March 17

And they led away Jesus to the High Priest, and with him were assembled all the chief priests and elders and the scribes.—Mark 14:53.

HAVING witnessed the arrestment of Jesus, it now devolves upon us to notice the object they had in view and the result which followed. Now, let us consider before whom Christ was taken for trial. They were "the high priest, and elders of the scribes," individuals who were deeply prejudiced against Jesus, who hated him and his doctrine with perfect hatred, and who were therefore totally disqualified for judging Christ impartially. Then consider for what Jesus was arrested—with what stood he charged. They wished to prove him a blasphemer against God, and an enemy to the existing civil laws. How base, how wicked the accusations! His holy, reverend deportment, his communion with God, and the most striking attestations of Divine approbation, had ever distinguished the career of Jesus. And he had ever inculcated, and exhibited by his own conduct, obedience to the powers that then were. His great maxim was, to "render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto God the things which are God's." To prove Jesus guilty of either was therefore impossible. They were so wicked as to collect false witnesses to establish Christ's guilt—but their evidence was so contradictory that it would not hang together. At last, the High Priest solemnly adjured Christ to answer whether he was "the Christ the Son of God," or not. To this solemn question, Christ declared that he was the Christ, saying, "I am," or as St. Luke states it, "Thou sayest"—exactly what I profess to be. This, then, is the point they wished to gain. Now they declare him guilty of blasphemy in making himself the Son of God, and the whole council immediately pronounced him worthy of death. What a scene of human malignity and blindness we behold in this ecclesiastical assembly. What an example of suffering goodness in Jesus. What a theme for pious meditation. Angels desire to look into the subject of Christ's sufferings, and are not able.