Luke chapter 22

vs 61

Ouch. We sort of forget that Jesus was there the whole time. But once that cock crowed, Peter was made incredibly aware of his rejection of Jesus.

vs 62

That's not necessarily repentant. It's just sad. It could be repentant. But it is sad.

vs 63

And Peter, of course, now rushed to his Lord's aid, or at least said "Don't to that!"... oh, wait, no, he's outside crying. We might well say that's harsh, and that we would do the same as Peter if we were there. I don't know. John was also there, and it's not recorded what he did.

vs 64

I've always thought that is is odd to mock someone for being special or extra good at something. That's what this is like. The fact is that Jesus has already prophesied many things. I'm sure he could have told the guards not only who hit him, but all sorts of things about them.

Anyway, although such tall-poppy syndrome is a part of Aussie culture, I wonder how much it was part of jewish culture back then. I don't know - whenever I've read this stuff about them beating Jesus, it's always had an air of fakeness to it - not that they weren't beating him, but that they weren't altogether spiteful. After all, guards don't beat prisoners without the implicit sanction of their masters. The teachers of the law had a real beef with Jesus - the temple guards are just big guys with swords.

vs 65

Which don't need to be recorded.

vs 66

So after being caught that night, and beaten and tortured, Jesus is now led before his enemies, who are the 'impartial judges' before which he will be tried for his lack of crimes.

vs 67

The way it's written, on its own, it might sound almost reasonable. As if they are pleading with him to tell them the truth. But it's all too easy to forget the kidnapping, the accosting, the night-long beating, and the led-before-them-bound-like-a-criminal... ing. So it's fair to imagine just a little bit of venom in their questions.

Jesus' answer, part 1: He points out that he's already been considered guilty before he's been tried - hence the beating and the being tied up. This is the classic problem with lynch-mobs.

vs 68

Jesus' answer, part 2: He mocks them a little himself, with their inability to answer the question about whether John the Baptist was from heaven or not. Basically, he is saying "If I asked you if I were the Christ, you wouldn't be able to answer. Not that you'd just say "no". You guys really don't have an answer. You're the elder priests and teachers of the law, and you couldn't even tell me if John the Baptist's message was from God or not! And now you expect me to tell you if I'm the Messiah?"

vs 69

But it doesn't matter what the chief priests do, because God is going to do the right thing, and glorify his Son. So regardless of the actions you take from this point on, I win.

vs 70

Jesus doesn't just say that he's the Son of God. He is more saying "Yes, your accusation is true. You are accusing me of being the Son of God, as if it were a criminal charge. Why don't you think about that for a second?"

vs 71

Actually, they heard it from their own lips. But you can't really expect some sort of fair judgement from this court.