Matthew 26:63, commentary and pictures

Jesus stood silent before Caiaphas and the council when false witnesses accused Him, then when the high priest put Him under solemn oath by the living God He broke His silence and plainly declared that He is the Christ, the Son of God. His holding His peace fulfilled Isaiah's picture of the suffering servant as a lamb led to slaughter that does not open its mouth, and it was deliberate to keep His accusers from twisting His words into a political charge before the Romans. Though He knew the priesthood was corrupt and the priest unworthy, He answered out of respect for the law and for the highest authority acting in the name of the Most High. That confession claimed His divine power and oneness with the Father, spoken calmly with a flash of divinity through humanity, and joined to it the declaration that His hearers would hereafter see Him seated at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven as supreme Judge. He knew affirming His Sonship would make His death certain, yet He would not deny His relation to God, and His resurrection proved His claim true while leaving His followers the example to confess Him before men even at the cost of suffering.

Trial Setting and Silence

Matthew 26:63 belongs to the formal trial before Caiaphas and the Jewish council in the judgment hall, held as a hurried mock examination in the early dark morning after Jesus was brought through dark streets by an armed band. Caiaphas hastened the trial from the throne of judgment in gorgeous robe, tiara and breastplate, with judges on either side and Roman soldiers ranged below, while Jesus stood at its foot in coarse clothing. That silent prisoner at the foot of an earthly throne to be tried for His life was the One who had reigned crowned in the courts of heaven in garments of brightness attended by holy angels. The questioning was conducted under secrecy so the people could not bring testimony about His mighty works to vindicate Him, condemn the Sanhedrin's actions, and secure His release. While He endured coarse accusation, insult and mockery from persecutors and the whole assembly, His heart was pierced more deeply by hearing His beloved disciple deny Him with cursing and swearing than by anything His enemies could inflict.

The rulers sought grounds to condemn Him for blasphemy and death, being jealous of His authority and fearing He would become king, and they arranged false testimony and pursued His death rather than accept Him as king. Witnesses brought charges that conflicted or would not satisfy the Roman authorities, including the charge about destroying the temple made with hands and building another made without hands in three days, which did not prove a charge worthy of death. The scribes and Pharisees planned His betrayal and brought false statements and accusations against Him, making Him appear in the worst possible light. Their conduct shows the spirit that stirs people against Christ and dishonors Him even while claiming to defend truth, though God overruled their actions to make Christ the Redeemer of the world.

Jesus held His peace and answered nothing, refusing defense when questioned and giving no answer to the demand for a mighty miracle. He remained calm and silent because He knew His sentence had already been decided and the evidence did not prove a capital charge. His silence fulfills Isaiah's picture of the suffering servant as a lamb led to slaughter who does not open his mouth. His silence and endurance show His submission to suffering as the Sin-bearer, rather than using His divine power to force His accusers to acknowledge Him.

Standing calm, serene and majestic amid wild excitement while the eyes of the multitude were upon Him, His quiet, dignified bearing and holy influence contrasted with the excited, malignant, sneering manner of Annas and Caiaphas and the turmoil around Him. A holy influence emanated from Him and pervaded the atmosphere, revealing a majesty belonging to heaven even as He stood on trial before an earthly court. Caiaphas himself was struck with sudden admiration for His dignified bearing and convicted that He was akin to God, then banished the thought and hastened the trial. Even the hardened multitude compared their deportment with His and questioned whether a man of God-like presence should be sentenced as a common criminal.

His continued silence was deliberate, since His accusers hoped to make Him speak so they could condemn Him. He knew His accusers wanted Him to repeat His words about being the Son of God so they could twist them into a political charge, and by remaining silent He kept them from using His testimony for that purpose before the Roman tribunal. The high priest feared their case would fail unless Jesus answered the contradictory accusations.

