Dunce
“Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, ‘Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.’”
Today’s Text: Matthew 26:57-68 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
I guess it never dawned on the high priest that to charge Jesus under oath by the living God was basically the same as to charge Jesus under oath by Jesus Himself. And if Jesus responded, “Yes, I am the Messiah, the Son of God,” there was only one Witness who could testify to the truth of that claim—the Godhead—Father, Son, and Spirit.
But the high priest was not going to believe that testimony of the Son of God, even if Jesus had raised a dead person to life by the power of God—which He had just done about a week earlier! In other words, the high priest was telling Jesus, “Testify under oath that You are lying.” There is no testimony that could could pass that oath.
Evil doesn’t care about what is logical and what is right and wrong. Evil would simply want us to do whatever it is that we please. And so the refrain of the Book of Judges is on point: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 17:6; 21:25), because they turned their backs on the one true King, the LORD God Almighty.
I remember having a debate with a brother once who believed that “all truth is relative.” It was a friendly debate. But I saw how Satan has corrupted the education system and brainwashed educated people into believing absolutely illogical and absurd propositions, like “all truth is relative.”
What they really mean is that all opinions are relative. Culture is relative. But truth, in order to be truth, cannot be relative.
And so, I am reminded once again that the nature of original sin is not pride or disobedience, per se. It is stupidity.
Sin would have us accept those things that are completely irrational, illogical, and stupid, just so that we can have some justification for doing whatever the heck we want to do, whenever the heck we want to do it. And so, “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do.”
And so, I realize—it is the stupidity of humanity born of sin that sent Jesus to the cross. He sacrificed Himself to suffer the full wrath of God in our place and on our behalf, so that we might be forgiven for being stupid, pretty much each and every day of our lives.
Father, You are smart. We, on the other hand, are stupid. And that reality pokes a rusty nail into the eye of our pride. Help me to see how all of my stupidity is getting in the way of knowing You truly. Thank You for being patient with me and with us. Teach us to surrender to Christ so that we might live intelligently. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
