Day 87 | Jesus Held His Peace

January 1, 2015 - WEEK THIRTEEN

Matthias Stom, Christ before Caiaphas, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.


Matthew 26:57-68
Mark 14: 53-65
Luke 22:63-71
John 18:19-24

For Younger Disciples


  • After being silent for most of the trial, why might Jesus have chosen to speak when He did? Would it matter whether He was declared guilty of legitimate crimes based on lies as opposed to unjustly on the truth of His own words?
  • How might Peter have felt as he watched the parade of false witnesses? Have you ever witnessed truth being misrepresented and been afraid to bear true witness?


[Christ] was arraigned before the Israelite leaders of the day—first Annas, the former high priest, then Caiaphas, the current high priest. In their rush to judgment these men and their councils declared their verdict quickly and angrily. “What further need have we of witnesses?” they cried. “He is [worthy] of death” (Matt. 26:65–66).

With that He was brought before the gentile rulers in the land. Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, interrogated Him once, and Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor in Judea, did so twice, the second time declaring to the crowd, “I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man” (Luke 23:14). Then, in an act as unconscionable as it was illogical, Pilate “scourged Jesus, [and] delivered him to be crucified” (Matt. 27:26). Pilate’s freshly washed hands could not have been more stained or more unclean.

Such ecclesiastical and political rejection became more personal when the citizenry in the street turned against Jesus as well. It is one of the ironies of history that sitting with Jesus in prison was a real blasphemer, a murderer and revolutionary known as Barabbas, a name or title in Aramaic meaning “son of the father” (See Bible Dictionary, “Barabbas”).

Free to release one prisoner in the spirit of the Passover tradition, Pilate asked the people, “Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?” They said, “Barabbas” (Matt. 27:21). So one godless “son of the father” was set free while a truly divine Son of His Heavenly Father moved on to crucifixion (Jeffrey R. Holland, “None Were with Him,” Ensign, May 2009, 88).




I’m Learning the
Ways of Jesus


  • How did Jesus act when He was tired, or others were mean to Him?
  • How can you be more like Jesus when you are tired, or sad, or lonely?


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