Tag Archives: I AM

GUILTY AS CHARGED

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GUILTY AS CHARGED

Again the high priest asked Him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”  “I am,” Jesus said. Mark 14:61b,62a

“Are you the king of the Jews? asked Pilate. “It is as you say,” Jesus replied. Mark 15:2.

There was a deep irony in Jesus’ trial. The religious leaders had both a reason and a motive for wanting to kill Him. For years they had hounded Him for healing people on the Sabbath. This was the worst form of sacrilege for them because the Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic covenant (Exodus 31:14-17). To break the Sabbath was to cut oneself off from the blessings and privileges of the covenant. Jesus responded by claiming the right both to heal and to forgive sins on the Sabbath because He was the Son of God.

This enraged them even further because He was adding to His guilt of Sabbath-breaking, the sin of blasphemy, which was punishable by death, because He claimed to be equal with God. They thought they had a watertight case against Him. This may have been legitimate if the evidence did not point to the truth that He was the Son of God. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was honest enough to recognise that He was special.

Their motive for wanting to kill Jesus was envy, according to Pilate (Mark 15:9, 10). Envy has a deeper connotation than coveting what someone else is or has. By His compassionate and merciful treatment of the people whom they despised because they thought they were better, Jesus had shown the religious leaders up for what they were, selfish, greedy hypocrites and they hated him for that. He challenged their idea of God by revealing the Father in His words and works and they wanted to silence Him.

As Jewish leaders, they could legitimately charge Him with blasphemy, but they could not execute Him. Only the Roman government could do that. The Sanhedrin tried Him for blasphemy, and He was found guilty on His own admission. The only problem was that He was found guilty because of their prejudice, not because they had examined the evidence. In fact, Jesus was guilty of the claim He had made, not of blasphemy, according to their interpretation, but of being the Son of God.

To pass the death sentence, Rome had to find Him guilty of treason – claiming kingship in opposition to Caesar. And so, He was sent to Pilate for his verdict. Once again Jesus himself admitted to His claim to be king of the Jews but not, as the Sanhedrin accused Him, to oust Caesar but king of the Kingdom of God. Not even Pilate bought into their lie, but he gave in to their demands to save his own skin.

Was Jesus guilty as charged? No. He was not guilty of blasphemy or treason according to the indictment of the Sanhedrin but, yes, He was guilty of the claims He had made. He is Son of God and He is king of the Jews!

WATER AND LIGHT

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WATER AND LIGHT

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'” John 8:12 (NIV).

Although the interlude which records Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery doesn’t seem to fit, it apparently happened in the temple while He was teaching the people. The water ceremony which we spoke about in a previous post, was part of the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. The lighting of the candelabras took place on the second day of the feast.

“According to the Mishnah (part of the oral tradition of the rabbis), gigantic candelabras stood within the court of the women. Each of the four golden candelabras is said to have been 50 cubits high. A cubit is somewhere between 18 and 22 inches, so we’re talking about candelabras that were about 75 feet tall! Each candelabrum had four branches, and at the top of every branch there was a large bowl. Four young men bearing ten-gallon pitchers of oil would climb ladders to fill the four golden bowls on each candelabrum. And then the oil in those bowls was ignited.

“Picture sixteen beautiful blazes leaping toward the sky from these golden lamps. Remember that the Temple was on a hill above the rest of the city, so the glorious glow was a sight for the entire city to see. In addition to the light, Levitical musicians played their harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets to make joyful music to the Lord. What a glorious celebration! The light was to remind the people of how God’s Shekinah glory had once filled His Temple. But in the person of Jesus, God’s glory was once again present in that Temple. And He used that celebration to announce that very fact. He was teaching in the court of women just after the Feast, perhaps standing right next to those magnificent candelabras when He declared to all who were gathered there,”

(http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/BibleStudyAndTheology/jewishroots/Feast_of_Tabernacles_Jews_For_Jesus_David_Brickner.aspx?option=print)

Although many of the Jewish leaders were scathing about Jesus’ apparent origin in Galilee (because they failed to realize that He was born in Bethlehem as the Scripture had predicted), God had promised that a great light would shine out of Galilee (Isaiah 9:1,2).

