Day 310 – Jesus’ Jewish Trials

• Today’s story continues directly after the readings we looked at yesterday. It’s very late now – probably well after midnight (don’t forget that they’ve had the Passover, then the time when the disciples fell asleep whilst Jesus prayed, and then the arrest). This didn’t stop the Jewish leaders from waking an important priest called Annas, in order to bring Jesus before him. Why do you think they didn’t wait until morning?
• What questions did Annas ask of Jesus? You’ll want to refer to all three readings to get a good picture. Could they find a reliable witness to testify against Jesus? Jesus replied in John 18:20 that He had always “openly spoken the word”. Should it have been hard to find witnesses if Jesus really had been teaching evil or hateful stuff?
• The crunch moment comes in Matthew 63:64. What was asked to Jesus and what was the reply? What was the angry response from the Jewish leaders?
• How did the people holding Jesus treat Him? Do you think the atmosphere was one of a fair trial? Why couldn’t all this wait until morning? Do you think holding it at night made it easier to perpetrate evil? 
• Look at how the people mocked Jesus. The clearest example is in Mark 14:65. They blindfolded Jesus, slapped Him around, and then goaded Him by saying “prophecy!” – i.e. “prophecy who it was who hit you!”. In other words, they were mocking Jesus. They were goading Him into saying or doing something. Are you ever mocked for your faith? Do you react like Jesus did?
• As Jesus was led away to a Roman trial (we’ll read about that tomorrow), the focus in John’s account moves to Peter, who had secretly followed the crowds and was keeping warm by a fire. Who is the first person to challenge him?
• The girl was an “unimportant” slave, and probably a lot younger that Peter. Why would Peter have been scared to tell her that he was one of Jesus’ followers? What would Peter have been concerned about?
• Flick to Mark 14:31. What does Peter say there? Have you ever been like Peter – brave in easy circumstances, and scared in difficult ones?
• You’ll probably know about the story of Peter’s three denials of Jesus. What happened when the third denial happens? How did Peter react?

I mentioned yesterday that if this was a film, the action was beginning to hot up. I’d say things were ticking along nicely now in that regard, don’t you? there’s action, sub-plots, night-time arrests, and the evil thoughts of mankind stripped bare.

But this isn’t a film – it’s real, and we would do well to remember this. Instead of thinking about the exciting story, we should be considering how it could be that people, all of whom were genuinely waiting and prayer for a messiah to come, could be taking part in this shambolic night-time arrest of the Saviour they refuse to recognise. We’ll read more soon about the events of the late night trials that Jesus endured.

Finish your reading today by considering Peter. Denying Jesus is something that we may not do regularly with our voices, but do we do it with our actions and thoughts? Think about all you did yesterday: the conversations you had with your friends, and the way you probably kept Jesus firmly out. When was the last time you talked about the gospel with a non-Christian? Can you even remember? Have you had opportunities, and skipped them by?