It was a question that struck at the very heart of WHO he was and WHAT he came to do . . . “Are you the
Christ?”
Mark’s gospel tells us that after Jesus had been apprehended in the Garden the large mob armed with
swords and clubs took Jesus to the high priest. There all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of
the law came together. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin {the chief ruling body for the Jews; the Supreme Court of sorts} were looking for evidence against him so that they could put him to death, but
they couldn’t find any. Vs. 55 No doubt the High Priest became frustrated at all the differing stories that he was getting about who this man was and what he had claimed! The Bible says that many of those who
testified against him were lying and none of their statements agreed! Some said that he claimed he would
destroy the temple! He was a terrorist! Some said he was going to build it back in three days! He was a
lunatic and a blasphemer!
Mark 14:60-61
60 Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this
testimony that these men are bringing against you?" 61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again
the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" (NIV)
THAT’S the question, isn’t it? ... the question that all humanity hangs on! Is Jesus the Christ or is he the greatest con-artist the world has ever seen? That was the charge against him... that he was a blasphemer
because (as we saw last week) he not only claimed to have the same authority as God (to forgive sins),
but he claimed to BE God!
62 "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on
the clouds of heaven." 63 The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. 64
"You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" They all condemned him as worthy of death. (NIV)
Jesus again claims to be God. You remember how it goes down from there... the Sanhedrin had no real
authority to execute him, so they send him to the Roman authorities. But Pilate, the regional governor
(procurator of Judea) didn’t want anything to do with the whole mess, nevertheless, it falls to him to deal
with. They bring Jesus before him and Pilate asks him essentially the same question, in Roman
terminology this time... “Are you the king of the Jews?”
The Chief Priest had used the term Christ; “Are you the Christ, the Son of the blessed One?” but that’s
what he had meant, “Are you claiming to be the king... the Messiah that we have been looking for all these
years?” This morning, we’re continuing our look at the various NAMES given to Jesus in the Bible...
hoping to get a fuller and clearer picture of who he is and what he has done for us... so that we can more
confidently put our hope & trust in him! The Bible says, “..God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil
2:9-11 NIV)
This morning let’s look at the name (or title, rather): Christ or Messiah. The word Messiah means “anointed.” It’s a Hebrew word transliterated into English. ‘mashiah’. Translated into Greek, it is christos, from which we get CHRIST ;more of a title than a name. It means, roughly, king... in Latin the term is Caesar, in German- Kaiser; Czar in Russian and Shah in certain Middle Eastern languages. It refers to someone who has been chosen or anointed for a particular office.
In the Old Testament there were at least two such positions that were explicitly said to be God’s specially “anointed”: priests and kings. Some prophets were also said to be ‘mashiah’/ anointed. priests were anointed to lead the worship of the nation kings were anointed to their office of authority and leadership for the people. prophets were anointed to their teaching role- speaking God’s Word before the people.
When we talk about Jesus being the Messiah... we should see how he fulfills each of these vital roles for God’s people. He is certainly God’s spokesperson/ prophet as the Bible says, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe.” (Heb. 1:1-2) He is also our great High Priest who offered the one perfect sacrifice that made all previous ones meaningful and any future ones unnecessary. “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12) But MOST IMPORTANTLY for our understanding of the term Messiah, is the Kingly function of the Messiah! Above everything else, the Jewish people expected the Messiah to be their KING! That would come to be a source of great confusion for them.
Israel had Great Expectations for their Messiah!
God’s “anointed one” was to come with power! He would be King, Emperor and Sovereign Lord! What
came to be known as “the messianic hope” within Judaism was rooted in the predictions of the Messiah
found in the Old Testament. He would come from the lineage of Shem, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob and out
of the tribe of Judah. God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Gen 12:3 NIV) Further, he would arise from the
descendants of Israel’s most beloved king, David. He told David, “Your house and your kingdom will endure
forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’" (2 Sam 7:16 NIV) Micah reveals that he was to be
born in Bethlehem. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will
come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." (Micah 5:2 NIV)
Isaiah told them that he would exhibit extraordinary character and would bear a tremendous weight -“For
to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will
be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and
righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (Isa 9:6-7 NIV) Its
Isaiah who also foretold that the Messiah would offer salvation to all nations with a proclamation going forth
from Jerusalem. "The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isa 2:3 NIV) And he would
have a unique Elijah-like messenger who would come before him to prepare the people for his coming.
"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.” (Mal 3:1 NIV)
Now, if all that sounds somewhat familiar, its because you probably know a little bit about the life of Jesus! He fulfilled every O.T. prophecy about the Messiah and revealed himself to be Israel’s long awaited deliverer! Yet, most Jews of his day (and even of our day) never saw it... in fact they rejected Jesus as the
Messiah! Why?
