They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?" He replied, "You are right in saying I am."
The Teacher is on trial for being more than a teacher.
Although His radical teaching has fired the animosity of the religious establishment against Him, it is the question of who He is that keeps them up nights.
Now apart from the adoring crowds they have Him alone and unprotected. They will have their answer - If you are the Christ," they said, "tell us."
To their surprise Jesus bypasses the question, and makes what to them must have been the most outlandish claim possible - But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.
Jesus knows His time has come. So He makes a direct claim to be God, knowing He will be charged with blasphemy and condemned to death. Certainly, if they have rejected Him before – even though He did notable miracles – they surely won’t accept this claim now.
No, their response was predictable - Then they said, "Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips."
Earlier in His ministry, the religious leaders asked for a special sign to confirm His credentials. Now they ask for none. The claim that Jesus would soon sit at the right hand of God, while true, was beyond their wildest imaginations.
Never could they have imagined that this time God did not call a man to be His prophet, but sent His Son to become a man.
This is the incredible privilege of being a student of this Teacher. He is The Son of God.
And what a priviledge it is, to be a student of Gods own Son!
ReplyDeleteThis is what was interesting to me:
"If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. "
He had shown them miracle after miracle, taught them the truth, even answered questions they had thought, but hadn't verbalized - and they didn't believe.
When Jesus asked them a question (where did John's authority come from) they wouldn't answer him.
So this is nothing new - but it point out blatantly that they didn't want to believe in him, because if they did, they would have to admit they were wrong and change. Sadly, many in the world refuse to believe today for the same reasons.
When you truly understand who He is, then you must submit to Him.