Long before the Jewish Sanhedrin succeeded in having Jesus apprehended in the middle of the night so they could subject him to a mock trial, they had decreed his death: they wanted him crucified as a common criminal.

     Notwithstanding the favorable reception of Jesus and his teachings by the common people, the religious leaders at Jerusalem became increasingly alarmed and antagonistic. The Pharisees had formulated a systematic and dogmatic theology. Jesus was a teacher who taught as the occasion served; he was not a systematic teacher. Jesus taught not so much from the law as from life, by parables. [UB 149:3.1]

     The religious leaders at Jerusalem were becoming well-nigh frantic as a result of the recent conversion of young Abraham [a young and influential member of the Sanhedrin] and by the desertion of the three spies who had been baptized by Peter, and who were now out with the evangelists on this second preaching tour of Galilee. The Jewish leaders were increasingly blinded by fear and prejudice, while their hearts were hardened by the continued rejection of the appealing truths of the gospel of the kingdom. When men shut off the appeal to the spirit that dwells within them, there is little that can be done to modify their attitude. [UB 149:3.2]

The Master's attitude.
     Jesus was convinced that it was the will of the Father that he submit himself to the natural and ordinary course of human events just as every other mortal creature must, and therefore he refused to employ even his purely human powers of persuasive eloquence to influence the outcome of the machinations of his socially nearsighted and spiritually blinded fellow mortals. Although Jesus lived and died on Urantia, his whole human career, from first to last, was a spectacle designed to influence and instruct the entire universe of his creation and unceasing upholding. [UB 186:2:3]

The Arrest of Jesus.
     Jesus was arrested about midnight Thursday, April 6, 30 A.D. The captain of the Roman soldiers had no warrant for his arrest nor was Jesus informed of the charges against him.
[UB 183:3,5]

     Jesus, with his hands bound behind his back, was taken before Annas, former high priest. Annas, a suave and politic planner and plotter, and the most powerful single individual in all Jewry, had already decided that Jesus must either leave Palestine or die. After about three hours at the palace of Annas during which Jesus answered very few questions, Annas sent Jesus in the custody of the temple guards to the palace of Caiaphas, the acting high priest, so that Jesus could be brought before the court of the Sanhedrin. Annas followed later. [UB 184:0,1]

The Mock Trial of Jesus.
     About half past three o’clock this Friday morning, April 7, 30 A.D., Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrist court of inquiry for his formal trial. On three previous occasions the Sanhedrin, by a large majority vote, had decreed the death of Jesus, had decided he was worthy of death on informal charges of lawbreaking, blasphemy, and flouting the traditions of the fathers of Israel.

     More than a score of false witnesses were on hand to testify against Jesus, but their testimony was so contradictory and so evidently trumped up the Sanhedrists themselves were embarrassed. During all this false testimony Jesus made no reply to their accusations.

     The hardhearted and vainglorious Caiaphas shouted at Jesus, but Jesus opened not his mouth. Hatred, fanaticism, and unscrupulous exaggeration so characterized the words of these perjurers that their testimony fell in its own entanglements. At this time the Sanhedrists were primarily concerned with developing charges which would justify Pilate in pronouncing the death sentence upon Jesus as he could not legally be put to death without Pilate’s consent.

     At half past four o’clock, during the confusion, Annas lost control of the court. As the members passed out of the room they spit in Jesus’ face, and many of them mockingly slapped him with the palms of their hands. This court of thirty prejudiced and tradition-blinded false judges and their false witnesses are presuming to sit in judgment on the righteous Creator of a universe. [UB 184:3]

     Under Jewish law in cases involving the death penalty there should be two sessions of the court held on two consecutive days. But they waited only one hour. During this hour, the ignorant and unfeeling temple guards and servants of the high priest amused themselves by mocking Jesus, spitting upon him, and cruelly striking him as he stood there with his hands bound behind his back. For one full hour they reviled and mistreated him. [UB 184:4]

     At five-thirty A.M. the court reassembled for a period of thirty minutes. Jesus was not present at this second session. The indictment of Jesus as being worthy of death consisted of three charges:
[1] Perverting our nation and stirring up our people to rebellion;
[2] Forbidding the people to pay tribute to Caesar;
[3] Calling himself the king of the Jews and teaching the founding of a new kingdom.

     The court presumed to formulate three charges with which to go before Pilate asking for the death penalty on which no witnesses had been heard and which were agreed upon while the accused prisoner was absent. No witnesses spoke for the defense. At six o’clock this Friday morning Jesus was taken to appear before Pilate for confirmation of the death sentence which this Sanhedrist court had so unjustly and irregularly decreed. [UB 184:5] [UB 185:2]

     The Jews hoped to go before Pilate and ask for confirmation of the death sentence upon Jesus without volunteering any definite charge. But Pilate refused. He said he would not sentence Jesus to death without a trial and neither would he consent to examine him until the court had presented its charges in writing. Only then were the written charges against Jesus handed to Pilate. Jesus had not been regularly tried nor legally convicted on any of the three charges. He had not heard the charges until Pilate had him brought outside and demanded that the charges be repeated in Jesus’ hearing. Pilate was so astonished at the unfairness of the whole proceeding he decided to take Jesus inside the hall and examine him privately. [UB 185:2]

     Why were the Jews compelled to beseech Pilate's permission to have Jesus put to death?
     Said the clerk of the Sanhedrin court: “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, and this disturber of our nation is worthy to die for the things which he has said and done. Therefore have we come before you for confirmation of this decree.” [UB 185:2:3]

     Pilate, on seeing Jesus face to face, was convinced he was no wild and dangerous revolutionary who aspired to establish himself on the temporal throne of Israel. Pilate was thoroughly convinced that instead of being a dangerous seditionmonger, Jesus was nothing more or less than a harmless visionary, an innocent fanatic.

