The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ | Page 8

were annihilating one another; nor did He now answer a word in
response to the high priest's interruption. He did not need to speak:
silence spoke better than the loudest words could have done. It brought
home to His judges the ridiculousness and the shamefulness of their
position. Even their hardened consciences began to be uneasy, as that
calm Face looked down on them and their procedure with silent dignity.
It was by the uneasiness which he was feeling that the high priest was
made so loud and shrill.
In short, he had been beaten along this second line quite as completely
as he had been along the first. But he had still a last card, and now he
played it. Returning to his throne and confronting Jesus with theatrical
solemnity, he said, "I adjure Thee by the living God that Thou tell us
whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God." That is to say, he put Him
on oath to tell what He claimed to be; for among the Jews the oath was
pronounced by the judge, not by the prisoner.
This was one of the great moments in the life of Christ. Apparently He
recognised the right of the high priest to put Him on oath; or at least He
saw that silence now might be construed into the withdrawal of His
claims. He knew, indeed, that the question was put merely for the
purpose of incriminating Him, and that to answer it meant death to
Himself. But He who had silenced those by whom the title of Messiah
had been thrust upon Him, when they wished to make Him a king, now
claimed the title when it was the signal for condemnation. Decidedly
and solemnly He answered, "Yes, I am"; and, as if the crisis had caused
within Him a great access of self-consciousness, He proceeded,
"Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of
power and coming in the clouds of heaven." [6] For the moment they
were His judges, but one day He would be their Judge; it was only of
His earthly life that they could dispose, but He would have to dispose
of their eternal destiny.
It has often been said that Christians have claimed for Christ what He
never claimed for Himself; that He never claimed to be any more than a

man, but they have made Him a God. But this great statement, made
upon oath, must impress every honest mind. Every effort has, indeed,
been made to deplete its terms of their importance and to reduce them
to the lowest possible value. It is argued, for example, that, when the
high priest asked if He were "the Son of God," he meant no more than
when he asked if He were "the Christ." But what is to be said of
Christ's description of Himself as "sitting on the right hand of power
and coming in the clouds of heaven"? Can He who is to be the Judge of
men, searching their hearts to the bottom, estimating the value of their
performances, and, in accordance with these estimates, fixing their
eternal station and degree, be a mere man? The greatest and the wisest
of men are well aware that in the history of every brother man, and
even in the heart of a little child, there are secrets and mysteries which
they cannot fathom. No mere man can accurately measure the character
of a fellow-creature; he cannot even estimate his own.
How this great confession lifts the whole scene! We see no longer these
small men and their sordid proceedings; but the Son of man bearing
witness to Himself in the audience of the universe. How little we care
now what the Jewish judges will say about Him! This great confession
reverberates down the ages, and the heart of the world, as it hears it
from His lips, says, Amen.
The high priest had achieved his end at last. As a high priest was
expected to do when he heard blasphemy, he rent his clothes, and,
turning to his colleagues, he said, "What need have we of witnesses?
behold, now ye have heard His blasphemy." And they all assented that
Jesus was guilty, and that the sentence must be death.
Sometimes good-hearted Bible-readers, in perusing these scenes, are
troubled with the thought that the judges of Jesus were conscientious.
Was it not their duty, when anyone came forward with Messianic
pretensions, to judge whether or not his claim was just? and did they
not honestly believe that Jesus was not what He professed to be? No
doubt they did honestly believe so. We must ascend to a much earlier
period to be able to judge their conduct accurately. It was when the
claims of Jesus