The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1895-05-09
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
International Lesson for May IL, 1895
Jesus Before the High Priest-Mark

GOLDEN TExr.-He is despised and rejected
of men.-1sa. 1913
TINE-Early Friday morning, April A. d
30, between one and Ave 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 staves lanterns and torches, under
the direction of the chief priests and elders,
and accompanied by guard Of soldiers, to the
garden Of Gethsemane, and there betrayed his
Master with kiss, stealing Tho livery OF the
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 OF tho ear Of
Malchus, a servant of the high priest, thus
implcating Jesus in o seeming rebellion
against Rome and giving color to the charge
of the Pharisees that He was setting up
worldly kingdom against Cesar. Jesus uadid
the evil by healing the wound and bidding
Peter put up his sword The disciples then
all forsook Jesus and fled 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 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 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 to 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 false-false, because
the facts were not correctly reported,
because they were entirely misapplied
and perverted. Said they: 1--WE 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, dimly re-
membered, or willfuly perverted.
The high priest was baffled at every
point. There was no hope of formulat-
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 him:
4 adjure thee by the living God that
thou tell u.s. As much as to say: 4 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. It would
be taken as 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 criminal.
before Him, to answer for the actions o1
this day.
AT this the high priest rent hi
clothes, thus expressing in tragic man
ner how it tore his heart to hear sucl
"blasphemy," and exclaims: "Wha
need of any further witness?" The.
had called but one true witness; Hi
testimony they rejected, and yet on thu
strength of His testimony they wer,
about to condemn Him. And they al
condemned Him to be guilty of death
The Sanhedrim was forbidden to in
vestigate any capital crime during tn
night, and, according to the Romal
law, a sentence pronounced befor
dawn was not valid. The council nov
adjourned, to meet at daybreak, whel
| fhav anrld lana 11y r,ropp,,noa <ha ca,,