other, the High Priest arose and said to Jesus: “Answerest Thou[1] nothing to the things which these witness against Thee?” Jesus was silent[2]. Then the High Priest said to him: “I adjure[3] Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us if Thou be the Christ[4], the Son of the living God?” Jesus answered[5]: “Thou hast said it. I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”[6] Then the High Priest rent[7] his garments, saying: “He hath blasphemed[8]; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy; what think you?” They answered: “He is guilty of death.”[9]
- ↑ Answerest Thou. Their evidence did not agree as to the exact expressions used by our Lord. He had not said “I will destroy this Temple”, but “Destroy this Temple”, or in other words, if you destroy it. Moreover He had not said : “Destroy the Temple”, but this temple, meaning His Body (chapter XV). Finding that the evidence of the false witnesses did not serve his purpose, the High Priest induced Jesus to speak, in the hope that His own words would incriminate Him and afford ground for accusation.
- ↑ Silent. He would not answer false evidence, or defend Himself against the lies of men. Had it been really the truth which His judges desired to ascertain, they could have easily seen that the evidence was absolutely worthless, by reason of the contradictions contained in it. The silence of our Blessed Lord filled the judges with despair, for it took from them all pretext for condemning Him. Then it was that Caiphas resorted to a final measure, by adjuring our Lord, in the holy and terrible name of God, to speak, and thus forced an oath on Him. The way in which a judicial oath was applied in those days was this: the judge suggested the oath to the accused, who accepted it by replying to the question put, by a simple “yes” or “no”. This was how Caiphas applied an oath to our Lord.
- ↑ I adjure. I demand of Thee under a solemn oath to tell me & c.
- ↑ The Christ. The Messias, and the Son of God in the fullest sense of the word. Our Lord no longer kept silence, for the High Priest was justified in putting this question to Him. The question was put in the name of God, and its subject was one of the last importance to the whole world. Therefore Jesus gave to this solemn question an equally solemn answer.
- ↑ Answered. “I am the true Son of God.” And as He knew that this assertion, made even on oath, would obtain no credence, He added as a proof of the truth of His words: “Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man &c.”
- ↑ Of heaven. As Judge. One day their own eyes would convince them that He was the Almighty Son of God.
- ↑ Rent. As a sign of his indignation.
- ↑ Blasphemed. By making Himself out to be the Son of God, and God Himself. And without further loss of time Caiphas (by his words: “What think you?”) put it to the vote as to what punishment our Blessed Lord deserved.
- ↑ Of death. For by the Jewish law the punishment of blasphemy was death by stoning (Lev. 24, 16). Without even considering whether our Lord’s solemn assertion on oath might not, after all, be true, they pronounced His words to be blasphemy, and with awful blindness and malice, pronounced on the All Holy One the most unjust sentence that has ever been pronounced!
