Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Mark 14 and Psalm 67

⁶¹ But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’

⁶² ‘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.’

Throughout His various trials, Jesus remained mainly silent. Only at key moments did He make very specific statements, all of which carried much weight, and most of which amounted to confessions of His identity as the Son of God.

Here, in Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas demanded to know if Jesus claimed to be “the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One“. By using the name “Blessed One”, Caiaphas was religiously avoiding somehow using God’s name in vain. However, at the very same time, Caiaphas was acting “in God’s name” as the high priest, while presiding over an overtly unjust trial. If anything was a misuse of God’s name it was what he was doing here! Avoiding the use of God’s name in our words is easy enough. But how we live is even more important!

Jesus answered very bravely with a truth statement about Himself (a confession of the truth) even though he knew where this would lead: “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.’“

Jesus had very frequently used the title “Son of Man” to refer to Himself. This was a clear claim that he was not only the Messiah but also the Son of Man whose coming Daniel had prophesied in Daniel 7:13-14 where “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

Jesus told the truth! He was (and is) the Son of God, the Great “I Am”, the Messiah, God’s anointed Saviour King, Whose Kingdom is eternal and Who is worthy to be worshipped. But they did not believe Him, and so they found Him guilty of blasphemy for this claim to divinity. Even so, Jesus would not lie about who He was.

Life application: Our assessment of Jesus should be no less than Jesus’ own assessment of Himself. Jesus revealed that He is God. Equally our confession about ourselves should be honest too. Today, if you have the opportunity to express your faith in Jesus to others – do so. Tell them about Jesus, be sure to affirm His deity, and be sure to leave them in no doubt of your life-giving faith in Him.