Where's God? Finding Him in the Small Stuff

When Jesus' trial before Caiaphas was over, He was not taken immediately to Pilate by the religious leaders. He was, instead, bound and put back in prison until daybreak when He was once again put on trial, but this time by the whole Sanhedrin. Why the delay and the extra trial? It has to do with rules and regulations which, even though they were breaking so many of them, the Sanhedrin members tried to make it look as though everything they did was right and legal.

Talk about trumped-up charges! When Jesus was arrested and put on trial before the high priest, Caiaphas, the court of the Sanhedrin had already decided not only the verdict, but the one and only charge as well. It had to be nothing else other than blasphemy. Why? And what about Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea? They were members of the Sanhedrin, but they said nothing in defense of Jesus during this trial. Why?

During His trial before Caiaphas, Jesus was found guilty (although He wasn't) of blasphemy. What was blasphemy, exactly? Also, during the trial, Jesus chose to answer some questions, but refused to answer others. What was the difference between those questions? The answer is actually found in the Old Testament, in the books of Daniel and the Psalms.

When Jesus was on trial before Caiaphas, the high priest, many "witnesses" were brought forward to testify in the hopes that some charge could be brought against Him. Finally, two witnesses were found with a somewhat similar story, but it differed in some important ways from what Jesus had actually said. Was this the reason that Jesus refused to answer Caiaphas at first? These things and more were all part of a trial that was not a trial at all.

Jesus' trial before Annas was over and He was taken next to the current high priest, Caiaphas, for another interrogation. During these two trials, the religious leaders broke eighteen rules which were required for any verdict to be legally valid and binding. What were those rules, and why was it so risky to be a witness to a crime back then?

After Jesus' arrest, He was taken to Annas for questioning. Annas had been the high priest at one time and was still seen by many people as the religious authority in Jerusalem. Little did Annas realize that his trial of Jesus was fulfilling the requirement of the Passover lamb, which had to be examined by a priest before it could be sacrificed. Annas, and then Caiaphas, fulfilled that religious requirement, further qualifying Jesus, in every aspect, as God's sacrificial Lamb.

Why did Annas want Jesus silenced? It had something to do with the way Jesus cleared the temple in Jerusalem not once, but twice. The reasons Jesus did it have their roots in the Old Testament, but for Annas, doing so threatened to cut off the primary stream of his significant wealth. He could not stand for that to happen!

Jesus has been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and is being taken to the former high priest, Annas for questioning. It will be the first of many trials which Jesus will undergo on this awful night. Who was Annas, anyway? You might be surprised to learn just how bad he really was!

When the Israelites left Egypt with Moses, they "plundered" the Egyptians of their valuables like gold jewelry and more. Five hundred years later, God balanced the scales when the Egyptians plundered Israel. And where is the Ark of the Covenant?

When Mark describes the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he tells us about a young man who is watching everything that is happening and is almost caught by the authorities. He barely escapes their clutches, but leaves his cloak behind, in their grasp, to do so. Who was this young man, and do we find him mentioned again anywhere else in scripture?