Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The response of the high priest and the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) in Israel reveals that they understood Jesus’ statements (Mark 14:63) but reject them – and Him: “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” (Mark 14:63-64).”What need we any further witnesses?” is a tacit admission that they have no witnesses and that they know that this trial is illegal. The rending of clothes is not Scriptural; it is not found in the relevant passage regulating trials for blasphemy (Leviticus 24:10-23). Rather, it was a man-made tradition that provided good theater but bad theology. The illegal death penalty in this private night session is the result of preconceived bias and strong emotion instead of careful study of Scripture and analysis of evidence. It is clear, though, that the charge of “blasphemy” is based upon the unflinching words of Jesus. It is fashionable amongst some today (especially those who call themselves postmodern Christians, an inherent contradiction in terms) to say that Jesus never claimed to be God. Such a view is worse than nonsense, for it cavalierly dismisses the deity of our Lord and renders His sacrificial atonement useless – makes it merely some ineffectual example of sacrifice that we are somehow to emulate. No. The religious legalists know exactly what Jesus is saying here. They have every reason to believe His claims, but they reject the facts and degenerate into irrationality and abuse of power. Their death sentence is as wicked as anything could ever be, but it stands historically as a statement of their knowledge of Jesus’ absolute statements regarding His divinity. Let us stand with Jesus and thus with the truth.