Luke 22:66-71

Butler's Comments

SECTION 6

Confirmation (Luke 22:66-71)

66 When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes; and they led him away to their council, and they said, 67If you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, If I tell you, you will not believe; 68and if I ask you, you will not answer. 69But from now on the Son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. 70And they all said, Are you the Son of God, then? And he said to them, You say that I am. 71And they said, What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.

Luke 22:66-69 Adjured: Early Friday morning, Jesus was taken, still bound, no doubt, from the palace of the high priest, traditionally quite some distance from the Temple, to the meeting place of the ruling council of the Jews. Luke calls this council the assembly of the elders of the people. both chief priests and scribes.. The Greek word for elders is presbuterion from which the English word, presbytery, or presbyterian, comes. The word Luke used in Greek is sunedrion and is translated council, and means literally, seated together. The Sanhedrin usually met in the portion of the rooms immediately surrounding the court of Israel, called, Gazith, or Hall of Hewn Stones. This is probably where they took Jesus for trial Friday at sunrise. There is no historical evidence for the existence of the Sanhedrin before the Greco-Syrian era. It seems to have been originally known as the Gerousia which signifies an aristocratic council of elders presided over by an hereditary high priest. During the Roman rule of procurators in Judea it was composed of 70 officials plus the Roman-appointed high priest and restricted in its power to Judea. This is probably the reason Pilate sent Jesus to Herod when he discovered Jesus was a Galilean. Herod Antipas ruled Galilee. Once Jesus came to Judea, however, the Sanhedrin, under Jewish custom, could indict Him. Its power was annulled after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. although it continued in name. According to Josephus, the Sanhedrin was formally ruled by Sadducean high priests in Jesus-' time, but really controlled by the Pharisees who had the backing of the people. Seventy-one men sat in a semi-circle in the Hall of Hewn (Polished) Stones exercising not only civil jurisdiction, but also criminal jurisdiction (under the limitations, of course, imposed upon it by the Roman emperor). It was the final appeals court for a Jew. It determined questions of peace and war. It could try high priests, kings (even Herod was afraid to disobey a summons from it) and all citizens. It had the right to pronounce capital punishment until about 30 A.D. After that it could not execute a sentence of death without the confirmation of the Roman procurator. The Sanhedrin could meet any day except Sabbath and holy days. They met from the time of the morning sacrifice until the time of the evening sacrifice. Twenty-three members formed a quorum. Acquittal could be pronounced by a bare majority. It took two more than a majority to secure a guilty verdict. In capital cases, judgment was pronounced on the same day only when it was for acquittal. If the judgment was guilty it had to wait for the next day to be pronounced. Capital cases were never tried on Friday (except in Jesus-' case) on account of the above rule forcing a guilty verdict to have to be pronounced on Sabbath. These men are so intent upon killing Jesus they cast all their own rules and ethics to the winds of hate and greed. They had even decided upon a guilty verdict before they met and heard the case (cf. Matthew 27:1). They had decided that at the unofficial and illegal kangaroo court held at the home of the high priest the night before (cf. Matthew 26:66; Mark 14:63-64). Thus far we have documented several blatant illegalities in the arrest, trial and conviction of Jesus:

a.

He was arrested without a warrant, by a mob, on a feast day.

b.

He was taken before someone who had no official standing and interrogated, abused and not released when He Himself called for evidence for His arrest.

c.

He was taken before an illegal gathering of Jewish officials (at night), having never been officially accused, and having no witnesses accuse him (contrary to Mosaic Law). This council, meeting illegally, had already pre-determined His guilt and sentence.

d.

Witnesses were bribed to bear false testimony.

e.

Their witness, even bribed and coached, did not agree.

f.

He was adjured to testify against Himself.

g.

All the evidence and claims He made in His own behalf were not introduced into the court proceedings.

h.

He was allegedly arrested for one charge, and, when brought before the illegal meeting of the council, was condemned for another charge.

i.

He was abused, mocked, reviled and physically assaulted in the presence of civil officials charged with law and order and humane treatment of defendants.

j.

Finally, He is brought before the Jewish council, convened on a Friday and given a guilty sentence, which was contrary to legal practice of this council.

