Daily Devotion

16 April – What is the evidence?

Audio

Prepare

We are in the Holy Week and today is Holy Wednesday, the 16^th of April. Let us be still for a moment.

Psalm Reading

We begin by listening to Psalm 102, verses 12-17.

¹² But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;
    you are remembered throughout all generations.
¹³ You will arise and have pity on Zion;
    it is the time to favor her;
    the appointed time has come.
¹⁴ For your servants hold her stones dear
    and have pity on her dust.
¹⁵ Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
    and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord builds up Zion;
    he appears in his glory;
¹⁷ he regards the prayer of the destitute
    and does not despise their prayer.

Scripture Reading

We continue to follow Luke’s account of the events after the Passover meal, in Luke 22:54-71. Listening to verses 63 to 71.

⁶³ Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. ⁶⁴ They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” ⁶⁵ And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.

⁶⁶ 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, ⁶⁷ “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, ⁶⁸ and if I ask you, you will not answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” ⁷⁰ So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” ⁷¹ Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.”

Reflections

Each of the four gospels present an account of the trial of Jesus Christ.  More accurately, the trial-s, because there were two – the first by the Council or the Jewish religious body of the day; the second by Pontius Pilate representing Rome as the-then political master.   

Our reading today is about the first trial, the trial by the Jews, according to the Law and the Prophets.

So what was the charge laid against Jesus?

“If you are the Christ, tell us.”  This is not an indictment. Unless, the person asking has already made up his mind, that this Jesus cannot possibly be the Christ, so that this utterance becomes an invitation to self-incriminate.  Like a trap.  But why is it an impossibility for Jesus to be the long-awaited Christ?  What is the evidence, both for and against?

This is not the first time the question had been put to Jesus.  We listened to a long, and public discourse Jesus had with the Jews on this very question in our devotional on 3 April 2025 (Shepherd-ology II), based on the reading of John 10:22-42.

Earlier in Luke’s account, an imprisoned John the Baptist sent messengers to ask essentially the same question of Jesus – “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 7:18-23)

So is the Council asking now, because they do not know the answer? Or because they do not like the answer they already know about, and are looking for ways to get rid of it?

Jesus’ reply – “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer.” – is true, isn’t it?

“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.”

What did the Council hear again at this trial? “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.”  The only way there can be a problem with this statement is if it is untrue, i.e. Jesus is not in fact the Son of Man, not the Christ, not divine in his nature and origin.  There is no proof that he isn’t.  Pointing the other way is three years’ worth of public ministry that produced thousands of witnesses, some of whom we met earlier in this series of devotionals, like the blind man who received sight (31 Mar 2025 (Born this way)) and the Samaritan woman by the well (6th March – Give me this Water).

If Jesus did lie, the guilt or conviction would have been for blasphemy, i.e. claiming to be God when he is not.

If Jesus told the truth, this charge of blasphemy would fall apart instantly because he is God Himself.

We recall the words of CS Lewis today, though an excerpt of his writings in  Mere Christianity.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. 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. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” – CS Lewis

There is a clear fork in the road now.  We have heard the evidence. How would you weigh this up? It is not Jesus’ life that hangs in the balance now, but ours, yours and mine. Which way would you go?

Collect/Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race
sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross: 
grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility, 
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

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