I like watching some crime shows. Have you ever noticed they are always looking for evidence! The only way to find out whodunit is to examine the evidence. The evidence will tell the story. Follow the evidence, solve the crime. At least that is how it works on TV.
There are thousands of students in schools right now wanting to become criminal investigators because of these TV shows. There is something to be said for the ability to follow the facts to a successful conclusion. And we have to be able to do it in 52 minutes, or 48 hours. If only life were as easy as the TV shows portray.
Every once in a while we hear of an investigator who planted evidence. They couldn’t follow the evidence they could find and solve the crime, so they added evidence in order to frame someone. The person they frame probably wasn’t a very nice person, perhaps a criminal who kept getting away with it. But this corrupt investigator is tired of them getting away with it, so they create a case against them.
One of the tenants of our justice system is that the evidence must support the verdict. If there is no evidence, there can be no conviction. And this same idea was present in Jesus’ day. This is one of the legacies of the Greek and Roman cultures. We are a society of laws. Citizens have rights. Those who aren’t citizens don’t have the same rights.
Remember reading about the apostle Paul being beaten before his trial and how afraid the Roman official was when he found out? That is because you could beat a non-Roman citizen before a trial, but not a Roman citizen. Different standards applied to each class of people.
So Jesus starts His first trial, or perhaps we might call it a pre-trial hearing. More accurately we would call it a fishing expedition. They have no evidence to convict Jesus, let alone send Him forward to trial. They can’t get people to even lie in a manner that would be helpful. They can’t get their story straight. And even they know that they have to get their story straight.
The only thing they get is from Jesus Himself, and this won’t hold up in a Roman court of law. Rome didn’t care if someone claimed to be God. This wouldn’t threaten their power. Law and order wouldn’t diminish if someone claimed this or that. As long as the taxes continued to flow in and the stability of the territory didn’t slip too much, they were OK.
For the Jews blasphemy, claiming to be God, was a crime punishable by death. But they lacked the authority under Rome to execute anyone without Rome’s permission. And Rome needed proof of a violation of one of their laws. Jewish laws didn’t matter to Rome, as long as they didn’t interfere with their laws.
And all the while Peter is relaxing, warming himself with the guards. I think Jesus was fairly relaxed as well. He knew what was coming. He had “prayed through” as people used to say. He had received strength and peace in the Garden of Gethsemane. And even as the beatings begin, Jesus doesn’t say anything to make them stop. He doesn’t change His story. He doesn’t recant His claims. He chooses to die…for us.
The Arnold Journey 