The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1895-05-03
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
international Lesson for May 12, 100
Jesus Before the High Priest-Msr
lA-H3-0A

30. between one and hive o'clock
PLAcE-The palace OF Caiaphas, the high
priest. at Jerusalem
The ARREsT-About one o'clock Friday
morning Judas guided multitude. with
swords and slaves lanterns and torches. under
the direction Of the chief priests and elders.
and accompanied by guard OF soldiers, 10 the
garden OF Gethsemane, and there betrayed his
Master with kiss, stealing 1.-The livery OF tile
court OF Heaven to serve the devil in" Peter.
in his determination to stand by his Master as
he had promised, made an attack with his
sword upon the officers and cut on the ear OF
Malchus, servant OF the high priest nus
duplicating Jesus in a seeming rebellion
against Rome and giving color TO the charge
OF the Pharisees that lie was setting up q
worldly kingdom against Cpsar. Jesus undid
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 Annas
(John 1919. who, though deposed by
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 make
the penalty death. 1t was no easy mat
ter; for not only had His life been
stainless, but He had shown consumlnate
skill III 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 a company of
those who had been lame, but now
were running to tell the stony 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.
I But. the next verse goes on to say.
many bare false witness against Him.
This was easy to bring about. Any
where in Asia, BToadus 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"
Falseho0ds seldom agree Only the
truth is harmonious. At last, however,
they found two who seemed to agree,
and have Il charge of some weight; but
the testimony was false-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. Note
that His accusers were obliged to go
back three years, to the very opening
OF His ministry, TO find what they might
even call testimony (John 2:19). This
was either misunderstood, d,mly re-
mer1bcrcd, or willtuly perverted.
The hi III priest was batfied at every
point. There was no nope of formulat-
ing q charge unless Jesus Himself could
be induced to say something which
could be perverted into blasphemy.
According to Matthew, it was a solemn
oath that the high priest offered him:
Il adjure thee by the living God that
thou tell u.s. AS much as to say: Il put
you under oath, that you may clear
yourself of the charge that you have
made this claim, but meant as an op-
portunity for him to make the claim
afresh." Art Thou the Christ (the
Messiah), the Son Of the Blessed?"
Silence is now impossible. 1t would
be taken as a denial of His Messiah
ship. Jesus acknowledges Himself to
be the Messiah. Now, if they kill Him,
they must kill their Messiah. Would
it not be better TO walk cautiously and
examine His claims before they went
further? In the words: "Ye shall see
the Son of Man sitting on the right
hand of power" He contrasts His pres
ent apparent weakness with His true
glory and omnipotence. Now they
have the power, then He will have it:
now they are on the judgment seat
and He at 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 his
clothes, thus expressing in tragic man
ner how it tore his heart to hear such
''blasphemy," and exclaims: "What
need of any further witness?" They
had called but one true witness; His
testimony they rejected, and yet on the
strength of His testimony they were
about to condemn Him. And they all
condemned Him To be guilty of death.
The Sanhedrim was forbidden to in
vestigate any capital crime during the
night, and, according to the Roman
law, sentence pronounced before
dawn was not valid. The council now
adjourned, to meet at daybreah, when
they could legally pronounce the SEN
tence. This regular session was a
brief one. The evidence was repeated
and formal vote taken, and Jesus
was taken to the Roman court before
Plate for the necessary approval of