Inside, the leading priests and the entire high
council were trying to find evidence against Jesus, so they could put him to
death. But they couldn’t find any. Many
false witnesses spoke against him, but they contradicted each other. Finally, some men stood up and gave this false
testimony: “We heard him say, ‘I will
destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build
another, made without human hands.’” But
even then, they didn’t get their stories straight!
Then the high priest stood up before the others and
asked Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have
to say for yourself?” But Jesus was
silent and made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah,
the Son of the Blessed One?”
Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man
seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of
heaven.”
Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his
horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your
verdict?”
“Guilty!” they all cried. “He deserves to die!”
Then some of them began to spit at him, and they
blindfolded him and beat him with their fists. “Prophesy to us,” they jeered.
And the guards slapped him as they took him away.
This passage is meant to be read
with the end of the chapter 14, which includes the denials uttered by
Peter. Mark signals this by noting what
Peter is doing while Jesus is on trail before the Sanhedrin. However, there is more than enough to talk
about for this time in just the section concerning the trial. So we will talk about Peter next time.
This whole trial is high irony as
Mark tells it. God is on trial and humans
are the judges. The judgmental humans in
question here, ironically, would steadfastly proclaim that God is the judge and
we are those who are judged. Yet here
they are, finding God in the flesh guilty of blasphemy against God!
Even though the humans have it
backwards, God is still in control. Jesus
gives no answer to their arrogant questions until they ask THE question. . .the
question that Jesus has not plainly answered before now:
““Are you the Messiah, the Son
of the Blessed One?”
This question is the one Mark seeks to answer with
the entirety of his gospel. In Mark 1:1,
Mark states his purpose plainly; “This is the Good News about Jesus the
Messiah, the Son of God.” Yet throughout
the gospel, when ever someone else proclaims Jesus to be the Messiah, Jesus instructs
them to be silent about that. In our
journey through Mark, we have mentioned this “Messianic Secret” many times, but
not been able to full grasp why Jesus keeps instructing others to keep it quiet. Yet, here in this moment, Jesus proclaims the
truth Himself:
“I am. And you will see the Son of
Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds
of heaven.”
Though very few translations of Mark render the
translation this way, one possible translation of the beginning of Jesus’s
reply is “the I AM is here.” This translation
seems to make the most sense for Mark’s purposes. In this climatic moment that Mark has been
building toward for the whole gospel, Jesus using the Hebrew name for God given
to Moses (ie…”I AM) would answer the Sanhedrin’s question in the most
unequivocal way. In the midst of many
false testimonies and lies being spoken about Him, Jesus speaks the divine
truth of His identity.
In an
even more surprising bit of irony, the Sanhedrin, in condemning Jesus to death,
confirm Jesus’s own prophecy that he will be falsely accused and condemned. The ironic icing on the cake is that their
striking Him, mocking Him, and spitting on Him, they are confirming even more
prophecy. The Sanhedrin are unwittingly
playing their divinely appointed role in revealing the true nature of the
Messiah.
In our
own day, the irony continues. The decision
about who God is discussed way too often as if it is our question to answer. .
. that humans are the judges in whether or not Jesus is the Messiah. But Mark’s contention is that only God gets
to reveal such truth.and here in this moment, Jesus does. The “I AM is here.” Jesus IS the Messiah regardless of what the
Sanhedrin, popular atheists, or us decide. The only judgement appropriate to us is
whether we will believe the God-revealed Truth.
Question: What
do you believe about the nature of Jesus identity? It might even be helpful to write down a few
of your thoughts to bring clarity to your belief.
Prayer: Jesus,
forgive us when we act as if we get to make the determination about the nature
of Your identity and/or the teaching You have given us. Give us vision to see Your own revelation of truth to us clearly.Amen.
Prayer Focus:
Pray for God’s blessing of atheists and agnostics you know today.
Song: Jesus
Messiah – Chris Tomlin
No comments:
Post a Comment