Mark 14:60-62
There
are moments in life when everything seems to hang in the balance. All the tubes
are hooked up, the machine is beeping in the background, the people in bright garments
are gathered around the bed, family holding hands and praying. Beep, beep,
beep. Beeeeeeeeeee.
The
clock ticks on the scoreboard, five, four, three. The ball is in the air,
floating as time seems to stand still. Championship rings at stake. Test
results are in today, just a phone call away. Why won’t that phone ring
already! College acceptance decision letter has been mailed, due any day. Where
is that mailman?
Jesus’
life is the line. The leaders are trying to frame Him, to create a charge that
will stick, a charge worthy of His death. But everything they have tried has
failed. They can’t even manufacture any evidence.
But
since this isn’t a fair trial, the corrupt judge steps into the fray. All the
testimony hasn’t agreed. The prosecution’s case has fallen apart, and yet the
judge wants Jesus to answer the jumble of accusations. What’s to answer, since
they don’t say anything. It is just noise. And the judge knows it.
Jesus
chooses to stay silent at this moment. He knows anything He says would be
misconstrued. There is no need to defend against garbage. And even if He could
defend Himself, He knows death is just around the corner. This is the reason He
came into the world. He won’t avoid it. So He stays silent. He doesn’t answer
the jumble of charges.
And
then the high priest asks Him a direct question about His identity. Is Jesus
the Messiah, God in the flesh? This would be the perfect chance for Jesus to
tell them they got it all wrong. He could have answered that He was just a man,
a foolish prophet who got a big head and began believing His own propaganda. He
could backtrack on everything He said about life, God, Himself, the religious
leaders. But He didn’t. He could have recanted. He could have saved His own
life.
But
Jesus tells the whole Truth about Himself. Jesus is not afraid of the Truth.
And neither should we be. Even if the Truth leads to our death, we don’t need
to be afraid of it. Jesus ups the ante. He declares that He is the fulfillment
of all their Messianic hopes and dreams. He is worthy of sitting in the
position of power in Heaven because His rightful place of rule is heaven not
earth.
By
answering ‘yes’ to the high priest’s question, Jesus has sealed His fate. His
death is but a few breaths away. They have the ammo they think they need, even
though blasphemy isn’t a crime in the eyes of Rome. Rome could care less is
someone claimed to be God. All they cared about was law and order. And the
claim stated by a carpenter from the backwater town of Nazareth certainly
wouldn’t be perceived by Rome as a threat.