How was Jesus tried? Was the trial legal?
1 – Jesus Christ was tried both religiously and civilly:
religiously, before Annas and Caiaphas;
civilly, before Herod and Pilate. Pilate leaned towards acquitting Christ (John 18:38), but he condemned him under pressure from the Jewish authorities.
2 – Of course, the trial of Jesus was not a legal trial, because:
it had been decided that he must die before he was even tried (Mark 14:1);
all the testimony against him was false testimony (Matthew 26:59);
there was no defence for Jesus, and he was not allowed to defend himself (Luke 22:67-68);
he was tried at night (Luke 22:53-55), whereas, according to Jewish legal tradition, a capital trial was not to be held at night;
the high priest put him under oath and then condemned him for what he said (Matthew 26:63-66);
such serious charges were at that time supposed to be tried before the Sanhedrin, not in the high priest’s house (Luke 22:54).
The leaders did not give Jesus a fair trial: their view was already that Jesus had to die. Caiaphas the high priest had prophesied that one man should die for the whole people
(John 11:49-53).
Prepared by Rita, of the Sawt el Rab team
