The Trial

This is the third in a series of 14 entries, in preparation for Holy Week, one for each station of the cross, taken from my 2010 devotional journal, entitled Walkway Reflections.

Many bible scholars who have studied the trial of Jesus consider it an "illegal trial" for a host of reasons. Here are a few:

- Jesus was subjected to a secret preliminary examination at night. The law only permitted daytime hearings.

- The Sanhedrin by law could not originate charges. In this case the accusers were the judges.

- An advocate was required to speak on behalf of the defendant because the accused could not be convicted by his own testimony. Jesus had no one.

- The verdict could not be given the same day as the trial. Jesus' trial was completed in less than nine hours, his execution within twenty-four.


The trial system of the Sanhedrin was one that took pride in how they erred on the side of mercy. However, all the principles of justice they affirmed and implemented were scrapped. They breached all their standards to condemn the one innocent man who ever lived.

(Taken from The Walkway interactive stations of the cross at Bonifacio High Street)

Dear Jesus,

I never knew and understood what kind of trial you were given. It was not only a most unfair one, it was a mock trial in every sense of the word.

And yet it was the trial that sent you to the cross.

And as I reflect on this at this very moment...I do not even have any right to judge the Sanhedrin for what they have done to you.

I am guilty of doing the very same things. Judging others at face value...judging when I do not have all the facts...passing judgment when I am offended or when they do not live up to my expectations...accusing others when I have not heard their side of the story...

And I can do all this judging right inside my heart, without anyone hearing what I am saying to myself.

Right this very moment I repent, as I see how it poisons me, and how it poisons relationships, and how it "kills" others, just the way the Sanhedrin killed You.

Forgive me, Lord. I never want to judge with unrighteous judgment again!

Help me to be humble in the way I look at others, even presidents, rulers of government, the people who sit in authority.

Cleanse my heart now of every defilement to my thoughts and emotions and perceptions that my wrong judgments have brought to me.

Enable me dear Jesus to always look at others with a pure heart, from Your eyes of love.

Walkway Reflections: Introduction
Walkway Reflections 1: The Garden
Walkway Reflections 2: The Betrayal