The High Priest had surrounded himself with liars in order to secure a conviction against Jesus. But when Jesus admitted His true identity, it was treated as the worst of lies – blasphemy (Mark 14:61-62).  Blasphemy, at its least, is to belittle or defame God: at its worst it is to claim to be God when you are not.  Therefore Jesus' claim to be the Son of God, the Messiah, was certainly not blasphemous because that was the truth.  But the High Priest refused to believe it.  Rejecting the truth for so long had distorted his way of thinking; he wanted to accept lies instead.  By his words, and the unrestrained actions of all in that courtroom, they all blasphemed the Son of God.

With his spiritual integrity in tatters, the religious judge hid behind his role of chairman, asking the 72 members of the Sanhedrin to vote.  They considered no evidence, followed no process to ensure justice, but unanimously demanded execution.  Disorder overtook dignity as some, otherwise noble men, spat on Jesus and made sport of Him with their violent games.  What the temple leaders modelled, the guards took as their licence to degrade the King of Heaven.  According to Psalm 1:1, there was no blessing for any of them; although Nicodemus protested that Jesus must have a fair trial (John 7:50-52) and felt an obligation to care for His body (John 19:38-40) ... and later, Gamaliel cautioned the Sanhedrin against stoning the apostles (Acts 5:33-39).  But at Jesus’ trial, they all condemned Him to death (Acts 13:27).

They were so fiercely angry.  Why?  Respected priests and scholars vented their hatred both physically and verbally.  Why?  In Jesus words, from the parable of the ten pieces of money, "But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, “We don’t want this man to be our king.” (Luke 19:14)   Hatred does not understand justice.  So there was no justice for Jesus: there never is when a mob wants its own way and rejects any rights of its victim.  But note that His judgement at the end of time will be totally just, because He has loved every person He judges.

The masters of 'spin' always fall over in the end: it is dangerous to keep company with liars (Proverbs 19:9).  Truth is not a commodity to be traded in varying degrees of purity to achieve political ends or personal goals.  It will never go away, simply because it is true.  History shows that the truth may take a very long time to come out, but God can wait (Galatians 6:7). Lies were the undoing of the High Priest: his temple was razed to the ground less than 40 years later (Luke 19:44), and his divine judgement is still to come.  So, practise truth at every opportunity, at home and in business - however inconvenient it may be; it will keep your moral compass pointing to Jesus despite whatever the world, flesh or devil may throw at you.  It will also enable you to be an 'early responder' when God calls you to witness for Him.