Jesus Christ was bound and led away by an interesting group of people. First you had the chief priests who performed the ordinances of the Aaronic Priesthood temple worship. There were also captains of the temple, who acted as security guards, so to speak. They kept order within the walls of the temple. There were also the elders of the church, who were spiritual and social leaders and teachers. Mixed in were Roman guards, thought to be included to make the entire arrest look official.
These men were essentially the same group who desired to take and kill Jesus back when He removed the moneychangers from the temple (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:18).
After His initial arrest Jesus was first taken to Annas, father-in-law to Caiaphas the official high priest. Annas himself had served as high priest when Jesus was a youth (A.D. 7-15), and had great influence within the system. Annas began to question Jesus about His doctrines, hoping to find something within His words to condemn Him (John 18:19-21).
Christ had preached in their temples. The chief priests and elders knew precisely all He had taught. All Annas had to do was ask the men personally. It was in His answer Christ let it be known He knew of the entire plot. They could have taken Him at any time when He preached right in front of them. Instead they chose to claim Him during the night, while most of His devout followers would not be aware of what happened.
At this moment a servant of Annas came forward and slapped Christ for embarrassing his master. Christ was then sent on to Caiaphas, who seemed to share the courtyard with his father-in-law. Here the chief priests and scribes came together in a meeting that turned out to be neither legal, nor fair. In fact all the succeeding trials turned out to be full of ironies and hypocrisies (Matthew 26:59-60; Mark 14:55).
They looked for false witnesses and found two, but the two witnesses couldn’t even agree with one another (Mark 14:59). Do you know what the punishment is for lying in a council meeting? The same as that of the accused. By right these two men should have been crucified as well. Obviously this didn’t happen.
Eventually Christ was accused of sedition. Sedition can also be called trouble-making, treason, or incitement to rebellion (things the very leaders caused in front of Pilate). This was the most they could come up with, other than blasphemy by referring to Himself as the Son of God. For these two things the leaders of God’s own Church cried out for Christ to die.
The council then sought to take their anger out on Him. Christ was spat upon, battered, slapped, taunted and mocked. Around six in the morning Jesus was taken to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Pilate was a cruel man who cared little for what the Jews wished, but had burned far too many bridges up to this point and stood on shaky ground with those directly over him.
Pilate asked the Jewish council, “What accusation bring ye against this man?” (John 18:29) to which the council responded, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King” (Luke 23:2). This, of course, wasn’t true (Matthew 22:21).
Pilate probably knew what the Jewish leaders wanted – to keep their own hands clean by making this a government issue. The council also had no power to put anyone to death, lest it be through stoning by their own hands. Though Pilate tried to make them take care of their own disputes, the council would not leave. In speaking with Christ, Pilate couldn’t see that He’d done anything worth being put to death and tried to communicate this with the crowd. The people only became “more fierce” and adamant that something be done. So Pilate did the only thing he could think of: he sent them all to Herod.
As Jesus was from Galilee, He was strictly out of Pilate’s jurisdiction. He also knew Herod had long desired to see the purported Messiah in the hopes of witnessing a miracle. In this Pilate had two hopes. First, that it would take the entire matter out of his hands. Second, that it would help mend the two leaders poor relationship. Only one of the two matters were accomplished. Later he and Herod became friendly.
This was the same man who had murdered John the Baptist, Christ’s cousin. Jesus refused to say a word to Herod. In anger Herod and his men ridiculed and mocked the Savior and sent Him back to Pilate. In a last ditch effort to save Christ’s life, Pilate took the tradition of setting free a prisoner on this day and brought forth a man who was the exact opposite of Christ: evil, notorious, a convicted criminal. When asked who should be released, the Jews cried out, “Barabbas.”
Pilate felt he could do no more without sacrificing his own position. In an effort to rid himself of any supposed guilt he did the ceremonial washing of his hands in front of the assemblage. Neal A. Maxwell, a leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed the Mormon Church) wrote, “Pilate sought to refuse responsibility for deciding about Christ, but Pilate’s hands were never dirtier than just after he had washed them” (Neal A. Maxwell, “Why Not Now?”, Ensign, November 1974).
Through all of this Christ stayed quiet, calm, and humble. The one who could create worlds, heal the sick, command legions of angels to come to His rescue, did not lift a finger to save Himself. Even in some of His darkest moments He stood still, patient to the end, though hoards of evil men reviled and smote Him. If only we could all strive to be so patient in our afflictions.
