Tell us if You are the Christ

And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the

Christ, the Son of God.” 64 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.”

Matthew 26:63-64

Tell us if You are the Christ

Sunday, we resumed our study of Matthew’s gospel and saw how the arrest and first trials of Jesus reveal both human wickedness and divine purpose. The narrative traces Jesus from Gethsemane to the high priest’s palace, noting the irregular procedures, the search for false witnesses, and the legal violations that marked the proceedings. Jesus’ measured silence before fabricated charges is presented as a fulfillment of prophecy

and a moral indictment of His accusers.

When pressed to declare His identity, Jesus affirms His divine messianic identity by invoking the Son of Man, the right hand of power, and the clouds of heaven. Caiaphas’s theatrical tearing of robes and the council’s hasty verdict expose how truth was trampled by fear, power, and religious self-preservation.

The account is held together with theological clarity: these events were foreknown and ordained within redemptive history, and the humiliation Jesus accepted was the route chosen to accomplish reconciliation. The paradox is highlighted—Jesus’s apparent defeat at the hands of unjust judges is the pathway to cosmic victory.

The practical application of meditating on the passage: 1) confidence in Scripture as the trustworthy record, 2) the call to recognize Jesus’ identity, 3) and the urgency of responding to, and sharing, the gospel.