Day 18- Jesus before the Council

The high priest and the council viewed Jesus as just another man.  He's a man that has come on the scene teaching and making claims about himself that a man should not be making.  He did not fit their preconceived ideas of what the Messiah should look like and what he would do.  So, when he did not deny that he was the Messiah, that was blasphemy!  No man should claim to be God or the Messiah.  Perhaps they felt they were protecting God from this delusional man.  They certainly felt they were protecting the religious tradition they knew.  No man can claim to be God!  Blasphemy!  Put him to death!

Still today the claims of Jesus divide people.  The claims bring discomfort to the world.  If he really is the Messiah, God's Son, then that changes everything.  It would cause all people to think, act, and live very differently.  For some, the claims bring anger.  For some, indifference.  For some, questions.  For others, they are life and salvation.

My feelings are feelings of gratitude.  To think that God would send a saviour to the world, a saviour for me, is almost too much to comprehend.  I can understand why the high priest reacted as he did.  I can understand why the world today is still divided over Jesus.  On the human level it seems like foolishness.  But, to quote the Apostle Paul, "We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength."
1 Corinthians 1:23-25