301
What is said regarding witnesses?
Matthew and Mark: “Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witnesses against Jesus, to put him to death; but found none; yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none” ([Matt. xxvi, 59, 60]; [Mark xiv, 55, 56]).
When every step thus far taken by the council had been illegal, why should it have been so particular in regard to the witnesses? The fact is the Evangelists were ignorant of Jewish laws. They believed that while the prosecution of Jesus was unjust it was yet conducted according to the established rules of Jewish courts. Referring to Mark, Dr. Wise says: “In his ignorance of Jewish law, he imagined the trial which he described was lawful among the Jews. He proves this, in the first place, by the very statement that witnesses were sought and produced. A court convoked and acting in rebellion to law and custom can be considered only a band of rebels. What use have such men of witnesses? Being lawless from the beginning, no legal restraint makes the presence of witnesses necessary.... He certainly thought of an honest, lawful trial, in the legal form; an honest and legal examination of witnesses, a fair consideration of the testimony, and after mature reflection the rejection thereof on account of insufficiency” (Martyrdom of Jesus, pp. 69, 70).
302
What did the so-called false witnesses that appeared against him testify that he had said?
“I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days” ([Matthew xxvi, 61]).
“I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands” ([Mark xiv, 58]).