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Israel is a land of very dramatic geographic contrasts, high hills and the lowest point on the face of the earth. As a result of these dramatic contrasts, Israel is divided into many different sections. It is crisscrossed by so many valleys or wadis as they call them, that really one can see more than 40 of these

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different divisions and this nature of the land has always made it hard to achieve unity within Israel. Throughout the Old Testament and the Intertestamental period and the New Testament, this unity was achieved and it was achieved principally by the respect of all of the Jewish people for the law.

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Well today we come to the court of law and we find the law land boomed. Amos, one of the greatest of the prophets of Israel, said "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Well this day we will go with Jesus to the fountains of justice and we will find that they have

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one quite dry. Jesus was taken from Gethsemane to the house of Annas. The group went across the Brook Kedron and up into the city through the same gate which it had come through earlier. Now Annas was at that time about 70 years of age. The term of

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office occupied by a high priest was usually very short but Annas, being a very canny politician, had managed to extend his term by having each one of his five sons elected after him and the one who was serving as high priest at that time was his son-in-law Caiaphas. Annas then was the power behind the

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religious throne in Israel. He'd been very upset by the temple cleansing and other events that had happened in the last week of Jesus' life and so Jesus was taken first from Gethsemane to the house of Annas. We have no idea, however, of what happened there. In Gethsemane there was the young boy Mark to report to us. In

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the house of Caiaphas, Peter and John will both bear witness. At the cross, John and the mother of Jesus will tell us what has occurred but here in the house of Annas there was no witness to bring report. It's interesting, isn't it, how much of Jesus' life is shadowed so that we cannot see it. The story of his birth,

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then a story when he's 12 years of age, then a long period of silence, 18 years, until he begins his public ministry and take all of the events recorded in the four Gospels and put them together and they will not occupy more than six months of time. Someone has said that Jesus' life is summed by a comma. You

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know how we assert in the Apostles Creed, "He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, all that is mentioned between his being born and his suffering, comma." Much of Jesus' life is shadowed from us and I think in part that's because the Holy Spirit does not want us to build some dusty shrine to a

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preacher of a long time ago. He is not anxious that we should see Jesus as an itinerant preacher who sometimes picked berries in order to have something to eat. He wants us to see Jesus in our own terms, in our own time. He wants us to understand a contemporary Christ. In a sense, the Spirit has influenced the

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writing of Scripture in the same way that Rembrandt painted pictures. You will remember how Rembrandt allowed there to be a lot of shadow and darkness in order that the principal subject might be focused upon and seen in the light all the more clearly. So, the Holy Spirit conceals much of Jesus' life from us so

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that we will see those things which are of primary importance and this experience in the house of Annas is one of those moments of which we know nothing. The procession now moves from the house of Annas to the house of his son-in-law, the high priest, Caiaphas. I am sure that the clatter of the troops as

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they marched through those narrow alleyways of Jerusalem that morning could be heard by everyone, but when you are a conquered people, you are used to hearing the sounds of soldiers marching in the streets and so no disturbance occurred. They entered the house of Caiaphas and somehow or other Peter and

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John got in amongst them and they were seated there in a courtyard. The courtyard was largely dark, lighted by only a few fires at which people warmed themselves, and along one side of the courtyard was a great hall separated from the courtyard by a row of pillars. Now seated in that hall with their backs

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to the courtyard were members of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of the Jews. There were 71 of them, but they would not all have been present at this hour of the night. Things had happened too quickly. Seated opposite them, looking toward the courtyard, on a throne there lifted up above the others, was Caiaphas,

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the high priest. Caiaphas is coming to the end of his term, but he doesn't know it. In fact, he doesn't realize at all that what is about to happen in the next few minutes will constitute the most important opportunity in his life. He is going to have the opportunity to do something good for the Lord Jesus and

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he's going to miss it. He's going to take company with Herod and Pilate and Felix and the rich young ruler and all of those who had the opportunity, the chance, the occasion to bless Christ and be blessed by him, but missed it. They're rather like ships that cannot be seen on the dark waters until they pass very

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briefly into that shimmering path light which comes across the surface of the waters from the moon, and while they are in that light they are silhouetted and then they disappear into the darkness again. We know nothing about Caiaphas except this night, and on this night he will become an object of shame because

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he misses his opportunity. Clarence Edward McCartney, who stood in this pulpit for many years, was a good friend of Williams Jennings Bryant, and on one occasion McCartney and Bryant were together in Chicago and they drove past the place where Bryant, who was the nominee of his political party for

