Hey, hope you're doing well. Uh Tim here, and we are diving deep into the book of Mark for Lent. Getting this episode out a little late. You, if you were around this weekend, you know there's been a lot of stuff happening at Hillcrest lately. And so uh yeah, recording this um a little before staff meeting Tuesday morning. But uh I wanted to touch base, I just wanted to go a little deeper into this uh trial between Jesus and Sanhedrin. Make a few more comments, kind of building off the stuff I said on Sunday, or maybe exploring some things I didn't get a chance to explore on Sunday. Um so we know Jesus, uh it's Thursday night. Uh he's been arrested, betrayed by Judas. He's taken before the Sanhedrin, this um uh kind of governmental body uh by the religious elite in Jerusalem. It's this quick sham trial in the middle of the night, trying to get a conviction that they then can go to the Roman authorities for a sentencing to death. This is their goal. Um, and we know that Jesus and the religious elite, this there's been tension building throughout the entire story of the book of Mark. And then in this last week with Jesus in Jerusalem, it's gotten really intense with the confrontation in the temple uh courts multiple times. And now they've said Jesus is too much of a threat. Um and uh they that because of his popularity and his confrontations, calling out the religious leaders and the temple itself, he needs to be eliminated. And they're trying to find kind of charges to bring against him. Um he's a false prophet, um, he's leading the people astray, these kinds of things, um, blasphemy. So they're they're looking for charges. And there's this moment um where the chief priest says, Are you the Messiah? Uh, son of the blessed one. And and I and Son of the Blessed One is really other language to describe the Messiah. Are you the Messiah, the anointed king? Um, and uh and then Jesus responds, and I just want to I want to take just another moment on Jesus' response. I just think it's so interesting. Jesus, and I talked some about this on Sunday, he combines Daniel 1, or Daniel 7, Psalm 110. Psalm 110 is uh one of the scriptures uh that I think a lot of times we don't know very well, but the um New Testament writers quote it, I think, more than any other scripture from the Hebrew from the Old Testament, from the Hebrew scriptures. I mean, they really relied on Psalm 110. And Jesus uh seems to be combining Psalm 110 and Daniel 7, hooking them together uh to say something about his identity. And it's it's pretty fascinating. So uh Daniel 7, um uh, you know, and on Sunday I really emphasized how Daniel 7's at trial scene, God is um condemning the beastly powers of the world, um, and I and that's all real and true, and I think the chief priests would understand what Jesus was saying. I want to focus a little more on Jesus' identity, what he was saying about himself. Um, because Daniel 7 ends with this um this mysterious son of man. Uh, in my vision at night, I look, this is Daniel 7, 13. There before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days, that's God, and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory, sovereign power, all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is everlasting dominion, and he will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. So, this human, you know, son of man, you could translate it the human one, the human one, the human being, the human, somehow is given all this authority, comes on the clouds, given this authority, um, dominion, kingship, and even worship. And so this is mysterious. And there's a lot more study to be done on Daniel 7. What was Daniel getting at? But there's this mysterious son of man. Well, Jesus connects that to Psalm 110 in his language. And Psalm 110, let me just flip over there. Um, yeah, Psalm 110 is a uh Psalm of David, and Jesus, I don't know if you remember this, when he was in the temple courts, he actually quoted Psalm 110 and he's and he said, How could how could David say call his son Lord? Um, how can you say the Messiah is just the son of David if David himself calls the Messiah Lord? I don't know if you remember that part. It doesn't matter if you don't. Um, but it it's a psalm that seems to be by David and seems to in some way refer to the Messiah. Let me just uh let me just point out um the way that works. In Psalm 110, it starts off the Lord, and that is um God's name. So Yahweh or um uh um yeah, Yahweh God, Yahweh, Yahweh says to my Lord. So Yahweh, this is in David's voice. So David is saying that Yahweh God says to David's Lord. So the question, of course, and this is what Jesus asked, um, who's David's Lord? Um, and it seems to be pointing to the Messiah, and then and then the next sentence is what Yahweh God said to David's Lord. And what