The Good News of Jesus


03/14/2010 - Kangaroo Court



How many of you have ever had jury duty raise your hand? How many of you have always wanted to have jury duty, but you've just never been called? Well, you may rethink that after you hear this story.

This week I read an article about the longest jury trial ever held in America. It was conducted in Belleville, Illinois, and ran from February 1984, until October 1987. That's over 3 ½ years! More than two thousand times the Bailiff cried "All rise" as the Honorable Richard Goldenhersh entered the courtroom to preside over Case No. 80-L-970, Frances L. Kemner et al. v the Monsanto Corporation.

At stake was more than $50 million in damages claimed by 65 plaintiffs following a train wreck that occurred in the little town of Sturgeon, Missouri, on January 10, 1979. On that night a tank car derailed and spilled over 19,000 gallons of orthochlorophenol (a chemical I can't pronounce) and for two days the town had to be evacuated while the spill was cleaned up.

Then Monsanto announced that the spilled chemical contained a minute amount of dioxin which at the time was described as the most toxic synthetic chemical known to humankind. It was only a teaspoon full, but because of its link to cancer that was enough to cause hysteria in Sturgeon and the Kemner case took off.

All 65 plaintiffs testified of multiple medical issues ranging from headaches to high blood pressure, depression to decreased sexual desire. During the course of the trial 182 witnesses were called, 6,000 exhibits were displayed, and over 100,000 pages of transcript were compiled or the equivalent of a 33 foot high stack of paper. Thirty-one times Monsanto claimed mistrial.

But the trial went on and on and on. And during it the glassy-eyed jurors were paid a whopping $5 a day and reimbursed 10 cents a mile. Four of the eighteen jurors dropped out because of illness or injury. A month long recess was called when one of them had an appendectomy and a hysterectomy. Judge Goldenhersh officiated the wedding of one juror's child and twice stopped the trial to so that jurors who got married could go on their honeymoons. "This court can't stand in the way of love," he said.

At one point Goldenhersh was hospitalized and the jury sent him flowers and a card signed, "From your faithful dioxin jurors." On the one year, two year, and three year anniversaries of the trial the jurors celebrated with a birthday cake and when the judge turned 40 they gave him a silver plague inscribed with their names and juror numbers. They were all good sports and became like family.

And when the marathon trial finally came to an end the plaintiffs were awarded $16.2 million in damages. Eighty-one year-old Frances Kemner said, "We're just glad we won." Judge Goldenhersh said, "I'm really going to miss the jurors!" And the Monsanto Company said, "We're filing an appeal!"

3 ½ years, that's a long trial! Well today we're going to look at one of the shortest trials on record. In fact, it's even hard to call it a trial because it was filled with so many court violations and breaches of the law. It was in every way a kangaroo court, but nonetheless it was the first of six midnight trials that led to the execution of Jesus of Nazareth.

If you have a Bible turn with me to Mark 14:53. Remember we're in the final countdown of the last hours of Jesus' life. It's Thursday night, the 14th of Nissan on the Hebrew calendar, April 3rd on our calendar, and Jesus begins the day instructing his disciples on where and how he wants to celebrate the Passover.

So Peter and John slay the Passover lamb and prepare the feast in a large upper room in downtown Jerusalem and there Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, eats the meal that we've come to call the Last Supper, and inaugurates what we observe today as the Lord's Table, communion, the Eucharist, or the mass.

After that he and his disciples leave the upper room and walk down the Kidron Valley under a moonlight sky to the Garden of Gethsemane while Judas climbs up the Temple Mount to round up his posse that will arrest Jesus. In Gethsemane, which in Hebrew means "olive press," Jesus is crushed like an olive under the weight of the cross he's about to experience. He agonizes in the garden and wrestles with God alone, but in the end submits his will to the will of his Dad.

"Abba, Daddy, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet, nevertheless, not my will be done, but your will be done."

