Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. ⁵⁸ And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end. ⁵⁹ Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, ⁶⁰ but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward ⁶¹ and said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.'" ⁶² And the high priest stood up and said, "Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?" ⁶³ But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." ⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." ⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. ⁶⁶ What is your judgment?" They answered, "He deserves death." ⁶⁷ Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, ⁶⁸ saying, "Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?" (Matt. 26:57-68).

Introduction

When we come to communion we like to stress the fact that everything we say in preaching and do in listening to preaching is distinctively centered on the Lord Jesus. This means we do not focus on ourselves, even our sinful selves but on the Lord. After all, He made a point of saying, "Do this in remembrance of me"; so communion is not primarily a time of confession; it is that secondarily as a by-product of special remembering in special fellowship in the presence of the Lord (we are sinners in His presence but loved sinners and thus sinner/saints).

It takes time, concentration and focus to remember in a way that is guided by Scripture, especially by the Gospels. So today we give our time and concentration to Matthew’s remembering to focus on our Sabbath king on trial. What we have in this account are highlights of a profound, an unspeakably profound injustice. In outline we will cover two things: the background of the trial and the proceedings of the trial.

1A. Background to the trial

1B. Place and time

Jesus was arrested in the Garden and brought to the high priest, Caiaphas. The guards brought Him to the palace of the high priest as indicated by the perspective given in verse 58 ("in the courtyard of the high priest") with proceedings presumably going on inside the house.

It is nighttime (cf. 27:1) so the official meeting place at the temple could not be used. This is being done in great haste (without waiting until the next day) to avoid complications "among the people" (cf. 26:5, they sought to arrest Jesus "but not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people." By getting a quick verdict they can then use it to stem the tide of general unrest).

2B. People

1) The judges are identified

The judges are the highest officials of the land composed of high priest, chief priests, scribes, and elders (v. 59). This judiciary (Council, Sanhedrin, v. 59) might be compared to a gathering of the United States Supreme Court with the chief justice presiding. But something is obviously wrong with meeting for official action in the home of the chief justice and doing so at night.

This is a religious court composed of spiritual leaders (priests, scribes, and elders), the highest and most trusted representatives of the God of Israel. These men were entrusted with the great task of advancing the cause of justice "based" on God’s law: the priests were mediators between God and man in light of the broken law of God, the scribes were instructors in the law of God, and the elders were presbyters commissioned to rule by the law of God.

2) Peter is mentioned (26:58)

He is keeping His oath of allegiance in a roundabout way since he follows his teacher at a distance.

This reminds us of the ministry of Christ to all the disciples. It reminds us of the words of Christ to them regarding His coming suffering.

Mentioning Peter here prepares the reader for the account that follows in which Peter denies the Lord three times (26:69-75). But the distance at which Peter follows highlights the fact that "all the disciples left him and fled" (26:56) and it thus stresses the fact Jesus faces His bloodthirsty accusers alone:

Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me (Jn. 16:32).

3B. Goal of those involved

The contradiction of justice evident in the nighttime privacy of the trial is revealed in the goal that motivated the Sanhedrin: to put Him to death with some appearance of justice (26:59). This is in keeping with their plotting to arrest Jesus and kill Him (26:3-4).

Peter seems to be simply curious: "he sat with the guards to see the end." Whatever else may have motivated him is not stated, we are told that he wanted to see the end, to see how things turned out. He is not there to defend the Lord; he is not there to be at His side and give Him support. He is there anonymously with the guards at the side of those who arrested Jesus and who hold Him captive for trial.

2A. Proceedings of the trial

1B. First there is a fundamental difficulty

They have difficulty finding condemning evidence (v. 60) as indicated in three things.

1) It was difficult to secure credible negative testimony against the Lord Jesus even though many false witnesses came forward ("they found none…though many came forward" to testify). This should not surprise us because we know that He lived a holy life. He went about doing good. How can He be faulted for doing the will of God: His food and drink was to do the will of the Father who sent Him? No flaw can be found; there is no blemish to mar His perfection. He is the spotless Lamb of God being led to the slaughter under false pretenses. But His life is so profoundly holy that it is difficult to present false charges that look good.

2) The evidence finally presented was concocted and forced. After a difficult process ("At last"), negative testimony with some surface credibility was presented: "this man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days’" (v. 61). But this was a clear distortion of what Jesus had said. It had nothing but superficial credibility because a) He spoke about others destroying the temple that He would rebuild in three days. b) And the temple to which He referred was His body not the building in Jerusalem. Misunderstanding was layered on top of misunderstanding by these false witnesses (cf. Jn. 2:19-22; the false witnesses continued the confusion regarding the literal temple and they tweaked it with the idea that Jesus claimed the ability to destroy it and rebuilt it in three days).

