Mark 15:1

‘And immediately in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole council, held a consultation and bound Jesus and carried him away and delivered him up to Pilate.'

This parallels Jesus original bringing before the High Priest in Mark 14:53. Once daybreak came the whole Sanhedrin was called together officially, and after discussion and confirmation of what had happened during the night, followed by a guilty verdict, Jesus was handed over to Roman justice. Detail of the discussion is given in Luke 22:66. It reached the same conclusion, on a similar basis, as the examination above. But they did not want to deal with Him themselves as they wanted Him convicted on a criminal charge not a charge of blasphemy, and they were aware that the latter charge, and an attempt to carry out a stoning, might fail because of public feeling and the required twenty four hour delay.

‘The whole council.' There were seventy one members in the Sanhedrin consisting of chief priests, lay elders and scribes. Word would have gone out to those who were not already present to gather for an official council to deal with the matter of Jesus Who had been arrested. Whether they were all there we do not know. Possibly those who would favour Jesus had been ‘unable to be found'.

The impression is given of a quick, cursory meeting. As it was the morning after Passover night no one would want to be detained too long. And all would be assured that the prisoner had been given a fair hearing during the night, and would hear witnesses to His blasphemous statements which ‘they themselves had heard' which would agree together. Then Luke tells us that they put the same questions themselves. Was He the Son of God? And when He confirmed it they clearly felt that they need look into it no further. Furthermore as the man was to be passed on to Pilate and not sentenced by them a thorough examination might not have been felt so necessary. They could leave that to Pilate. All they were called on to consent to was that the man deserved to be tried by Pilate.

‘Bound Jesus.' He was treated like a criminal. That was how they wanted Pilate to see Him, a desperate man whose freedom needed to be curtailed.

‘Delivered Him up to Pilate.' There must have been discussion between the parties earlier for this to be able to happen. The main charge they made against Him was apparent from Pilate's subsequent question to Jesus. The charge was that He was claiming to be the expected, troublesome, King of the Jews, the Messiah. Compare Luke 23:2. Pilate was the Procurator of Judea from 26-36 AD. He would normally reside at Caesarea but would be in Jerusalem over the feast to keep an eye on the situation for he was aware that at such a time serious trouble could arise.

‘And immediately in the morning, a council having formed, the Chief Priests, with the Elders and Scribes and the whole Sanhedrin, having bound Jesus, carried Him away and delivered Him up to Pilate.'

This verse is transitional between the previous examinations and the one that would now take place before Pilate. It reminds us that the whole Sanhedrin of the Jews were responsible for delivering Jesus up to Pilate, bound like a violent criminal, having passed their official verdict against Him.