"Lord, I don't ask that I should win, but please, please don't let me finish behind Akabusi."
The trial of Jesus
Are you the Son of God? Luke 22:70Bishop Graham Cray has written that Jesus’ fate and our salvation were decided through four questions recorded in Luke 22 and 23.
22:67 If you are the messiah, tell us.
22:70 Are you then the Son of God?
23:3 Are you the King of the Jews?
23:22 What crime has this man committed?
Cray also points out that Jesus was declared innocent seven times in Luke 23 (v4, 14, 15, 22, 41, 47) Jesus is and was the Messiah but in his reply to the council he used his preferred title of the Son of Man who will reign at God’s right hand. He was more than the King of the Jews; he was the leader of the people of God who would sacrifice himself on the cross for all nations. “The titles used in these questions and in Jesus’ answers reveal his identity and show the extent of the salvation he secured and make it possible” (Cray)
Cray adds that Jesus revealed the very character of God. “there is no deeper revelation of the nature of our God than the scene in the cross of Jesus”.
But Jesus was no martyr who gave his life for a cause. In his final act of obedience to the father he gave up his life, trusting that he would be raised to life again. The resurrection is the evidence that Jesus’ sacrifice for sin had been effective. Cray suggests that “the significance of the resurrection is so revolutionary that, even with the full testimony of the New Testament, we can easily make too little of it”. Death has been defeated and we can have confidence too that our physical death is not the end. The resurrection is radical, unexpected and surprising but he is the basis for our hope. We have put their trust not just in a crucified man but in a resurrected one.