He Claimed To Be The Son Of God

In walking through the Season of Lent this year, I sought to align the sequence of events in the Gospels with how they are presented in a time line. At different times in our Christian walk, some parts of scripture stand out more than others. This year, for me the verses shown below are in sharp focus. In a earlier devotional I spoke of how the truth can be inconvenient at times and hard to accept. For the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the High Priests, Jesus was an inconvenient truth. Jesus spoke a truth that was not in synch with the truth as espoused by the Jewish rulers of His day. The truth Jesus spoke threatened the livelihood and the very existence of the Jewish rulers. At some point, the rulers knew they would lose their status and place in leadership. So extreme measures were viewed as appropriate. 

John 11:45-53 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all!  You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

When Jesus was betrayed by Judas, He was brought before Annas for what we would call today a preliminary hearing. The results were predictable. The wheels of justice, as determined by the Jewish leaders were set in motion. 

John 18:19-24 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”  When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded. “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?”  Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

After the preliminary hearing, Jesus was taken to Caiaphas the high priest. The foregone conclusion that he was guilty and should die was to play out for all to see. Jesus did not back down. He remained firm is His convictions, and this played into the hands of those who sought to end the threat he posed to them.

Matthew 26:63-66 But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” “He is worthy of death,” they answered.

Things were complicated for the Jewish leaders. They could not themselves kill Jesus. To accomplish the desired end required they enlist the support of the Roman Governor of the region, Pontius Pilate. Pilate was between a rock and a hard place. He was charged with keeping the peace. The Jewish leaders were stirring up the citizenry. If Pilate could not keep the peace, he would be replaced and recalled to Rome where he would be killed for his failures. Try as Pilate might, he was being forced into taking an action he did not want to take.

John 19:7-11 The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

John 18:37-40 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?” They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.

Matthew 27:22-24 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!” “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

John 19:14-16 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 

And so the crucifixion of Jesus took place. He suffered the humiliation of the cross. It was a horrible, painful death from asphyxiation. But, Jesus submitted to the will of His Father and …

Luke 23:44-46 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

On this day after Good Friday, we look back on the events that transpired in that seemingly distant past. Our Good Friday worship services served as a reminder bringing the past into the present even if for just a short period of time. We grieve, mourn, meditate on our own sinfulness and remember that our sins also drove the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet. Our hands were also on the hammer that pounded each nail home securing Him to that cross. He bore our sins willingly because God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit love you and I that much. We are blessed beyond measure with that love and need to remember that. We look with anticipation towards the dawn of Sunday when Christ, the Risen Savior returned.

PRAYER: Our Father In Heaven, thank you.