Participants: L. Richard Walton
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000018
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00:29 It was Thursday evening in Jerusalem and the city
00:32 was a wonderland of lights. 00:35 From all over the world Jews 00:36 had come home for Passover 00:39 and so the city was filled with visitors. 00:43 And there was lamp lighten, 00:45 torch lighten, and on the slopes of Mount Zion 00:48 imposing palace rose into the night sky. 00:51 Two giant colonnaded marble arms 00:54 and in sides of which were brass fountains 00:57 and sculptured gardens. 00:58 The floors were made of semi precious wooden gemstones. 01:02 It was the very best the money could buy 01:05 because this was the visible manifestation of empire 01:09 and it all belonged to an ambitious 01:11 young Spaniard from Seville, 01:14 who had married into the royal family 01:16 and gotten this prestigious job as a result. 01:21 His name was Pontius Pilatus, but he would enter history 01:26 in the anglicized form 01:27 of his name as Pontius Pilate. 01:33 Not far away there was another palace 01:36 belonging to a man by the name of Caiaphas. 01:40 He was Jewish high priest. 01:42 And here servants were busy sweeping out 01:44 a large assembly hall, a large reception room 01:48 and placing 71 large pillows on the floor in a semi-circle 01:53 as though there will be some public meeting 01:56 held here later tonight. 01:59 Also close by, at the very edge 02:01 of the temple grounds is the Roman garrison. 02:04 Stationed there because freedom loving Jews 02:06 often congregated at the temple, 02:09 if were the foremen rebellion. 02:11 And so inside the Roman stockade, 02:14 a few legionnaires were busy assembling 02:16 three executions scaffolds, 02:18 nailing the vertical stripes beam 02:21 to the horizontal patibulum beam of a cross 02:24 because there was three executions planned soon. 02:28 Two small-time thieves whose names we have lost in history 02:33 and one small time false messiah whose name revealed 02:37 what he claimed to be. 02:39 Bar-abbas, in Hebrew "Bar" means son of and Abbas 02:43 can be translated as the heavenly father. 02:46 So Barabbas, son of the heavenly father, 02:48 a small time false messiah 02:50 is about to be executed 02:52 with two thieves. 02:57 Somewhere else in a wealthy section of the city 03:00 there was a large home, probably 03:02 belonging to a Jewish lady by the name of Mary. 03:06 she had a young son by the name of John Mark, 03:08 who would go on to write the gospel called Mark. 03:13 And her home was very large. 03:16 The loft of the home could hold, 03:18 we know at least 120 people because it would a few weeks 03:22 later for an event called Pentecost. 03:25 And at one little corner of that large upper room, 03:30 a little group of 13 men had gathered for a supper 03:35 that would change the history of the world. 03:39 One of those guests was the Son of God. 03:43 Well, about a 11 P.M., they left their home, 03:47 were on the way through the narrow streets of Jerusalem 03:50 towards the Eastern Wall. 03:52 They went out through the eastern gate 03:54 down the Kidron Gorge and up the other side 03:57 into a little garden named, Gethsemane, 04:00 the place of the olive press. 04:03 And suddenly the strange, mysterious, 04:06 cosmic visitor is clawing the area in grief 04:10 as though divinity itself can no longer handled, 04:13 the weight it is carrying. 04:16 His four closest friends on earth can't understand pain 04:19 he is in and so they retreat into the anesthesia of sleep. 04:25 When suddenly there is the babble of voices reflected 04:28 of the sounding board of the Eastern Wall 04:31 and a sparkle of torchlight spills out 04:33 through that same eastern gate down the Kidron Gorge 04:36 and up into Gethsemane as though they're being led 04:39 by someone who knows the way very well. 04:45 When Jesus arms are wrenched behind his back 04:48 and he is led back to the home of Kayafas 04:51 into a legal system he had designed. 04:56 My name is Richard Wallton. 04:57 I'm a second year law student 04:59 at Georgetown University Law Center 05:01 and I've made an extensive study. 05:03 I've been privileged to make an extensive study 05:06 of the Jewish system 05:08 of Jurisprudence at the time of Christ. 05:10 In fact, I was fortunate enough to be able to write 05:13 a memo for Professor Sam Dash of Watergate fame on a book 05:17 that he has currently working on, 05:19 on the effect of Jewish law and Jewish culture 05:25 on American society. 05:29 I had not done exhaustive historical research 05:32 in comparative law, but so far as by research 05:34 goes there never has been in the history of the world, 05:39 anything like the Hebrew legal system at the time of Christ. 