Trials

Presents this with the hope that you might better understand what Jesus suffered for you.

  1. Home
  2. Gethsemane
  3. Trials
  4. Health of Jesus
  5. Scourging
  6. Crucifixion
  7. Death of Jesus
  8. Sources
    1a. Cross of Christ
    1b. Physicians View

Jewish Trials

Soon after midnight, Jesus was arrested at Gethsemane by the temple officials and was taken first to Annas and then to Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest for that year. (Fig 1) 1  Between 1 AM and daybreak, Jesus was tried before Caiaphas and the political Sanhedrin and was found guilty of blasphemy.  1  The guards then blindfolded Jesus, spat on him, and struck him in the face with their fists.1  Soon after daybreak, presumably at the temple (Fig 1), Jesus was tried before the religious Sanhedrin (with the Pharisees and the Sadducees) and again was found guilty of blasphemy, a crime punishable by death.1, 5

Roman Trials

Since permission for an execution had to come from the governing Romans,  1   Jesus was taken early in the morning by the temple officials to the Praetorium of the Fortress of Antonia, the residence and governmental seat of Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea (Fig 1). However, Jesus was presented to Pilate not as a blasphemer but rather as a self-appointed king who would undermine the Roman authority.  1  Pilate made no charges against Jesus and sent him to Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Judea. 1 Herod likewise made no official charges and then returned Jesus to Pilate. (Fig 1)1  Again, Pilate could find no basis for a legal charge against Jesus, but the people persistently demanded crucifixion, Pilate finally granted their demand and handed over Jesus to be flogged (scourged) and crucified. (McDowell 25 has reviewed the prevailing political, religious, and economic climates in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ death, and Bucklin 5 has described the various illegalities of the Jewish and Roman trials.)