Description

Jesus is the most controversial figure in human history. Everyone has an opinion about him, for better or worse. Today we look at the sham trial of Jesus, and all of the irony it contains. The trial of Jesus shows us how people in every generation can get Jesus wrong. Both the religious and irreligious can misjudge the Judge of all.

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Q. How has the world misjudged Jesus?

• Famous atheists (irreligious) who did it:
• Bertrand Russell (Philosopher and Mathematician): "Historically, it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did, we do not know anything about Him."
• Christopher Hitchens (Author and Journalist): "The teachings of Jesus are not the Sermon on the Mount, where he behaves in an exalted and wise manner. It's the idea of the prodigal son, where he says that if you're really, really sorry, if you're genuinely sorry, if you really ask for forgiveness, you can be forgiven. It's a horrible idea."
• Richard Dawkins (Biologist and Author): "The alternative to the God hypothesis is not the hypothesis that Jesus was God incarnate. It is the hypothesis that Jesus was a zealot, executed for sedition, whose followers perpetuated his cult by deifying him." 
• from Dawkins' book "The God Delusion," in which he argues against the existence of a personal god and criticizes religious beliefs, including those related to Jesus.
• The God Hypothesis: the idea that there exists a supernatural creator who is responsible for the universe and everything in it. Dawkins argues that this hypothesis is not supported by evidence and should be rejected.

Irony: Jesus is the Judge!

• John 5:22-23 (NLT) …the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.

Today we’ll see Jesus on trial. Can you imagine it? The Judge of all, the Creator, in court being judged by his creations!? We’ll see that misjudging Jesus is nothing new. But when it happened 2000 years ago for the first time, it was not a group of atheists making such offensive statements. It was the religious elite themselves. Let’s get to the text…

Mark 14:53-54 (NLT) They took Jesus to the high priest’s home where the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered. Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the high priest’s courtyard. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.

the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law

• This was the Sanhedrin, the “influencers” in Jesus’ day
• The Sanhedrin was a Jewish council that existed during the time of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. It was made up of 71 members and served as the highest religious and legal authority among the Jews in ancient...