Guilty Because of Who He is
And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.  And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.  And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.

For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,  We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.  But neither so did their witness agree together.

And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what [is it which] these witness against thee?  But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?

And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.  Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.

And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.  Mark 14:53-65

LIKE A TRIAL meant to root out the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, the trial of Jesus lays out for all to see-beyond a shadow of a doubt-some of the Bi­ble’s clearest statements of Jesus’ deity. Anybody wondering if Jesus claimed to be God needs to take a hard look at his trial, recorded in Mark 14:53-65.

The high priest put the question to him point blank: “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the blessed God?” (verse 61). Jesus said, “I am, and you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God’s right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven” (verse 62).

The Jewish officials didn’t miss Jesus’ point, and the high priest responded by tearing his garments-publicly demonstrating the horror of blasphemy. Then he said, “Why do we need other witnesses?” (verse 63). Everything Christ said affirmed his clear claim to be the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. They had finally heard it from him for themselves. The words of his own mouth convicted him.

Now the leaders had only two alternatives: (1) to accept Christ’s claim as true or (2) to convict him of blasphemy, which of course they did.

You start to see that this was no ordinary trial. Christ’s identity-not any crimi­nal action-was the issue. In most trials, people are tried for what they have done. But that wasn’t true of Christ’s trial. Jesus was tried for who he was.

The trial of Jesus should be enough to show convincingly that he claimed to be God. His judges witness to that. But on the day of his crucifixion, his enemies also acknowledged that he claimed to be God come in the flesh. “Likewise also the chief priests mocking [him], with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'” (Matthew 27:41-43).

Christ’s judges and enemies denied the truth about who he is. So who do you say Jesus is?

REFLECT: Are you convinced by the case that Jesus is God? What persuades you? What do you need to learn more about?

PRAY: Jesus, I understand your claim to be the Son of God. I believe you. You are God come in the flesh. I welcome you as Lord in my life.