The Mockery Trial

Almost nothing about Jesus' trial before Caiaphas was legitimate under Jewish law. It was held in the middle of night, during Passover, and at the high priest's house. Going in to the proceedings, there were no formal charges, witnesses, or defense. As a capital trial, there was no period given to avoid hasty judgment because the verdict was decided before it began.

When Caiaphas determined it would be better to put one man to death than for the Romans to put down the whole nation because of the stir Jesus was causing, he set up an unjust trial that had little more than the formal trappings of a kangaroo court. The charge of blasphemy originally leveled against Jesus because of their misunderstanding of His statement about a temple being destroyed and raised up is only heightened when Jesus claims divine embodied Messianic Sonship. Rather than correcting their mistaken charge, He remains silent and only later claims eschatological sovereignty over them, even as He's bound under arrest.

As the courtyard goes from a mock trial to full out mockery, He stands as they slap, beat, and spit in His face, insulting Him in a divine reversal of perhaps the worst blasphemy the world had ever seen. And as God in the flesh holds back His wrath for a little longer, His creation mocks their only hope of salvation.