Messages 2006
The exact nature of the charges at Jesus’ trial.
December 21st, 2006
Santa Cruz, California
Received by FAB
I am here, Jesus.
I come this morning to write about the exact nature of the charges brought against me at my trial.
It is evident that the religious hierarchy wanted me out of the way and silenced. They had been looking for ways to trap me, and most of the time were unsuccessful. But my comments in the Temple, which precipitated a riot (I did not turn over the tables, but merely voiced my opinion out loud), were the thing that they felt could finally ensnare me.
It was not a normal trial of due process of law; it was a hastily convened meeting, done this way so there would be no chance of public protest or reversal of the decision.
So, the charge was inciting to riot in the sacred place of the Temple. Also, there were a few who testified against me falsely, claiming that I had said blasphemous and disrespectful things about Judaism.
Now inciting a riot by itself could not have produced the death penalty, so these other false witnesses were brought in to do the job. Their comments were distortions of things I had said.
Under normal circumstances, they could not have had recourse to these statements, since they corresponded to opinions that others at the time held. But in the charged atmosphere, and with the malicious embellishments, these trumped up charges enabled them to judge me a seditious traitor to my religion with blasphemous opinions.
Also, they were inimical to my views, which tended to stretch their own more rigid approach to the Torah.
In those times, the death penalty was indeed meted out to those who it was felt had acted or spoken against the sacred things of Judaism. It was then “proven” that my behavior in the Temple corroborated these false charges.
Since I never claimed to be God, the Orthodox view, that I claimed to be God, and thus incurred charges of blasphemy, is not true.