I believe that Jesus goes to the garden for at least two reasons. First, to submit his will to his Father's will. He wants the cup of dying or death itself to be removed from him, but even more than that he wants God's will to be done. And second, he wants to protect his disciples who represent the future of the whole movement. He's spent over three years of his life investing in them, but if they die so does the movement. So when Judas shows up with his henchmen Jesus goes out and greets him and says, "If you're looking for me, then let these men go." And after a brief scuffle they seize Jesus while all his friends disappear into the darkness.

Now look at Mark 14:53, They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together. 54Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.

They took Jesus to the high priest. That was big! As far as we know Jesus had never met the high priest before. The high priest was the most powerful person in all of Israel. Israel didn't have a king at this time. They were under Roman rule, so the high priest was the recognized leader of the nation. He was to Israel what the President is to the United States of America or what the Pope is to the Roman Catholic Church.

He was the leader of the Sanhedrin, the seventy member Supreme Court of Israel. He was in charge of everything that went on at the Temple in Jerusalem. Underneath him was a whole org chart that included servants and administrative help and twenty four rotations of chief priests who handled the day to day responsibilities of the sacrifices and rituals that went on. But the high priest was in charge of the three main festivals of the year, Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. And only the high priest could enter the holy of holies one day each year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to present the blood of the sacrifice that would cover his sin and the sin of the nation for another year. The high priest was the man that everyone looked to and revered.

And at the time of Jesus the high priest was a man named Caiaphas. He would hold that position for 18 years, the longest tenure of any high priest. Caiaphas was the son-in-law of the former high priest, Annas. He had married Annas' daughter. And together Annas and Caiaphas were the most powerful, most influential, and wealthiest men in all of Israel. Their family was a dynasty that would produce high priests for almost 60 years.

Annas, who in many ways still held the reins of power, had five sons, all who would become high priests, and with his sons he controlled all the revenues that came into the Temple, multiplied millions of dollars. They were the ones who set the exorbitant exchange rates for temple currency and the obscene prices for the sacrificial animals that were sold in the temple courts. The Temple had become a racket, a money making machine.

One scholar said that Caiaphas, who wasn't even one of Annas' sons, made the equivalent of $3 million a year in today's currency off of proceeds from the Temple. That's why the Temple needed to be cleansed and that's why the Temple eventually needed to be destroyed. The whole system needed to come down. For decades it had been "a den of robbers" as Jesus described and the high priest and his family were the biggest pick pockets.

So Jesus is taken to the palace of the high priest who quickly calls a midnight meeting of the Sanhedrin which would have included the chief priests, elders, and teachers of the law. And while he's inside getting grilled, Peter is on the outside around the grill keeping himself warm and following Jesus at a distance. It's tough to follow Jesus at a distance and to find warmth around the enemy's fire as we'll see next week. It's going to get Peter into all kinds of trouble, but we'll save that for later.

Look at verse 55, The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. 56Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. 57Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 58"We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.'" 59Yet even then their testimony did not agree.

This is clearly a kangaroo court which is an interesting term. Nobody seems to know where it comes from, but we do know what it means. A kangaroo court is a mockery of a trial that totally disregards the principles of law and justice. Everything about this trial was bogus and unjust.

According to its own laws, the Sanhedrin was forbidden to hold a trial outside of the Hall of Hewn Stone which was in the Temple precincts, but this trial was being held at the home of the high priest. The court was not permitted to meet at night or during any of the great feasts of Israel, but of course it was night time when they met and during the greatest feast of Israel, Passover.

When evidence was gathered witnesses were to be examined separately and their evidence needed to agree in every detail for it to be valid. But the evidence here was full of contradictions. And if the verdict was the death penalty a night needed to elapse before the execution was carried out. That was so that they could all go home and sleep on it and change their minds towards mercy if at all possible.

But none of that mattered. They didn't care if they were breaking code in every way. They wanted Jesus dead and they were bound and determined to find a charge that the Romans could agree with because at the end of the day the Jews had no power to execute anyone. They could only petition Rome to carry out an execution.

