The Trials & Scourging
Six Trials, Three Jewish, Three Roman
From the garden to the judgment hall, Jesus endures six trials - each one illegal, each one fulfilling prophecy, each one confirming what Pilate will declare three times: "I find no fault in Him." The Lamb is being inspected one final time.
Six Trials (Three Jewish, Three Roman)
▼1. Annas (John 18:12 - 14)
Illegal, at night. Annas was the former high priest, still wielding power behind the scenes. Jewish law forbade trials at night and required them in the Hall of Hewn Stone, not a private residence. The very first trial violates their own law.
2. Caiaphas/Sanhedrin (Matthew 26:57 - 68)
False witnesses disagree. "The chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus... but they found none." Even with false witnesses, their testimony didn't agree. Finally Caiaphas demands: "I adjure You by the living God, tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus answers: "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." They tear their robes and cry "Blasphemy!" - but He has only told the truth.
3. Sanhedrin at daybreak (Luke 22:66 - 71)
Formal condemnation. At daybreak they assemble again, attempting to give a veneer of legality to a verdict already decided. "If You are the Christ, tell us." He answers: "If I tell you, you will not believe." "Are You the Son of God, then?" "You say that I am." They say, "What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from His own lips."
4. Pilate first (Luke 23:1 - 7)
"I find no guilt in this man." Pilate examines Him and finds no basis for the charges. He tries to pass the problem to Herod when he learns Jesus is Galilean.
5. Herod (Luke 23:8 - 12)
Mocked, found no fault. Herod had long wanted to see Jesus, hoping for a miracle. Jesus answers him nothing. Herod and his soldiers mock Him, dress Him in splendid clothing, and send Him back. Even Herod finds no fault.
6. Pilate final (Luke 23:13 - 25)
Three times declares innocence, still hands Him over. "I did not find this man guilty... Neither did Herod... I will therefore punish and release Him." But the crowd shouts for Barabbas. Three declarations of innocence, and Pilate hands the spotless Lamb to be crucified.
Isaiah 50:6 - "I Gave My Back to Those Who Strike"
▼"I gave My back to those who strike, and My cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not My face from disgrace and spitting." Written 700 years before Christ. He did not resist. He gave His back. He offered His face. This was not passive weakness - it was active, willful submission.
Isaiah 53:3 - "Despised and Rejected by Men"
▼"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." The Suffering Servant is not honored. He is despised. Not welcomed. Rejected. This is the reception the world gives to its Creator.
Isaiah 53:7 - "Like a Lamb... He Opened Not His Mouth"
▼"He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth." The Lamb does not protest. Does not argue. Does not defend Himself.
"But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed." Pilate has seen many prisoners. He has never seen one who will not speak in his own defense. The silence amazes him. The Lamb goes willingly.
The Crown of Thorns
▼The soldiers weave a crown of thorns and press it into His head. They mock Him as king. But they do not know what they are doing.
"Cursed is the ground because of you... thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you." Thorns came from the curse. They are the visible mark of Eden's fall. He wears the curse as a crown - absorbing it, defeating it.
He wears the curse as a crown - absorbing it, defeating it. The thorns that grew from cursed ground are now pressed into the brow of the One who will reverse the curse forever.
The Scourging
▼The Roman flagrum - leather straps embedded with bone and metal - tears the flesh from His back. Roman scourging often killed the victim before crucifixion.
"But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed." Every stripe on His back is a stripe we deserved. His wounds purchase our healing.
Barabbas Released
▼The crowd chooses. The guilty goes free. The innocent is condemned. And in this exchange, the gospel is acted out before it is even preached.
The name itself tells the story. Bar = son. Abbas = father. "Son of the father." A guilty son of the father is released. The innocent Son of the Father is condemned.
Barabbas was guilty of rebellion and murder. He deserved death. He walks free because another takes his place.
"For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." This is the Great Exchange. He gets what we deserve. We get what He deserves. Barabbas is every one of us.