Matthew 26
57Then the people who had arrested Jesus led him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of religious law and other leaders had gathered. 58Meanwhile, Peter was following far behind and eventually came to the courtyard of the high priest’s house. He went in, sat with the guards, and waited to see what was going to happen to Jesus.
59Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death. 60But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, there was no testimony they could use. Finally, two men were found 61who declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”
62Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” 63But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God that you tell us whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64Jesus replied, “Yes, it is as you say. And in the future you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God’s right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven.”
65Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror, shouting, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. 66What is your verdict?”
“Guilty!” they shouted. “He must die!”
67Then they spit in Jesus’ face and hit him with their fists. And some slapped him, 68saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?” (Matthew 26:57-68, NLT)
The Daily DAVEotional
Perhaps the greatest question you can ask and answer is the question, “Who is Jesus?”
Jesus asked this question of His disciples in an encounter that is recorded in Matthew 16:13-20 and also in Mark 8:27-30. I previously wrote about that encounter in a blog post entitled “The Most Important Question to Ask Yourself”.
One of the hallmark doctrines of Christianity is the divinity of Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus is God.
Those who deny the divinity of Jesus, such as Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others, often will say that divinity was something Jesus’ followers attributed to Him but that He Himself did not claim. To them, Jesus was simply a prophet, a good teacher or something else, but He certainly was not God.
The problem is that there are a number of passages where Jesus clearly identifies Himself as God. One such passage is John 10:30, where Jesus claimed to be “one with the Father”. Jehovah’s Witnesses have an explanation for that passage that I don’t think fits the facts. I wrote about that passage in a blog post “Evidence that Jesus is God”.
The account here in Matthew 26 of Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin is another passage that gives strong evidence that Jesus claimed deity for Himself.
How exactly does this passage demonstrate that Jesus claimed divinity for Himself?
In this section, Matthew records the trial of Jesus. After His betrayal and arrest, Jesus appears before the Sanhedrin, which is the Jewish religious authority.
A cursory reading of the gospels makes it clear that the religious rulers were out to get Jesus. They sent experts to try to entrap him, looking for any possible offense that they could use against him.
It’s interesting to see Jesus’ response to the high priest, who demanded that Jesus respond to his question about whether Jesus thought of Himself as the Messiah, the Son of God.
As soon as the high priest makes this demand, Jesus responds in the affirmative. “Yes, it is as you say.”
But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He continues,
And in the future you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God’s right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven.
It turns out that Jesus is referencing Daniel 7:13, in which the Messiah receives authority from the Ancient of Days to reign as the supreme king over all the earth.
The high priest had all the evidence he needed. He, along with the other religious leaders were very familiar with the passage Jesus was referencing. Here was Jesus, clearly associating himself as God. The high priest and the ruling religious leaders did not accept that Jesus was divine so they charged Him with blasphemy and sentenced Him to death.
The question that we have to wrestle with is the same one that C.S. Lewis postulated, and that is, who do you think Jesus is?
Regarding Jesus and his identity, Lewis formulated what has come to be known as the trilemma – Lord, Liar or Lunatic.
The basic premise is that when confronted with the person of Jesus, we have only these three possibilities. Either Jesus was a liar, He was a crazy person (a lunatic) or He is Lord.
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. — C.S. LEWIS, “Mere Christianity”
There can be no doubt that Jesus made claims of deity for himself. This passage is one of the clearest examples and it is the reason why the religious leaders crucified Him. If he was not making direct claims of deity, there would have been no reason to sentence Him.
Since it’s indisputable that Jesus made claims of deity for Himself, we must each decide how to interpret those claims. Was Jesus lying? If you believe He was lying then you cannot call Him a good teacher. Lewis states that it would be more appropriate to call Him the devil, for He convinced people to follow Him, entrusting their eternal destiny to Him and his teachings. That would be the most devious thing one could imagine….to convince others to follow you because you had the power to save them when in reality, you knew that to be false.
The second option is that Jesus was crazy. Lewis says that this level of craziness would be similar to a person who believed himself to be a poached egg.
Does Jesus see Himself as a poached egg? Does He exhibit any of the signs we normally associate with mental instability or cognitive impairment?
Hardly.
Actually, Jesus comes across as the most rational, logical and mentally coherent person who ever lived.
The only other possibility, then, is that Jesus is Lord.
How about you? Who do you think Jesus is?
Reflection
What has been. your understanding of the nature of Jesus before reading this passage and devotional post? How have you characterized the nature of Jesus to others in the past?
How would you respond to someone who did not believe that Jesus was divine? What arguments and passages would you use to demonstrate His divinity?
Explain the argument that if Jesus was lying about His divinity, then He cannot be a “good teacher.”
If Jesus is not God, what reasons would a person have for following Him and trusting Him as Savior?
What other passages, besides this one and the John 10:30 passage mentioned, give evidence that Jesus claimed to be God in human flesh?
The Lowedown 