Tuesday of Holy Week (April 15). YOU SAY SO

Prepare to Listen.  O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!  (Ps 118:1)
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 22:66-23:5
66When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council.  67They said, ‘If you are the Messiah, tell us.’  He replied, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe; 68and if I question you, you will not answer.  69But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.’  70All of them asked, ‘Are you, then, the Son of God?’  He said to them, ‘You say that I am.’  71Then they said, ‘What further testimony do we need?  We have heard it ourselves from his own lips!’
 
1Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate.  2They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.’  3Then Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’  He answered, ‘You say so.’  4Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no basis for an accusation against this man.’  5But they were insistent and said, ‘He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
What surprised or perplexed you about Luke’s account of Jesus before the Jewish council and Pilate?
 
The morning after his arrest, the chief priests and scribes brought Jesus before their council, the Jewish rulers.  Luke gives a brief account of what happened, focused on two accusations, both related to Jesus’ identity, and his response.  First, they demanded, “If you are the Messiah, tell us.”  Jesus refused.  He knew their minds were set against him and closed to the truth.
 
The second accusation was provoked by Jesus when he claimed, “from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”  The rulers heard this as a claim to be God’s Son and accusingly asked, “Are you, then, the Son of God?”  Jesus merely responded, “You say that I am.”  It convinced them that Jesus had committed blasphemy and so they dragged him before Pilate, for the first, and briefest, of two trials before him.
 
Since blasphemy wasn’t a criminal offense, they accused Jesus of a political crime—to overthrow Rome and take over as ruler.  None of their accusations were true.  Pilate asked just one question: “Are you the king of the Jews?”  Jesus’ response is the same as the one he gave to the Jewish rulers, “You say so.”  He neither defended himself nor explained what he meant.  Pilate was forced to take responsibility about Jesus’ fate.  He tried to avoid it by sending him to Herod (Lk 23:6-12).  But that didn’t work, as we’ll read tomorrow.
 
Reflect on Jesus’ responses.  What do they teach you about Jesus and how should that influence how you live?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord Jesus, you willingly stayed the course of suffering for the salvation of the world.  Help me live more like you.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Live humbly, as Jesus did.