There was no warrant for arrest, no charge, no evidence, no testimony, and no legal proceedings. There was no case. Jesus deserved to be dismissed, even on a legal basis. A mistrial should have been declared, notwithstanding the fact that He was innocent!

This morning trial before the council was to give the council's murderous machinations a facade of legal correctness. The council demanded, If you are the Anoined One (Christ), tell us. Standing before Annas (John 18:19-23) Jesus said, I have spoken openly. I have said nothing secretly.. Ask those who have heard me, what I said to them; they know what I said. Next, before the council in Caiaphas-' house, under oath, when asked if He were the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus replied I am (Mark 14:62). Now, with the semblance of official correctness on their side, in the morning meeting of the council, they demand again that He say He is the Christ.

Jesus-' answer is a masterful expose of their prejudice and hypocrisy. He had already told them plainly, not once, but many times. He had confirmed His claims with many miracles, some of which the men on this council saw with their own eyes. If He told them now again, they would not believe. They had their minds already made up to kill Him for their own reasons. If He questioned them and tried to discuss the matter (which they pretended to want to investigate), they would not answerbecause they really did not want to know the truth. He had many confrontations with these men earlier in the week and much earlier in His ministry, but they did not answer His questions then, either, for they had determined to murder Him.

Then Jesus said a very significant thing: But from now on the Son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God (Luke 22:69). In this statement He is informing them that as the Messiah (Son of man is a messianic term, Daniel 7:1-28, etc.). He fully expected to survive the death they had planned for Him and to be seated forever at the right hand of the power of God. Even though they were presently judging Him, He would soon be enthroned as their Judge with all the power of God Almighty given to Him. He had said this earlier, the night before, at Caiaphas-' house. There He added the implication that He would be coming on the clouds of heaven exercising His judgmental powers against them and their city and their nation (see comments in Luke 21:1-38), at the Roman destruction in 70 A.D.

Luke 22:70-71 Adjudged: That statement by Jesus infuriated the council and prompted them to all cry out together, Are you the Son of God, then? They wanted it on the official record that this Galilean rabbi had claimed to be not only the Messiah, but that the Messiah was God's Son (that is, God in the flesh). This was the great stumbling block to the Jewish mentality. That God could ever become flesh was an impossibility to them because they judged the concept on the basis of human experience rather than accepting it as a revelation from God by faith (see comments, Luke 20:41-44). Their interpretation of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. was that God could never become two, or three, or four. But the real meaning of that passage is that God can never be double-minded, at variance with Himself. Jesus proved conclusively that He and God were one-minded, one in teaching, one in power, one in actioninvariable and in perfect unity. Father and Son, were, One! There was nothing, two, or three, about them.

Jesus-' answer, as recorded in Greek by Luke, is significant. Literally, Luke writes it, You are saying that I am being I am. Jesus is saying, You-'ve got it! I am Jehovah. The statement, I am being I am, is the same as the statement of God in Exodus 3:14, -eheyeh -esher -eheyeh, which in Hebrew means, I am that I am. Luke put it in Greek, hoti ego eimi. Jesus is claiming to be God. The council members knew it. So they shouted, What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips. They did not need any further testimony. There had been more than enough evidence to substantiate Jesus-' claim as true. More evidence would not have changed the council member's conclusion, because their conclusion had been made in spite of the evidence they already had.

The Jewish rulers rejected the claims of Jesus to be the Incarnate God. The apostles rejected the teaching of Jesus that their Messiah must die a humiliating death. So these last hours surrounding the Passover, the Lord's Supper, the foot washing, the discourses on the Holy Spirit (John's gospel) and Gethsemane were focused on saving and preparing the (now eleven) apostles to become heralds of the glad tidings throughout the world. Although these apostles deserted Jesus after His arrest, they were not cowards. They did not despise Jesus, nor had they wanted to exploit Him as Judas had. They were simply disillusioned because He had not fulfilled their materialistic fancies concerning the kingdom of God. They would gladly have joined Jesus in a war to bring in by force a kingdom to renovate the then present Jewish system. But it appeared to them that Jesus had become a passive victim of the system. To understand how they thought and felt one has only to read ahead the words of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:17-27).

