63 And the men that held _Jesus_ mocked him, and beat him. 64 And
they blindfolded him, and asked him, saying, Prophesy: who is he
that struck thee? 65 And many other things spake they against him,
reviling him.
66 And as soon as it was day, the assembly of the elders of the
people was 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.
After Jesus had been denied by Peter, he was grossly insulted and abused
by his captors. He was mocked and beaten and reviled. Those responsible
for these indignities were the Jewish rulers, the most cultured and
refined and professedly religious men of their day; but the beast within
man is more powerful than we commonly suppose. When Christ is rejected,
when his teachings are despised, when his Spirit is opposed, then it is
only a question of time and of occasion when hatred or malice or lust or
anger awaken in man the passions and ferocity of the brute.
When the morning dawned, Jesus was led away to be arraigned formally
before the sanhedrin, the supreme ecclesiastical court of the Jews. He was
supposed to be on trial for his life; in reality the council was being
judged, and in its guilt the entire nation was involved. The rulers
convicted themselves of prejudice, dishonesty, and malice. They did not
seek to learn the truth that justice might be done; they sought to find
some evidence on which Jesus might be condemned.
When every attempt to convict Jesus had failed, they finally charged him
in the words: “If thou art the Christ, tell us.” Jesus’ reply shows how
fully he appreciated their blind hatred and their unwillingness to be
just; he told them that no statement he might make would be believed, and
that no explanation or defense he might offer would be accepted;
nevertheless, he would answer their question, with the statement that his
exaltation to the place of divine power was about to take place. Then they
asked him directly, “Art thou then the Son of God?” He answered with all
distinctness, “Ye say that I am.” Then they at once decreed that he was
worthy of death. They had prejudged the case. They were unwilling to
consider whether his claim to be the Son of God was true; they only wished
to be sure that he made the claim. When they had made sure of this, they
agreed that he must die as a blasphemer. Their logic was so far true.
There is no other alternative. In the presence of Christ there can be no
neutrality. Either he was an impostor who deserves our contempt, or else
he is the divine Son of God whom we must worship and obey. Every soul must
choose between the sanhedrin and the Church.