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President of the United States, had given his famous "Cross of Gold" speech, that speech which concluded with the words "You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold," and McCartney, remembering that speech, said to Bryant, "Why do you think it is that that is the speech of yours which is most remembered when in

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fact there were other speeches that you gave which were far superior?" And Bryant thought for a moment and then he said, "I saw it as my opportunity and I made the most of it." Then after a moment's pause he added, "That is about all we do in this world, lose or use our opportunities." Well that was certainly true for Caiaphas

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and here was his moment. And we ought also to think about ourselves. Ten thousand minutes of your life have passed since last we gathered in this room. A half a million minutes of your life have passed since the last Lent when you took the time to examine yourself before God. In those times has

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Jesus come before you? And have you captured your opportunity or have you missed it? See Jesus standing there in that lighted hall. There is now a bit of a sag to his shoulders. The toll of the Via Dolorosa is being taken but we must be quiet because the high priest is about to speak. Now in holding the trial

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in his home, Caiaphas was already breaking the law. The Sanhedrin had a place of meeting and all of their business was to be conducted there. Also they were on this occasion meeting at night and that also was against the law for the Sanhedrin could not take up any legal matter after noon of the day. So

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with these two errors already on the docket, Caiaphas begins the trial in the darkness. They want to get it over you see before the populace wakes up in the morning and discovers what happened. A lot of people try to get away with things when it's dark. Alfred North Whitehead, that great philosopher from

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the University of Chicago said that religion is what a person does with his solitariness, alone when he's in the dark and no one can see. No one can see? God can see in the dark. A few weeks ago I watched an Aborigine use a boomerang. He took that piece of wood, they're actually quite large in size, and hurled

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it and it went so far that I almost lost sight of it but then suddenly it turned and came back and landed at his very feet. That's what happens to the things we do in the darkness you know. They may go out where no one can see them but in the end they come back and rest right at our feet.

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Remember what the scriptures say, "Behold your sin will find you out." Caiaphas says to Jesus, "Tell us of your disciples and of your doctrine." Now this was the third violation of the law because a trial was supposed to begin with a statement of the charges and then the hearing of the witnesses for the

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defense. Instead of that, Caiaphas comes to Jesus immediately with a loaded question, one that carries within it subtle suggestions of conspiracy. "Tell us about this doctrine you're preaching. Tell us about the disciples who believe it." Now, Caiaphas knew how few had been in the garden and how they all had fled when

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Jesus had been arrested, he knew that, but he was attempting to attack Jesus through using his disciples. A lot of people do that, don't they? They attack the faith and what the faith means by attacking the disciples of Jesus. George Bernard Shaw said, "Jesus Christ was all right, the only trouble with him was that he had

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disciples." I remember in the first church I served, in that town there was a man who was active in another church, he was the superintendent of the Sunday School and held other offices, and he was caught embezzling funds. And when he went back to his church the next Sunday, he and his family were thrown out. Now, they happened

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to live right next door to some members of our church and they invited them to come and worship with us. And he came to meet with me before they came and he said, "Well, it's nice to see that some Christians are trying to act like Christ." I rebuked him for his arrogance because his sin was embezzlement and he did not

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begin with any apology or confession of it. But I had to go on to acknowledge that there are many Christians who dishonor Jesus by their behavior, whose discipleship appears to be some kind of hoax. And oft times when outsiders see this kind of person, they say, "Well, if that is what it means to be a Christian,

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then thanks, but no thanks." And they turn and leave, leave Jesus and leave us, fingering our 30 pieces of silver. Jesus responds to Caiaphas, "Why do you ask me these questions? Bring witnesses according to the law. No whimpering from Jesus, no cowering whatever. You know the

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way things are to be done, Caiaphas. You know what I stand for, else you would not have brought me here. Now obey the law, bring witnesses." And Caiaphas blushes and one of the servants of the high priest reaches out and smacks Jesus across the mouth. "Answereth the high priest so?"

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Better that that hand had withered. But how often evil resorts to violence when it's confronted with truth. Caiaphas challenged does bring witnesses. Now the law of the Jews stated that if you could get two witnesses to agree on a matter in precise detail, then this was satisfactory testimony. But you see, the

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witnesses were being gathered late at night and there was a great deal of haste and excitement and they hadn't been properly coached and as a result there was no real agreement among the witnesses and the case began to collapse. And all this time Jesus stands there, watching, strong and silent.

