Day 4
Scripture:
Scripture:
Again the high priest questioned him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”,
Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What is your decision?”
(Mark 14:61-64)
Reflection:
What was their decision? We are told in the very same verse: “They all condemned him as deserving death” (v.64). It seems rather intense to us, doesn’t it? Why did Jesus’ statement cause such a stir? Because in his religious context, Jesus made world-shaking claims with those few words. First among them, he claimed to be “the Messiah”, which our English Bibles also translate “the Christ”. We Christians today are likely to miss just how huge of a shock it is, to learn that Jesus is the Christ, a King that God had promised to send in the line of David, to deliver his people and usher a time of blessing. For us today, it can feel almost trivial: of course, he’s the Christ, it’s basically his last name: Jesus Christ. But when people encountered Jesus of Nazareth and discovered he was (or even claimed to be) the Messiah, without fail, they lost their minds. Either negatively, like the religious leaders who inferred he was a blasphemer who deserved to die, or positively, like the Samaritan woman at the well, who couldn’t believe her ears and went in excitement to tell everybody in her village.
John’s retelling of her conversation with Jesus is epic. The escalation begins with her innocent question—hilarious in retrospect—prompted by his claim that he could give her a better water than Jacob’s well: “You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you?” (John 4:12). Ha-ha! She was in for a shock. After Jesus reveals the secrets of her heart, he tells her that God won’t care whether he’s worshiped on the mountain in Samaria or in the temple in Jerusalem, but that he be worshiped in Spirit and in truth. She then says: “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” And Jesus drops the news: “I, the one speaking to you, am he” (John 4:25-26).
Numerous times, and just as explicitly, Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of God’s promises to his people. He most frequently referred to himself as “Son of man”, and not just any “son of man”: one who is coming “with the clouds of heaven”, he told the high priest in the above passage. It was a direct reference to the prophet Daniel’s vision which had announced: “and suddenly, one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven”, and Daniel said that that son of man was given “dominion, and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him.” (Daniel 7:14) …Wow. If it were not true, it would be blasphemous indeed. But John wrote his gospel for that very reason: to tell us it is true. “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God” (John 20:31).
Jesus explained that his life was the fulfillment of God’s promises: “everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). That included the place of his birth (Micah 5:2), his triumphal entry riding on a Donkey (Zechariah 9:9), and his death for our sins (Isa 53). In Jesus of Nazareth, “every one of God’s promises is ‘Yes’” (2 Corinthians 1:20), history turns, and we get to gaze at what “many prophets and kings” wanted to see and didn’t see, but the disciples saw in Jesus. (Luke 10:24)
Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What is your decision?”
(Mark 14:61-64)
Reflection:
What was their decision? We are told in the very same verse: “They all condemned him as deserving death” (v.64). It seems rather intense to us, doesn’t it? Why did Jesus’ statement cause such a stir? Because in his religious context, Jesus made world-shaking claims with those few words. First among them, he claimed to be “the Messiah”, which our English Bibles also translate “the Christ”. We Christians today are likely to miss just how huge of a shock it is, to learn that Jesus is the Christ, a King that God had promised to send in the line of David, to deliver his people and usher a time of blessing. For us today, it can feel almost trivial: of course, he’s the Christ, it’s basically his last name: Jesus Christ. But when people encountered Jesus of Nazareth and discovered he was (or even claimed to be) the Messiah, without fail, they lost their minds. Either negatively, like the religious leaders who inferred he was a blasphemer who deserved to die, or positively, like the Samaritan woman at the well, who couldn’t believe her ears and went in excitement to tell everybody in her village.
John’s retelling of her conversation with Jesus is epic. The escalation begins with her innocent question—hilarious in retrospect—prompted by his claim that he could give her a better water than Jacob’s well: “You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you?” (John 4:12). Ha-ha! She was in for a shock. After Jesus reveals the secrets of her heart, he tells her that God won’t care whether he’s worshiped on the mountain in Samaria or in the temple in Jerusalem, but that he be worshiped in Spirit and in truth. She then says: “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” And Jesus drops the news: “I, the one speaking to you, am he” (John 4:25-26).
Numerous times, and just as explicitly, Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of God’s promises to his people. He most frequently referred to himself as “Son of man”, and not just any “son of man”: one who is coming “with the clouds of heaven”, he told the high priest in the above passage. It was a direct reference to the prophet Daniel’s vision which had announced: “and suddenly, one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven”, and Daniel said that that son of man was given “dominion, and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him.” (Daniel 7:14) …Wow. If it were not true, it would be blasphemous indeed. But John wrote his gospel for that very reason: to tell us it is true. “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God” (John 20:31).
Jesus explained that his life was the fulfillment of God’s promises: “everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). That included the place of his birth (Micah 5:2), his triumphal entry riding on a Donkey (Zechariah 9:9), and his death for our sins (Isa 53). In Jesus of Nazareth, “every one of God’s promises is ‘Yes’” (2 Corinthians 1:20), history turns, and we get to gaze at what “many prophets and kings” wanted to see and didn’t see, but the disciples saw in Jesus. (Luke 10:24)
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This devotional is written by Guillaume Bignon, author of Confessions of a French Atheist
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