By Timothy W. Burnett
Just before Jesus was bound and led away, all but one of his disciples ran away. One young disciple followed him until he was grabbed by some of the young men in the arresting party. He escaped naked, with his linen clothing still in the hands of the soldiers. This record is found in Mark 14:50-52. The record doesn't reveal who this man was, but he must have had a close brotherly love for Jesus. When we truly love others, we can't help but pay close attention to them. Even from afar. There's an unexplainable aching deep in our hearts. We want so much to provide comfort when they are hurting inside, or to share in their happiness and glory. The kind of love where just catching each other's eyes from a distance warms and tenderizes both hearts, even without a word spoken. Not only can this exist in that uniquely special love between a man and a woman, but as we will see in the records of Jesus' crucifixion, there was also a close brotherly love between him and his disciples.
After Jesus was bound, the arresting party led him away to face...not one...but two religious trials before facing the Roman judge. According to
John 18:13-24, they "led him away to Annas first. For he was father in law to Caiaphas," the high priest during that year. Then Annas had him bound and sent to Caiaphas the high priest. The references to the "high priest" in verses 19-23 do not contradict the rest of the chapter. If this was a chronological record, then the "high priest" referred the highest-ranking priest over Annas' trial, as distinguished from Caiaphas the high priest over all the priests.
Both trials occurred early in the morning, and Annas' trial was probably illegal under Jewish law of that time. Luke 22:63-71 reveals that Jesus was led to the second trial soon after sunrise. Verses 63-65 shows that during the first trial he was mocked and beaten profusely. The record in Mark 14:53-72 appears to address the second trial only. One of the reasons for the trial was to seek witnesses against Jesus in order to put him to death (Mark 14:55). It says that many people bore false witness against him. They apparently did not do a very good job because it says, "their witness agreed not together." (Verse 56). Their stories didn't match. What a fiasco of a trial that must have been!
Finally, the high priest asked Jesus, "' Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed?' And Jesus said, 'I am. And you shall see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.'" (Mark 14:61-62). According to verse 63, Jesus' own true statement gave the high priest his proof to condemn him. This record is also found in Matthew 26:57-68. All the expert false witnesses basically stumbled over their own stories. Yet it was the truth out of the mouth of God's son that secured his condemnation.
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