Sermon Tone Analysis

Follow along as I read our passage today, Mark 14:53-65.

We have witnessed the betrayal of Jesus and the abandonment by His disciples.

We now witness Jesus being led away to the house of the high priest to stand before the religious elite in a mock trial.

During this mock trial, Jesus will be falsely accused and condemned to death just as He prophesied earlier.

The religious leaders will deny and reject Jesus’ claim to be the Christ and the Son of God.

The attitudes we see in the religious leaders still exist today by many who also reject God’s gift of salvation through Jesus.

I.

The Procession to the Trial (53-54)

The opening verses set the stage for this mock trial.

In them we learn about the conspirators and the conspiracy.

A. The Conspirators (53)

These men weren’t gathered by coincidence when Jesus was brought to he house of the high priest.

The conspirators were gathered and waiting for Jesus to be brought to them.

The group is made up of the important and influential Jewish religious leaders to include the high priest.

The high priests council, called the Sanhedrin, consisted of the chief priests, elders and scribes.

These particular individuals oversaw and directed Jewish worship and practice.

Nothing was done without their knowledge and consent.

They would have been the important people who make the decisions at the Presbyterian Church’s General Assembly.

They were also the men who should have known the Scriptures and recognized the Messiah standing in front of them.

Instead, they have gathered to conspire against Jesus.

B. The Conspiracy (53)

The purpose in this meeting wasn’t to have a trial.

This pre-planned meeting was to condemn Jesus and piece together false evidence so that the ruling body of Jewish leaders could present an argument to the Romans that would require Jesus’ death.

We know that at least two of the rulers did not agree with the group.

According to John and Luke, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were among the Sanhedrin and did not agree with the conspiracy.

But at least the majority agreed with Caiaphas and wanted Jesus dead.

C. The Compromise (54)

We will examine the denial of Peter in our next study, but here we discover he followed the procession toward the high priest’s palace, keeping his distance.

At the time Jesus needed a friend most, those who were closest to Him had abandoned Him as well.

Peter was concerned and curious, but he was also fearful and afraid.

This reveals that Peter had fallen away spiritually, following afar off.

He sits by the fire of denial, keeping company with those who despised Jesus.

We are often critical of Peter, but each of us have had times in our lives we have kept quite about our beliefs.

Each of us have warmed ourselves by the fire of disbelief and not spoken up against those mocking Jesus.

II.

The Proceedings in the Trial (55-59)

Mark records enough of the trial proceedings so we are able to understand what the conspirators wanted to happen.

A. The Approach (55)

Besides the religious leaders who had gathered as conspirators, there were several others who supported their leaders.

The religious leaders were set on gathering evidence against Jesus that would force the Romans to put Jesus to death.

They weren’t about to let truth stand in their way.

Maybe there were still a few rulers who weren’t prepared to condemn this man to death or maybe they knew there wasn’t any evidence to convict Jesus but this group of conspirators would investigate any claim anyone was willing to make against Jesus.

All of us have heard some about the Mueller investigation.

With a couple years of digging, no evidence against Trump has been provided, no matter which guilty witness Mueller forces to testify, none have produced any credible evidence against President Trump.

However bad and illegal we think the Mueller charade is, it pales in comparison to this mock trial of Jesus.

Jesus’ trial would not end until repeated lies convicted an the only innocent man.

B. The Animosity (56)

The animosity of the religious leaders was so strong they were willing to accept complete lies while ignoring the truth right in front of them.

The group of men they had gathered as witnesses were so preposterous, the witnesses couldn’t even agree on what to say.

However, the religious leaders were determined to murder Jesus regardless.

Sadly, this continues in our day as well.

People ignore the truth concerning Jesus.

They refuse to look to Him regardless of His presence and power in their lives.

One can identify with God or any number of other gods, but there is a determined hatred for Jesus.

There are organized groups who declare that any religion must be completely separate from any public display yet they only attack Christianity.

Why?

Because of their animosity toward God and Jesus.

C. The Argument (57-59)

Mark says that many gave testimony, yet Mark fastens on one particular charge.

It is clear that none of the witnesses understood the spiritual meaning of Jesus’ teaching.

We should pay attention to this particular charge.

Remember, they need a charge that is worthy of murdering someone.Claiming to be able to rebuild the temple in 3 days makes Jesus sound like He is a lunatic but that isn’t a crime worthy of death.

Notice the claim is that Jesus will destroy the temple made with hands ad rebuild one without hands.

Made with hands carries a meaning behind it.

From the OT, that phrase means it is pagan or idolatrous.

No sane person that night would think a man could possibly destroy the temple.

None of us here would believe that claim either.

But this accusation stuck, even with the misunderstanding of what Jesus taught.

I believe the religious leaders caught the significance of the phrase “with hands” and “without hands.”

Jesus was calling them and their old religion corrupt and idolatrous but He was re-establishing proper worship but by doing it “without hands” was a claim to deity.

The religious leaders were happy that the majority of people missed Jesus’ teaching.

The religious leaders wanted to condemn Jesus because His teaching, His presence was a condemnation against them.

Even with a collusion of false testimony, panic started to grip the religious leaders.

III.

The Panic during the Trial (60-61)

As the trial progressed, Caiaphas the high priest began to panic.

Their pre-planned trial wasn’t going according to their script.

A. The Temper of Caiaphas (60)

Jesus stood condemned and Caiaphas sat waiting for the evidence to support the decision.

Caiaphas had heard enough to know they had nothing to support the pre-determined verdict of guilty and sentence of death.

I believe most of the Sanhedrin thought Jesus would panic with so many willing to speak against Him and in an attempt to defend Himself would actually incriminate Himself.

With a self incrimination, no other witnesses would be needed.

Yet, Jesus stood silently and allowed them to show their own guilt.

Caiaphas knew his plans were falling apart and began to lose his temper.

We witness this still today.

Whenever someone is confronted with the truth of them being guilty of sin, they become angry and attack Jesus.

B. The Tactics of Caiaphas (61)

We see Caiaphas’ tactic in police movies all the time.

The cop drags someone into the interrogation room.

He will bully and berate the accused until the accused starts talking and incriminates themselves.

This is why we have the Miranda Rights so that a person can’t be made to incriminate themselves, especially an innocent man.

Why do people respond so angrily when the truth of Christ is presented to them?

Because we know we are all guilty.

We were all created in the image of God and part of that means that inside, we understand there is a right and a wrong.

And each of us have done wrong.

IV.

The Pinnacle of the Trial (62-65)

Caiaphas question in verse 61 brings us to the pinnacle.

Even when we read through the Bible or the Gospels, each of us have this question on our lips.

There isn’t one of us who don’t want the question answered.