19th Day of Lent
Dear friends in Christ. In today’s reading we heard that Jesus was on trial, twice:
The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching…The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death…Then the high priest said to [Jesus], “I place you under oath by the living God: tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God!” Jesus said to him, “It is as you have said…Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy!...What do you think? They answered, “He is deserving of death!”
This was Jesus’ first trial that we heard tonight. Yes, Jesus was on trial and was condemned to death. But later on in today’s reading we hear of another trial. Why a second trial? For the simple fact that the first trial was illegal. Why was it illegal? That trial which found Jesus worthy of death for blasphemy was at night—when it was forbidden. The second trial—the one we hear about in our reading and text—was a “quickie” to confirm the verdict reached at the illegal night trial. Speed was the essence of it all—trying to get Jesus crucified before the people knew what was going on lest there be trouble in the streets.
That’s why St. Luke begins our text: As soon as it was day... Because time was of the essence, the Sanhedrin didn’t waste time with trying to get false witnesses. Instead, they simply asked the same thing that the High Priest Caiaphas had used that night to get damning testimony from Jesus. They asked Him, “If You are the Christ, tell us.” Jesus then sharply scolds them for their unbelief: “If I tell you, you will by no means believe and if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go.” In other words, Jesus says at this second trial: If I made the same claim again, you still would reject. Instead of repeating something they would certainly reject again, Jesus tells them the terrible consequence of their rejecting Him: Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.
The Jews, trying to confirm/ make legal their verdict of the illegal night trial, pounce on Jesus’ answer: Then they all said, “Are you then the Son of God?” And [Jesus] said to them, “You say I AM.” With this, Jesus isn’t just saying, “Yes.” Instead He is saying that He is the great “I AM” of the OT—JHWH, Jehovah, the God of the OT people, the Son of God. For example, when God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, Moses asked God what he should tell the Israelites if they asked him the name of God. And God said to Moses…”Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” [Ex 3.14] For Jesus to say/ to call Himself I AM, means that He is claiming that He is the true God, the God who revealed Himself in the OT. This is a very strong and powerful confession that Jesus gives; the confession that He is the true God. And the Jews understand exactly what Jesus is saying/ claiming that He is the true God. And they said, “What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”
What is fascinating in this trial scene is that we get a glimpse of the faith of the OT people. Yes, what we see in the Sanhedrin is a corrupted faith, but we still see a very vital truth that remains: they still recognized the Trinity; that is, they still recognized that there were Persons within the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The religion of the Jews today is not the same faith as even the corrupted faith of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day. Today the Jews have a Unitarian view of God—God is, at best, Father; a monolithic view of God. In Jesus’ trial scene we see that the faith even of the Sanhedrin recognized both the Son of God and thus obviously the Father as they asked Jesus: “Are you then the Son of God?” They did not outright deny—like Jews today do—that there are the Persons in the Godhead. They did not deny that there is the Son of God—but what they did reject was that Jesus was that Son of God. [When it comes to the Holy Spirit, remember in Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus, the righteous Pharisee, in John 3, Nicodemus did not balk when Jesus brought up the Holy Spirit.]
1. What a glorious confession that Jesus gave of Himself at this trial: I AM. This confession of Who He truly is, is spoken against His enemies—those who like the Sanhedrin reject Him. When they asked Jesus at this trial, “If You are the Christ, tell us”, they were not humble seekers of the truth. They did not ask to learn about Christ but instead to have ammunition to put Him to death. Here, their hearts were already decided against Jesus and no amount of talk would change that.
There is an interesting reversal here—the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, tries to condemn Jesus for saying, and rightly so, that He is the true God, I AM. But when Jesus says that He is the true God, the great I AM of the OT, and they reject it, that serves as their condemnation. Why? Because they are not just rejecting anyone; they are rejecting the one true God. They are rejecting the word and testimony of Jesus who proclaimed Himself true God and Savior of the world. Earlier Jesus had said [John 12. 48]: He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
By giving here the good confession of Who He is, I AM—the one true God and Savior of the world—Jesus is offering life to His hearers, but their rejection of Him and His message would condemn them. They had the chance to embrace life but freely chose death instead. It all comes down to belief: If I tell you, you will by no means believe.
Here is our Lenten call to self-examination. Do I rightly recognize Jesus as the true God and the Savior of the world? As my Savior from my sin and the wrath of God and damnation I earned by my sin? Am I receiving the forgiveness of sins and eternal life He offers and gives me in His word and Sacrament? Do I believe, that is, do put my trust and confidence in Jesus, the God? If we find that we do not or that are weak in our belief, let us, in all humility and sincerity, ask the same question as the Sanhedrin did that day in all hatred and hostility: If You are the Christ, tell us. Then let us go to Jesus always remembering that He does not turn us away, but promises us instead [Jn 6.37]: and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out; and let us listen to Him.
