Let this be the Season...

Historically and culturally, a lot was happening around the time that Jesus was crucified. There were political and religious divides and tensions at play. 

The Jewish leaders followed their religious law under the authority of Rome, which means they had to practice Roman law as well as Jewish law. Meanwhile the Romans followed their own set of constructed laws. When the religious leaders wanted to execute someone, they needed Roman approval after they met the Jewish requirements, which is where we are going to pick up today. 

When Jesus was betrayed by Judas, there were a set of laws that needed to be followed by the Sanhedrin, which was basically a Supreme Court of Jewish Leaders. First and foremost, they were supposed to conduct trials in the daytime; however, some scholars believe that these religious zealots led Jesus straight into a night trial, which went against their own laws: 

“Those who had arrested Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had convened” (Matthew 26:57). 

Jewish law also required witnesses to be interviewed separately and testimonies to be corroborated. The Sanhedrin and religious leaders also failed to do this: 

“The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but they could find none. For many were giving false testimony against Him, but the testimonies did not agree. Some stood up and were giving false testimony against Him, stating, ‘We heard Him say, ‘I will demolish this sanctuary made by human hands, and in three days I will build another not made by hands.’ Yet their testimony did not agree even on this” (Mark 14:55-59). 

Again, they failed to follow their own laws and regulations regarding a criminal trial. 

As they questioned Jesus, He remained silent. They urged, “...By the living God I place You under oath: tell us if You are the Messiah, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63)! 

He responded in verse 64, “You have said it,’ … ‘But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ 

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, ‘He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? Look, now you’ve heard the blasphemy! What is your decision?’

They answered, ‘He deserves death!’

Then they spit in His face and beat Him; others slapped Him and said, ‘Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who hit You?” (Matthew 26:64-68).

When we read these lines, we can see even more how they failed to follow their own laws. In Leviticus, we find specific laws for priests. In verse 21:10, it reads, “The priest who is the highest among his brothers [the high priest], who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the garments, must not dishevel his hair or tear his garments” (Leviticus 21:10). 

The high priest tore his robe, which was sinful. 

Additionally, we find in Leviticus 24:15-16 that if a person was caught participating in blasphemy, the punishment was for the community to stone them to death, not death by crucifixion. Because of the political and religious tensions, Jesus was handed over to Roman authorities, where He was then crucified under Roman law. 

In an interview with Dr. Alexander Metherell, Lee Strobel asked him to explain what happened during a crucifixion. After sharing many specific details of how the Romans were trained to create pain and death, he ended with this “The pain was absolutely unbearable… In fact, it was literally beyond words to describe; they had to invent a new word: excruciating. Literally, excruciating means ‘out of the cross.’ Think of that: they needed to create a new word because there was nothing in the language that could describe the intense anguish caused during the crucifixion” (The Case for Easter, Strobel, 19). 

We may not be a country who practices crucifixion via the cross. However, we live in a world that demands that Christ’s death on the cross be crucified and that believers of Jesus be silenced. We see this more and more everyday. Whether you believe that Jesus is the risen Savior or not, I think we can all agree that He was mistreated, given an unfair trial, and murdered as an innocent man. That alone should be enough to pique our curiosity as to what He stood for. It should be enough to make us want to dive into the Scriptures to really form our own opinion on what we do in fact believe about God. If that’s still not enough to spark an interest, how about the fact that almost all of Jesus’ closest disciples or followers were put to death in agonizingly painful ways for following Him. They chose death over denying His name. Some were crucified, some were beheaded, and others were murdered. Why would they do that if they didn’t truly know and believe that He was the living Messiah? 

Friends, let this Easter season be the season that you wander. The season that you question what you’ve been told or what you’ve “heard” about Jesus. Let this be the season that you discover, truly that “...God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Let this be the season you discover that He is in fact the risen Lord and Savior and that He is seated at the right hand of God. Let this be the season that you fully dive into your faith. 

He is risen - the true Easter Miracle! Happy Easter weekend, friends! Have a blessed week!