Matthew 26:63b-66
Then the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?” They answered, “He deserves death.”
And then comes the question that demands a response. It is no longer false accusations or bogus charges. It is a question about identity. Jesus’ identity: “Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?” And so Jesus breaks his silence to speak.
To speak, but not simply to answer. Whereas we may imagine the high priest hoped for a “yes” or “no” answer, Jesus instead does two things. First, he turns the question back onto the questioner: “You have said so.” Is Jesus, I wonder, talking about what just happened, that in asking the question Caiaphas has said those words? Or is he referring to other times when people – perhaps some of Caiaphas’ own people – have made that claim? We don’t know. We do know that Jesus turns the question back to Caiaphas and in this way invites his own confession or denial of faith.
But he doesn’t stop there. Jesus doesn’t, that is, simply employ a rhetorical device in order to stonewall Caiaphas. Instead, he makes Caiaphas a promise: he, the high priest who accuses Jesus, will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and come on the clouds of heaven.
But what kind of promise is this? To make sense of what Jesus is saying, it helps to understand that the phrase “seated at the right hand of Power” likely does not designate some place up in heaven, just to the right of wherever God happens to be. Rather, to sit at someone’s right hand was to enjoy their favor and to exercise their authority. So that phrase – seated at the right hand of Power – likely designates that Jesus will act on God’s behalf, exercising God’s own authority for the sake of God’s beloved children.
Indeed, he already has done that. Each time Jesus has forgiven sins he granted the pardon that belongs to God. And at times that’s precisely what his accusers said as well, protesting that, “Only God can forgive sin.” Now Jesus doesn’t simply exercise that authority in the moment – healing and forgiving in God’s name – but lays claim to the right, as God’s own Son, to do just that whenever and wherever there is need.
And for making the promise and claiming the authority to forgive and restore and heal whenever there is need, Jesus is sentenced to die. Those who surround him are not prepared to concede him that authority and thereby find his very presence and the promise of forgiveness (which of course implies the need for forgiveness) too threatening to allow him to live.
And in his dying the second part of his promise comes to expression. For Caiaphas and all those gathered will see him come on the clouds of heaven – that is, come in all of God’s glory. But it is the unexpected glory of sacrificial love, as Jesus will go to the cross for no other reason than to make manifest just how far God will go to communicate God’s love for each and all of us.
Prayer: Dear God, you have given all authority over to your Son and he, in turn, has used it to forgive, love, and restore us to right relationship with you and each other. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: “Christ before Caiaphas,” Giotto (c. 1305)
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