Oath and Confession

The high priest, acting as the nation's highest acknowledged authority and first magistrate, solemnly put Jesus under oath by the living God according to the Jewish form, with raised hand toward heaven, adjuring Him to tell whether He is the Christ, the Son of God. That oath directly challenged His relation to the Father and His identity and mission. Jesus had remained silent while false witnesses failed to establish a charge, but this appeal to the highest authority in the nation called for an answer. Though He fully knew the high priest's unworthiness, He broke His silence and answered out of proper respect for the law and for the highest authority acting in the name of the Most High.

The priesthood had become corrupt, with religion as a cloak for a hard, cruel heart, lording over the people and making supposed godliness a source of gain, priest after priest performing religious duties as an actor in a theater. The high priest himself was never accepted by God as a typical high priest, his fitness for the priesthood ending with the covering garment he wore, incapable and unworthy, one the people detested. Jesus fully knew that unworthiness and that God could not connect with his character, yet He responded. In that moment the true High Priest stood before the false priest to be criticized.

He might have glorified Himself there and shown power to make His judges quail, knowing He was appointed to His office by God. Instead He concealed His divinity in a garb of humanity, and being found in fashion as a man He humbled Himself to be qualified to represent man in the heavenly courts, taking not even the nature of angels. Though the highest of all angels, He girded Himself with a towel to wash His disciples' feet, mourning and weeping over the perversity and transgression of men. Not rending His robe but with rent soul, His garment of human flesh was rent as He hung on the cross as the sin-bearer of the human race, and by His suffering and death a new and living way was opened by which He was to enter upon His priestly office forever, with no longer a wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, entering the Holy Place as the High Priest for the whole world.

His reply was a voluntary, public confession under the most solemn oath plainly declaring His character and mission, affirming that He is the Christ, the Son of God. Thereby He claimed Sonship with God as Lord of life and glory, claiming His own divine power and Godhead and oneness with the Father, so that to see Him is to see the Father. The high priest understood exactly what it comprehended. He spoke calmly and with dignity, in a calm voice with dignified manner, with a heavenly light on His face illuminating Him and a momentary flash of divinity through humanity. With a penetrating, heart-searching look He quailed the high priest, read his hidden thoughts and burned into his heart.

By submitting to this judicial oath rather than refusing or reproving it, He shows that giving testimony under oath in a lawful setting, calling God to witness that testimony is true, is not wrong. His answer in the following verse shows that He accepted the charge to respond. Such a lawful judicial oath is distinct from casual or evasive oath-taking.

Coming Judge and Witness

In the same answer He declared a complete reversal of roles, that hereafter His hearers would see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power as supreme Judge of heaven and earth with no appeal, and coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory escorted by legions of angels, instead of standing as a prisoner surrounded and abused by a mob headed by priests and judges. He who then stood before His judges will return as Judge to pronounce the sentence of His enemies. When He returns as Judge, every secret thing will be set in the light of God's countenance, sinners will see their sins unveiled in hideousness and will desire to be hidden under mountains or in the ocean to escape the wrath of the Lamb.

He knew that affirming His Sonship would make His death certain, while denial would stain His humanity, yet because His character and His relation to the Father were at stake there was a time to speak as well as to be silent, and He would not deny His relationship with God. His declaration gave the designing priests exactly what they sought, so they called it blasphemy and condemned Him to death. His resurrection proved His assertion that He was the Son of God true, so that if the soldiers' testimony of the resurrection went forth the people would believe it. Therefore Caiaphas and the priests would not permit it to go forth but silenced the soldiers and sustained themselves in sin by denying undeniable facts and bribing the Roman guard to suppress the truth with a lying report.

His course leaves an example that His followers should confess Him before others and not apostatize from faith to escape suffering or even death, keeping His declaration that whoever confesses Him before men He will confess before His Father in heaven. Having spoken truth and without guile amid insult and scorn and mockery and rejection and shame, His words and promises are fully trustworthy to be rested in and honored by faith.