Before the Council
57 Those who had taken Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. 58 But Peter followed him from a distance to the court of the high priest, and entered in and sat with the officers, to see the end. 59 Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death, 60 and they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward 61 and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.’” 62 The high priest stood up and said to him, “Have you no answer? What is this that these testify against you?” 63 But Jesus stayed silent. The high priest answered him, “I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. Nevertheless, I tell you, after this you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of the sky.” 65 Then the high priest tore his clothing, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his blasphemy. 66 What do you think?” They answered, “He is worthy of death!” 67 Then they spat in his face and beat him with their fists, and some slapped him, 68 saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who hit you?”
A trial that cannot find evidence gets its verdict when the accused answers the one question put to him under oath.
59 Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death, 60 and they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward
The sentence describes a court looking for perjury and failing to find usable perjury. The verdict is fixed before the hearing; what is missing is a charge that will carry it. The trial is told in the earlier account Mark 14:43–72.
and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.’”
The two witnesses who finally agree are reporting something he did say, in a form he did not say it John 2:19. It is the most dangerous available distortion — near enough to be recognizable, altered at the one point that matters.
But Jesus stayed silent Matthew 26:63. The silence is his answer to the whole proceeding, and it is what the servant does under accusation Isaiah 53:7.
But Jesus stayed silent. The high priest answered him, “I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
The high priest, having failed with witnesses, puts the accused under oath and asks him to convict himself. It is improper, and it produces the one thing the evening was for.
Jesus said to him, “You have said so. Nevertheless, I tell you, after this you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of the sky.”
He answers, and then goes further than the question. The two images are the psalm about a lord seated at God's right hand Psalms 110:1 and Daniel's son of man coming with the clouds Daniel 7:13 — the two texts he had put to the Pharisees three days earlier. And the direction is reversed on the court: the man in the dock tells his judges they will see him next in the other chair.
Then the high priest tore his clothing, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy!" Matthew 26:65. The gesture is the prescribed response to hearing the name profaned, and it is also, for a high priest, forbidden Leviticus 21:10. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" — which is an accurate summary of a trial that never had any.
Then they spat in his face and beat him with their fists Matthew 26:67. The court that has just condemned him for blasphemy assaults the prisoner, and mocks him with the one demand nobody made of him all evening: "Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who hit you?" Matthew 26:68. He had prophesied all week, and the next verse begins the fulfillment of the most recent one.
settled What this mark means