66 In the morning the council of the people’s leaders, the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings, gathered together. They brought Jesus in front of their highest court and asked him, 67 “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”
Jesus said to them, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. 68 And if I ask you, you won’t answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne.”
70 Then all of them said, “So you’re the Son of God?”
Jesus answered them, “You’re right to say that I am.”
71 Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We’ve heard him say it ourselves.”
Read Luke 22:66-71 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
When the religious leaders arrest Jesus and bring Him to trial, we can read an interesting phrase in the gospel of Luke that helps frame why Jesus was rejected by the religious leaders of that time.
While the trial was happening, somewhat unsuccessfully, the religious leaders turn to Jesus an simply point blank ask Him: “Tell us, are you the Messiah?” (v. 67a)
This is important for our discussion because these religious leaders had a picture of who the Messiah would be, and what role the Messiah would take. Jesus seemed to act like “a Messiah”, but He wasn’t really acting the role of “the Messiah” they were looking for.
Jesus’ response to these leaders is amazing. He responds by saying, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. And if I ask you, you won’t answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne.” (v. 67b-69)
Jesus was not the Messiah that the Jewish leaders expected to see, and Jesus responds by telling them that if He admits to being the Messiah that God had promised to their ancestors, they wouldn’t believe Him anyways – and they wouldn’t be open to a discussion about it either.
Claiming to be the Messiah was certainly something Jesus could have done, but it would serve no point when these religious leaders only had one picture of the Messiah that would come, and their picture was flawed when compared with the Messiah God was sending into the world.
So to these religious leaders, Jesus was not the Messiah; He didn’t fit the role they had created for their messiah to fit into. But Jesus was a Messiah – Jesus was the Messiah that God had promised would come from the point where Adam and Eve sinned and were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
There was no way for Jesus to convince these leaders He was the Messiah, because they were only open to a messiah role that Jesus wouldn’t fit. So Jesus doesn’t even try to make that claim. Instead, He leans on His relationship to God the Father, and He focuses on this instead.
This also challenges me to ask myself if I am trying to make Jesus fit a role He was never meant to fit in my own life. If so, it would be wise to open my mind to the role He was meant to play.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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