53And they led Jesus away to the high priest; and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes. 54But Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.
55Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. 56For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.
57Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying, 58"We heard Him say, "I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands."' 59But not even then did their testimony agree.
60And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, "Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?" 61But He kept silent and answered nothing.
Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"
62Jesus said, "I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."
63Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "What further need do we have of witnesses? 64You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?"
And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.
65Then some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, "Prophesy!" And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.
Jesus is now being faced by his accusers. The chief priests, elders, and scribes who sent the multitude to capture Jesus have now gathered with the high priest to state their claim. The only problem is, they were having a difficult time making a case. Many bore false witness, but their lies were conflicting. It wasn't until they tried dealing with the truth that they made any progress.
It must have been difficult for Jesus. Could you imagine being presented before a judge, having many false accusations made against you, hearing lie after lie, knowing you need to let it go to its eventual outcome because you need to follow through with this undeserved death? I always felt that the reason Jesus didn't say anything here was because he needed to allow the plan to continue that would lead to His death. So by not defending Himself, he would be allowing this to lead to his condemnation of death.
But as I look at it carefully now, what I see is Jesus not bothering to argue with lies. He simply let them pass. But when they dealt with the truth, asking Jesus if He was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, Jesus answered them. This is just as when they were testing Him in the temple. When they were asking Him about truths, He explained them in inarguable detail. But when they wanted Him to show them some signs, He wouldn't respond.
Can we do the same? When someone bears false witness against us, can we let it go? Yes, by letting the accusations go unopposed means others may judge us falsely, but our true judge in heaven knows the truth. So what good does arguing do? I have to admit I am not very good at this, but Jesus is setting the perfect example for us.
One thing that had bothered me about my former image of Jesus and why He didn't defend Himself, was Jesus' silence when being questioned. I didn't like the thought that there may be times that Jesus ignores questions and requests for reasons have nothing to do with me. I don't like to think of a Jesus who may simply choose to ignore me because He wants some other outcome. But here Jesus wasn't simply trying to hide his claims. He wasn't just choosing to answer some questions and ignore others. When asked if He was the Christ, He answered. He will answer your questions when they are questions of truth, not lies for other gain. So this silent Jesus is not one I need to fear. Jesus will not remain silent to me if I am asking Him about truths. He cares about each of us. He wants us all to know the truth. He wanted His accusers to know the truth when they were dealing with the truth.
The interesting thing is, it wasn't until they gave up making up lies for false testimony that they finally got what they needed in order to condemn Him. We must do the same. Deal with the truth. Lies will get you nowhere. The truth has no place in responding to lies.
When the multitude captured Jesus, Judas instructed them to take Him safely away. But now that they have the judgment they want, they are spitting on Him, beating Him, and jeering at Him. He has been abandoned by His friends. Those around Him want to destroy Him.
I sometimes wonder what happened to all the people who used to come listen to Him in the temple. What happened to all those who followed Him to the sea so Jesus had to stand in a boat for everyone to hear? Where are the 5000 and 4000 that Jesus fed with only a small basket of fish and bread? Where are all the people who came from everywhere to bring their sick and injured. For that matter, where are all the people who were healed? Sometimes I get upset that all these people deserted Him. You would think that of such a large group of people, some must be around somewhere to help Jesus at this point. But then I have to remember that it was ordained that the sheep would scatter. God's plan was for them to be gone. God's plans don't fail. Their not being there is because of God's plan, not because of any wishes of their own. It is not my place to judge their actions. Only God knows the true reason for their actions.