3) Finally, the difficulty of making a descent case against Jesus is shown in the action of the high priest. In hurried frustration he departed from "sitting in judgment" to standing up to speak. He is disturbed at the fact that Jesus gives no reply to the false testimony. Apparently he is seeking to have the charges dignified by some kind of reply. But Jesus does not defend Himself nor does He seek to clarify the statements made regarding the temple. He does not seek to justify Himself; instead, He entrusted Himself "to the one who judges justly." Peter’s words written later are fitting to quote here:

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. ²³ When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed (1 Pet. 2:22).

This silence is not broken by the insistence of the high priest: "Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?" (v. 62). But "Jesus remained silent." As Isaiah had prophesied:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. ⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? ⁹ And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. ¹⁰ Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand (Isa. 53:7-10).

2B. Second there is a solemn oath

The frustrated high priest then drops the subject raised by the two false witnesses (and to which Jesus made no response showing no doubt that He could see through the trumped up charges and would not legitimatize them with a reply). He thus put Jesus under a formal oath "by the living God" to speak and tell the truth as to whether or not He thought of Himself as "the Christ, the Son of God" (v. 63). This is a last ditch effort to get Jesus to testify against Himself; no evidence brought against Him could be made to stick; they hated Him without a cause. He was oppressed and afflicted for righteous-doing not for wrong-doing. Now Jesus speaks up (v. 64). This is not a reply to the accusers or to the injustice of the proceeding. It is a straightforward self-disclosure and a prophesy.

1) The first thing Jesus said is somewhat veiled in the words: "you have said so." For this reply, the Gospel of Mark reports that Jesus said, "I am." All silence and all secrecy about His special and unique relationship to the Father in heaven is now set aside. Under oath, before the highest court in the land, "indeed, before all human history" (Ridderbos, 503), Jesus declared, "Yes, you have said it, yes I am the Messiah and I am the Son of God."

2) Next, and most powerfully, Jesus not only said "I am the Son of God" but He also said "I am the Son of Man." What makes this so astounding is that it is not just a reference to His true human nature (son of man) but a reference to the fact that as a man He is the Son of Man spoken of in the book of Daniel, the one to whom universal sovereignty will be given (Dan. 7:14).

As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. ¹⁰ A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened…¹³I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. ¹⁴ And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:9-10; 13--15).

By identifying Himself with the son of man of Daniel, Jesus directs out thoughts to the glory that will follow this present humiliation. They are in the process of condemning Him to death on the cross but He will be raised from the dead on the third day. Beyond the cross is the resurrection and ascension to the throne in heaven. He is universal sovereign and Sabbath king. They judge Him in a grave injustice; He will judge them at His coming with perfect justice. He is the universal Judge of the world!

Surely it is this knowledge of the purpose and plan of God that sustained our Lord as He faced the folly and cruelty of sinful men. He not only looked at the cross but through it to the accomplishment of the plan of God.

3B. Third, the verdict is announced

The high priest tore his clothes (breaking a commandment, Lev. 10:6; 21:10) and added more poison to an already poisoned well: He has spoken blasphemy…you have heard his blasphemy (v. 65). We are not surprised that when he asked for the view of the Council, they quickly replied: "He is worthy of death" (v. 66).

4B. Fourth, Jesus was mocked and abused in a kind of judgment in advance

It appears that these high officials of the church, these spiritual leaders, are involved in displaying deep personal contempt for Jesus. He was spit upon, beaten, and taunted (vs. 67-68):

Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, ⁶⁸ saying, "Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?"

At this point the narrative shifts to Peter in the courtyard (26:69-75) before moving to the morning and the appearance of Christ before Pilate (27:1f.).

Conclusion

What can we say to these things?

1) The words of Jesus are distorted

Strikingly, the prophecy contained in the words being distorted by the false witnesses is now coming to realization through that very distortion. This trial is about the destruction of the body of Christ and these words anticipate the rebuilding of His body by the resurrection in three days. God’s purpose and plan of accomplished redemption "stood behind and governed the sinful designs of men" (Ridderbos, Matthew, 502). Accordingly, He entrusted Himself to the Father’s will.

2) The silence of Christ is striking

Jesus does not justify Himself. Why? It is because He came to justify us; He goes to the cross despising the shame for the joy set before Him, even us of both Jews and Gentiles. He opened not His mouth but was led like lamb to the slaughter.

3) The throne in heaven belongs to our Sabbath king

He experienced the deepest humiliation on the way to the highest elevation. By the resurrection He became Lord and Christ, Sabbath king, universal sovereign and universal judge. But His humiliation and exaltation is our redemption. In going to the cross and to the throne, the Lord of glory secured the glory of heaven for undeserving sinners like you and me. By faith we now have eternal life because He gave Himself to the destruction of death. So we can each sing: "Jesus I am resting, resting in the joy of what thou art, I am finding out the greatness of thy loving heart."