Mark 14:61-65 Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.
What would it mean to you to strike God with your fist? In the original Hebrew text, the name of God was considered too holy to pronounce. He was too immense and all powerful, so beyond human understanding, for his name to be uttered by mere men. When we see LORD in the Old Testament it represents Yahweh, and it was not spoken or read out loud in honor and deference to God's holiness and man's insignificance. Men from the beginning had a sensitivity to this Holy Being who had existed forever, a creator no one could adequately define or express in human terms. No sound uttered from man's lips could sufficiently express the reality of this Blessed One. But in today's text, as mere men dare to condemn Jesus, we see them spitting on and hitting Jesus the Son of God. God allowed this to happen, and these events fulfill prophecy. Isaiah wrote: all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. But he went on to say, Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness, depicting the brutality Jesus would face at his death. (Isaiah 52:10 & 14) Yet these men seemed totally unaware that this man in the flesh was the Son of God. They were man-handling Jesus as if he were but a man, abusing him emotionally, psychologically, and physically. Arrogantly, they dealt with him, not understanding He was the Christ, so They all condemned him as worthy of death. For sure, they knew not what they were doing, for they were abusing the Creator of all that is, was, and ever will be. He who designed and made at least 200 billion galaxies, with each galaxy consisting of at least 100 billion stars, and each star having many bodies of material moving around it, such as our own planet. They acted ignorantly and violently; but they were able to act only because the Father God allowed the Creator, his Son, to be struck that day. The One that John 1:3 says Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
How often we view Jesus as just a superior, loving man--a man, yes, perhaps incarnated with divinity, but basically a person like we are. Of course in his biological flesh, He was just as we are, experiencing everything as we experience life. He had to experience the pain and the vicissitudes of living, the temporariness of life. The writer of Hebrews says Jesus understands everything in creation and goes on to write, Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:14-15) Jesus experienced all of life so He could share in everything we endure and have compassion for us. But Jesus' can never wear the same tag of mere human: He is the Son of God incarnated. God confirmed this at Jesus baptism and again at the Mount of Transfiguration: While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. (Matthew 17:5-8) Jesus was the Word in the flesh: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. (John 1:1-2) When they beat Jesus, we see his true identity hidden behind his biological weakness. We see men who are stronger who are able take him under their authority and maltreat him because Jesus did not resist them. It seems, we see the victory of wicked flesh over the spirit of goodness as exemplified in Jesus' life and ministry. However, spitting, striking, ridiculing, Jesus, even putting him in the grave, was not the end of the story, but the beginning of new life and a new way to God's domain.
When Jesus went to the cross and the grave, He gave all He had, his biological life. He was the Lamb of God, innocent, led to slaughter. The psalmist declared God would redeem his son from the grave: Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. (Psalm 16:9-10) God sent the Holy Spirit to resurrect Jesus into new life, the same resurrection life that raises us from the pit of sin. When we place our faith and hope in Jesus Christ and accept him as our Savior, we are resurrected with him to new life. The men who persecuted Jesus thought of him as mere man and could not fathom He was the Son of the Blessed One. But He was the creator of the life within them, the One who could show them the way to the Father's house. If He would have taken their breath, their life, away from them in that hour, they would have fallen at his feet as lifeless bodies. But He did not; He endured their abuse, for He did not come to condemn them. When Jesus told people God loved the world and whoever believed in him would be saved, He also said, For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:17) With such a loving Savior, how then should we respond to him? How often do we abuse Jesus? How often do we fail to recognize who He really was and is to us today? Sometimes, we are the ones who strike at him and dishonor his name by not putting him, The Creator, above everything in our lives. We are blessed to just say his name, the name above all names. Yes, He is truly so great, so mighty, so holy, that we mere humans should not even have the privilege to say his name. But He honors us by allowing us to use his name to escape the land of the dead: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) This is our day to exalt the Lord, to give him honor and glory! Paul wrote: And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:8-11) We bow before you, Lord!
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