📖 2 Minute Verses #7

From now on: Good Friday and reconciling the pain of our current circumstances with the reality of Christ's victory.

“But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” (Luke 22:69 ESV)

Quick context: Jesus has been betrayed by one of his closest friends, denied by his actual closest friend, mocked, blindfolded, beaten, and blasphemed. He’s then hauled before the council who question and accuse him. The above is part of his short answer to them.

Seeing Christ as he is

We’re very fortunate to have a revelation of Christ that the council of elders were blind to. As Paul writes:

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation. (Colossians 1:15 NLT)

I cringe to think of the Jewish leaders treating Christ with contempt, oblivious to the fact that he not only created them but was even sustaining them in their vehement accusations.

Jesus knew they could never allow the paradox of the Holy God living inside this ordinary-looking man, saying:

“If I tell you, you will not believe.” (Luke 22:67 ESV)

They stood before the all-powerful one who terrified their ancestors when he descended onto Mount Sinai in fire (Exodus 19:18). And they spat and shouted at him.

From now on

But Jesus told the council before they sentenced him to death that from now on he would be seated at the right hand of God. While this is a message of hope to us, I imagine it was also a warning to them: they were about to judge and condemn the Son of God to death, but he would soon be placed in judgement over all.

This speaks of the juxtaposition of the kingdom of heaven. Within hours of him saying those words to the council of elders, Jesus had died. He’d cried “It is finished”. I’m not sure whether it was at that exact moment or at the resurrection on the third day, but death was conquered (theologians, weigh in please). But still, somehow we live in a fallen world, with brokenness, suffering, sin and death all around us.

It’s Good Friday as I’m writing this, and I’m imagining how the disciples felt after Jesus was crucified. Though Jesus had told them that he would rise from the dead, their shock and fright when it does happen (Luke 24:37) suggest they didn’t believe or understand him. They likely felt guilt and shame from abandoning and denying him, but also perhaps anger at Jesus for allowing himself to die needlessly. In short, their hope was shattered.

Reflection

To some extent, we are also in an in-between period. Like the disciples (whether they knew it or not) we are looking forwards to a resurrection: in our case, the second coming of Christ, the judging of the living and the dead and the renewing of all things.

We live on the other side of Jesus’ resurrection and celebrate that every day, but we still grieve for our world that’s dying in front of our eyes. Suffering, injustice, pain, poverty are all still rampant. Jesus followers around the world still fear for their lives when they express their faith.

Today let’s thank Jesus for paying the price we never could. We pray for the lost (to which we all once belonged), and pray that Christ would return soon.

But we also pray that we would see the world through the true lens of the kingdom: that Jesus is sat on the throne in power right now, and the battle has already been won. He is victorious!