Hands Of Hypocrisy - Preview

“I am,” Jesus said. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:62)

When Jesus was arrested, he was taken before Caiaphas, the high priest. There he was questioned as the Jewish leaders tried to find evidence that would earn Jesus the death sentence. They thought they had found one when two people came forward saying that Jesus had claimed he would destroy the temple and raise it up again in three days. But they couldn’t even agree on that.

That didn’t stop Caiaphas from pressing on with his mission. He continued to question Jesus whether he was the Christ. Even when Jesus gave him the answer he was looking for, as a warning, Caiaphas didn’t back down. As the High priest, he was supposed to know the prophecies concerning the Messiah, yet here he was and Caiaphas wouldn’t have been convinced if Jesus had told him so.

Are we sometimes guilty of questioning Jesus and not excepting the answer he gives us? In our prayers, do we ask for God to do something or give us something but refuse to accept it when he gives us the answer? Or when we ask for God to give us strengthened faith, do we refuse to go through the suffering that God plans to use to strengthen our faith? As sinners, we want to do things our way. We want to do things the easy way. We don’t want to do things God’s way.

Thanks be to God that through the hands of Caiaphas’ hypocrisy, we were brought salvation. Because of Caiaphas’ refusal to believe Jesus, he endured the cross for our sins. And thanks be to God that he uses my hands to grow his Kingdom, despite the fact that they too have been raised in hypocrisy against God. Amen.

The song for today is “There Is A Redeemer” by Keith Green

There Is A Redeemer

Trinity Lutheran