The Nature of the Illegal Trial of Jesus - Coursework Example

The Nature of the Illegal Trial of Jesus Table of Contents Introduction 3 The Work of Jesus 4 The Trial and the Illegalities 6 The First Jewish Religious Trial of Jesus 6 The Second Jewish Religious Trial of Jesus 7 The Third Jewish Religious Trial of Jesus 8 The First Roman Civil Trial of Jesus 9 The Second Roman Civil Trail of Jesus 10 The Third Roman Civil Trial of Jesus 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 Bibliography 15 Introduction Jesus, the originator of the most widely preached religion of today; Christianity lived almost two thousand years back at the region of present day Palestine and Israel, near the city of Jerusalem. The righteous man, Jesus was a person of many virtues and was a Jew by birth. The society, in which He lived, did not recognize His talent and power and thought Him to be a threat. The Jews accused Him of blasphemy as to them He appeared to be the ‘son of god’ which was not allowed by any extent and the rulers i.e. Romans thought Him to be the one who challenged the authority of the king or the emperor which was also prohibited. As a result, Jesus was abandoned and sentenced to death. But the most astonishing and the unfortunate matter is that Jesus could not be charged under any of the prevailing laws of either the Jews or the Romans that could vouch His capital punishment. The experts regard that the entire trial process to be totally unjust and a mere eye – wash. According to many of the research scholars, it was preplanned that Jesus would be killed more because of political reasons rather than religious causes but the rulers of the region could do so without a trial as because the general public was hostile towards those in powers as they have killed John the Baptist without any major charge. Hence, the entire set of drama regarding the trial of Jesus was organized and it had whole lot of unethical processes and happenings. This study brings forth the unethical trial of the Lord in the light. The Work of Jesus In order to understand the work, life and the execution of the Lord Jesus, it is prudent that the analysis commences with the discussion of the social and political condition of those times in the areas of Jerusalem. Jerusalem used to be an independent state predominantly Jewish and run by Hasmonean dynasty of high priests until in 63 B. C. when it was conquered by General Pompey of Rome and brought under the purview of the Roman Empire. The Roman delegated the authorities of ruling of the state to the high priests of the temple and since then their prevailed two sets of rules in the region; one being the Jewish religious laws and the other was the Roman laws. The rulers i.e. the high priests commenced to serve the dual interests namely the political interests of the Rome and the religious interests of the Jews. The rule of the Romans through Jew high priests in the areas of Palestine led to discontent among the populace of the region because of several political issues like the harsh rules of taxation, the laws of census and the practices of traditional values. Such factors led to repeated riots in the area of Palestine. During those turbulent times, the religious leader John the Baptist arranged sessions of confessions of people’s sins at the Jordan river and became quite popular among the peasant population. Antipas, the Roman ruler of Galilee was too concerned with the increasing popularity of John the Baptist among the rioters. In order to curb the political issues, the administration arrested John the Baptist and executed Him by beheading without trial. Such an incident had deep impact upon the disciples of John the Baptist and Jesus being one of them. Jesus started His ministry probably in the year of 28 B. C. or 29 B. C. and He primarily talked about an ideal world which God might have preferred and that was certainly not the way the population were treated by the Roman rulers or the Jew high priests. Predominantly, Jesus spoke about the required changes and also about the God’s arrival. Antipas, the Roman ruler again feared that there could be mass uprising if Jesus would be allowed to have His way. In one of the Passover festivals (that the Jews celebrated to commemorate their freedom from that of Egypt), Jesus visited Jerusalem either to lead the movement of ‘Kingdom of God’ or simply to celebrate the Passover. The Gospels say that the Jesus condemned the activities of the Temple as it should have been meant only for prayers towards God but in those times they were also the tax collecting authorities that were too harsh. As Doug Linder writes, “Gospel accounts describe the participation of Jesus in a protest directed at some of the commercial practices associated with the Temple. The practices offended many Jews. According to Matthew, Jesus had complained, "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers" (Matthew 21:13). Mark and John tell of Jesus overturning the tables of money-changers, those persons who converted coins bearing images of the emperor into Tyrian silver coins, the only form of coin acceptable for donations. The Gospels also describe Jesus driving the pigeon-sellers (the birds were used as sacrifices by worshipers) from the Temple. It is hard to imagine that such a dramatic action would