Condemned by the Sanhedrin
Luke 22.66-71:
When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, “If you are the Christ, tell us.”
But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”
So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?”
And he said to them, “You say that I am.”
Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips!”
The Sanhedrin council, made up of seventy priests & scribes and one high priest, demanded that Pilate execute Jesus. This incident serves as a warning for all Christians to be careful not to exalt ourselves by self-righteously judging others. Biblical knowledge and exalted positions in this world still fall pitifully short of holy perfection. Prideful thinking can easily be the downfall of even the most pious among men. Scripture commands us to respect those in authority, but ultimately it’s God’s will & God’s Word that should reign supreme in our lives.
We’re gifted with God’s Holy Spirit to comfort, teach, & guide in every situation, allowing us to make decisions according to the perfect will of God, essentially negating an individual’s need for religious rulers like the Sanhedrin. Jews entrusting supreme religious authority to the Sanhedrin led to corruption among many of the leaders of the Sanhedrin, and when Jesus began to teach a doctrine that undermined their authority, they plotted against Him, ultimately demanding His crucifixion by the Roman government.