The people were unwittingly using ceremonies and symbols which they did not understand while the fulfilment of their symbolic expectation was right there among them! They were celebrating their Messianic hope with physical light while Jesus was offering them a new life of freedom from the demands of selfishness and sin (darkness) so that they could live the lives He intended for them, living lovingly and generously towards others (light).

“‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'” John 8:12 (NIV).

There was pain in the heart of Jesus over the spiritual leaders of the nation who refused to recognize and come to Him as the light. He was inviting the people to set aside all their efforts to please God by following rules and rituals. God had set out His teaching (Torah) in His law but they had found it impossible to fulfil all His requirements. The leaders laid a heavy burden on the people through their yoke of legalism.

Jesus offered them a better way. ‘Follow me,’ He said, ‘and you will never walk in darkness.’ He told them that He had not come to do away with the law but to show them how to fulfil it. In His offer of “living water”, there was a promise that the Holy Spirit would be in them, like the water they drank every day to quench their thirst, to give them life and enable them the follow Him.

If they followed His way of life, living for others instead of for themselves, their lives would be filled with His light, the joy and peace of God that would bring them satisfaction and fulfilment instead of dissatisfaction and discontent.

He still invites us to follow Him!

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – WHO WAS ON TRIAL?

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WHO WAS ON TRIAL?

60 Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” 61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”
62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
63 The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. 64 “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”
They all condemned him as worthy of death. 65 Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him. Mark 14:60-65

Jesus’ composure in the face of the hubbub going on all around Him was remarkable. He did not respond to their foolishness, only to the High Priest’s serious question, “Are you the Messiah, Son of the Blessed?” Was Caiaphas genuinely wanting an answer or was this a trick question to trap Jesus into incriminating Himself?

Jesus reply sent Caiaphas into a frenzy. “Do you hear that?” he exploded. “Guilty of blasphemy – out of His own mouth!” Let us examine the situation closely. Many imposters had come and gone, men claiming to be their Messiah but who could not back up their claims. For the Jews, it would have been impossible to recognise the true Messiah without the prophetic fingerprint in the Old Testament. Was Jesus just another upstart who would disappear off the radar soon enough?

But there was one thing different about His claim. If they had taken the trouble to examine the evidence, they would have found a perfect match with Old Testament prophecy. God was smart. He ensured that there would be no mistake about who was telling the truth by writing history before it happened. Time and again, during the Old Covenant era, when His people insisted on worshiping the dumb idols of the surrounding nations, He challenged their gods to do what He did – tell them what would happen centuries later.

Since Jesus’ claim that He was the Messiah was the issue that finally clinched it for the Sanhedrin, was this the question that Caiaphas wrestled with, that drove his conscience in the night hours? Did Jesus’ behaviour and demeanour appear insane when He made a claim like that? His authority, His composure, His utter calmness and serenity in the terrifying circumstances, was disconcerting to them all.

When we put ourselves into this scene, we witness a strange reversal of what should have been happening. We should be seeing a justice system that was running on well-oiled wheels, not a judge and jury that were and behaving like children. We should have seen the accused either defiant or full of fear, trying to deny the charges or prove His innocence and yet – Jesus was in full control while His accusers were in disarray. How did Caiaphas and his cronies and Pilate sleep that night

The Power of “I AM”

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THE POWER OF “I AM”

“When He had finished praying, Jesus left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and He and His disciples went into it.

“Now Judas, who betrayed Him, knew the place because Jesus had often met there with His disciples.  John 18:1-2 NIV.

Gethsemane! It was almost as though Jesus and Judas had arranged to meet there.

No doubt Jesus had not discussed His next move with His disciples. He gravitated to the olive grove after the Passover meal almost from habit. Perhaps He felt claustrophobic after sitting for hours in the smoky Upper Room. He felt the stuffy heat of the enclosed room and the events of the next few hours closing in on Him. He needed the space and the cool, refreshing night air of the garden.

Judas had made a calculated guess as to where Jesus would go. He had slipped away from the group around the supper table to buy supplies, so John thought, or even to pop something into the offering box for the poor. But why at this hour of the night? No one suspected that he had left to commit a deed so heinous that no one would credit a human being for doing it to a fellow human being, least of all to one’s own rabbi.