not have brought an immediate response from armed Temple guards, so it is likely that the gospels exaggerated Jesus actions. Whatever the precise nature of His actions, they were almost certainly accompanied by words--perhaps including a prediction that the Temple would fall unless reforms were instituted to bring the Temple back to its central religious mission” (Linder, 2002). Such a course of action led to arrest of Jesus as the Roman rulers and the Jew high priests could not risk execution of Jesus after the affects they faced since they executed John the Baptist. The Trial and the Illegalities The trial of Jesus was two fold, one with the Jew high priests and the other with the Roman rulers. The entire process of trial was definitely a mockery as firstly, the charges that were brought against Jesus were baseless and most importantly, even the false charges did not provide for death sentences as per the prevailing laws of the Jews and the Romans. The First Jewish Religious Trial of Jesus As Jesus was arrested, He was taken the palace of Annas in the southwestern section of Jerusalem. Annas previously served as the high priest but was recently removed from the position by the Roman rulers. The Gospels say that there were number of illegalities at this trial which was also known as ‘The first Jewish Religious Trial of Jesus’. Some of the notable illegalities were as follows: Jesus was tried in the night while according to the prevailing laws, no trial could occur before the completion of the morning sacrifice The Jews law had clear norms that the trials had to be in public but Jesus was tried in private which was forbidden The cases that had capital charges required all the judges to be present i.e. the quorum but that was not the case in the trial of Jesus In the trial, Jesus was asked to testify Himself but that was against the law as witnesses were required to testify the accused Also, in the trial, there was no witness (Berg, 2004). The above arguments clearly suggest that the trial of Jesus in the first religious trial violated the laws in many aspects. The next stage involved trial before the then high priest, Caiaphas and it is known as the ‘The Second Jewish Religious Trial of Jesus’. The Second Jewish Religious Trial of Jesus In the second Jewish religious trial that was conducted before the high priest, Caiaphas, the jury repeatedly tried to accuse Jesus of blasphemy and tried to execute Him. They chipped in various false testimonies against Jesus that predominantly said that He tried to portray Himself as the God. But at the end, only two of the witnesses could bring the false charges against Jesus. As the high priest asked Jesus that if He thought Himself to be the God, Jesus quoted Daniel and said He was indeed the ‘Son of God’. High priests took this as the act of blasphemy and judged that Jesus should be awarded death. The number of illegalities that occurred during this trial can be identified as follows: As per the prevalent laws, the capital cases were required to commence with the arguments of the acquittal which was to be followed by the arguments for conviction. In the case of Jesus, there was no argument for innocence but only the arguments for conviction Jesus had not taken the name of God as He only quoted Daniel and in such a happening, He could not be charged for blasphemy The laws stated that the person could not be condemned on the basis of His own testimony and that was again violated in this case The verdict of the case that involved capital punishment had to be declared in day time but the very case of Jesus was announced during night The religious laws of Jews also stated that in case of capital punishments, the trial and the verdict could not take place in the same day but it was also violated in case of the trial of Jesus (Berg, 2004). The Third Jewish Religious Trial of Jesus The detailed description of the third Jewish religious trial of Jesus can be observed in Mk 15:la and Lk 22:66-71. The experts believe that the third trial was primarily aimed at putting a layer of legality over the two past trials. The third Jewish religious trial was conducted at the Sanhedrin Council Chamber in the presence of the chief priests, elders, scribes and the whole council. The council agreed upon the charge of blasphemy against Jesus. Again, certain irregularities were observed in the procedure of trial and few of them include: Absence of witnesses The convict was condemned upon His own testimony There was no required gap of twenty - four hours in between the trial and the verdict The prosecutors did not or rather could not present any evidence either for the guilt or for the innocence (Berg, 2004). Though Jesus was sentenced to death by the Jewish religious laws, the verdict was not executed by the Jewish religious leaders. Rather, it was forwarded to the Roman rulers for approval. The next set of ‘trials’ were known as ‘The Roman Civil Trials of Jesus’ and again it could be sub divided into three categories. The First Roman Civil Trial of Jesus Though Jesus was convicted by religious Jewish leaders, they could not grant Him the final capital punishment as because the right of capital punishment was with the Roman rulers. Pontius Pilate was the Roman procurator of Judea during the period. As the case was brought to the