He Remained Alone

63 The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him. 64 They blindfolded him and said, “Prophesy to us! Who hit you that time?” 65 And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him.

 Next…Jesus before the Council

66 At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, 67 and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”

But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. 68 And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.”

70 They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”

And he replied, “You say that I am.”

71 “Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”

Let’s start with the bullying first.

The guards knew Jesus was considered an “outcast.” They knew the attitudes of the religious leaders. The guards followed along. They acted according to popular opinion: Jesus was a rebel. He did not fit in the religious system of the day. That put Him beneath them. It gave the guards the reason to bully, the motivation to assault and mock Jesus. They did.

Jesus took these attacks alone.

No one tried to stop them. No one defended Him.

Next, examine the condemnation.

Often, we believe what we want to hear. When we have an agenda, we even believe things we do not hear.

The agenda was death for Jesus.

What did the religious leaders hear Jesus say? He said, “You say that I am.” This was Jesus response to the question they asked Him “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?” Jesus knew, He told them, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me.” They didn’t. They had already condemned Him. When we become worked up over an issue, actual truth often escapes us. There are times it possible we do not even care about the truth…it is the issue that matters. This was one of them.

This time the issue was Jesus. He was a problem for them. He exposed their hypocrisy. He threatened their “system” of religion. Jesus strongly challenged the religious system. For the religious leaders, truth was optional. No matter that the words of Jesus did not confirm their question. They were not looking for the truth. Condemnation was the goal. Whatever Jesus said would be sufficient for death

Jesus faced this injustice alone.

No one stood for Him. No one defended Him.

Jesus, is both man and God. He is fully human, fully God. As a man, alone, Jesus suffered. That day He was humiliated, beaten and in pain. He was dealt a grave injustice.  As, God, Jesus knew the present suffering and injustice would lead to the cross. He had already spoken to God the Father about it in the garden where the disciples first slept, then fled from Him.

He remained alone.

Make this personal…do we mock and bully Jesus? Do we consider Jesus an outcast? The guards did. Do we hold prejudice and bias against Jesus? Do we have preconceived ideas about Jesus? Does Jesus upset our life system? Have we condemned Him already? The religious leaders did.

As we consider these questions remember the truth, Jesus is the Son of God.