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I think one of the Americans that I honor the most is Robert E. Lee. He was a fine husband, he was a grandfather, he was a superb soldier, he was a great college and university president. On the last trip that he took to his home state of Virginia, a woman brought a child to put into his arms and she asked Lee if he

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would bless the child. And he blessed the child and handed the child back to her with these words, "Teach him that he must deny himself." That was the greatness of Lee and that was preeminently the greatness of Jesus. He's standing there, you see, in silent strength, denying himself, letting the

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drama play out. So Caiaphas plays his top card. Standing up and drawing his robes about him, he says, "I abjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son of God." Now in a Jewish court, the witness did not take the oath, the judge did. And when the judge put things under a solemn oath,

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such as Caiaphas had just done, when he did that, then the witness was put under oath as well. This, you see, was Caiaphas' last hope. He's putting, catch this, he's putting God under oath. It's a wonder the earth didn't crumple and the skies roll up and blow away. This is, of course, the most important moment in the trial. For

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you see, if Jesus answers the question of the high priest, "Yes," then they will condemn him to death. And if he says, "No," then they will have to release him. And Jesus speaks, "I am." And then caught up in the glory of his own presence, he adds, "And in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of

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power and coming on the clouds of heaven." Under oath, he affirms his deity. And it took so much courage to do that. You know, most times when heroes or heroines die, it's for a cause in which their loved ones are being protected and supported by their sacrifice. Some of the men and women who have fought for our country

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have fought for it willingly because they were protecting the ones that they loved at home. But Jesus, you see, practices a heroism of the broken heart because the very ones who are condemning him are the ones he loves. The very ones who are conspiring against him are the ones he came to save. The very ones who

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are about to put him to death are the ones that he would take within his arms and hold and hug and love forever. That's heroism with a broken heart. Astronomers tell us that there are some heavenly bodies which move toward each other across many centuries or eons and then they reach a moment of closest

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approximation and then they part. And they continue to move farther and farther apart for all of the rest of time, never coming close to one another again. And that's what's happening at just this moment. Christ and the Jews. The moment of closest approximation and then the turning away. "Blasphemy!" cries out Caiaphas.

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"We need no other witnesses. What think ye?" And they chorus the reply, "He must die." Now let's not be mistaken here. The Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church a few years ago announced as part of its doctrine that the Jews were not to be held especially guilty for the death of Jesus. And that is correct.

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Protestantism has recognized that for centuries. The Roman Church has a continuing problem with the Jews even until this day it does not recognize Israel as a nation. There is no special sin which belongs to the Jews. For what the Jews are doing here is what all those who sin against God, Father, Son,

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and Spirit do. The only degree of specialness which pertains to the Jews at this point is this. They lost the most. When the fountains ran dry, they took company with all the sinners of the world and claimed their sin for their own. Now restraint breaks. Whatever dam of decency had stood collapses and they

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begin to strike him with sticks and to spit into his face and they cover his head with a cloth and then reach out and hit him and say, "Tell us, Prophet, who hit thee?" Jesus stands there and as we looking in from the courtyard consider the scene, we must ask ourselves, "Just who is really being judged?"

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Good, you see, forcing evil to show its true power. And then they sent him off upon his path. Well, you say, "All of this happened a long time ago and really doesn't have much relevance to us today." I beg to differ. I would ask you to recall that we

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miss opportunities that come to us in the name of the Spirit of Jesus and we miss them again and again. I would remind you that we try to get away with things in the dark and do those things we would not want our sisters and brothers in Christ to know that we do or think or say. We too hit out against goodness when

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the proclamation of goodness pinches us in the midst of our sin. We also put God under oath when his decisions do not accord with ours. We challenge the wisdom and the rightness and the trustworthiness of God and we often practice that kind of poor discipleship which stains the name of the Savior so

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that some never come to him because of the way they see us act. Now, the only thing that separates us from what happened there in the house of Caiaphas that night is 1950 years. So they send him off to Pilate and we watch him go.

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And as we watch him go, we say those words that the chorus sings in Johann Sebastian Bach's great St. Matthew's Passion. As Jesus is taken away, they sing "Mein Jesu, mein Jesu, was hast du gegten? In was fürmissen taten bist du geregt?" My Jesus, my Jesus, what has thou done? In what crimes has thou been involved?

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And Jesus stops, and turns, and looks at us.

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