Capital Crime: Mark 14:53-59
We’ll always be tempted to do what we want rather than follow God’s ways. This doesn’t mean we always choose poorly. Sometimes, with the grace of God, we do choose the right thing. That doesn’t change the fact that sin is always right there beside us, tempting us to follow our own ways.
The armed throng brings Jesus before the council of religious elite. This council is called the Sanhedrin, and it was composed of 70 elders from the religious and political system. As such, they weighed over important matters affecting the Hebrew people.
The existence of the Sanhedrin is supported by the Law. There were 71 members of the Sanhedrin, 70 members plus a high priest. This comes from the 70 elders whom Moses appointed to help him as they fled Egypt during the Exodus.
As a legal body, they had proper rules and procedure. One interesting rule was a prohibition against weighing capital crimes at night. The most obvious reason to not hear capital crimes at night is these cases require argumentation, witness testimony, and citations from the Law. Capital cases took a great deal of patience and focus. Patience and focus are in short supply in the evening after a hard days’ work. Thus, capital cases were not to be heard in the evening.
Furthermore, it is desirable for everyone on the Sanhedrin to be in attendance during a capital case. At night, some people may already be asleep. Some members of the Sanhedrin might not be able to be found and would miss the meeting. To ensure all the members could be present to hear a capital case, capital cases to be held during the day.
We know Jesus was arrested in the evening. The crowd lead Jesus from the Mount of Olives to the high priest, Caiaphas. The Sanhedrin broke its own rules to do away with Jesus. They throw away their proper procedure to be done with Jesus, whom they believe has the potential to disrupt the flow of life under the Roman occupation.
There’s another rule that the Sanhedrin broke in their dealings with Jesus. If a person in a capital case was guilty and it was determined the person should die, the punishment had to be caried out after at least a full day of waiting. This allowed the members of the Sanhedrin to go home and think about the decision. If there was to be a change of heart – or even a case made for mercy – this would allow time for such a case to be heard.
The Sanhedrin break their own rules to do away with Jesus. Is there any surprise their testimony doesn’t agree, either? Human beings will do what they want to get what they want. Human beings will say what they need to get what they want. As human beings, we have hearts bent towards sin. We’ll always be tempted to do what we want rather than follow God’s ways.
