Luke 22:66-71 Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin

Luke 22:66-71 Jesus is tried before the Sanhedrin. Parallel passages Matthew 26:57-66, Mark 14:53-64, John 18:19-24. This is the first of three trials recorded by Luke, first before the Jewish high council, then before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea (in two parts), with a third trial before Herod, the Roman governor of Galilee, who sent Him back to Pilate for the conclusion of His trial there.

          The records of what transpired at this trial differ significantly, most likely indicating that different authors of the gospels had different witness's accounts, and perhaps different points to emphasize regarding it. Luke records their asking Him to admit that He was the Messiah. He first quotes Daniel 7:13 in Luke 22:69, regarding the coming of the Son of Man. And then in the next verse, He plainly states that He is the Son of God. The council then decided that based on this confession, they did not need witnesses.

          Matthew's account of the trial includes the council's attempt to obtain the testimony of false witnesses in order to put Him to death (Matt 26:59), but they had problems. Finally they got two witnesses to agree in testifying that Jesus said that He could destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days, a misquotation of John 2:19. (Well, they were false witnesses). So the charge must have been sorcery. Then Matthew quotes Jesus' statement regarding His fulfillment of Daniel 7:13, which they concluded was blasphemy, a capital crime. Mark's account follows Matthew's very closely.

          John's account of the trial includes questioning Jesus about His disciples and His teaching, and His response to them. He taught openly and all the Jews had heard them, so they should have no problem in finding witnesses, as the Law of Moses requires in capital cases (Deut 17:6). John does not record either the witnesses misquoting Jesus' statement about raising up the temple after it was destroyed, nor His statement that He was the Son of God.

          The two charges on which Jesus was condemned by the Sanhedrin put on record two very important theological points. First, as to the charge of sorcery, since the witness was quoting Jesus' statement that He would raise the temple in three days, it puts in the record testimony from a hostile witness that Jesus had prophesied His own resurrection before He died. Second, based on the priest's judgment that He had committed blasphemy, it puts on record that He stated specifically that He was the Son of God, and that He would be seated at the right hand of God, lest anyone foolishly say that He never claimed to be God, and that they would see Him coming on the clouds of heaven. Hence we have the record under trial that He prophesied His second coming.

          Although blasphemy and sorcery might be capital crimes in the Jewish law, they were not offenses against the Roman Empire, so we shall see that completely different charges were brought against Him when He was tried before Pilate.