23. The Gospel accounts of Jesus’ trial are credible.
Ankerberg: Is that a credible story, the trial of Jesus?
Evans: It certainly is.
Ankerberg: Why?
Evans: Well, for one thing, you don’t have any fantastic details. You don’t have any big long speeches. You have a paucity of detail. Some have said, "Oh, how would any of Jesus’ followers have known that what happened at the trial because they weren’t there?" Well that could explain why we have such little detail of the trial itself. All we know is, Jesus is accused of threatening to destroy the temple, and those who were accusing Him of that couldn’t make it stick. And then the high priest asked Him, "Are you the Messiah?" That’s all we have. That’s not much. And He is, in fact, condemned as a Messianic claimant and in Roman language that’s "King of the Jews" and that’s how He is crucified. So that’s all we have–a false accusation: Jesus threatened to destroy the temple; and the actual condemnation itself: He claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God, which means He’s the King of the Jews as Rome would interpret that. That’s all we have. Of course, they knew that. I’m surprised we don’t actually have more details. So you don’t have to have an eyewitness to know those kinds of things.
Ankerberg: And why did they need those two points? Why are those two points important? One was for the Jews; one was for Pilate. Explain that.
Evans: Well, from a Jewish point of view it’s no crime to be the Messiah in that sense. And it’s not even blasphemy for that matter. But you’ve got to make it stick. If you’re going to have Jesus executed because Jesus is a threat–the ruling priests were not stupid. They realized there could be a riot. There could be an insurrection–which, in fact, happens 35 years later. And so they know there is this danger, and here is Jesus in Jerusalem talking about the Kingdom of God and talking about things that are going to change. His parable of the wicked vineyard tenants threatens the ruling priests with being thrown out of office and replaced with others. So they’re not stupid; they know this is coming down the road. If they don’t act quickly and shut Him up–and that’s what they want to do–and so if they’re going to hand Him over to Pilate, Pilate’s going to say, "Well, if this is just a religious dispute, what’s this to me?" So they have to hand Him over to Pilate with a serious charge that the Romans, then, will act upon. And when they present to Pilate...present Jesus to Pilate as the King of the Jews, as the Messiah, that’s treason and Pilate must act on that. |
