| a series by Dick Fichter, Parishioner with support from Rev. Dina, Rector  Febraury 21, 2024 |
| At this time of the year, we have fresh in our minds the trial of Jesus as presented in the gospels of the New Testament (NT). The trial and punishment described there is a mixture of civil and religious proceedings. Today, when we think of the legality of judicial proceedings, we understand that the accused will be provided with procedural due process. We understand pprocedural due process today as requiring the constitutional requirement that when the judicial agency acts in such a way that denies a citizen of a life, liberty, or property interest, the person must be given notice, the opportunity to be heard, and a decision by a neutral decision-maker. This is true for civil and criminal proceedings. procedural In all criminal cases – not necessarily all civil cases – the defendant has the constitutional right to have a jury of their peers at trial. In addition, the Double Jeopardy Clause in the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for substantially the same crime, and we are aware of the separation of church and state. If procedural due process is not followed the trial decision will be reversed. Do we have religious trials today? Did you know that the Canons of the Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Virginia provides for proceedings for the fair and just determination and resolution of issues affecting the laity and the church? The Canons provide rules for judicial hearings of religious issues in the Church. These rules and proceedings are found in Canons 26-29. Canon 26 deals with the appeal of a lay person after repulsion for the Holy Communion. Canon 27 provides for Ecclesiastical Discipline and provides for a Disciplinary Board and the Board’s decision may be made public. Canon 29 provides hearings on the relationship of clergy and congregations. Although it seems highly unlikely, the thought occurs that it may be possible that the facts in a particular case could give rise to issues to be resolved by both religious and civil authorities on the same facts but not jointly as was done during Jesus’ trial(s). As noted, our Constitution provides for the separation of church and state. There was no such prohibition at the time of the proceedings against Jesus as described in the NT gospels. My Question and Maybe Yours Too I often wondered what legal procedures were in effect at the time of Jesus’ trial(s) and I decided to try to find out. Obviously, there was no trial transcript available, and the best sources are the Bible and historical writings describing the same time and events that occurred about two thousand years ago. Almost all of my formal education was based on the use of textbooks, and I often look at the Bible as if it is a single volume like a textbook. A textbook contains a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. It is usually written by a single author over a short period of time and taken literally. Instead, the Bible is a collection of many different writings within both the Old and NT; e.g., poetry, prose, narrative, letters (epistles), history (Chronicles), law (Leviticus), etc. The Bible is more like walking into a library or bookstore, than opening a textbook. The NT which contains the trial of Jesus is written in English based on numerous translations from the original Greek from the first century. As stated in the introduction to the New Testament by Leslie Holden in the Oxford Bible Commentary, “…historically only gradually did these writings come to be accepted in the Christian churches in such a way that they could begin to be seen as a single book with a name of its own. This is not the place to go into details of the process whereby this came about suffice it to say a collection of Paul’s letters was probably made before the end of the 1st century; that the idea of Christians needing both the gospel story of Jesus and Paul’s letter letters caught on soon after that; the end of the 2nd century saw the acceptance in a number of major Christian centers of the four gospels and the letters but it was four centuries before most churches accepted more or less the set of writings that every remained to this day as those authorized for official use…” The Trial of Jesus Even though I have considered this aspect of the Bible, as a collection of writings, over an extended period of time, I find the descriptions of the trial proceedings from the Bible to be difficult to understand. In fact, there are apparently multiple description by different authors, written at different times, of one or two trials or at least hearings as described in the Bible with which we are all familiar. These are succinctly identified in the description of the book, The Seven Trials Against Jesus – by Rolando José Olivo (Author, Translator) ”Jesus was a TRUE INNOCENT. He faced seven trials: 1) Annas, without sentence, 2) Sanhedrin, found guilty (invalid for many violations of Jewish law), 3) Sanhedrin, repeated at dawn, before the nullity of the previous one, found guilty (it is also invalid), 4) Pontius Pilate declared Him innocent, 5) Herod Antipas, without sentence, 6) Pontius Pilate declared Him innocent again, and 7) legal aberration by Pontius Pilate and the court of the crowd. Without filing charges neither presenting condemnatory proofs, Jesus was sentenced to death. Pontius Pilate issued two final sentences of innocence in favor of Jesus, which were later unknown, and none of his accusers could present a single proof against Jesus. Furthermore, Pontius Pilate, in addition to evading his responsibilities as judge and improperly handling a conflict of interests, committed serious crimes in the last trial: a) initiated an atypical, irregular, invalid, illegal, and illegitimate trial against Jesus, b) awarded an angry crowd the power to act as a court of law, c) accepted a death sentence without charges nor proofs, and d) authorized the crucifixion of Jesus or the application of a method of execution, intended only for those convicted in Roman courts. Obviously, there is a flagrant lack of competence of this court of the crowd, and also prevails a great responsibility of the Jewish authorities, who disowned the two sentences of innocence favorable to Jesus, and insisted on condemning Him, without respecting his legal rights.” Next week we will begin a law professor’s analysis and opinions of the trial of Jesus as viewed from a more secular perspective. |
Do you have any questions for the Camel? Questions about God, or Jesus, or the Church? About how to be Christian? Submit them via email to clergy@epiphanyec.org. Your name will be kept anonymous.
And a response will show up in a future Hump Day Message!
| God Loves You. No Exceptions. Wednesday Night Lentent Compline Begins Next Week! Over Zoom Join at 7pm using Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87879091376?pwd=LytDUmx2d2t4azA3TXRYL3lFeGs5dz09 Wedneday, 2/28 Wednesday, 3/6 Wednesday: 3/13 Wednesday: 3/20 |