Episode:Jesus Faces Death—Brought to Trial (Part 5)

From Symmetry of Soul


A special trial court of some thirty Sanhedrists was convened in the palace of the high priest, Caiaphas. And Jesus was brought before this court clothed in his usual garments and with his hands bound together behind his back. The entire court was startled and somewhat confused by his majestic appearance. Never had they gazed upon such a prisoner nor witnessed such composure in a man on trial for his life.

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Keywords: Urantia, Jesus, False Judges, False Witnesses, False Charges

Summary by Kermit

Commentary after Review

We continued our reflections on the cowardice exhibited by Judas in his betrayal and Peter in the courtyard of Annas, noting that they both lacked a masterly courageous response to ridicule. Looking to our own experiences we suggested that these “Achilles heel” vulnerabilities likely might have been established by some early in life traumatic event which was not processed positively. This is what we often discuss as fancy animal behavior, being a helpless victim of the environment. This is where Holy Spirit encircuitment, when earnestly cultivated, can provide psychic stability in the face of these external onslaughts. Again, we often call out the earnest cultivation of our five favorable faculties—loyal, humble, sincere, just, and patient—as being effective techniques for enabling the spirit ministries to do their work in us. Further, this cultivation process is within our control. We speculated that the difference in outcome between Peter and Judas may have depended on the degree to which each willfully persisted in their wrong-headedness, effectively limiting the influence of the divine ministries available to them.

Continuing to follow our thread we explored the rugged truths of the 5th ER whereby we are asked to reconcile a universe in which the Father loves each person absolutely and yet finite evolution cannot be finalized without the phenomenon of large numbers of personalities going to iniquity. The Thought Adjuster that indwelt Jesus could not have contributed so mightily to his superlative nature and exploits without, in all likelihood, coexisting with numerous mortals who chose iniquity over survival.

This thread led further to a discussion of the cosmic details of iniquity. The take-away from this portion of our dialogue, without stepping through all of the specifics, is that the 5th ER provides us with a top down perspective wherein non-survival, the result of iniquity, is not tied to a punishment by God for transgressing mores and taboos, but a condition in which, through exercise of the absolute dimension of creature personality, choices result in an individual becoming unreal to the point of non-existence, i.e., incapable of being upheld as an ongoing person by God.

184:3. Before the Sanhedrist Court

In their gnats and camels way, the Sanhedrists scrupulously timed their court session to begin after the morning temple offering, yet as we will see they overlook their usual safeguards against precipitous judgement in capital cases by waiving the twenty-four hour period between the required two sessions, holding the second session a mere hour following the adjournment of the first. Interestingly the midwayers note that the apostle John was present throughout this so-called trial, yet the gospel record attributed to him does not tell of it.

The authors highlight the composure, majesty, and bearing of Jesus during this so-called trial in stark contrast to his accusers, many of whom were ashamed of the obviously contradictory and trumped up charges brought against the Master. Jewish law required that at least two witnesses agree upon any point before a charge could be brought against a prisoner. On only one point did any two witnesses show any appearance of agreement. This concerned his statement (referring to his body) “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And he was misquoted. Jesus’ calm and majestic silence was eloquent rebuttal to the hatred, fanaticism, and unscrupulous exaggeration of his accusers.

Annas was keen to formulate charges against Jesus which would be acceptable to Pontius Pilate, without whose consent Jesus could not legally be executed. Accordingly he argued for three charges intimating that Jesus fomented revolution and taught magic. But it was Caiaphas who more or less called the question by asking Jesus to affirm his identity as the Son of God, and he did it setting aside his usual temperance answering Caiaphas, “I am. Soon I go to the Father, and presently shall the Son of Man be clothed with power and once more reign over the hosts of heaven.” It was blasphemy the Sanhedrists sought and in their eyes it was blasphemy they observed. Anger and violence quickly overtook Caiaphas and the court. Caiaphas stepped forward smiting Jesus, followed by a tumult and disbanding of the court, the Sanhedrists slapping, spitting and reviling the Master as they passed out of the room, actually shocking even Annas.

We remarked how Jesus essentially stoked the fires of their wrath with his unequivocal stunning declaration of his identity. We are told that in the face of such rank in justice the Master continues to love them and would save them if he could. But as we noted, you can overcome evil with goodness, but not so with sin. Even God will not, cannot abrogate the free will of his creatures.