Hurlbut's Life of Christ For Young and Old / A Complete Life of Christ Written in Simple Language, Based on the Gospel Narrative

by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

Jesus Before Caiaphas

CHAPTER 91

THE HIGH PRIEST Caiaphas, before whom Jesus was now brought for a regular trial, had been in office many years. He was a shrewd, sharp man, caring very little about right or wrong, but always ready to do whatever would please the Jewish leaders, without giving offence to the Roman rulers.

You remember that after Jesus raised Lazarus to life, and many people were believing in Jesus, it was this Caiaphas who said, "No matter whether Jesus is innocent or guilty, whether he is good or bad, the easiest way for us to avoid trouble is to kill him; and that we must do." That showed the spirit of Caiaphas the high priest.

The houses of Annas and Caiaphas were not far apart, and may have been in the same group of buildings on Mount Zion. The officers and policemen took Jesus into the large hall in the high priest's house where all the members of the Jewish council that could be brought together so suddenly were gathered. It was a little after midnight when Jesus was made prisoner in the garden, and it must have been between four and five o'clock on Friday morning when Jesus stood before Caiaphas and the council.

Peter had come with the crowd, and was in the court of the high priest's house. John was not there, but had gone to the house in Jerusalem, where Mary the mother of Jesus was staying, to bring to her the terrible news that her Son was in the hands of his enemies, and to try to give her comfort. So again Peter was left alone in the midst of a throng opposed to Jesus.

By the law of the Jews, no one could be put to death unless two persons could be found to tell of a wicked act that they had seen him do, or wicked words that they had heard him speak; and also, the accounts of these two witnesses must agree. The rulers looked for witnesses to come and speak against Jesus of what they had seen and heard. They did not care whether these witnesses speaking against Jesus spoke the truth or spoke lies; all they wanted was to have them agree in their words. There were many who spoke falsely against Jesus, but what they said did not agree. After a time two men stood up, and said:

"We ourselves heard this man say in the Temple, 'I will destroy this Temple made by the hands of men, and in three days I will build another made without hands.'"

But even those witnesses did not agree in their account of what Jesus had said. You remember, that three years before, in the Temple, Jesus had said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." But he was speaking not of the Temple of the Jews, but of himself as the temple of the Lord, and of his own death and rising from the tomb. You see how these men changed the words of Jesus in the telling of them.

Now, the Jews had agreed that for any man to speak of destroying the house of God was very wicked; and that whoever should speak of such a thing must be put to death. So in the words of these two men, even though they did not agree, and were false, Caiaphas and the council saw a chance to carry out their purpose of putting Jesus to death.