2021 - The Sanhedrin

Judas, will you hand him over to us?

Caiaphas and the Chief Priests are in almost every scene from the start to the end of the Re-enactment.

They are annoyed at this man Jesus claiming to be the Messiah, but He is not acting in the way they expect the Messiah to be.

After Jesus overturns the tables in the Temple and enters Jerusalem in triumph they see no other way than to get rid of Him.

In the Re-enactment we begin with Judas being paid his 30 pieces of silver to turn Jesus over to the Sanhedrin.

So Jesus, tell us about your teachings.

Once Jesus is arrested, Caiaphas tries a number of ways to convict him.

First he asks Jesus to convict himself by telling of his teachings. Jesus answers that he has already taught in public, ask those who have heard him.

Caiaphas watches on as Jesus is abused by the guards hoping that might soften him up.

Caiaphas then tries to get witnesses to accuse Jesus, but their stories conflicted and didn't produce the desired result.

Jesus refuses to answer the false testimony.

Caiaphas then gets annoyed and invokes the power of his position as High Priest and commands Jesus, "I adjure you by the living God, are you the Christ?'

Are you the Christ?

Jesus gave an answer that wasn't a denial so Caiaphas continued to push until Jesus answers, "Your own lips have said it. I  AM."

"BLASPHEMY!!"

All the previous failed attempts could now be ignored as Jesus has called himself the name reserved to God.

Now it was just a matter of convincing Rome - Pontius Pilate - to kill Jesus.

It was then a battle of wills to push the reluctant Pilate into killing an innocent man.

Negotiating with occupying Rome.

Pilate tried three times to avoid condemning Jesus, but Caiaphus outmanoeuvred him at each step until Pilate, fearing another uprising of the Jews, gave in and condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion.

The Sanhedrin followed the proceedings all the way to the hill on which Jesus and two other criminals were crucified and justified their decision with mockery of Jesus. After all, if Jesus truly was the messiah, he wouldn't have been so easily killed. 

"He saved others, he cannot save himself!"

So you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in 3 days?

Listen, he is calling on Elijah!

We need guards on his tomb, or else they will say he is risen from the dead

Finally once Jesus had died, they were worried.

They remembered Jesus said he would rise again after three days. So they went to Pilate and demanded guards for the tomb so the disciples of Jesus wouldn't steal the body.

Caiphas and the Chief Priests did a good job with interactions and plotting from the beginning of the play to the end.

Our costume team did a great job in creating new costumes for the Sanhedrin based on quite a bit of research into the clothing of temple officials of the time. The new costumes are lighter and much easier to wear, especially during the variable weather of Easter time and having to walk the 1,500 metres of the play.