Mark 14:53-65

⁵³ And they led Jesus away to the high priest; and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes.

⁵⁴ But Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.

⁵⁵ Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none.

⁵⁶ For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.

⁵⁷ Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying,

⁵⁸ “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.’ ”

⁵⁹ But not even then did their testimony agree.

⁶⁰ And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?”

⁶¹ But He kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”

⁶² Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

⁶³ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “What further need do we have of witnesses?

⁶⁴ You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.

⁶⁵ Then some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.

Also found in Matthew 26:57-68 and Luke 22:54

chief priests, the elders, and the scribes (v.53) — Together they made up the Sanhedrin, or council, a group of 70 men with religious and civil authority — but not the authority to use the death penalty. That had to come from Rome.

right into (v.54) — Literally, “Until within into.” A redundant but expressive combination, suggesting the idea of one stealthily feeling his way into the court of the palace, venturing further and further in, and gaining courage with each step. — Wuest, page 270.

servants (v.54) = members of the Levitical guard.

council (v.55) — The translation of sunedrion, from sun and edra, hence, a sitting together. The word was used in the Greek classics of any assembly of magistrates, judges, ambassadors, whether convened to deliberate or to pass judgment. The word here refers to the Sanhedrin, the great council of the Jews at Jerusalem consisting of seventy one members, scribes, elders, prominent members of the high-priestly families, and the high-priest, who was the president of the body. The most important causes were brought before this tribunal, inasmuch as the Roman rulers of Judea had left to it the power of trying such cases, and also of pronouncing sentence of death, with the limitation that a capital sentence pronounced by the Sanhedrin was not valid unless it was confirmed by the Roman procurator. — Wuest, pages 270-271.

Rather than judge the case on the merits, the court only looked to convict Jesus (v.55). When their evidence failed to convict, they manufactured evidence (vs.56-57). But even then they couldn’t produce evidence to convict Him (v.59). In Greek, the verbs indicate that they made multiple attempts to create testimony that could convict.

According to the law in Deuteronomy 19:15, two witnesses were required for conviction.

The false testimony in v.58 is a misquotation/misunderstanding of Jesus’ words recorded in John 2:19: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 

The Jews had just asked for an attesting miracle which would prove to them that Jesus was all that He claimed to be. He offers His future resurrection, in the words, “You destroy this temple, (referring to His physical body), and in three days I will raise it up.” The words “that is made with hands” and “I will build another made without hands,” are evidently added to [falsely] make clear that Jesus was talking about the Jerusalem temple. — Wuest, page. 271.

stood up in the midst (v.60) — perhaps out of bluster because he was frustrated that he could not convict his prisoner, or out of anger, or both.

He kept silent (v.61) = He kept on being silent. The council wasn’t going to be convinced by anything He said. Any response would be an admission that the council was legal, which it wasn’t, both because of the timing and because of the false witnesses.

Are You the Christ? (v.61) — Are you the Messiah? Are you the Anointed of God?

the Blessed (v.61) — in context, a name of God

I AM (v.62) — In Greek, “As for myself, in contradistinction to all others, I am.”

The Lord responded to the high priest with two quotes — from Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13.

The words … were considered a claim to Messiahship by the Jews, as the Old Testament passages to which reference was made were looked upon as Messianic. … But the words of Jesus are also a solemn warning that His position and that of His judges would one day be reversed, and a final but ineffectual summons to repentance and faith … in that the Jewish leaders, instead of repenting of their rejection of Jesus as Messiah, and accepting Him as such, caused Him to be crucified. — Wuest, page 273.

__________

Without discussion of His claims, without considering that some day there must be some Messiah, (else what is their faith and who are they?) they will treat it as blasphemous and a capital offense simply to claim that title. — Chadwick, page 410.

__________

tore his clothes (v.63) — He tore asunder his chitonas, his tunics or undergarments, of which persons in good position wore two. The tearing of garments was on old sign of mourning or sorrow first mentioned in Genesis 37:29. The law forbad the high priest from rending his garments in the case of private troubles (Leviticus 10:6; 21:10), but when acting as a judge, he was required by custom to express in this way his horror of any blasphemy uttered in his presence.

In the words, “What need we any further witnesses?” the relief of the embarrassed judge is manifest. If trustworthy evidence was not forthcoming, the necessity for it had now be superseded; the Prisoner had incriminated Himself. — Wuest, page 273.

blindfold Him (v.65) — the symbol of the death penalty (Esther 7:8).

[They wrapped] a covering around our Lord’s head so as to blindfold Him. This was for the purpose of asking Him to identify the one who struck Him. The servants here were the Temple guard or soldiers. … Isaiah, 700 years before our Lord’s suffering, had a vision of His face after the rough and inhuman treatment of the frenzied mob. He said, “His visage was so marred more than any man” (Isaiah 52:14). … The literal rendering is terrible: “So marred from the form of man was His aspect that His appearance was not that of a son of man” — i.e. not human — the effect of the brutalities described in Matthew 26:67-68; 27:27-30. — Wuest, page 274.