The Deity of Jesus
(S) Scripture
But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"
"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked.
"You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" They all condemned him as worthy of death.
Mark 14:61-64 (NIV)
(O) Observation
Jesus stands silent before the High Priest being falsely accused by person after person. Jesus refuses to answer or respond to any of the charges. The High Priest takes things into his own hand and asks Jesus, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" Jesus answers this with, "I am." The High Priest knows that Jesus has just claimed to be God. There is no mistaking what Jesus said or claimed. He then condemns Jesus to die.
(A) Application
Many will argue that Jesus never claimed to be God but that it was something others claimed for him. Not true. In an attempt to make Jesus just a man like all other religious leaders some deny his claim to being God. Jesus was not just a good man or a great moral teacher. He claimed to be God. C.S. Lewis makes this argument in Mere Christianity, "A man who was merely a man and said the kind of things Jesus said wouldn't have been a Great Moral Teacher, He is either a lunatic on the level of on who says he is a poached egg, or the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this person is the Son of God or a mad man or something worse. You can shut him up as a demon or fall at His feet and call him God, but don't come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a Great Moral Teacher. He hasn't left that alternative open to us."
There is no mistaking what Jesus said or meant. The people understood it then and we know it today. Therefore we must deal with the claims Jesus makes on our lives. It was 53 years ago when I gave my life to Christ and followed Him by faith. Today I affirm again my faith and trust in His death and resurrection. I thank Him for forgiving my sin and guaranteeing my life with Him eternally. I know He is God because He said so and has proved so in changing my life.
(P) Prayer
Father, thank you for sending Your Son, Jesus, to pay the price for my sin so that I might have fellowship with you. Today I affirm again my trust and dependence on Jesus. Let me share tthat good news with others. Amen
5 comments:
One wonders if the Jewish leaders picked up on the nuance; the Exodus text where God said, "I Am." It ran throug out his minsitry....I am the door, good shepherd, bread of life, living water, etc. etc. etc.
bud (Might my last name be Drake?) :)
Some may have picked up on this but most likely it is just a reaction to having their safe, stable religious practice challenged and turned upside down. I wonder if we would be any different?
I had an Uncle named Bud(dy) but he died a couple of years ago. Drake is a possibility, remote but...
Greetings Robin Crouch
Your observation:
The High Priest takes things into his own hand and asks Jesus, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" Jesus answers this with, "I am." The High Priest knows that Jesus has just claimed to be God. There is no mistaking what Jesus said or claimed. He then condemns Jesus to die.
You are right! There is no mistaking what Jesus said or claimed!
Read it again.
Jesus didn't just claim to be Almighty GOD!! NO!
Jesus claimed before the high priest, to be the Christ/Messiah,
the Son OF THE BLESSED ONE
Big Difference!
Sorry for stating the obvious.
But that is what the text says.
Who is the Blessed One?
GOD Almighty obviously.
So who did Jesus claim to be.
The Son of the Blessed One!
That is, the Son of Almighty GOD!
That is the claim which caused Jesus' sentence to death.
Jesus never claimed to be GOD,
rather he claimed to be
GOD's Son.
Big Difference!
Hence:
(John 19:7) The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
(Mat 27:43) He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said,
I am the Son of God.
That was the high priest's & Sanhedrin's understanding.
He claimed to be GOD's Son
For more on this subject,
Robin Crouch,
I recommend this video:
The Human Jesus
Take a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you in your quest for truth.
Yours In Messiah
Adam Pastor
Adam,
So are you saying that Jesus did not claim diety for himself in this statement. This is not the only place in Scripture where Jesus makes a claim to being God.
He claimed to be of the same essence as the Father.
I am always amused at those who want to nit pick on the trivial. I know that Jesus is the Son of God, second person of the trinity. He is fully man and fully God. God incarnate.
The high priest understood what he said and meant and so did those who wanted to crucify him. To be the Son of God was to make himself equal with God.
Thanks you for your comment. BTW in my journal I am answering the question, "How will I be different today because of what I just read?" I wonder, Adam, what God was saying to you that will make a difference in how you live each day and grow as a follower of Jesus?
Post a Comment