God’s Word for You

Mark 15:3-4 the chief priests accused him

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, March 7, 2024

3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And again, Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? You see how many things they are accusing you of!”

There seems to be a gap in the proceedings between verse 2 and verse 3. Mark and John, both under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, present an accurate record of the Lord’s trial before Pilate, but they do not record all of the same words and actions. In John’s account, following the beginning part of the trial before Pilate which included Pilate asking Jesus whether he was King of the Jews (Mark 15:2; John 18:33), Pilate arrived at his verdict for the first time: “I find no basis for a charge against him” (John 18:39). He said this after he had “gone out to the Jews” (that is, who were standing outside, since they refused to enter his palace, John 18:25).

Not at all pleased with this verdict, the priests accused him of “many things.” This statement in verse 3 shows that they disrupted Pilate’s court, spewing out their hatred of Jesus and the things he did. We might imagine the various moments when the Jews opposed Jesus, retold now from his opponents’ memories: “He blasphemed by forgiving a man’s sins!” (Mark 2:7). “He and his disciples do work on the Sabbath day” (Mark 2:24, 3:2). “He drives out demons by the prince of demons!” (Mark 3:22). “He teaches as a rabbi but with no training!” (Mark 6:2-3). “His disciples don’t live according to the traditions of the elders, and they eat without washing their hands” (Mark 7:5). “He denies us the right to divorce our wives if we want to” (Mark 10:1-9). “He drives away commerce from the temple!” (Mark 11:15-18). “He performs miracles and teaches without our authority!” (Mark 11:28). “He refuses to pay taxes” (Mark 12:15).

Pastor Wenzel (The Wenzel Commentary) is right when he says that none of these was evidence; everything that was spewed out by the chief priests (Caiaphas, Annas, Jonathan, and the others) was just a bunch of accusations. Pilate thought that Jesus would want to answer these charges, but this was impossible. Even if only three or four priests were hollering out charges, one saying this, another saying that, it would have been impossible to answer them all, because as soon as he opened his mouth about one thing, the others would counter with new charges and arguments. In a modern court, none of this would be tolerated. Even if Jesus had wanted to proclaim his innocence, his best course was to remain silent: Let Pilate establish authority in his own court. Let charges be made, and then let the accused answer without interruption. That is the way to carry out a case. But Jesus wasn’t there to establish his innocence. Now that Pilate had already done it, Jesus didn’t need to do or say anything at all.

The chief priests were the men who were responsible for teaching and training Israel. If they thought he was guilty of heresy, they should have brought that specific charge against him. But every single time they raised a question throughout his years of teaching, he answered them by showing them that they did not understand Moses and the Prophets correctly. Therefore they rage and scream at him. They kept bringing accusation after accusation against him.

As we will see in the next verse, Jesus remained silent. Here, the charges—no matter what they were—show the blind hatred of the Jews toward Christ. Jesus said: “The world hates me because I testify that what it does is evil” (John 7:7). In these attacks, Caiaphas showed himself to be a kind of Anti-Moses by raising himself up over and against Moses, not permitting any of the Jews to be saved except by his own power and authority. Jesus refuted the heresies of Caiaphas and the Pharisees, many times and in many ways (Matthew 15:1-9; Mark 7:1-13, Luke 5:21-24; John 7:53-8:11). In Matthew 23, Jesus preached the “Seven Woes” against them on account of their departure from Moses and the rest of the Scriptures:

1, Caiaphas and his Pharisees kept people from entering into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 23:13-14).
2, Caiaphas and his Pharisees made their converts “sons of hell” (Matthew 23:15).
3, Caiaphas and his Pharisees made the offerings at the temple more valuable than the teachings of the temple on account of their profit and gain (Matthew 23:16-22).
4, Caiaphas and his Pharisees neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23-24).
5, Caiaphas and his Pharisees were full of greed and self-indulgence (Matthew 23:25-26).
6, Caiaphas and his Pharisees were full of hypocrisy and wickedness (Matthew 23:27-28).
7, Caiaphas and his Pharisees were just like their forefathers who murdered the prophets (Matthew 23:29-36).

Now, it was time to let them expose their rage and hatred, to keep on accusing him of the very things the Father had sent his Son into the world to do. What better proof that Jesus our Lord did the things that he did and said the things that he said, than in the accusations of his enemies? Let their fury burn! But let us also remember the Lord’s compassion, even toward Caiaphas and his followers, for his words from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” surely applied even to the High Priest of the Jews who set everything in motion. We do well to remember Martin Luther’s words to a leader of the Jews in Germany, written in the final decade of Luther’s life: “My opinion was, and still is, that one should treat the Jews in a kindly manner, that God may perhaps look graciously upon them and bring them to their Messiah—but not so that through my good will and influence they might be strengthened in their error… I propose to write about this if God gives me space and time, to see if I cannot win some from your venerable tribe of the patriarchs and prophets and bring them to your promised Messiah.”

This should be our goal as well: to win souls for Christ, whenever and wherever we can.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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