Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 14:53

"And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and there come together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes." — Mark 14:53 (ASV)

After a preliminary hearing before Annas (cf. Jn 18:12-14, 19-23), Jesus was taken to Caiaphas (Mark never mentions his name), with the Sanhedrin (a maximum of seventy members) present. The meeting took place in the palace of Caiaphas in an upstairs room (cf. v.66). This must have been a large room to accommodate the Sanhedrin, though Mark’s use of “all” does not necessarily mean all seventy were present. Certainly there were enough of them there to constitute a quorum. Since the Sanhedrin usually met in one of the market halls, the use of Caiaphas’s house may have been to ensure secrecy.