Posted on 04/12/2024 12:09:15 AM PDT by metmom
“‘Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; what do you think?’ They answered and said, ‘He is deserving of death!’” (Matthew 26:65-66).
Like many through the centuries, members of the Sanhedrin rejected Jesus Christ without fairly judging all the evidence.
Lynching is an activity we don’t hear much about today. But during earlier generations, the heinous crime occurred quite regularly. Innocent people, or those merely presumed guilty (prior to any trial), were tortured and killed, usually by angry, hateful mobs. Often the person lynched was a victim of racial or political prejudice or some other irrational fear held by the perpetrators.
The members of the Sanhedrin certainly held blind prejudices against Jesus. No amount of evidence would open their eyes to the truth of who He was. Those unbelieving leaders of Israel discounted Jesus’ claims to deity long before they placed Him on trial. He had even pleaded with them, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father” (John 10:37-38).
In today’s passage the high priest Caiaphas reacts forcefully to Jesus’ agreement that He is God’s Son and the Messiah (see Matt. 26:64). Caiaphas’s mind was made up; he was convinced that Jesus had blasphemed, and he was determined to rush forward with this “evidence” to condemn Jesus to death. Caiaphas and the Council could barely wait to render a verdict. The high priest asked for their opinion on Jesus’ guilt, and immediately the Council members asserted, “He is deserving of death!”
The irony of the Jewish leaders’ condemnation of Jesus was their blind insistence that He was a blasphemer when in reality they were the blasphemers for their rejection of the Lord and His message. Even more sobering is that every person who has ever finally rejected Christ is also guilty of blasphemy and will suffer the same fate as the chief priests and elders: “He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
Suggestions for Prayer
Pray for someone you know who has been closed to the gospel. Ask God to open his or her heart and grant him or her repentance.
For Further Study
Read Hebrews 3—4. What spiritual attitude do these chapters warn of? What Old Testament parallel does the writer make?
From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.
Studying God’s Word ping
It is notable that it was the “religious” who murdered God. Jesus was a threat to their “man must do so and so in order to be accepted by God” “religion”
Religion = a finite fallible man reaching up towards God with good works.
Christianity =God reaching down to undeserving man, accepting him just as he is.
Man tries to earn his way to God by doing certain things, while the Christian knows that any “good works” that we do is as filthy rags in God’s sight.
He will accept us just as we are if we will just cast ourselves upon His mercy “Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out” ( John 6:37 ).
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