Events were chasing each other like chips in the churning rapids of a racing river. Jesus was helpless in the raging "current of events." He could scarcely keep his head above water. He was doomed to perish in cascading falls that crashed a short distance downstream. Or so it seemed to both bitter foe and disillusioned friend.

The Last Supper, the agony in Gethsemane, the betrayal and arrest, and the trial before the Sanhedrin had occurred so quickly that their recollection made the heads of the disciples spin. The Sanhedrin, jealous of his popularity and fearful of his influence, had accused Jesus of blasphemy, a capital offense by religious law. But that body, the "supreme court" of the Jews, could not pronounce the death penalty because Roman law prevailed. So the Sanhedrin transferred…