As we come to Jesus, asking Him if He is the Christ—the true God and Savior of the world—let us hear Him say to us: I AM. Let us in the word hear His preaching it; let us there join the crowds and witness the miracles confirming it; let us run to the Blessed Sacrament and there receive in our mouths His very body and blood given and shed for our forgiveness and life. Here the Holy Spirit is powerfully at work to create/ strengthen faith that Jesus is the great I AM.
Our text concludes: And [Jesus] said to [the Sanhedrin], “You say, I AM.” And they said, “What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.” From Christ’s own mouth they heard that He is the Son of God, I AM, that He rebuked their evil works and exposed their hypocrisy. What Jesus spoke against them stands because His verdict is certain and true—it is the verdict of God Himself. What a dreadful verdict to be under and here these men who thought they were putting Jesus on trial were instead getting the verdict: guilty. And that verdict stands because they rejected Jesus, the only way out of that verdict.
What we see this Lenten season is that Jesus came to this earth, became true man precisely so that God could pronounce Him guilty of all the sins of all the people ever to live so that He could go to the cross and suffer in our place all of God’s wrath and punishment. And He did that! He did that even for the Sanhedrin and for all His enemies down through the ages. But where Jesus is rejected, where His work is rejected, there is no hope. Our sins, guilt and condemnation still rest upon us. Then instead of Jesus being our Savior, He becomes our Judge. And that’s precisely what He tells those who were rejecting Him and trying to find reason to put Him to death: Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God. Jesus is the true God—equal to God because He is God. By confessing before His enemies that He is I AM and telling them Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God, He is warning them that they are about to kill the son of God, their Savior/ Messiah. Although they will put Jesus to death, the result is that He, the God-Man, will rule in heaven and on earth—and they are subject to Him as their Judge.
2. Jesus’ confession of who He is—the true God, I AM, is a terror to His enemies—even though now they may not realize it or recognize it. The grace in all of this is that Jesus calls them and us to trust in Him as Savior from sin, death, devil and hell. Jesus in His Word clearly proclaims to us who He is so may we use this Lenten season to hear once again Jesus telling us who He is and in faith may we then hold to Him and His work.
What a glorious thing for us, dear Christian, to hear Jesus boldly confess that He is the true God, I AM, and thus our Savior! When Jesus says He is I AM, He is saying that it is right that we put our trust in Him for He is the Son of God and the Savior of the world; our trust in Him and His work is not misplaced. That’s terribly vital and comforting for us because the devil, the world and our own sinful nature are always trying to get us to doubt Christ and His work. How often does the devil come to us and try to get us to think that our sins are so horrible and cannot be forgiven and so try to lead us into despair? Especially now in this Lenten season as we examine our hearts and lives to find, repent of and root out sin we need to hear Jesus telling us I AM: I am the true God and because I am the true God My sacrifice for your sins and the sins of all is sufficient; because I AM, the forgiveness of sins I bring you is certain and sure—no matter how grievous the sin.
All through His earthly ministry, Jesus’ preaching and His miracles, which confirmed His word, proclaimed Him the true God and Savior of the world. And that’s what Jesus testified all the way to the end—that He is the Son of God and therefore we sinners are reconciled to God by the death of the Son. [Jesus] said to them, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe and if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go.” Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God. Although it may not have looked like it at this trial, Jesus is the great I AM, the true God. Yet, the divinely ordained path for our salvation begins with Jesus’ humiliation and suffering but goes to His exaltation.
Here in our text, Jesus promises that victory: “If I tell you, you will by no means believe and if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go”, that is, you Sanhedrin have already decided to eliminate Me but I will suffer—not because you want it, but because I want it; I want to give up My life for the sins of the world—I want to endure the punishment for every sin of every sinner so that they may be reconciled to God. I can do it because I am the true God, the great I AM. Because I am the holy sinless God, sacrificing My life for the sins of the world, death cannot hold Me. Not only can death not hold Me but Hereafter I, the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God. Here is My resurrection and ascension; here is My heavenly enthronement; here is the certainty of your forgiveness.
First comes the crown of thorns—the suffering—but then comes the glory. Jesus is the true God who became also true man to be our Savior and because He reconciled us sinners to the holy God, He is exalted at the Right Hand of God the Father. Our forgiveness and salvation are sure! What a comfort for us and may we say in a good/ positive sense: What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth—Jesus is the Great I AM—the Son of God and our Savior. And He confessed it to the end. INJ