They passed sentence without a proper indictment or trial.
Mark 14:66-72; It was during this court session that Peter denied Jesus three times just as Jesus had said he would do during the Lord's supper. Mark 14:30;
Some points regarding Peter's denial of Jesus. Peter was saved when he denied Jesus. Peter did not lose his salvation when he denied Jesus.
Peter was disciplined as a child of God.
In John 21:15-17; we see that Peter did rebound. If Peter had died right after his denial he still would have gone to heaven based on the work of Christ, not on the work of Peter.
Rebound (1 John 1:9) gives the believer the opportunity to continue serving God in their physical body on this earth in the devil's world.
Peter had failed but he was still alive. The principle is that if you are still alive then God still has a plan for you in your physical life on the earth.
Mark 15:1; This was on Wednesday morning the day of the Passover that is the preparation day for the Passover seder that would be celebrated that evening at the start of the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Lev 23:5-6;
The Sanhedrin's verdict was guilty of death (Mark 14:64). The Sanhedrin could pronounce a death sentence but it could not exercise capital punishment. So a prisoner who was sentenced to death had to be turned over to the Roman authorities for them to be executed.
The Roman governor could either ratify or rescind the Sanhedrin's death sentence. If rescinded, a new trial had to be conducted before a Roman court and the Sanhedrin had to prove that the defendant had committed a capital crime under Roman law.
Since the charge of blasphemy (Mark 14:64) was not punishable by Roman law it was not mentioned in the Roman trial. Instead the Sanhedrin substituted a charge of treason.
By using Jesus' acknowledgment that He was Messiah and turning it into a political claim that He is the King of the Jews the Romans would consider it as treason so they could not ignore the charge.
Mark 15:2; Jesus' trial before Pilate is the first court and judge that Jesus comes to where there is no prejudice.
Pilate questions Him asking, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And Jesus said unto him, "It is as you say," an idiom for an affirmative answer.
Jesus had to answer this question. There was no way he could get around it because He is King of the Jews. He is King of the Jews because He is God, and as God He is the root of Israel.
As God, Jesus Christ, is the founder of the Jewish race; He was also was born directly into the line of David He is heir to the throne.
In both cases Jesus Christ is the King of the Jews and no one has a greater right to the throne than He did so He could not answer otherwise.
Mark 15:3-4; We see in this passage that during the first three trials Jesus Christ would not speak up or say anything to the Jewish mob bosses because He had already presented and they had rejected the clear evidence of His Messiaship for the previous three years.
So when the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees accuse Him He does not answer them. He does not dignify their questions with an answer. They already have more information than they need because for three years they have seen Jesus' accreditation as Messiah.
From the time He turned away and walked out on the Jews' religion at the end of the temple discourse He was finished with them. Jesus Christ will have nothing to do with religion. He will not speak to them.
They are in His face but someone can be in your face and you can still be separated from them. He would not answer them because they were only questioning them in their attempt to advance their evil hateful agenda.
But Pilate is objective. He is Roman and under Roman law he has been thoroughly trained in observation and in interrogation. Therefore his interrogation is legitimate and Jesus recognizes that and answers him in the affirmative.
Religion does not deserve an answer because religion has constantly had answers and rejected truth so Jesus has now separated Himself from religion. But Pilate is an objective and unprejudiced judge so he receives an answer.
The Roman procedure was for the accusers to speak first. The chief priests were standing up and declaring that He was guilty of claiming to be King of the Jews.
They were carried away with their hate so they constantly stood up and said derogatory things about Him but Jesus would not answer them.
His lack of response caused Pilate to be amazed. He was constantly amazed at the tremendous poise of the Lord Jesus Christ. The religious leaders have already condemned Him, they wanted Him dead and even though Jesus was forced to be in their presence He was separated from them.
The point is that separation is not only physical it is also mental. In this particular case we have a clear demonstration of mental separation. Jesus Christ would not speak to the religious mob bosses at all period!!!! because they had already rejected Him.
Mark 15:14-15; Even though Pilate believed Jesus was innocent, like most politicians he was weak because he was trying to please the mob.
Normal Roman procedure would have been to say, "I find this man innocent and he now has Caesar's protection and any man who tries to touch Him will suffer the consequences." In other words, He is under the protection of the Roman army.
Rather than standing for truth and justice and calling for the Roman soldiers to drive the mob out Pilate chose to placate mob with political expedience so he had Jesus beaten and sentenced Him to death by crucifixion.
Mark 15:20-21; After beating Him they led Him out to crucify Him. Even though in His humanity He is the strongest person who ever lived, by now because of the beatings He has experienced during the last 12 hours He was so weak that He could not carry the 100-pound crossbeam on which He would be crucified to the site of the crucifixion.
As they moved along the Roman soldiers and the crowd formed a procession through the streets of Jerusalem. When the centurion noticed that Jesus was staggering and could not carry the crossbeam a Jew from Cyrene is compelled to carry the cross.
Simon was a North African Jew who had come to Jerusalem to observe the holy days, beginning with the Passover, The days of Unleavened Bread and terminating with the Feast of Pentecost.
He was standing in the crowd minding his own business watching and suddenly he compelled to become part of the event because the Roman centurion commandeers him to assist Jesus with carrying the crossbeam.