05:44 It appears to have been designed 05:46 with one purpose in mind, 05:49 to ensure that an innocent man 05:52 could never be convicted. 05:53 It made it difficult, 05:55 in fact even to convict the guilty. 06:02 In Israel, any capital offense 06:05 was tried before the entire Sanhedrin. 06:07 The great Sanhedrin, 71 of the brightest Jewish lawyers 06:12 in Israel, every member 06:15 was an experienced sitting trial judge from the low court 06:18 in Israel, many of them with decades 06:19 of experience on the bench. 06:22 Many were accomplished scholars in areas 06:25 other than the law, all were distinguished linguists. 06:29 You see the Supreme Court unlike our current system 06:31 of jurisprudence did not use an interpreter. 06:36 They would not trust one man to get right 06:39 what the witness was saying and so at least two members 06:42 of the court had to understand 06:44 whatever a witness might tell them. 06:48 In the time of Christ there was no defense council 06:51 for the accused, which have simply didn't exist 06:54 because the court itself, in something unmatched 06:57 in the history of human law, 07:00 functioned as the defense counci 07:03 for the accused. 07:08 Not only that there was no prosecutor 07:11 in the Jewish system. 07:12 The prosecution was handled by the person 07:14 bringing the complaint. 07:17 And so often times that would be a layman 07:21 and he would have to standup 07:22 in front of 71 very aggressive, 07:24 very bright Jewish lawyers and try to make the case 07:28 against the accused. 07:30 But that is not the--even then that is not the extent 07:35 of the protections offered by the Jewish legal system. 07:37 They were dedicated to saving life. 07:40 Now there was a saying that a Sanhedrin 07:42 that convicted one person in every ten years 07:44 was a butcher shop. 07:45 And that was perhaps most clearly 07:47 seen in a rather obscured tradition of Talmudic Law. 07:52 If a young disciple of the court 07:54 what we would today call a law clerk, 07:56 was able to come up with a theory 07:59 which could save a life of an accused, 08:02 which the court have not been able to think of, 08:05 that young disciple was instantly elevated 08:07 to life membership 08:09 on the high court of Israel. 08:14 And so Jesus is brought 08:15 into the system of justice at night. 08:19 And most Christians will tell you 08:21 that it was illegal to conduct the trial of Jesus at night. 08:24 But most do not understand why? 08:27 It was the principle of Talmudic Law 08:29 that because a trial in front of the Sanhedrin 08:31 was considered to be a religious proceeding, 08:36 the--the process was required to be conducted 08:42 during the day time 08:43 between the morning and evening sacrifices. 08:46 So the trial of Jesus begins at night, 08:48 it's first illegality and it starts 08:51 in the large room in which 71 large pillows 08:54 are arranged in a neat semicircle on the stone floor. 08:59 Jesus is marched 09:01 into the very center of that semicircle. 09:05 The reason for that is simple. 09:07 In Jewish times, unlike today 09:10 were we're used to having the witness sit 09:12 on the right hand side of the judge, 09:15 the Jewish system did not want any member of the court 09:20 to have a poor view than any other. 09:22 And so the witness had to stand in a very center 09:24 of that semicircle, so each justice could see the witness, 09:28 could see the defendant and make a more accurate 09:30 determination of guilt or innocence 09:34 of their trustworthiness. 09:36 And so into this room Jesus 09:38 has marched and then an awesome precession begins. 09:42 The seventy judges march in, resplendent 09:45 in white nylon robes with turbans on their head 09:48 and their feet bare because this was a religious 09:51 proceeding and they were standing on holy ground. 09:55 They walk and they sit down cross legged 09:57 on those large pillows 09:58 and then the high priest himself walks in, Caiaphas, 10:01 resplendent in a turban of blue, the symbol of law. 10:05 Now without going into too much detail, 10:07 suffice it to say, his outfit, his robes symbolized 10:11 the plan of salvation, a beautiful turban of blue, 10:14 the color law with a gold plate on the front of it, 10:17 the symbol of mercy, and which was in writing, 10:21 Hebrew Kodoish l'Adonai, holiness to the Lord. 10:26 So he walks in with his brass plate 10:29 of judgment on his bosom. 10:31 Resplendent against the flowing robe of blue, 10:34 gathered above the waist 10:35 by a purple sash with scarlet blue embroidery. 10:39 He walks in and he takes his sit right 10:41 in the center of that semicircle 10:42 making the 71 members of the great Sanhedrin. 10:47 Three more men walk in with him. 10:49 They're scribes and they sit directly in front of him. 10:53 In courts today, you will find only one court reporter. 