purview of Pilate, he asked the accusing party about the charges as per the Roman laws. The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy but that was not the charge for which capital punishment could be granted as per the Roman law since Rome approved many religions. Then, the Jewish leaders accused Jesus with the charge that He tried to become king and were a threat to Caesar. Also, they informed Pilate that Jesus tried to create hindrance towards the payment of tax and He misled the nation too. As Pilate asked Jesus about the issues, His reply convinced Pilate that Jesus was not at fault of any such crime that would call for capital punishment. But the Jewish leaders were not ready to listen to Pilate and demanded capital punishment. Under tremendous pressure, Pilate referred the case of Jesus to Herod Antipas, who was in – charge of Galilee, the place from where Jesus originally was. The prime illegality that was observed in the first Roman civil trial of Jesus was that even understanding that He was innocent; Pilate could not set Him free. The Second Roman Civil Trail of Jesus Herod Antipas was aware of the issue of Jesus even before Pilate transferred it to him as Pilate was aware of the power of Jesus and it was he who executed John the Baptist. When brought in the court of Herod, he asked Jesus to perform a miracle but Jesus chose not to reply. On the other hand, Jewish leaders i.e. the chief priests and the scribes strongly campaigned and lobbied against Jesus. This compelled Herod to question Jesus but was left without reply. Such non-cooperation on the part of Jesus led mockery and contempt from Herod and his soldiers toward Jesus. Herod, while sending Jesus back to Pilate, agreed of His innocence but still did not pursue to get Jesus released. This was again a piece of illegal justice. The Third Roman Civil Trial of Jesus Pilate was sure about the innocence of Jesus and tried repeated attempts to save Him. But the Jewish leaders could not be convinced. Pilate informed the leaders that Herod and he, both believed that Jesus was not at fault. The Jewish leaders in turn charged Pilate to be non – supportive to the Roman Emperor. Pilate was indeed under pressure as there was an investigation against him because of His closeness with Sejanus. The charge of Jewish priests scared him of his position. Yet, it is believed that the wife of Pilate had a dream that categorically mentioned that Jesus was innocent. Pilate, learning about the dream of his wife, tried his best to save Jesus repeatedly. As the last offer, he proposed the Jewish priest to release their ‘king’ to which the Jewish priest replied that they had no king other than Caesar. With such obstinate behavior of the religious leaders of Jewish community, Pilate decided to crucify Jesus, going with the popular mass demand. The entire trial of Jesus was conducted almost without witnesses. Also, Jesus did not have any defense in His support all through out. More over, the accusation against Jesus was changed twice. Firstly, it was that of blasphemy and secondly, act of treason was charged against Jesus. Most astonishingly, even after being convinced about the innocence of Jesus, the Roman leaders were compelled to vouch the capital punishment because of the Jewish pressure. Conclusion It can be clearly analyzed from the above study that the entire series of trial of Jesus was not only unjust but also illegal. The various illegalities that are described above include major charges like that of conducting the trial session at night at a forbidden place and not in the day time, change of charge from blasphemy to treason, absence of witnesses, judges themselves acting as the accusers and the completion of the entire trial in one day (Bible Study, n.d.). It has been observed that even though the Roman ruler found Jesus to be innocent, yet He was crucified because of the pressure from the Jewish leaders. It can be said without hesitation that as the trial was a mockery, it was the lord Himself, who willingly suffered for the sins committed by the people of the world. References Berg, L. “The Illegalities of Jesus’ Religious and Civil Trials”. SCRIBD. July 2004. Available from http://www.scribd.com/doc/3084217/The-Illegalities-of-Jesus-Religious-and-Civil-Trials-Laurna-Berg Accessed March 25, 2010. Bible Study. “Twelve reasons why the arrest and conviction of Jesus was illegal”. Basic Art. No Date. http://www.biblestudy.org/basicart/twelve-reasons-why-arrest-conviction-of-jesus-was-illegal.html Accessed March 25, 2010. Linder, D. “The Trial of Jesus: An Account”. UKMC School of Law. 2002. Available from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/jesus/jesusaccount.html Accessed March 25, 2010. Bibliography Klassen, William. “Journal of Biblical Literature”. JSTOR. 1964. Available from http://www.jstor.org/pss/3264790 Accessed March 27, 2010. Mathew, P. G. “The Trial of Jesus, Part One” Grace Valley Christian Center. 1996. Available from http://www.gracevalley.org/sermon_trans/Trial_of_Jesus_1.html Accessed March 25, 2010. Rensberger, D. “The Politics of John: The Trial of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel”. The Interdenominational Theological Center. 1984. Available from http://www.jstor.org/pss/3260780?cookieSet=1 Accessed March 25, 2010. Read More