Jesus’ Trial Before Caiaphas

Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas, the high priest, demonstrates that He is the divine Son of God. First, those who were trying to prove him guilty could not find any reason for which to condemn Him. This was to fulfill what had been prophesied of the Messiah in Isaiah 53:9, namely that “He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.” Second, when bogus charges were finally brought against Jesus, He did not defend Himself. Listen to Matthew 26 starting in verse 62: “And the high priest stood up and said to Him, ‘Do you make no answer?’…But Jesus kept silent.” Again, according the prophet Isaiah this marked Him as the Messiah, because “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth.” Finally, the High priest said to Him once more, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” And Jesus responded, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” At this response Caiaphas had had enough, exclaiming, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold we have now heard the blasphemy…” Why the strong reaction? What was the blasphemy? Well, Jesus made it clear. By applying the term Son of Man to Himself in the way that He did, Caiaphas understood that He was claiming to be the Messiah who possessed the authority of Almighty God.

Caiaphas called it blasphemy. What do you call it?

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective.”