These apostles understood and acknowledged Jesus-' way when they saw Him later as the Christ of glory, when they acknowledged, almost incredibly, that He had become victor, not victim.

STUDY STIMULATORS:

1.

Can Satan take over a person without that person agreeing to it? What do you think about all the modern motion pictures portraying people being innocently victimized by Satan?

2.

Why do you think Jesus chose the Passover time to institute what is called, The Lord's Supper? Wouldn-'t some other time have been equally appropriate?

3.

How could these apostles be so insensitive to these hours of pathos in Jesus-' personal life as to be arguing among themselves about being greatest? Why hadn-'t they accepted this matter as having been settled long ago by Jesus?

4.

Is the Lord's Supper a sacrament? In what way is the Lord's Supper a participation for the Christian? Do you really believe Jesus is communing with you every time you partake? Why do you believe that?

5.

Are the elements (bread and wine) of the Supper actually the flesh and blood of Jesus?

6.

Peter was ready to die for Jesusare you? Are you willing to live for Jesus?

7.

What do you think of Jesus-' command for the disciples to arm themselves with swords? Why didn-'t they just surrender like Jesus did? Aren-'t we to follow Him in this example?

8.

Can you name, in order, the great discourses of Jesus (in John's gospel alone) spoken between the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane?

9.

Is it encouraging to you to know Jesus had to struggle with Himself to fulfill God's will in His life?

10.

What does Jesus-' prayer in Gethsemane say to us about our feelings and what the Lord has revealed about His will for us in the Bible? Have you ever had to do the Lord's will when you didn-'t feel like it? How did you get it done?

11.

Did Jesus really sweat blood? Have you ever been in deep agony over the conflict in your soul and the Word of God?

12.

Were the apostles cowards? Why did they all leave Jesus and flee at the time He was bound and arrested? Why did Peter go into the courtyard of the high priest's house?

13.

Why did Peter, so willing to fight for the Lord earlier, deny knowing Jesus? Have you ever denied Him? Why? Is it something to weep bitterly over?

14.

How many illegalities were there to these early trials of Jesus? Why didn-'t one of the council members protest? Would you have?

Applebury's Comments

The Trial of Jesus Before the Jews
Scripture.

Luke 22:66-71 And as soon as it was day, the assembly of the elders of the people were gathered together, both chief priests and scribes; and they led him away into their council, saying, 67 If thou art the Christ, tell us. But he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: 68 and if I ask you, ye will not answer. 69 But from henceforth shall the Son of man be seated at the right hand of the power of God. 70 And they all said, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. 71 And they said, What further need have we of witness? for we ourselves have heard from his own mouth.

Comments

If thou art the Christ, tell us.This is actually the third phase of the trial before the Jews. It was held early in the morning to plan the presentation of the case before Pilate, for they had to get his permission in order to have the death sentence carried out. Their question was how to get a confession from Him that would justify them in doing what had already been determined to do.

Jesus answered, If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. Jesus had told them before that He was the Son of God, but they did not believe Him (John 5:18; John 10:36). There was no reason to suppose that if He should repeat the statement that they would believe Him. On the other hand, when He had asked them, What think ye of the Christ; Whose Son is He? they had refused to answer. Had they done so, they would have involved themselves in the confession that David's son was also his Lord.

But from henceforth shall the son of man be seated.Jesus called attention to the fact that He was soon to be seated on the right hand of the power of God. In His final statement in the Jewish trial, the third phase of which was just then being hurriedly conducted, Jesus referred to Himself as Son of Manthat is, Messiah. But Messiah, of course, was not only the Son of man, He was also the Son of God. This is seen in Peter's confession when he said, Thou art the Christ (Messiah) the Son of the Living God.

The Jews evidently understood that Son of Man means also that He was Son of God, for their next question was, Art thou, then, the Son of God? He answered them affirmatively, Ye say that I am. A similar answer was given to Pilate. Paul comments on it, saying that Jesus confessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate; that is, He acknowledged that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God (1 Timothy 6:13).

