Mark 14:53  And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.
54  And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
55  And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.
56  For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.
57  And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,
58  We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
59  But neither so did their witness agree together.
60  And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?
61  But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
62  And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
63  Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses?
64  Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.
65  And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.

Kangaroo courts have been around for a long time. We know there were many of them during the Wuhan virus debacle. Corrupt governments know how to make it look like they are following the laws, but in reality they are a lawless system. The Bible warns there will be religious arrests and trials held during the Tribulation time. They will not be interested in truth, but in vengeance. These things have happened in the past and are still currently happening.
In our text, the Jews continued to demonstrate their hatred for God. They had convinced the Roman government to arrest Jesus Christ. He had done nothing against the Roman government. He did not stir the people up against the government. He had exposed the wickedness of the Jewish religious system. Rather than follow the true God, who had created the nation of Israel in the first place, they had developed their own humanistic religious system. The Roman government did not care about justice. They only cared about power. Sounds very much like our current governmental system. It does not matter which party you look at, their goal is to obtain power and then to try to maintain that power. The passage of Bill C5 is a very recent example of this.
In our text we see that this trial was a religiously motivated trial. Jesus was brought before the high priest. The chief priests, the elders and the scribes were assembled together with him there. They had all conspired together in this evil plot. Of course, this was not outside of the will of God. It was not hard to assemble such a court because the majority of the nation of Israel was steeped in wickedness.
We read that Peter had not learned his lesson yet. He did not want to be too close, but he wanted to see what was going to happen with Jesus. He was even able to enter the palace of the high priest. How come the high priest had a palace? He was supposed to be the spiritual leader of the nation. He did not need a fancy place to live and meet. The temple was to be the house of God. The religious system was quite corrupt, just as it is now for most religions. Most religions assume that wealth means spiritual blessings. Thus many religious systems compromise the truth in order to gain the wealth they are looking for.
We see as well that it was cold outside at this time. There was a fire for people to warm themselves at.
In verse 55 we read of the flimsy nature of this trial. They did not have a case. They sought for witnesses that would support their cause. They had a plan and now they needed to find the pieces to make their plan look legitimate. This too sounds very familiar to how our current system works.
In verse 56 we read that they found no witnesses to agree with their plot. There had to be more than one witness that would agree with a certain charge in order for that charge to stick. The people had much to say about Jesus, but they were too proud to agree with each other on the charges.
God was showing the Jews as well as the Romans that this trial was a sham. The only way that Jesus would go to the cross, was according to God’s plan, not man’s.
Even when they tried to quote Jesus’ own words, they could not agree on their accusations. In verse 60 we see the high priest getting frustrated with Jesus. He needed some reaction from Jesus to fuel his cause. Jesus did not answer this deceiver. Jesus had no need to answer him. They all knew it was a lie and there was no legal justification for this trial.
In verse 61 the high priest asked Jesus if He was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed. This certainly was no crime. In verse 62 Jesus answered that question. Jesus further proclaimed the truth, thus condemning these wicked rulers. Jesus warned them that He would take His rightful place at the right hand of His Father in heaven and that He would be coming back to this earth from there.
These wicked rulers were given another opportunity to reconsider their evil plans, but their hatred for truth and their pride would not allow them to humble themselves and realize their desperately wicked hearts.
Rather than repent, the high priest rent his clothes at Jesus’ declaration. He had set himself up as the standard of truth and Jesus had just made a declaration that did not fit with his imaginary truth. Contrary to Jewish law, they did not have two witnesses that would agree together against Him. They simply had His own words. They had what they wanted and the high priest sealed that by accusing Jesus of blasphemy. They had their own standard for blasphemy and they were not about to allow the Truth to get in the way of their standard.
The entire counsel was now in agreement with the high priest’s assessment. They agreed that He was guilty of death. Jesus was not guilty of death, but He was destined to die for their sins and ours. We read that this Truth that Jesus had declared was used to further increase the hatred of these false teachers. They now began to spit on Him and to cover His face and hit Him and then demand that He tell them who hit Him. Jesus did not entertain their wickedness. They knew they had no case, but they were so full of hatred that they were blinded by it.
Jesus willingly took the abuse of these men. He knew His time had come. He knew the only hope for anyone, including these wicked people, was for Him to go to the cross and shed His blood there. The only help for a wicked heart is a changed heart.
There are many social programs today that are attempting to address the sins of man. Of course they do not call them sins. Many times, our society promotes the sin in the first place and then they try to find a bandaid to help those who are overtaken with the sin.
There are false religions who read God’s promise of the keys of the kingdom, and they wrongly assume that people are headed for heaven, and just need to avail themselves of the blessings along the way. The fact is that the keys to the kingdom is a reference to the Gospel. True born again Christians are given the authority to preach the Gospel of Christ. Those who will humble themselves and receive the Gospel are blessed with a changed heart and mind.
Too many people believe that naming the name of Jesus is all that is required to be saved. They do not believe that if they truly trust in the Lord Jesus Christ they will be changed. Too many people are being lied to and told they are saved but they do not have a changed heart. They are still bound in their sins. Then they go to some government designed social system to try to find help for their vices. That is contrary to Biblical teaching.
We have seen over and over again that people brought people to Jesus, not to the Roman government. Jesus healed their diseases and cast out devils. Those who received help from Jesus were changed individuals. They did not need to run to the government to find further help.
Too many people have adopted an ungodly philosophy and too many people are dying and going to hell because they chose to believe a lie, rather than seeking the truth.
God has not changed. Jesus’ shed blood and His crucifixion was needed to provide salvation for all. His salvation does change the lost person into a saint. The true saint is not a cripple who cannot overcome their sin. Sin is powerful, but not more powerful than Truth. The social programs of our world are not a help to man. They are a bondage that causes too many people to depend on the government rather than on God.
The proclamation of the Gospel of Christ is essential to the salvation of man. The record of His trial and crucifixion demonstrates the wicked hearts of ungodly people. Rather than turn to God, lost people tend to want to push away Truth so that they can live by their lies. God knows this will never work, and Jesus provided the only way for people to know the Truth. That way is through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. That way works every time. Trust in the Lord and know His blessing today.
Pastor Bartel