I Appeal To Caesar!

are reserved for the students of the sages and those with special privileges; one of the few who now sit watching, deep in thought, is Saul of Tarsus, a former student of Gamaliel. Saul knows who has engineered this whole procedure, and he is convinced that this serious “Jesus threat” must not go unchallenged. So, though apprehensive, he prepares to fulfill his part in the mad plan. Saul will merely carry out the plan initiated by Caiaphas and Annas. Saul, although not a Sanhedrist, has advanced far beyond his peers, becoming a consulting authority on the Torah to both young and old. He has, in fact, become an indispensable part of the great Jewish religious machine. This trial, however, is a new experience for Saul, now having passed his thirtieth birthday. Watching the wild display of undisciplined behavior, his mind recalls his peaceful early years of being raised in a godly, humble home, living in a small, happy, Jewish community, learning the honest trade of his father, being taught by a dedicated rabbi in the Synagogue school, and finally experiencing sincere teaching and application of the Law by the godly Gamaliel, Israel’s greatest living teacher.

Jesus of Nazareth changed all this.

Jesus’ statements making himself God are unacceptable to Saul, and although the present proceedings are distasteful and inappropriate, he feels the urgency to correct this huge error in Judaism at any cost. Saul now feels that if he must put up with the devious ways of Caiaphas in order to save the Jewish people from error, he is willing to do this.