Most Jews had Misunderstood Expectations of the Messiah!
They simply had a wrong-headed interpretation of what the Messiah would do when he appeared because
they failed to take into account the whole Biblical witness. That is, they loved to read into all those great
passages the power and might that the new King of Israel would have...
But they ignored other key texts.. like Isaiah 53
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to
attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man
of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed
him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isa 53:2-5 NIV)
Read that whole chapter this week! The rabbis had missed this critical truth about the Messiah! To be
sure, its an uncomfortable, disturbing passage... telling not so much of a “king” but of a “servant” who was
to be “despised and rejected by men,” “pierced for our transgressions,” and “numbered with the
transgressors.” What a paradox! They just couldn’t see it! They reasoned that if the Messiah was to be a
king, then the servant of Isaiah 53 must be somebody else. Surely God’s anointed couldn’t suffer, couldn’t
die! He would be much too powerful! SO fixed in their brains was their flawed interpretation, that they
would sooner reject the Messiah than rethink their expectations! And that’s what they did.
But, Jesus was indeed the Messiah and he tried to get his followers to understand the true nature of what
he was about. (Cf. Matt. 16) In Matt. 16:13-ff, Jesus stopped and asked his disciples, “Who do people
say that I am?” You’ll remember... “They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others,
Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon
Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matt 16:14-16 NIV) It was a powerful confession made by maybe the least likely of disciples, but there was no doubt about it: Jesus wanted his followers to understand that he was indeed the Christ, the Messiah! But notice the way Jesus responds to Peter’s confession... continuing to read from vs. 20 “Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. 21 From that point on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed an don the third day
be raised to life.”
Its amazing to me that Jesus told them NOT to tell anybody! “What? This is the greatest
news since God brought us into the Promised Land and you don’t want us to tell anybody?” While Jesus
does on a number of occasions claim to be the Messiah, he never makes that his primary message. Why?
Simply because of the people’s misconceptions of what the Messiah would be. Jesus had not come to
establish an Earthly Kingdom and he wasn’t about to lead a political revolt against Rome. He had
something much bigger in mind! Jesus wanted them to see the WHOLE picture... yes, he was God’s
anointed, the Messiah, but that meant that he would suffer, die and be raised to life! In other words, his
kingdom wouldn’t be established with a splendid military campaign against Rome, but rather through
humility, suffering and death! That’s what the Jewish leaders completely misunderstood! Even his
disciples whom Jesus was explicit with, didn’t get it at first!
While the true Messiah didn’t come to establish an Earthly Kingdom, he did come to establish an
Eternal Kingdom!
There would be no political coup. No grand coronation. No parade welcoming in the new King. No, Jesus ushered in something radically different from what anyone expected: the Kingdom of God. I’m not talking about the church. The church had its official start on the day of Pentecost and is a part of the greater kingdom of God... But even prior to that event, the kingdom had been ushered in with the coming of Jesus(cf. Luke 11:20)
Understood biblically, God’s kingdom is the rule and reign of God in the hearts of his people. It is the full rule of God in somebody’s life. It’s hard for us to grasp because we typically think of kingdoms or
governments in terms of countries with leaders, armies and boundaries (sometimes walls) between them.
But the Kingdom of God isn’t a kingdom where we can easily define the boundaries because it is within
people! You can’t draw a line around it on a map! Its citizens aren’t those who’ve been physically born into it like we are as citizens in the U.S. Its not those who’ve been conquered over like the Jews were in the Roman Empire. Its subjects are those who have willingly accepted the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives; those who have put themselves under the dominion of God as King. Those who’ve said, “God, I know you are my creator, won’t you please be my King?” No one can coerce you into this Kingdom. In fact, nobody can pull you in against your will at all! The decision is YOURS!
The good news is: anybody can get into this Kingdom... the Messiah, King Jesus, has taken care of that
already! But you’ve got to be willing to put yourself under the rule and reign of God. You must be willing to acknowledge / confess that Jesus is Messiah! You must be willing to trust Jesus to be that Messiah for us! You must commit your life to him by dying with him in baptism re-enacting that death-burial-resurrection by which Jesus proved once and for all that he IS the Messiah, the King!
The question for us this morning: will we allow God to reign? Will we allow him to reign over our foolish
pride? Over our materialism? Over our very lives? Will we surrender our selfish ambitions, our foul
tempers, our petty jealousies over to the sovereign rule of God? What is it in YOUR life that you haven’t
quite given over to the rule of God?
(Resource: Shelly, Rubel "The Names of Jesus" West Monroe, LA: Howard Publishing, 1999.)
