Following His arrest, Jesus was led to the high priest for a trial before the assembly known as the Sanhedrin. This governing assembly was created when Moses cried out to God for help because he was finding it so difficult to keep leading the people through the desert by himself. The Lord counseled him to, "Bring Me seventy of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone." (Number 11:16-17)
The type of men making up the Sanhedrin in Jesus' day were not being led by the Holy Spirit, or at least the ones who were invited to His illegal trial were not. They were not the type of men Moses would have considered worthy to be trusted with the laws of God.
The nighttime trial of Jesus was illegal for a number of reasons.which we are going to look at today.
1. First of all, Jesus' trial was completely wrong from the outset because legal cases could not be heard at night. Holding a trial at night would hinder the finding and questioning of witnesses. Those who could testify on behalf of the defendant might not be available to give their testimonies. Likely this was the intention of the Sanhedrin. They probably only summoned those who could be counted on to say what they wanted them to say.
2. The Sanhedrin themselves originated the charges against Jesus, and this too was illegal. An example we could use would be the judges in our own courtrooms today. They are not the ones who originate charges against anyone or gather evidence against anyone or seek witnesses to testify at trial. Judges simply hear the cases once the charges are brought. Judges ensure that the law is followed during the trial so that a mistrial or repeal of the verdict can be avoided if possible. These are the things the Sanhedrin were supposed to do. Instead they originated the charges, manufactured their own false evidence and witnesses, and rendered the verdict they had already decided beforehand to render.
3. The verdict in a capital trial could not be handed down on the same day as the trial. A person's life was at stake and the verdict had to be carefully considered overnight. Jesus was tried and condemned by the Sanhedrin in the same night, which brings us to point number 4 below.
4. A capital trial could not be held on the day before the Sabbath. Since the verdict was to be decided the day following the trial, holding a trial on the day before the Sabbath would require working on the Sabbath to render the verdict. Jesus was tried the day before the Sabbath. Because the Jewish reckoning of days means a new day begins at 6:00 in the evening, Jesus' trial was held on Friday. This meant the verdict should not have been rendered until Saturday, but that would break the Sabbath. The Sanhedrin circumvented this problem by rendering their verdict at the trial itself. We see their hypocrisy displayed in the keeping of the Sabbath while breaking God's laws of justice. They had a man tried, convicted, and executed all in the same day, contrary to the spirit of the law and contrary to the legality of the law.
5. The Sanhedrin wrongly sent men to arrest Jesus without charging Him with anything. In our legal system today, when a person is arrested he is advised of the reason he is being arrested. The same procedure was supposed to be followed in first century Judea. But Jesus was seized and taken to the house of the high priest without any formal charges being made against Him. Mark will tell us that it was only after His arrest that the Sanhedrin sought witnesses and evidence. They had made up their minds beforehand that they wanted Him dead, but Mark will point out that once they got Jesus to the high priest's house, they "were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put Him to death, but they did not find any". (Mark 14:55) Mark will tell us, "Many testified falsely against Him, but their statements did not agree." (Mark 14:56) A man could not be sentenced to death unless he had committed a crime worthy of death, and even then he could only be executed if two or more witnesses could provide the same evidence against him. "On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness." (Deuteronomy 17:6) The enemies of Jesus could find no crime He had committed worthy of death and they were unable to find two or more witnesses whose testimonies agreed that He had committed a capital offense, yet they still passed sentence on Him.
6. The high priest found Jesus guilty of blasphemy, a crime worthy of death if it enticed people to worship anyone but the one true God, but the high priest did not follow the law in such matters which states he is to "inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly". (Deuteronomy 13:14) The high priest believed Jesus was guilty of enticing people to worship another god (Himself) because He said He was the Son of God. However, the high priest didn't inquire, probe and investigate this claim thoroughly. The high priest didn't consider the miracles Jesus provided as the proof of His identity. The high priest didn't consider all the facts of Jesus' life which matched up with the prophecies of the Messiah. Instead he asked Jesus whether He was the Messiah, the Son of God, and when Jesus answered in the affirmative he cried out to the assembly, "Why do we need any more witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" (Mark 14:63-64a) Without carefully considering whether Jesus might actually be the Son of God, and without considering that He healed the sick and cast demons out and raised the dead, the assembly "all condemned Him as worthy of death". (Mark 14:64b)
7. Lastly, the Sanhedrin broke the law by finding Jesus guilty of blasphemy in their own court but having Him condemned under different charges in Pilate's court. The Sanhedrin concluded Jesus was worthy of death for committing blasphemy against the God of Israel. But they knew the Roman government would have no interest in a Jewish rabbi committing blasphemy against his own God. They had to find a charge the Romans would care about. They had to find a charge the Romans considered worthy of death. So they brought Jesus before Pilate with charges of treason, saying He was a threat to the Roman government and that He declared Himself king instead of Caesar. (John 19:12-16)
The trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin was a huge travesty of justice, but the prophet Isaiah foresaw the wicked deeds that would be perpetrated against the Messiah and said, "By oppression and judgment He was taken away. Yet who of His generation protested? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth." (Isaiah 53:8-9) Isaiah looked ahead and saw the Lord Jesus and said of Him, "He is going to be arrested without cause and dragged away to an illegal court where He will be condemned to death without having committed any crime. No one will be allowed at His trial who will stand up for Him or protest this miscarriage of justice. The perfect Son of God will hang on a cross between two genuine criminals. The Messiah will be buried in a rich man's tomb. A terrible crime will be perpetrated against an innocent Man, but He will submit to it because He is giving His life in our place. He is giving His life not for His own sins, but for ours."
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