Mark 14:61-66

Mark 14:61 (KJB)
But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?

Jesus continued to hold His peace because He knew this was nothing but a kangaroo court for show. The High Priest was getting very angry at this point because He wanted Jesus to tell them whether He was the Christ or not. The word “asked” here in the Greek carries with it the meaning of “interrogate” because the High Priest was trying to get Jesus to speak to Him in hopes of getting some type of witness against Himself. The Sanhedrin wanted to know if Jesus was the Messiah. Their spiritual blindness was so severe that they could not realize that only God can raise the dead or open the eyes of the blind. They completely rejected His miracles and especially the healings of thousands of people up and down the nation of Israel. If they would have done serious Scripture search and compared the life of Jesus to the Scriptures, they would have had their answer a long time ago. Their main concern was keeping their positions and wealth making schemes. (John 11:48 KJV) If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. Jesus had answered them many times on this question in various ways and places but their refusal to acknowledge Him had hardened them progressively.

Mark 14:62 (KJB)
And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Jesus then responds to the High Priest’s question by stating that “I am…” Since the High Priest had interrogated Jesus on this matter, these two words of Jesus was a declaration under oath. In other words, Jesus had given total approbation to the words of Caiaphas and confirmed that he spoke the truth that Jesus was the Messiah. Then Jesus continues the statement stating that after all these events take place and He goes back to Heaven, He will be seated at the right hand of power, that is, He will take His rightful place at the right hand of God the Father and when the last one is saved on earth, on the last day, then He will return on the clouds of glory to take His church home. (1 Th 4:16-17 KJV) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: {17} Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Mark 14:63 (KJB)
Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses?

Once Jesus had made those three declarations, the High Priest then rent his clothes, that is, he tore his clothes and declared that Jesus had spoken blasphemy. Originally, to tear one’s clothes was a sign of grief. (Gen 37:34 KJV) And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. Later on in Israel, to rent one’s clothes had become a tradition. At the point that Caiaphas had rent His clothes, he himself had violated the law and should have been dealt with accordingly. (Lev 21:10 KJV) And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes; Then he makes the determination that no more witnesses were needed because now they all heard Him speaking blasphemy.

Mark 14:64 (KJB)
Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.

On one hand they ask Jesus if He was the Messiah and then when He tells them that He will sit on the right hand of God and then return on an appointed day, which is what the Messiah would do, they considered it blasphemy instead of another declaration of His Messiahship. This proves no matter what Jesus said, they would have turned His words around and called it blasphemy. Then Caiaphas asks them what they thought about the answers given to him by Jesus. The rest of the council stated that He is worthy of death. They did not pronounce a sentence of death upon Jesus at this time, in fact, no proper sentence was sought because of the illegality of these proceedings. It was not until the morning that they sought the death penalty for Jesus. The night meeting was the precursor to the day’s events coming up at dawn.

Mark 14:65 (KJB)
And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.

(Luke 22:63 KJV) And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. Then the servants which were holding Jesus began to spit at Him and then buffet Him. The word “buffeted” in the Greek carries with the meaning of “to strike with a fist.” Then others had slapped Him in the face with the palms of their hands which would cause much pain. This had happened to Jesus in fulfillment of Isaiah 50:6. (Isa 50:6 KJV) I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Jesus was not even convicted of a crime or even had legal representation and yet, with the full consent of the Sanhedrin, they allowed Him to be mistreated even before a legal guilty verdict. This showed the level of hatred the Jews had for Jesus.

(Luke 22:64 KJV) And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? Now they had blindfolded Jesus and began to hit Him and then mocked by telling Him to prophesy and tell them who hit Him. They no doubt also accused Jesus of being a false prophet and that is why they continued to taunt Him by telling Him to prophesy. (Deu 18:20 KJV) But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. It would be another reason for them to seek the death penalty because false prophets were to be put to death.

Mark 14:66 (KJB)
And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest:

This girl was one who kept the door in the inner court and was probably one of the maid servants of the High Priest. The place where Peter was now standing was the same place where the Sanhedrin and Jesus were but Peter was a little distance away from them.

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