     Pilate returned to the chief priests and told them he found no fault in Jesus; he did not think Jesus was guilty of the stated charges. Pilate stated he thought Jesus should be set free. When the Jews heard this they wildly shouted that Jesus should die. One of the Sanhedrists stepped boldly up to Pilate and said he would long regret it if he let this wicked man go free. Pilate did not know what to do with Jesus. But when he heard them say that Jesus began his work in Galilee, he thought he might extricate himself from the case by sending him to Herod. [UB 185:3]

     Herod was desirous of seeing Jesus. He had heard much about the miracles wrought by Jesus, and he hoped to see him do some wonder. Herod, the wicked Idumean, and one of those apostate Jews who believed nothing but feared everything, questioned Jesus about fifteen minutes but Jesus made no reply to his many inquiries and did not respond to his taunts. He dared Jesus to perform a miracle. Finally, convinced that Jesus would neither talk nor perform a wonder for him, Herod made fun of him for a time and then arrayed him in an old purple royal robe. He then sent him back to Pilate. [UB 154:0:2] [UB 185:4]

     Pilate again told the Jewish leaders that Jesus had done nothing worthy of death. He offered to scourge Jesus and then release him. But about this time a vast crowd came marching up to the praetorium to ask Pilate for the release of a prisoner in honor of the Passover feast. They requested the release of Barabbas, a noted political agitator and murderous robber. Pilate desired to release Jesus rather than Barabbas, but under the leadership of the Jewish religious leaders, the unthinking mob loudly demanded the release of Barabbas. In response to Pilate’s question as to what should be done with Jesus, the crowd shouted:
     Crucify him! Crucify him!
     Pilate saw the malice and hatred and perceived the prejudice and envy of the Jewish leaders. Had he been a just and courageous, rather than an unjust and fear-ridden judge, he would have acquitted Jesus and turned him loose. But he was afraid to defy the angry Jews. [UB 185:5:7]

     Pilate made another attempt to save Jesus: He ordered the soldiers to take Jesus and scourge him. This was an unjust and illegal procedure since the Roman law provided that only those condemned to die by crucifixion should be subjected to scourging. After Jesus was scourged, he was brought, bleeding and lacerated, before the crowd. Pilate thought he might appeal to the pity of the crowd. But it was no use. When the unthinking mob saw Jesus, they only shouted the louder:
Crucify him! Crucify him! [UB 185:6:5]

Pilate's Tragic Surrender.
     Here stood the Son of God incarnate as the Son of Man. He was arrested without indictment; accused without evidence; adjudged without witnesses; punished without a verdict; and now was soon to be condemned to die by an unjust judge who confessed that he could find no fault in him. If Pilate had thought to appeal to their patriotism by referring to Jesus as the “king of the Jews,” he utterly failed. The Jews were not expecting any such a king. The declaration of the chief priests and the Sadducees, “We have no king but Caesar,” was a shock even to the unthinking populace, but it was too late now to save Jesus even had the mob dared to espouse the Master’s cause.
     Pilate, a moral coward and a judicial weakling, saw no way to save Jesus as he was in mortal dread of the Jewish leaders.
     Pilate was afraid of a tumult or a riot. He dared not risk having such a disturbance during Passover time in Jerusalem. He had recently received a reprimand from Caesar, and he would not risk another. The mob cheered when he ordered the release of Barabbas. Then he ordered a basin and some water, and there before the multitude he washed his hands, saying: “I am innocent of the blood of this man. You are determined that he shall die, but I have found no guilt in him. See you to it. The soldiers will lead him forth.”
     And then the mob cheered and replied, “His blood be on us and on our children.” [UB 185:5,6,7,8] [UB 185:8:1,2]
Comment. In later years, Pilate lost his position as procurator of Judea. He retired to the province of Lausanne, where he subsequently committed suicide. [UB 185:1:6]

     As the shortsighted Jews clamored unseemly for the Master’s death, he stood there in awful silence looking upon the death scene of a nation—his earthly father’s own people. [UB 186:2:4]

Crucifixion of Jesus.
     Jesus, a high ranking Paradise Son and Sole Sovereign of our local universe, was hung upon the cross about half past nine ’clock this Friday morning, April 7, 30 A.D.

     Just before three o’clock Jesus bowed his head and gave up the life struggle. [UB 187:3:1] [UB 187:5:5]

     With this heinous crime against Jesus, a Son of God and a Creator Son of the Order of Michael, the Jews began their inexorable slide into oblivion as a nation.