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This week we conclude our discussion of chapter 22 of Luke’s Gospel. Please read verses 63-71 and Chapter 23:1-3 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 22:54 (NIV)
‘At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. “If you are the Christ,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied, “You are right in saying I am.” Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”’
Recently, I had a chat with someone about the concept of ‘justice’. It’s amazing what one discovers when you really start discussing the subject. The bottom line is that it’s very, very difficult to be truly impartial and fair. These days, we see judges on the television who are reported to be ‘very good judges’. Judge Rinder and Judge Judy are just two of the popular ones. Twitter and social media also regularly show video clips of court proceedings that are thought to be examples of what it means to be a great judge.
I saw one recently of a young mother who had a history of drug addiction and was caught exceeding the speed limit in her car. She was standing before the judge pleading for leniency because she had no money to pay the fine. She said that if she paid the fine, she would have no money left to feed her young child. The judge listened to her testimony and then decided to waive the fine. The young woman broke down in tears and offered her heartfelt thanks to the ‘great’ judge. Surely, this was the right thing to do was it not? It’s only fair that the penalty be waived. Or is it? Twitter feeds were full of comments and not all of them were in agreement. One man stated that it is grossly unfair that other people who had not wasted their money on drugs when they were younger have to pay the fines. Countless others agreed with him. Justice is a tough thing to administer. There have been so many high profile ‘miscarriages of justice’ and men and women have been paid thousands of pounds in compensation for the time that they were wrongly or unlawfully imprisoned. Even these cases have many people disbelieving the decision and insist on their guilt.
Every one of these miscarriages pale into insignificance when we see what happened to Jesus. He had been arrested overnight, beaten and subjected to intense ridicule. All without charge. It was also completely illegal for any trial to take place at night. Many people have tried to argue that the Sanhedrin did its best to give a fair trial and didn’t want to condemn Him to death. All three sections of the Sanhedrin are mentioned in our verses today and prove conclusively that they were all consenting to the so-called trial. They had tried to find witnesses to condemn Jesus but these proved to be of no help. So, they ask Jesus a question that could incriminate Himself. Under Jewish law, no prisoner could be convicted by His own evidence and yet the Sanhedrin did exactly that. The accused should have been assumed innocent unless proved guilty by two or three witnesses. When the witnesses disagreed, Jesus should have been set free.
This is the greatest miscarriage of justice ever to have taken place. Jesus, the innocent one stood condemned for one reason: to set the sinner free. Praise God that He did all this for us. We are sinners saved by grace and can rejoice that all of our sin was laid on the sinless one.
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