Judas’ real reason for leaving was to tip the high priest off about Jesus’ whereabouts. Perhaps he was lurking in the shadows when the little group made its way through the darkened streets towards the outskirts of the city. He may have followed at a distance until he was sure of Jesus’ intention and then hurried off to Caiaphas to offer his services as a guide for the arresting party.

“So Judas came into the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

“Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to Him, went out and asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’ ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘I am He,’ Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing with them). When Jesus said, ‘I am He,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.” John 18:3-6 NIV.

Only John recorded this remarkable incident. Why was it important to him? The purpose of his gospel was to present Jesus as the Son of God. During the course of His disputes with the religious leaders, Jesus had already made it clear to them that it was He who had interacted with His people during the Old Testament era, revealing Himself to Abraham on many occasions and to Moses at the burning bush as the “I AM” and claiming the title, “I AM” in His “I Am” sayings.

But, according to John, He not only claimed the title but He also showed His enemies the power of that name. He was not merely saying, ‘I am the one you are looking for,’ but ‘”I AM”, Yahweh, the God of Israel.’ This was important because Jesus had made it clear that His crucifixion was not the choice of the religious hierarchy or the Roman government but a voluntary sacrifice planned by both the Father and the Son.

“‘I AM the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep… The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.'” John 10:14, 17-18 NIV.

Not only were His enemies to know who they were dealing with but also that they had no power to arrest Him. He would voluntarily hand Himself over to them and submit to everything they did to Him because He chose to submit, not because they had power over Him. . He could free Himself from their clutches at any time, but He didn’t because He chose to lay down His life for His sheep

If You Believe

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IF YOU BELIEVE 

“‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died…'” John 11:21 NIV.

“‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’ John 11:27 NIV.

How important these moments were with Martha before Jesus went to the tomb! He knew what He was doing. His delay and Lazarus’ death were part of a much bigger plan but…He needed to re-establish the bond of trust between Him and the sisters before He could give them their miracle.

“When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’” John 11:32 NIV

They were disillusioned and disappointed because He had failed them in their crisis. The first words they uttered when they saw Him revealed their heart attitude. Betrayal! He had betrayed their trust and they let Him know it.

He was straight with Martha. She was the practical one, the tough one, the vocal one, the one who took the lead. No words of rebuke in response! He made a simple, straightforward statement: ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha had a general appreciation of that fact but it did not ease the pain of losing her brother. Jesus knew that.

He took her on, one step at a time from acknowledging her belief in the resurrection to centring it on the one who stood before her. ‘I AM…’ Jesus assured her. Did she get the impact of that statement? No-one could claim to be I AM except the God who revealed His name to Moses in the desert. She answered Jesus’ challenge with an affirmation of her conviction that He was who He had revealed Himself to be…God’s Son and Messiah.

“…Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘Take away the stone,’ He said. ‘But, Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.’

“Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that, if you believe you will see the glory of God?'” John 11:38-40 NIV.

No, the impact of Jesus’ statement had not yet hit Martha. She did not connect the I AM with the rotting corpse in the tomb. Jesus was about to show her just how real resurrection was. This was not the final resurrection when bodies long decayed and returned to dust would come out of the graves, refashioned into the likeness of His glorious body, yet to be revealed after He too, like Lazarus, had tasted death; but God’s power, nevertheless, was displayed in bringing a decomposing body back to flesh-and-blood life!

Martha’s embryo faith had not yet reached that level of trust but, from Jesus’ point of view it was faith enough, although it was as minute as a grain of mustard seed. There was a flutter of hope; the connection had been made and He could reverse the process of death and show the grieving sisters and all who were there to sympathise with them the mercy and compassion of God.

What lesson did the sisters learn from this painful experience? What can we take for ourselves from the story? Is it worth trusting God when He seems silent and unmoved by our plea for help? If He says nothing, does nothing, never give in to the devil’s lie, ‘God does not care.’ He is preparing for a much bigger miracle, one that will put His glory on display and leave no doubt of His love and His power.

“God will not answer your prayers until He had put all the structures in place to maintain that answer.” His only answer is, “Will you trust me?”