63 The men who were holding Jesus began to mock Him and beat Him. 64 They blindfolded Him and kept demanding, “Prophesy! Who hit You?” 65 And they said many other blasphemous things against Him.

66 At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and scribes, met together. They led Jesus into their Sanhedrin and said, 67 “If You are the Christ, tell us.”

Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe. 68 And if I ask you a question, you will not answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

70 So they all asked, “Are You then the Son of God?”

He replied, “You say that I am.”

71 “Why do we need any more testimony?” they declared. “We have heard it for ourselves from His own lips.”

REFLECTIONS

Written by Sarah Cameron

As I read this passage today, what struck me was how much Jesus was willing to go through for our sake. God allowed himself, in the person of his Son, to be imprisoned, mistreated, insulted, physically hurt, and falsely judged by evil men. At any point Jesus could have changed his mind and taken his freedom. But he didn’t! He knew that the worst was still to come, but for the sake of our salvation, Jesus submitted himself to all these horrible things. Have you sat and dwelt on that before? All that Jesus willingly went through, so that he could save us.

Having seen all he went through, how should we respond to Jesus? Definitely not like the other people in our passage!! The guards and religious leaders failed to recognise who Jesus was and foolishly sat in judgement on him. What does Jesus say to them? The day is coming when the tables will be turned and he will be the one sitting in judgement on sinners, including those who mocked and mistreated him. This reminded me of our recent devotions in Daniel 7 where it says:

13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

We know that through his triumph over death at the cross, these passages from Daniel and Luke have now come true! Let’s hear the warning from Jesus here and not reject him. Instead let’s be those who recognise Jesus for who he truly is, the Son of Man, and respond by submitting ourselves to his love and power.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah is a member of our Fairfield Morning congregation.