10:56 We figure that one person taking notes is enough 10:59 to keep an accurate record of the trial. 11:02 Not so in Jewish prudence. 11:04 The Jewish insisted on three scribes to make sure 11:07 there were no errors. 11:09 Now let's dig just a little bit 11:11 into something that Jesus often said. 11:13 You recall that Jesus often mentioned 11:15 "going to the right hand of power, 11:17 coming at the right hand of God." 11:19 Why did He make that reference? 11:21 Well, a little bit of research in the Talmudic law 11:24 gives you the answer. 11:25 You see each of those three scribes 11:27 had a very special purpose. 11:30 The one on the left recorded the votes 11:34 for condemnation of the accused. 11:36 The one on the right recorded the votes for acquittal. 11:39 And the one in the center recorded 11:41 both votes to make sure there were no errors in the process. 11:47 And so when Jesus says, 11:48 "I go to the right hand of power." 11:50 What He saying to the Jewish 11:51 mind is I go to cast my vote 11:56 for your salvation. 11:58 How much there is in Jesus sermons, 12:00 we would understand if we trusted 12:02 a little bit of careful Bible study. 12:05 And so the Sanhedrin is a symbol, 12:07 all 71 of them and three scribes sitting in the front. 12:10 Jesus is brought in and the trial begins. 12:14 The first witness is called, 12:16 makes his accusation and departs. 12:20 The second witness 12:21 is called, makes his accusation and departs. 12:24 But something is going terribly, 12:27 terribly wrong with the trial. 12:30 Let's open the word, the Mark 14 verse 55. 12:33 And before we begin to read this very sacred, 12:37 very special account, let's pause for a moment of prayer. 12:42 Dear Lord, we thank You for the opportunity 12:43 to explore Your word today, 12:45 open our hearts and our minds in Jesus' name, amen. 12:50 Mark 14 verse 55, "Now the chief priest 12:56 and all the council sought testimony against Jesus 12:59 to put Him to death, but they found none." 13:04 What's happened here? 13:07 In the Jewish system, witnesses 13:09 were not allowed to be in court at the same time 13:11 unlike our current system of Jewish prudence 13:13 and thus they could not be quote 13:16 by each other's testimony. 13:19 At the same time, for there to be a conviction, 13:22 the testimony of the witnesses had to agree in every detail, 13:27 every element had to fit perfectly 13:29 with the testimony of the other witnesses. 13:32 And the minute witnesses began to disagree, it was the duty, 13:37 even on minor facts, it was the duty the Sanhedrin to set 13:42 the prisoner free. 13:46 It's called the rule of strict agreement 13:48 and it is totally different from our modern law. 13:51 Today, we have what's called the chain of evidence. 13:54 For instance, A sees D into a car, 14:00 B sees D drive off in the car, C sees D arrive at his house 14:04 and get out of the car. 14:05 Bingo, you have a conviction for grand theft auto 14:09 because the chain of evidence, each of those witnesses 14:12 can tell a portion of the story of the crime 14:15 and you can convict a man for grand theft auto. 14:19 Not so in the Jewish system. 14:21 In the Jewish system, every witness 14:23 had to see D get in the car, drive off in the car, 14:27 arrive at his house and get out of the car. 14:30 And they had to be able to repeat 14:32 that story in court agreeing to the last detail 14:36 as to what happened? 14:37 They had to be able to tell it 14:39 without the slightest variation. 14:40 So when Mark tells us that the Sanhedrin 14:43 could find no witnesses to agree, 14:47 that they found none. 14:48 He simply saying no two witnesses 14:50 could agree on what Jesus had done that was worthy 14:55 of the death penalty. 14:57 Continuing on in Mark, Mark 10:56, 15:01 "For many bore false witness against Him, 15:04 but their testimonies did not agree. 15:07 Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, 15:10 saying, 'We heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple 15:14 made that is with hands, and within three days 15:17 I will build another made without hands.'" 15:20 That's a pretty simply speech to memorize, isn't that? 15:24 I mean, if you gave me a few pieces of silver, 15:26 I think I could handle the job. 15:31 What goes wrong? 15:33 Why couldn't witnesses 15:34 deliver that simple piece of oratory 15:37 without contradicting each other. 15:41 Verse 59, "But not even then 15:43 did their testimony agree." 15:47 Why? Now we could say that well the Lord 15:49 confounded their thinking, so we would know for a certainty 15:52 that Jesus was innocent 15:54 and there could be a lot of truth in that. 15:57 But don't forget that you are dealing 16:00 with the Jewish legal system. 