Luke 22:66-71

Scripture:Luke 22: 66-71 “When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer.  But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”  So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.”  Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips."

Observation:This passage describes the questioning before the Sanhedrin. In the final hours of Jesus’ life, he was tried multiple times, all in the effort to find a charge or conviction that would give the religious leaders cause to have Him executed.  In this passage Jesus is asked directly if he is in fact the Son of God. He initially says that even if he made such a statement that his accusers would not believe Him, even though He would be seated at the right hand of the power of God. He then answers, to the delight of his accusers who now think they have all the evidence they need. 

We can sometimes be like the Sanhedrin. We can often see Jesus but forget who He really is. In this scripture the accusers didn’t really believe that Jesus was God. They just wanted Him to claim He was so they could charge him with blasphemy, impersonating a king, or whatever else it took to execute Him and get Him out of the way.  And they surely didn’t even consider that they would have to face Jesus again, face to face, with the situation completely reversed. We see Jesus too but sometimes we tend to forget that He is our King. We can relegate Him to Sunday morning, Easter, Christmas, or, like the Sanhedrin, we can use what He says for our own agendas. We know intellectually who Jesus is, but do we deeply believe He is our Lord and Savior? Or are we too caught up in our own lives?  And, even worse, we forget that we WILL one day stand before him as He judges us!

The good news is that Jesus loves us and died for us. And our sins are forgiven!  Romans 8:1 declares that there is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  That’s the hope of the resurrection. That’s why Jesus suffered for us. We are forgiven and can stand before Him blameless when He comes again.

Application: Do I believe that Jesus truly is the Lord of My life? Do I try to serve Him always, not just when it is convenient?

Prayer: Dear Jesus thank you for coming to sacrifice your life to save mine. Help me to never forget that You are Lord of my life and that I will serve You.  Amen.

Jack Wells