What further need have we of witnesses?This seemed to satisfy them; they had finally forced from Him the confession that justified them in condemning Him as a blasphemer; they had heard it from His own mouth.

Summary

The enemies of Jesus had long since determined that He must be destroyed. They were only searching for a way to get it done without arousing the people. The feast, they thought, would be a poor time. But Satan, the chief conspirator, showed them how it could be done even during the Passover. He entered the heart of Judas who bargained for the thirty pieces of silver to deliver Jesus into their hands. He knew the place; he knew how to get the thing done quietly.
Jesus, of course, was well aware of what was going on. He had told the disciples that He must die in Jerusalem. He was eager to eat the last passover with them, for He would soon become the Lamb that would be sacrificed for the sins of the people. At the feast He pointed out the traitor.
Jesus instituted the Lord's supper that the disciples might be caused to remember His death for them until He comes again.
But the disciples were still thinking of an earthly kingdom. They began to argue about which of them was to be the greatest. Jesus again reminded them that true greatness was to be found in the humble servant. He had set the example for them. And they would see times when they would need to remember this lesson. Satan had desired to have all of them. He must have thought that all of them could be bought as Judas had been. Jesus-' supplication for Peter did not prevent his denying that he had ever known such a person as Jesus, but it did leave the way open for his return.
The agony of Gethsemane brought Jesus near physical death. He asked that the cupwas it the cross or death in Gethsemane?be removed, but was willing to submit to the Father's will. Angels strengthened Him and He finished His work as He gave Himself to die that man might be saved.
After the arrest in the Garden, Jesus was taken hurriedly through a three-fold Jewish trial. The Jews convinced themselves that they had found the excuse for putting Him to death. In their minds He was guilty of blasphemy.

Questions

1.

What is the feast of unleavened bread?

2.

What is the relation of the Passover to the feast of unleavened bread?

3.

When did the Jews decide that Jesus had to be put to death?

4.

Why hadn-'t they carried out their plot to kill Him?

5.

What were they looking for at this time?

6.

How had Satan entered into the heart of Judas?

7.

In the light of what God said to the serpent in the Garden, why did Satan use Judas to bring about the death of Jesus?

8.

What was God's purpose in the death of Jesus?

9.

Why had Jesus called Judas a devil? How different from demon?

10.

What was Judas-' motive in betraying Jesus?

11.

Where did the betrayal take place?

12.

What evidence according to the Scriptures is there to suggest that Jesus was crucified on Friday? On what day did the resurrection take place?

13.

What is suggested as to the supernatural knowledge of Jesus in the account of the preparation for the passover?

14.

What evidence is there to show that Jesus and the disciples ate the passover meal at the regular time?

15.

Why did Jesus say that He had earnestly desired to eat this passover meal?

16.

In what way was it fulfilled in the kingdom of God?

17.

How is the significance of the Lord's supper suggested by the fact that it was instituted at the passover meal?

18.

What is the meaning of the cup? the bread?

19.

How was the traitor pointed out?

20.

What caused the argument about the greatest in the kingdom?

21.

How did Jesus settle it?

22.

What is meant by the fact that the apostles were to sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel?

23.

Why had Satan asked to have the apostles?

24.

What did Jesus-' supplication for Peter do for him?

25.

What instruction did Jesus give Peter in view of the trials through which he was to go?

26.

What caused Peter to deny his Lord?

27.

What may be said about Peter's loyalty?

28.

Why did Jesus say that the two swords were enough?

29.

How did Judas know where Jesus would be?

30.

What was the condition of Jesus as He entered the Garden?

31.

What were the words of His prayer?

32.

To what cup did He refer? What are the various views?

33.

What bearing does Jesus-' prayer at the time the Greeks came seeking Him have on the meaning of the cup? (John 12:27).

34.

Why did Judas betray Jesus with the kiss?

35.

What did Jesus mean by asking Judas about the kiss?

36.

How is the arrest accounted for?

37.

What are the three phases of the Jewish trial?

38.

What led Peter to follow and to deny his Lord?

39.

What effect did Jesus have on Peter by looking at him?

40.

What was the final decision of the Jews? On what charge?