Mark 14:53-65--Jesus Before the Council

Mark 14:53-65
English Standard Version
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Jesus Before the Council
53 And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. 54 And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. 55 Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. 56 For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. 57 And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” 59 Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. 60 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” 61 But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64 You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death. 65 And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.

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"The Council" here and in other places in the New Testament refers to the Sanhedrin, a council of 70 elders that has its basis in Mosaic Law in Numbers 11:16.  They believed that the "mantle of leadership" of Moses had passed on to them over time and that they ruled and judged the people in the place of Moses until the Messiah was to come (and they really didn't want the Messiah to come because they liked being in power).

In this passage, the council convenes secretly in the cover of darkness at the home of the high priest (all of this is wrong because of the where, when, and how), and The Council knowing that they didn't have any hard facts to use to indict Jesus tried to bribe witnesses to give false testimony against Him, but they couldn't even get two of the people they had paid to follow the script and make the same accusation.  Eventually, they got two people to say that they heard Him say that He was going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.  That's actually pretty close to what He said, and He was on the Temple grounds when He said it, so no doubt there was some confusion, but He was talking about how He was the greater Temple and they would try to destroy Him (kill Him), and He would be raised on the third day, and He's identifying that He will be able to raise Himself up after his crucifixion.  The Pharisees will remember this and understand that claim, but not believe it, but those who were His disciples would not understand the claim until after the Resurrection.  Even about this, their testimony did not agree though, because some remembered Him saying that the new temple that He would build would be "not made by hands" and others remembered Him saying something different.  Without full agreement by two or three witnesses, the Mosaic Law prevented them from bringing any charges.

The Council decided to intervene and try to force Jesus to testify against Himself, but He remained silent ("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. --Isa. 53:7).  Then the high priest using his power and authority vested in him asked Jesus to tell them plainly if He was the Christ or not, and under the Law, Jesus had to answer this question--though no one accused of a crime was ever supposed to be asked to testify against themselves, so one part of the Law stood in opposition to another part of the Law because The Council was twisting and abusing the Law instead of obeying it.  Jesus did answer the high priest's question by saying "I AM" (it is not correctly written here, but Jesus applied the covenant name of God to Himself so that all would clearly hear His claim not only to being the Messiah, but to being God in the Flesh.  Furthermore, Jesus said that He was the Son of Man in Daniel 7:13-14 (let me quote that here so that you can see the reference Jesus is making).


Daniel 7:13-14
English Standard Version

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion
13 “I 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.

Jesus answered them plainly for sure.  They asked Him if He was the Christ, the son of the Blessed (they would not say God for fear of taking His name in vain, so they would say things like "the Father" or "the Blessed").  Jesus told them, but they did not believe.  Instead, they ripped their clothes (usually a sign of mourning, but here it was a sign of anger), and this too was against the Law for the high priest to tear his robes.  They said they had no more need for witnesses because all of them had heard Jesus's own words, and they accused Him of blasphemy--specifically, they were saying that He was claiming to be equal with God when He was not.  The issue with that was, He told them exactly who He was--He was God the Son, they just didn't want to believe that, so He didn't commit blasphemy, and the Resurrection will prove that.

They then immediately sentenced Him to death.  In the Old Testament, that sentence would have been carried out by those who had heard the blasphemy carrying him out to the gate of the town where the elders would be during the daytime and they would hear the testimony of the witnesses, and if the judges were convinced, then those who heard the blasphemy would cast the first stones, but the whole community together would stone the blasphemer.  The problem here is that the judges and the "witnesses" are one in the same and have engaged in a criminal conspiracy to commit murder.  They aren't holding the trial in the daytime in front of the whole congregation, they are holding it in secret and shutting everyone out other than their witnesses that had paid off.  I hope you are getting the idea that everything about this from the moment they paid Judas with money out of the Temple treasury to betray Jesus was wrong (even their plotting before that was wrong, but they so want to get Jesus that they are willing to violate the very Law that they say they are supposed to be judging by).

Lastly, the officials in the courtroom then bound and blindfolded Jesus and mistreated Him (again, illegal in Mosaic Law).  They would take turns striking Him and then someone would say "Prophesy" (to tell them who struck Him).  In this way they mocked Him and showed that they did not believe that He was the Prophet who was greater than both Moses and Elijah--the Son of God, God in the Flesh, who came to speak the words of the Father to His people.

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