The Hearing before the Sanhedrin, Part 1

Jim ButlerMatthew 26:57–61

Matthew 26:57–61 places Jesus before the Sanhedrin in what the preacher demonstrates was not an impartial criminal trial but a predetermined hearing whose guilty verdict had been settled before any witnesses were called. The sermon maps the political and ecclesiastical machinery of the Sanhedrin — its composition, its lack of authority to execute, its violations of due process, and its need to construct a charge sufficient to deliver Jesus to Pilate — and addresses the charge that the gospel accounts of these events are colored by anti-Semitism. Against that background, the contrast between the faithful witness of Christ and the fearful, distanced discipleship of Peter issues a direct call to close, unashamed allegiance to the Savior, and an invitation to unbelievers to come to the One who restores even those who deny him.