[SUPPLEMENTARY.]

LXVIII.

The Examination before Annas.

S. JOHN XVIII. 12-13, 19-24.

12. Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound Him, 13. and led Him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.

19. The high priest then asked Jesus of His disciples, and of His doctrine. 20. Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said

nothing. 21. Why askest thou Me? ask them which heard Me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said. 22. And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest Thou the high priest so? 23. Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil : but if well, why smitest thou Me? 24. Now Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.

point to turn aside from

It is necessary at this S. Mark's Gospel, for the stage of our Lord's life upon which we now enter is so complicated that it requires a careful consideration of the fourfold record to make it intelligible. Critics have approached it too often in a hostile spirit, exaggerating trifles and widening discrepancies, till they have been compelled to pronounce the different

accounts wholly irreconcilable. A reverent investigation has satisfied us that, after legitimate allowance has been made for circumstances, it is possible to weave the details of the terrible story into a fairly explicit and consistent whole. Feeling that hypercriticism is rebuked by the solemnity of the subject, we take the shoes from off our feet" in the presence of the awe-inspiring fact, that we are about to witness a trial in which the Prisoner at the bar is none other than He before Whose tribunal we shall all be judged at the last day.

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It may very fitly be divided into six separate 1. S. John stages or acts. Before Annas, before Caiaphas in

his own palace, before the Sanhedrim in assembly, before Pilate the first time, before

xviii. 12-13, 19-24. 2. S. Mark xiv. 53-64.

lawful Herod, 3. S. Mark

XV. I, and Only S. Luke xxii.

66-71.

Two pre- 4. S. Mark

and again before Pilate for the final sentence. four of these are recorded by S. Mark. liminary difficulties call for notice. Two persons, S. John xviii. Annas and Caiaphas, are spoken of as High Priests, 28-38.

XV. 2-5, and

6. S. Mark

Acts iv. 6.

5. S. Luke whereas we know that there could not be more than xxiii. 6-12. one holding the office at any given time. Again, the xv. 6-15. palace where S. Peter denied our Lord seems in one S. Luke iii. 2. place to belong to Annas, in another to Caiaphas. S. John xviii. Both admit of explanation. We find that Annas had been High Priest some time before, but for political reasons had been deposed by the Roman

13, 19.

Joseph. Ant. Governor.

xviii. 2. 2.

The history of the times shows that he was a man of commanding influence,1 and his hold upon the Jews was such that they refused, as far as they dared, to recognise the deposition, but continued to regard him as their chief-pontiff, and to designate him in familiar language by the highpriestly title. The man actually in legal possession of the office at this time-"the High Priest of the year," as he is significantly spoken of-was Caiaphas; and when the Jews designate him "High Priest," it is only, as we should say, under protest, because the State, which they were afraid openly to disobey, compelled them to do so. Thus we see in the eyes of the Jews, by whose laws the office was inalienable and for life, Annas was regarded as their rightful High Priest, while Caiaphas was legally in possession of the dignity and title.

The question of locality is even more easily explained. Annas, we are told, was father-in-law Euthymius to Caiaphas. What more natural than that they should occupy the same official residence, each with Stier, Reden his separate suite of rooms and offices, but all within Johan. xviii. the same area, round the same court-yard? What

in Matt.

xxvi. 58.

Jesu in

19.

more natural than that the first thought of Caiaphas,2 on his elevation to the office, should be to see his dethroned father-in-law reinstated in his

rightful home? What more expedient, again, than that in those most troublous times, the youthful and inexperienced Caiaphas should be able to consult, without inconvenience, and as occasion might arise, one who was accounted by the general verdict the most influential man in Jerusalem? Whether then it is the palace of Annas or of Caiaphas that is spoken of, it is one and the same building.

Now it was past midnight when Judas, and the Temple guard, and the military escort from Pilate, started to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. It would seem that they succeeded sooner than they expected, for the Court was not ready to try Him when they reached the palace. They at once decided that He should be taken before Annas. We have no difficulty in suggesting motives which may have led them to such a decision. The Jews would like to give their favourite the satisfaction of seeing the common Enemy of their nation a prisoner, or it was a mark of deference to his position, which they would gladly pay, that he should be the first to examine Him; or perhaps—and it may have weighed with greater force than either of the above -they felt that the astute, far-seeing Annas was likely in such a preliminary examination to hit

S. John xviii. 19.

upon the best grounds of accusation for Caiaphas to urge in the legal court.

But whatever their object, they brought Him before Annas. He3 questioned Him, we are told, about His disciples and His doctrine, and it is plain enough what his design was in so doing. He wished to make out that He belonged to some secret Society, and was connected with a deep-laid plot for promoting revolution. It would have been an excellent charge to press before the Roman Governor, for the executive power is generally alive to informations about suspected conspiracy. But our Lord repudiated the charge, or rather refused to be interrogated, appealing to the publicity of His whole conduct, to the crowds which had flocked to His preaching, and the multitudes He had healed. Let him summon the worshippers from the synagogue at Capernaum, or from yonder Temple, where He had spoken so openly. Let him call up the blind and the lame, the halt and the maimed, the lepers and the possessed of devils, to whom He had ministered almost more than to any others. Let these bear witness what He had taught; whether He was the secret intriguer, the seditious revolutionist that Annas suggested. And He reminded him that by the laws of justice witnesses must be