The (Kangaroo) Court Is in Session (Matthew 26:57–27:26)

A “kangaroo court” is a trivial-sounding idiom that, in reality, describes something far less playful than its title may suggest. According to one source, this expression refers to “an unauthorized mock court or legal proceeding in which some or all of the due process rights [of the accused] are ignored and the outcome appears to be predetermined.” In other words, a kangaroo court is a sham trial, it is judicial theatre, and it is malevolent injustice. There could scarcely be a better description of what the Lord Jesus experienced in the hours leading up to his crucifixion. Though his opponents had already decided both his guilt and sentence, the people of Israel—led by their religious leaders—put their Messiah on a trial, a trial more concerned with a desired conviction and execution than with legality and truth. Yet, there’s deep irony to Matthew’s account of this charade in that it’s the accusers who end up exposing themselves as criminal and it’s the accused, Jesus, who is proved blameless.