The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1895-05-10

International Lesson for May ~. 10
Jesus Before the High Priest-mae

( lS-53-GA
Especially arranged from Peioubet's noteal
| CoLDES TExT.-Ho Is despssed and re,eceoo
| Of men-Isa 53:3
TINL-Early Friday morning.. April A -
| % between and fve o'clock
PLACE The palace OF Caiaphas. the high
| priest Mt Jerusalem
THE ARREsT.-About one o'clock Friday
morning Judas guided multitude VITA
| swords and slaves. lanterns and torches. under
the direction OF the chief priests and elders.
| aud accompanied by guard OF soldiers 20 tho
| garden OF Gethsemanc, and there betrayed his
| Master with kiss. stealing Tho livery OF tho
| court OF Heaven TO servo the devil In. Peter
| In his determination to Stand by his Master -
| he had promised. made On attack with hle
| sword upon the officers and cut Oh tho ear Of
Malchus. servant Of the high priest. thus
duplicating Jesus In o seeming rebellion
| against Rome ana giving color TO the charge
of the Pharisees that He was setting up
| worldly Kingdom against Cmsar. Jesus undio
| the evil by healing the wound and bidding
| Peter put up his sword The disciples then
| all forsook Jesus and fed away into the dark
| ness
LESSON NOTES.
Between one and two o'clock Friday
morning, Jesus was led first TO AnnaD
John 1919, who, though deposed b.
Rome, was still the high priest accord
ing TO the law Of Moses Caiaphas, the
son-in-law of Annas, was now the act
ing high priest appointed by the ROM
ans. Apparently the leaders wanted
the authority and sanction Of Annas,
and probably very little was done here
beyond this. Annas very soon sends
Jesus to Caiaphas.
The council sought for witness
against Jesus Not to ascertain the
truth; they did not desire that. But,
''having secured their prisoner, they
must first agree upon the charge" and
this must be sufficiently grave to mako
the penalty death. II was no easy mat
ter; for not only had His life been
stainless. but He had shown consummate
skill in avoiding all the entanglements
which had been set for Him.
What an array Of witnesses they
might have found, had they wished, to
learn the truth. Here company Of
those who had been lame, but now
were running to tell the story of their
healing; there a band of those who
had been blind, but now could see;
lepers who had been cleansed; demon
iacs clothed, and in their right mind;
sick raised from their beds and dead
brought to life again; sad hearts COM
forted; sinful souls redeemed; igno-
rant minds enlightened; wandering
ones restored
But, the next verse goes on to say,
many bare false witness against Him
This was easy tc bring about Any
where in Asia, Broadus tells us, not to
speak Of the other countries, there are
hangers-on about the courts ready to
sell testimony. But significantly
their witnesses agreed not together
Falsehoods seldom agree. Only the
truth is harmonious At last, however,
they found two who seemed TO agree.
and have a charge of some weight; but
the testimony was falsc-false. because
the facts were not correctly reported,
because they were entirely misapplied
and perverted. Said they: I'VE heard
him say, will destroy the temple that
is made with hands, and within three
days will build another made without
hands"
The Jews idolized the temple. No
that His accusers ws,- obliged to
back three years, to the very openill
Of His ministry, to find what they NIGH
even call testimony John 2:l9). This
was either misunderstood, dimly -
membered. or willfuly perverted.
The high priest was bafled at every
point. There was no hope Of formulate
ing charge unless Jesus Himself could
be induced to say something which
could be perverted into blasphemy.
According to Matthew, it was solemn
oath that the high priest offered hi
Il adjure thee by the living God Il
thou tell u.s. As much as to say: i putt
you under oath, that you may clear
yourself Of the charge that you havsl
made this claim but meant a. an OBJ
portunity for him to make the claim,
afresh." ''Art Thou the Christ (the(
Messiah). the Son Of the Blessed7"
Silence is now impossible. II woul
be taken as q denial Of His Messiah
ship. Jesus acknowledges Himself
be The Messiah. Now. If they kill Hiz
they must kill their Messiah. Woo
Il not be better to walk cautiously u
examine His claims before they we
further? In the words: "Ye shall
the Son of Man sitting on the rig
hand Of power" He contrasts His PRIV
ent apparent weakness with His tr
glory and omnipotence. Now the
have the power, then He win have II
| uoW NItCy uSC VII tuS Ju0ksnCut
and lie mt the bar, then He will be the
Judge and they will be the criminals
before Him, to answer for the actions of
this day.
At this the high priest rent hi(
clothes, thus expressing in tragic mh
ner how IL tore his heart to hear sue
"blasphcmy," and exclaims: "whl
need of any further witness?" Thd
had called but one true witness; n
testimony they rejected, aid yet on q
{ strength Of His testimony they we
9 about to condemn Him. And they
: condemned Him to be guilty Of deaf
: The Sanhcdrim was forbidden to n
Z vestignte any capital crime during IN
D night, and, according to the Romkh
I law, q sentence pronounced before
/, dawn was not valid. The council now
o adjourned, to meet at daybrcak, when
:; they could legally pronounce the sen
$ tencc. This regular session was :
q brief one. The evidence was rcpeate<
u and formal vote taken, and Jesus
= was taken to the Roman court before
!. PLATE for the necessary approval q
L the sentence. =,
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