The Murdering High Priest

The Canadian pastor James Coates goes on trial May 3rd, 2021 for holding church meetings with his flock. Rev. Coates believes that God's Word requires Christians to meet together in person for singing, preaching and worship.

For that, Mr. Coates has been jailed for five weeks, and may be jailed further.

The health rules that bar church meetings violate Canadian citizens' National Charter religious freedom.

Amazingly, the court has excused the government from presenting evidence that supports the health regulations until a later date.

In other words, crucial proof that the church meetings were illegal is still missing!

This reminds us that the rulers who tried Jesus had no evidence against Him, and no actual crime to charge Him with at His trial.

The Gospels record that no witnesses could be found against our Lord, and that when they testified, they didn't agree with one another. Even the claim that Jesus threatened to destroy the temple could not be substantiated in court.

Thus, the rulers were left with nothing at all to charge against our Savior.

That is why Jesus was not required to answer their unfounded accusations - there was no legal case for Him to defend against.

What had Jesus done that crossed the line? Quite simply, Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead.

That was one step across the line, as far as the rulers of Israel were concerned. They feared that the people would follow Christ, and that would create a political instability for the nation with their Roman overlords.

They framed the danger in political terms, but their real problem with Jesus was that He was demonstrating that He is God's Messiah.