Was he Guilty?

By Simon Peter Esaku

NEARLY 2000 years after Jesus was arrested, crucified and rose from the dead, lawyers and scholars are re-examining the basis of His execution. Was He guilty? Jesus died on the cross at Golgotha outside Jerusalem, in AD 33.

He was crucified on a Friday, the preparation day of the Jewish Passover feast. Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, judged Jesus and handed him over to be crucified. Christ was arrested at night on the orders of the chief priests, scribes and elders of the Jews.

In the morning, they accused him before the chief priest, Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod king of Galilee, Jesus’ home province. “It is plain from each of the gospel narratives that the alleged crime for which Jesus was tried and convicted was blasphemy,” says Judge Gaynor, in The Mis-Trials of Jesus, (1914).

Jesus taught that he was the Son of God. “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Caiaphas asked Jesus. He replied: “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power.”

“Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy!”’ (Mark 14: 63-64).

The Jewish Council agreed Jesus deserved to die. “Thus, we see that Jesus was crucified for being who he really was, for being the Son of God,” says Josh McDowell in Evidence that Demands a Verdict, (1990).

Jesus also taught that he was God. Earlier, the Jews attempted to stone him for blasphemy twice. According to the Jewish law, blasphemy was punishable by stoning. (Leviticus 24:16).

Robert Anderson says in The Lord from Heaven, (1910) that the reason which led to the execution of Jesus: “... was his incredible claim that he, a simple carpenter’s son among the shavings and sawdust of his father’s workshop, was in reality God in the flesh.”

Jesus was accused of blasphemy by considering himself the king of the Jews. When Pilate asked Jesus whether he was the king of the Jews, he answered, “It is as you say.” Irwin Linton, a lawyer concludes in The Sanhedrin Verdict, (1943).

The chief priests, scribes, elders and the crowds they instigated against Jesus, accused him for being an evildoer. “What accusations do you bring against this man?” Pilate asked. they replied, “If he were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you.”

They accused him of perverting the nation, forbidding payment of taxes and stirring up the people. Earlier, they could not name the charges against him before Caiaphas. “Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but found none,” (Mark 14:55).

They got two false witnesses who claimed they heard Jesus say: “I am able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days.” The evidence against Jesus was not convincing because the testimonies of the many false witnesses did not concur.

The atmosphere for the liquidation of Jesus was ready long before the fateful Friday. The chief priests, scribes and elders were long obsessed with Jesus’ other claims including the ability to forgive sins.

“Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” the scribes demanded. They abhorred him for speaking with God’s authority. “He never hesitated nor apologised.

He had no need to contradict, withdraw or modify anything he said,” Karl Scheffrahn and Henry Kryessler wrote in Jesus of Nazareth: Who Did He Claim to Be? (1968). Jesus taught that he is the way, the truth and the life. Merrill C. Tenney comments in John: The Gospel of Belief, (1948):

“He declared himself to be the final key to all mysteries.” Jesus preached that people should believe in him. “He was doomed to death, the death that overtakes all men. Nevertheless, he had the audacity to demand that they make him an object of faith,” Tenney wrote. Pilate found Jesus not guilty.

“I have found no fault in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him; no, neither did Herod. I will, therefore, chastise him and release him,” Pilate decided (Luke 23:14-16).

The voices of Jesus’ accusers prevailed, “Away with this man!” and: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate surrendered Jesus to be crucified to appease his accusers and for fear of a riot.

“As a judge, Pilate made fatal errors. he allowed Jesus’ accusers to become judges. He handed over an innocent man to be executed. He avoided the one duty he had — to acquit Jesus immediately without any conditions and to offer him protection,” a Kampala lawyer argues. Many others believed the man, who did good things, fed thousands, healed the sick and raised the dead was innocent.

Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus confessed: “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”

One of the two robbers on the crosses admitted: “...we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”