Yahweh God said to David's Lord is sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. And so this Messiah figure, who is David's Lord, um, Yahweh God will seat this Messiah figure at Yahweh God's right hand until all his enemies are a footstool, until he has total victory. Um and uh and and um Jesus seems to be combining that because when you know, all the way back now to Mark um 14, uh Jesus says, I am, this is Mark 14, 62, and you will see the Son of Man, that's the Daniel 7 language, sitting at the right hand. Now, that sitting at the right hand, Daniel 7 doesn't say anything about the Son of Man sitting at the right hand. Psalm 110 does. Psalm 110 says the Messiah will sit at the right hand. Um, and so um that's why scholars say, hey, Jesus is combining these things. He's identifying the Son of Man with the Messiah, saying this, um, and because in both of these texts, both Psalm 10 110 and Daniel 7, they're both about this kind of um reign, this kingship, this reign victory being handed over to the Son of Man, Messiah figure. So Jesus seems to be claiming this incredible identity for him. So I'm the Son of Man, I'm the Messiah, and Yahweh God is on my side, he's gonna sit me at his right hand, he's gonna give me all kingship, authority, glory, um, and victory. Like, like what an incredible um uh claim. And so I just find a couple things to notice that I just find interesting. Um, it's so interesting that Jesus doesn't. Like, think about if you've followed through the book of Mark and the podcasts, you've probably noticed how much Jesus avoids audacious claims about his identity. Like he's he's quite circumspect about his identity, kind of, you know, even the transfiguration, like it only had he only invites three disciples up there to hear God's voice on the mountain. And, you know, that he pulls the disciples away. Who do you say that I am? Um, like he's constantly, because he knows his identity is gonna break their categories. Um, like he like he hasn't come in trumpeting his identity. And there's something very interesting about the fact that it isn't until his hands are tied behind his back and he is absolutely powerless from a human perspective, that he gets really blunt and clear about just how triumphant and magnificent his true identity is. Right? I mean, he's never used, he's never been this clear or this straightforward. I am the son of man, messiah, who will be given kingship and glory and victory and worship. He's never been that, especially to his opponents up until his hands are tied behind his back, they have complete seeming power over him. And and I think, I don't know, I I, you know, I think there's probably a lot of different things that we could say about this. Um but I think at least one of the things is I it just I think it's just getting me to reflect on how there's this line in 1 Corinthians um where Paul says, um, God's weakness is stronger than man's strength. And I've always reflected on the idea that God's weakness, um uh Jesus being like the prince who deserved to live in the castle, but takes off his royal robes, lays down his sword and scepter and crown, puts on beggars' clothes, and goes as goes into the slums to win people's hearts. That that God's weakness, um God dying for us, the Son of God laying his life down, the Son of God coming in humility and dying for us. God's weakness is able to do something that man's strength, you know, the Roman sword, the Roman cross, the Sanhedrin's guilty verdict, could never do, and that is namely changing a human being's heart. I mean the reality is um you can't, and we all know this, you can't change someone's heart through physical force. Win someone's heart through physical force. God's weakness, his self-giving sacrifice, is able to win human hearts in a way that human strength never could. And somehow, I don't know, for me, that that Jesus would wait until his hands are tied behind his back and he is surrounded by enemies. He would wait until that moment to be this clear about his magnificent identity. Somehow for me, it's tied into the fact that that that ultimately Jesus' mission is to win human hearts. Um and uh and that that God knows it's in God's vulnerability. And our ability, frankly, to just like the Sanhedrin, to to reject him if we choose. I mean, this is the great, the great mystery of of human history, right? That God chooses to give human beings the freedom um to reject him and walk in injustice and hatred and sin and violence, or um to trust um in his rescue for us. And so um I invite you, you know, as we continue kind of through Jesus' passion to to meditate on um the Son of God who waits until this moment to name all that he is uh to even his human enemies and what that says about how he comes to win our hearts. All right, praise and peace.