In his comments on this passage Tom Wright points out that there's a four stage crescendo building in Caiaphas' interrogation. First, there was the bottom line charge that Jesus was a false prophet. He was a dangerous man because he was leading Israel astray. And of course the Hebrew Scriptures warned Israel about imposters who would perform miracles and then lure them away from Israel's God and Israel's law and the penalty for that was stoning to death.

Second, there was the charge that Jesus was going to destroy the Temple. Of course, he did predict in Mark 13 that the Jewish Temple would be destroyed, but he wasn't the one who was going to destroy it. Instead, the temple of his body was going to be destroyed on the cross and then three days later he was he was going to raise it up again. But any talk of messing with the Temple around Annas and Caiaphas was a huge threat to their revenue stream. That was a major hot button for them. Destroying the Temple would destroy their dynasty.

The third and fourth indictments are found in verses 60-62, Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" 61But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?"

Finally, Caiaphas couldn't handle it anymore and he stood up and went ballistic. "Aren't you going to say anything, Jesus? What do think about these accusations? Huh?" And Jesus said nothing. He gave no answer which again was a fulfillment of Scripture.

In Isaiah 53:7 we read, He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, he did not open his mouth.

He doesn't open his mouth to defend himself against accusers. But he does open his mouth when he's asked point blank about his identity. "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?"

And Jesus says in verse 62, "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

The third indictment is that Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah. That's what Caiaphas asked him. He didn't ask him if he was God come in the flesh, the second person of the Trinity. He asked him if he considered himself to be the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One, the anointed one, the King of Israel.

And Jesus said, "Yes, I am." But Jesus goes beyond claiming to be a human Messiah he claims to be equal with God and that's the fourth indictment.

He says, "Ego, eimi," "I am," the same two words that he said in the garden that caused his enemies to fall to the ground. "I am" is the Hebrew name for God and so once again Jesus is pulling back the curtain and revealing his deity in his response.

He supports that claim by quoting two passages that he quoted just a few days before when he was teaching openly in the Temple courts. Psalm 110:1, The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."

And Daniel 7:13 the passage he also quoted in his Olivet Discourse on Tuesday, In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.

The passage goes on to say in verse 14, He was given authority, glory and sovereign power, all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

That's it! That's all Caiaphas needed to hear. He's demanding worship and proposing a kingdom! He says he's going to sit at God's right hand. Blasphemy! Look at verse 63, The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. 64"You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" They all condemned him as worthy of death.

Caiaphas had his verdict. The combination of Psalm 110 and Daniel 7 was explosive and gave the high priest all the ammunition he needed to level charges against Jesus. Blasphemy would be the charge before the Jewish people. In his mind Jesus was a blaspheming false prophet out to lead Israel astray. And sedition would be the charge before Rome. Jesus was claiming to be a rival king and Rome would have none of that. So if the Jews couldn't stone him for blasphemy then let Rome crucify him for sedition.

And once again Caiaphas violates protocol and the Scriptures that said in Leviticus 21:10 that the high priest must never let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes. But hey what's one more violation, right? In fact, here's another one in verse 65.

Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him.

That was illegal too. But this is just the beginning of a long night of injustice and interrogation and torture that Jesus will endure before he even gets to the cross.

We've been singing a lot this morning about justice and mercy and peace and the coming of God's kingdom. One day God's kingdom is going to come to this earth in all its fullness. You can count on it. And it will be an everlasting kingdom and one that will never be destroyed, just like Jesus said.

And at the helm of that kingdom will be Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. He is who he claimed to be and one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, even Annas and Caiaphas, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

But until that day comes it's our privilege and responsibility as Christ followers to enact the values of the kingdom right now, to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. It is our privilege and responsibility to care for the widow and the orphan, the weak and the helpless. That's not an option. That's the mission we're on. "Let it come to us and let it come through us. Til the rich ones give and the poor ones live, til the weak are strong, let your kingdom come."