Friday, October 19, 2007

Mk 14, 53-65 They led Jesus away to the high priest

(Mk 14, 53-65) They led Jesus away to the high priest
[53] They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. [54] Peter followed him at a distance into the high priest's courtyard and was seated with the guards, warming himself at the fire. [55] The chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they found none. [56] Many gave false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. [57] Some took the stand and testified falsely against him, alleging, [58] "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands and within three days I will build another not made with hands.'" [59] Even so their testimony did not agree. [60] The high priest rose before the assembly and questioned Jesus, saying, "Have you no answer? What are these men testifying against you?" [61] 16 But he was silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him and said to him, "Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One?" [62] Then Jesus answered, "I am; and 'you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.'" [63] At that the high priest tore his garments and said, "What further need have we of witnesses? [64] You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" They all condemned him as deserving to die. [65] Some began to spit on him. They blindfolded him and struck him and said to him, "Prophesy!" And the guards greeted him with blows.
(CCC 585) On the threshold of his Passion Jesus announced the coming destruction of this splendid building, of which there would not remain "one stone upon another" (Cf. Mt 24:1-2). By doing so, he announced a sign of the last days, which were to begin with his own Passover (Cf. Mt 24:3; Lk 13:35). But this prophecy would be distorted in its telling by false witnesses during his interrogation at the high priest's house, and would be thrown back at him as an insult when he was nailed to the cross (Cf. Mk 14:57-58; Mt 27:39-40). (CCC 443) Peter could recognize the transcendent character of the Messiah's divine sonship because Jesus had clearly allowed it to be so understood. To his accusers' question before the Sanhedrin, "Are you the Son of God, then?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am"(Lk 22:70; cf. Mt 26:64; Mk 14:61-62). Well before this, Jesus referred to himself as "the Son" who knows the Father, as distinct from the "servants" God had earlier sent to his people; he is superior even to the angels (Cf. Mt 11:27; 21:34-38; 24:36). He distinguished his sonship from that of his disciples by never saying "our Father", except to command them: "You, then, pray like this: 'Our Father'", and he emphasized this distinction, saying "my Father and your Father" (Mt 5:48; 6:8-9; 7:21; Lk 11:13; Jn 20:17). (CCC 572) The Church remains faithful to the interpretation of "all the Scriptures" that Jesus gave both before and after his Passover: "Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" (Lk 24:26-27, 44-45). Jesus' sufferings took their historical, concrete form from the fact that he was "rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes", who handed "him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified" (Mk 8:31; Mt 20:19).

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