16:03 This is the great Sanhedrin in the capital case, 16:06 and they are supposed to go through the motions 16:08 at least of cross examination. 16:12 Now if you've never been cross examined, 16:14 I am a member of the-- 16:15 Georgetown Gourley Mock Trial Team. 16:17 Let me assure you, 16:18 there is no antiperspirant adequate to the test. 16:21 It is a very growing experience. 16:24 And even a simple cross examination 16:26 could have picked those stories apart. 16:29 Where you were standing 16:30 when you heard Jesus say these things? 16:32 How loudly did He say them? 16:33 Was there a crowd? Were you alone? 16:35 And as the details began to contradict 16:38 each other, as the witnesses couldn't agree that case 16:42 is coming apart at the scenes and Caiaphas is watching 16:46 the trial of the ages go through his hands 16:48 like so much sand, 16:50 and so he reaches into his bag of legal tricks 16:54 and he tries to prove his case out 16:58 of the mouth of the accused. 17:01 It's probably one of the reasons 17:03 why there are so many bad jokes 17:04 about lawyers these days. 17:05 Verse 60, "And the high priest stood up in the midst 17:09 and asked Jesus, saying, 'Do you answer nothing? 17:15 What is it these men testify against You.'" 17:19 You see Caiaphas is trying to get Jesus 17:22 to incriminate Himself. 17:24 He is hoping that Jesus 17:25 will say something which will agree 17:28 with what other witnesses have said. 17:32 And in the process he can at least meet 17:34 the rule of having two witnesses 17:36 agree on every particular. 17:39 He is trying to prove his case out of Jesus' 17:42 own mouth and what is Jesus' response. 17:44 Verse 61, "But He kept silent 17:48 and answered nothing..." 17:53 Jesus is standing back and letting Caiaphas drop 17:57 the ball from forty feet in the air. 18:00 And once again Caiaphas trial is coming apart. 18:03 He is not getting the conviction 18:05 he wants and so he reaches a little further 18:08 into that bag of legal tricks, 18:12 and he does a little lawyering. 18:15 You see if you can't a get a conviction on one count, 18:20 you can always try another. 18:22 It's called changing the theory 18:23 of the case in the middle of trial. 18:26 And it's exactly what Caiaphas tries to do. 18:29 Jesus had been brought before the Sanhedrin on criminal 18:33 charges of sedation. 18:35 That hadn't worked and so now Caiaphas tries another trick. 18:41 He tries to convict Jesus for blasphemy. 18:46 Verse 61, "And again the high priest asked Him, 18:51 saying to Him, 'Are You the Christ, 18:53 the Son of the Blessed?'" 18:55 Now turn over to Matthew 26:63. 18:58 Keep your finger in Mark. 18:59 We will be going back there, but take a look at Matthew 26 19:02 because you will get a little more complete reporters 19:04 transcript of what happened? 19:08 "And the high priest answered and said to him, 19:10 I adjure thee by the living God, 19:12 that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, 19:15 the Son of God." 19:18 Now folks if you address deity in that way, 19:20 if you challenge God in the name of God, 19:23 you will get a response. 19:27 And what a response Caiaphas got. 19:29 Verse 62, 19:30 "And Jesus said, "I am." 19:35 I am self-existent life the only being in the cosmos, 19:40 who can make that claim. 19:43 I was, I always will be, I am. 19:47 John 1 in the New English Bible puts it so beautifully. 19:50 "All that came to be 19:53 was alive with His life." 20:00 And here the great "I am" from Israel's earliest 20:03 moments of existence has identified Himself 20:08 to the nations religious leader, 20:10 the man that went into the presence of God almighty 20:12 every year to offer sacrifice on behalf of the nation. 20:17 The man who should have seen God clear than anybody else. 20:22 And Caiaphas doesn't get the point. 20:28 But you see when you demand and answer from God, 20:31 when you challenge deity in the name of deity, 20:33 you may get a lot more than you bargain for. 20:36 So it was for Caiaphas that evening. Jesus said, 20:40 "I am and you will see the Son of Man 20:44 coming on the right hand of power, 20:48 and coming with the clouds of Heaven." 20:52 And the next sound in that cavernous hall 20:55 has reached fabric being torn. 20:59 The plan of salvation being torn up 21:03 by Israel's religious leader. 21:06 Verse 63, "Then the high priest tore 21:08 his clothes and said, 21:09 'What further need do we have of witnesses? 21:13 You have heard the blasphemy! 21:14 What do you think?'" 21:19 Oh, it's wrong here. 21:23 The chief justice of the supreme court of Israel, 21:25 the man charge with the defense of the accused 21:28 is sounding strangely like a modern prosecutor 21:32 on closing argument. 