The Remarkable Story of Christian Persecution Over the Centuries
E-Book, Englisch, 268 Seiten
ISBN: 978-1-73219-529-5
Verlag: Isaac Publishing
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Chapter 2 THE PERSECUTION OF JESUS “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:20) O sacred head, once wounded, With grief and pain weighed down How scornfully surrounded With thorns, Thine only crown!11 The persecution of our Lord, which Christians have sung of in their hymns ever since He lived on earth, was foretold hundreds of years earlier in the Old Testament. The pain, shame and rejection of the “man of sorrows” are described with almost unbearable clarity by Isaiah.12 And even earlier, David wrote of the hideous details that later believers recognised in the crucifixion – the pierced hands and feet, the people staring and gloating, and the heart-rending cry of the abandoned Son, who in His extremity could perhaps no longer remember the eternal purpose for His agony of body and spirit: “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1) When a baby just a few weeks old, more prophecies were given about what Jesus was to endure before His work on earth was finished. He was to be “a sign that will be spoken against”, said old Simeon to Mary, adding, “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:34-35) Some 30 years later, Jesus began His ministry and was soon beset with misunderstanding, hostility, attempted assassination, plots, betrayal and desertion by his closest circle of friends. In Gethsemane we are privileged to get a glimpse of His mental and spiritual anguish as He wrestled with the literally “dread-full” burden of foreknowledge of what was to come (John 18:4). He who was pure and perfect would within hours be carrying the weight of the sins of the world, and dying slowly by the most painful method the Romans had devised. It is little wonder that His sweat was like drops of blood (Luke 22:44). All these precious truths are well known to Christian believers. But less well known is the outrageous injustice of the legal process to which He was submitted between arrest and execution. TWO LEGAL SYSTEMS ACCOMPLISHED HIS DESTRUCTION The Gospels record many details about the series of court trials that our Lord Jesus faced in the hours before His crucifixion. His case was batted to and fro between two legal systems, religious and secular – the ancient law of Moses and the law of Rome, which by this time was highly developed. As H.B. Workman says, “to accomplish His destruction they were both violently wrested into injustice”.13 The Jerusalem Sanhedrin was the supreme Jewish council and court of justice which, in New Testament times, comprised up to 70 scribes, elders, priests and other respected citizens, presided over by the high priest, making a maximum membership of 71. A quorum of 23 had to be present to conduct any business. The Jerusalem Sanhedrin had no jurisdiction in Galilee, so it was not until Jesus crossed into Judea that He came under their control. Of course, at this time both Galilee and Judea were part of the Roman Empire and thus the Roman authorities had ultimate power. But it was Roman policy to govern through local institutions and in Judea they sought to appease local feeling as much as possible. So the Sanhedrin was allowed to exercise their judicial functions. The only thing they needed Roman permission for was to enact a death sentence; this permission was usually granted by the Roman procurator (governor) more or less automatically, in line with the policy of pleasing the local people. LEGAL ARREST Jesus was arrested on the Thursday night. This was apparently a legal and legitimate arrest by the Sanhedrin, on the charge of causing a riot in the Temple when He threw out the money-changers. The Sanhedrin obtained from the Roman procurator, Pilate, a detachment of Roman soldiers to back up the Temple police when making the arrest. Perhaps the Sanhedrin feared that the Galileans around Jesus would not recognise the authority of the Sanhedrin. Or perhaps they feared that the Temple police might hesitate to arrest the man whose words they must have heard and whose deeds they may have seen. The Roman soldiers were not inhibited by any prior experience of Jesus and duly arrested Him, handed Him over to the officers of the Sanhedrin and left the scene. ILLEGAL INTERROGATION Jesus was then taken before Annas to be questioned (John 18:12-13,19-24). This was strictly against Jewish law, which banned any preliminary private interrogation. Annas was a former high priest who had been deposed by the Roman procurator about 15 years earlier for carrying out a death sentence without getting the procurator’s permission. However he appeared to retain immense authority in the eyes of the Jewish community, presumably because in Jewish law a high priest is appointed for life. Indeed he was still sometimes called “the high priest”. Annas would have taken a personal financial hit from Jesus’ action in throwing the money-changers out of the Temple. ILLEGAL TRIAL – GUILTY VERDICT Next Jesus was taken before some members of the Sanhedrin, headed by the actual high priest, Caiaphas, who happened to be the son-in-law of Annas (Matthew 26:57-67). Assuming that at least 23 members had assembled, this was marginally less illegal than the hearing before Annas. However it was against Jewish law to hold a trial at night. It was also against Jewish law to hold a trial for a capital offence on the eve of a Sabbath or to hold any trial during a major festival (such as Passover). Furthermore, it was against Jewish law to accept testimony from witnesses who disagreed with each other even slightly (Mark 14:56). Another short hearing was begun at daybreak, but no witnesses were called, which broke the Jewish laws requiring two or three witnesses and forbidding the use of the accused’s confession. So this hearing was in effect just the formal announcement in daylight of the decision taken during the night (Luke 22:66-71; Mark 15:1). A further contravention of Jewish law was the fact that the Sanhedrin did not adjourn for twelve hours before giving their guilty verdict as required in cases where “guilty” would lead to a death sentence. LEGAL TRIAL – NOT GUILTY VERDICT As we have seen, the Sanhedrin had to get their death sentences rubber-stamped by the Roman procurator. These requests were usually just nodded through and probably would have been this time as well if the Sanhedrin had stuck to the charge of blasphemy on which they had found Jesus guilty (Mark 14:64). However, when they brought the case to Pilate they changed the charge from blasphemy to treason. This might have been because they did not want Jesus to die by stoning (the punishment laid down in Jewish law for blasphemy) but by crucifixion, which was reserved by the Romans for executing slaves and the worst criminals. Crucifixion was considered the most shameful method to die, not only by the Romans but also by the Jews.14 Once the charge of treason was mentioned, Pilate could not consider the matter an internal Jewish religious issue. He was obliged to hold a formal trial himself and look at the case again without reference to the Sanhedrin’s findings. High treason against the emperor was the most serious offence in Roman law. In Latin it was crimen laesae majestatis (the crime of lese-majesty), often called majestas for short. Previously, in the days when Rome was a republic, majestas had covered any crime against the Roman people or their security. But when the republic came to an end and Rome transisted to rule by an emperor (who gradually came to be regarded as a god), the law of majestas – being both broad and vague – became a powerful instrument of repression and tyranny. Disrespecting the emperor or his statue, whether by words or actions, were obvious breaches of the majestas law (and a major difficulty for the early Christians) but an ingenious lawyer could even make tax issues into majestas issues, thus incurring the penalty of banishment or death. When the Sanhedrin first brought Jesus before Pilate, they tried to get Him condemned on a general unspecified warrant (John 18:29-30). Pilate refused to consider such a case, so they had to formulate a specific accusation and came up with three charges: subverting the nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and claiming to be a king (Luke 23:2). According to Roman law, each charge of an indictment had to be tried separately, and Pilate evidently decided to focus on the third as being the most comprehensive and important – important enough to carry a death sentence. The trial before Pilate seems to have been brief. Jesus entered a plea known in modern law as “confession and avoidance” i.e. admitting to the allegation but adding further facts to neutralise the legal effect of what has been admitted. So Jesus admitted that He was a King but explained that His Kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36-37). Pilate concluded that this was merely a Jewish religious matter after all and announced his verdict: not guilty. “I find no basis for a...
