by Ptr. Art Calaguas
Shalom.
In the Gospel of Mark, there is one more εγώ εἰμι (“I AM”) declaration of our Lord Jesus made after his arrest and during his trial. This is found in Mark 14:62 and brings us back to the trial of our Lord before the Ἰουδαῖοι (the Jewish authorities and parties opposing our Lord) and Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor (Greek ἡγεμών, “hegemon”) of Judea.
From the 4 Gospels it is evident that there were 2 phases of the trial of our Lord Jesus: the Jewish Ἰουδαῖοι part which encompassed the Lord’s appearance before Annas, Caiphas and the entire Council/Supreme Court (Greek συνέδριον, “sunedrion” or “Sanhedrin”) and the Roman part which was before Pilate, then Herod (Antipas), and finally, back to Pilate. While the Synoptic Gospels name Caiaphas, the ruling high priest appointed by the Romans, only John’s Gospel mentions our Lord being first led to Annas before Caiaphas (see John 18:12-14). Annas was the former high priest and father-in-law of Caiaphas. For the Jews, the position of high priest was for life, but the Romans appointed Caiaphas to replace him. It is from the Gospel of Luke that we know that Pilate sent the Lord to Herod since as a Galilean, he was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee (see Luke 23:6-12); and incidentally, the executioner of John the Baptizer. Luke’s Gospel also notes that both Herod and Pilate did not find the Lord Jesus guilty of the charges leveled by the Ἰουδαῖοι that called for the death sentence.
Focusing now on the account of the trial with the high priest Caiaphas in the Gospel of Mark, our Lord is accused by several false witnesses in the attempt to pin him down. This is narrated in Mark 14:53-65. Toward the end, the high priest questions our Lord and asks if he has anything to say about the accusations against him. The Lord remained silent until he was asked this question (in Mark 14:61; with my formal translation):
…Σὺ εἶ ὁ χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ εὐλογητοῦ;
…Are you the Messiah/Christ, the Son of the Blessed (One)?
The Gospel records our Lord’s reply in the next verse (Mark 14:62; followed by my formal translation):
ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν· Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ ὄψεσθε τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκ δεξιῶν καθήμενον τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ ἐρχόμενον μετὰ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.
And Jesus said: I AM, and you will see the Son of Man sitting from the right hand/side of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.
The question of the high priest needs to be unpacked. The Jews, in general do not want to inadvertently misuse the name of God and thus use a number of ways or euphemisms to avoid this. The “Blessed One” (from the Greek εὐλογητός, “eulogetos” meaning blessed, worthy of praise) used in the question in verse 61 is one such way. The Greek word is an adjective used only 8 times in the New Testament (NT) and only in reference to God (the Father). Used with the definite article here in Mark 14:61, it properly should be read as “Blessed One” (NB. This usage is unique in Mark’s Gospel). Hence, in effect, the question is “Are you the Messiah/Christ, the Son of God?”
To the previous accusations and question(s), the Lord Jesus did not answer and remained silent; but in this question, he gave a powerful affirmative answer to the high priest and the entire Sanhedrin. Our Lord Jesus emphatically answers that “I truly/really AM the Messiah/Christ!” And not only that, he quotes 2 Old Testament (OT) scriptures as well: Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13-14.
Because he quotes Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13-14, there seems to be no doubt that our Lord wanted his audience to grasp the implications of his εγώ εἰμι (“I AM”) declaration that we have studied in its numerous uses in the Gospel of John. Here, in the Gospel of Mark, 2 aspects of his Messianic character are brought to light in Mark 14:62. First, Psalm 110:1 is a psalm attributed to David and the Royal Messiah that comes from his line. The LORD God makes his Messiah sit at his right hand/side; this being a symbol of authority, honor, distinction and power in ancient Near East literature, aside from the OT itself. The “right hand/side of Power” is parallel to Psalm 110:1 where “Power” is a direct translation of the Greek δύναμις, “dunamis” which Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines as power, strength, and/or ability. It is also used as a way of referring to God and/or his miraculous power. The context of Psalm 110 shows that the LORD’s Messiah will be victorious over his enemies and execute judgment over the nations.
When Caiaphas asked if our Lord Jesus was the Messiah, he probably thought of the Messiah as a human being. During those times, the Jewish majority thinking was that the Messiah would be human (although some Second Temple literature presents alternatives). This is where Daniel 7:13-14 comes in to present the second aspect of this Messiah: he is a divine being! If the emphatic εγώ εἰμι together with the allusion to the Davidic Messiah sitting at God’s right side angered the high priest, the other part of the Lord’s answer was clearly blasphemous in the ears of the Ἰουδαῖοι.
Daniel 7:13-14 has the “son of man” coming with the clouds of heaven and presented before the Ancient of Days (the LORD God). No mere mortal human being normally comes with the clouds of heaven, so the implication is quite clear; this son of man was more than human. And since his dominion given by the Almighty is an everlasting dominion, this “son of man” is indeed divine. Note also the context of the entire Daniel chapter 7 where the 4 beasts (Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Macedonian-Greek, and Roman empires) are prophetically revealed (see parallel in Daniel 2). Perhaps the high priest and at least some of the Sanhedrin might have realized that they were already in the period of the 4th beast and here was outsider, someone not of their liking, who was claiming to be Daniel’s “son of man;” the ruler of all. So when the Lord Jesus answered the high priest by combining these 2 characteristics of the Messiah he claimed to be, the reaction of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin was not surprising.
The Lord Jesus not only reveals himself as the Davidic Messiah sitting at God’s right side; he was also Daniel’s divine “son of man” who would come with the clouds and execute judgment on the Ἰουδαῖοι, including the high priest and the Sanhedrin and all the nations of the world for that matter; and defeat all of God’s enemies. The Lord’s resurrection and ascension would attest to this. He and his kingdom would last forever!
Μαράνα θά (מרנאתא, “Maranatha”)!
We will continue next week with the “I AM” declarations of our Lord Jesus in the Book of Acts.
God bless us all.