21:33 What Caiaphas has just tried to do is to convict Jesus 21:39 on his own uncorroborated confession, 21:42 a huge violation of foundational Jewish law. 21:47 Maimonides put it this way. 21:50 "We have it as a fundamental principle 21:52 of our jurisprudence that no one can bring an accusation 21:55 against himself. 21:57 Confession is not to be used against him unless properly 22:00 tested by two other witnesses." 22:04 And that wasn't the only 22:05 principle of Jewish law Caiaphas 22:07 broke with that little speech. 22:09 You see just like our current United States Supreme Court, 22:13 there was an old tradition in the Sanhedrin 22:15 that the most junior member of the court always spoke first. 22:19 The theory was that if an older, 22:21 more senior member were to speak, 22:23 his years of experience might unduly influence the opinion 22:27 of the more junior member of the court. 22:29 And so it was required Talmudic law 22:31 that the junior members speak first and yet here is Caiaphas 22:36 the most senior member of the court speaking first, 22:40 and then we hear a rumble of voices. 22:46 Verse 64, "And they all condemned 22:49 him to be worthy of death." 22:53 But once again the Jewish legal system 22:57 tries to prevent the death of an innocent man. 23:00 Today if a prosecutor can get a quick unanimous conviction, 23:04 we say more power too. 23:06 The man was obviously as guilt as sin. 23:09 Not so in the Jewish legal system. 23:13 There it was required 23:16 that if there was a unanimous immediate verdict of guilty, 23:21 the Sanhedrin had to set the prisoner free 23:24 because it smack too much of mob justice. 23:28 Once again the Jewish system trying to save innocent life. 23:32 Mendelssohn put it this way, 23:33 "A simultaneous and unanimous verdict of guilt 23:36 rendered on the day of the trial 23:39 has the effect of an acquittal." 23:44 And so when that unanimous quick verdict came in, 23:48 yet it was the duty of the high priest 23:51 to set the prisoner free. 23:54 But instead of using his hands to free Jesus, 23:59 Caiaphas instead took them and tore up 24:01 the very plan of salvation 24:02 that was happening in front of his own eyes. 24:07 And he was so blinded, he couldn't even see. 24:15 The Jewish death march is without parallel 24:18 in the history of the world. 24:21 As the culprit is led to his dome, 24:24 there was a man with the flag stationed 24:27 at the door of Sanhedrin hall. 24:30 You see the great Sanhedrin was still in session agonizing 24:33 with himself to the very moment of execution 24:36 trying to find the way to save human life. 24:39 And at this point if any young disciple 24:42 came up of the theory that might work, 24:43 a runner was dispatched to the door, a flag would drop. 24:49 And writing with the crucifixion party, 24:52 there was mounted officer who followed behind and his horse 24:55 was led because he was looking backwards, 24:57 back towards Temple Mounts Sanhedrin Hall. 25:02 And if the flag dropped he would gallop 25:04 forward to the head of the precession 25:06 and say turn around, turn around, 25:07 the court is going to rehear the case. 25:11 In front of the precession, 25:15 there was a herald. 25:18 A man was about to be executed 25:19 and so he marched in front of the death march and said, 25:24 the following, "If any man those anything favorable 25:27 to the accused in the name of God, 25:31 let him come forth 25:34 and speak." 25:37 And if anyone did, 25:40 the precession halted, 25:44 and went back to the hall of judgment. 25:50 But this awful morning and the crowd 25:54 where people could see the Lord laboring 25:58 under that heavy cross until he physically 26:00 couldn't carry the weight anymore. 26:06 People could hear his foot falls on the way 26:08 they all got, because he had given their eyesight 26:12 and their hearing. 26:15 And the crowd of walking miracles, 26:21 nobody said a word. 26:28 What should have been that day? 26:32 Flags in the air 26:34 and voices in the crowd, 26:39 galloping messengers 26:40 and acts of mercy, 26:45 instead our savior tried 26:50 the one Cross for love. 26:55 And a tribunal, blast with the system of justice 27:01 that made it impossible to convict an innocent man, 27:07 had sent the Lord of creation to his death 27:10 by bending every known principle 27:13 of Jewish procedural law. 27:18 But even then the Lord one more, 27:20 one more victory for us. 27:24 Hanging on the cross, convicted by a system 27:30 which had been butchered, and every possible way, 27:35 he seems to be telling the world something. 27:40 You can nail me here, 27:42 you can take my dignity, 27:46 you can even take my life, 27:49 but there is one thing you can't make me do, 27:52 you can't make me stop loving you. |
Revised 2014-12-17