No One is More Blind than the One Who Doesn’t Want to See

Reading: Luke 22:66-71
When it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber, saying, “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.” [NASB1995®]

Jesus has already been arrested; He is in the hands of the priests and scribes. They intend to judge this galilean who has come to disrupt their religious structures by making its superficiality and hypocrisy evident. They claim to defend the truth, but all they really want to achieve is keeping things as they are.

Their determination is such that they will spare no effort, no trickery, to achieve their goal: to kill Jesus. Let’s look at at least two aspects of what Luke tells us here…
The blindness of wickedness: These men are blind. Christ, the Truth itself, has walked among them, but their hearts are so hardened that they can’t accept it.

They ask Jesus if He is the Christ. Do they really want to know? No, they want to hear him from his mouth so they can tear their clothes because of such blasphemy, blasphemy worthy of death. They do not want the truth; moreover, they oppose it. And they will not hesitate to misrepresent the facts and lie brazenly. They are blind, filled with darkness. That is why Jesus says to them: “If I said it, you would not believe it.” They are simply unable to believe, to understand, to accept. Their hearts have hardened to this extreme.

The irrefutable truth: Although they reject it, even though they cannot accept it in any way, the truth about who it is whom they want to kill does not change. Jesus tells them that the Son of Man (himself) will sit at the right hand of God’s power, thus affirming his identity.

Jesus is the Messiah of God. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is God made flesh. This truth is our faith. The Gospel is Jesus, who He is, what He has done, what He is doing and what He is to do.
We cannot remain indifferent to this reality. The Pharisees’ hearts were hardened, filled with sin. Thus what they experience toward Jesus is hatred. The Gospel can transform our hearts so that we recognize who Jesus is and follow him.

The Gospel is an irrefutable reality.
In their darkness, the Pharisees hear what they want to hear. Blasphemy! This man must die. They believe they are deciding on the fate of a Galileo peasant, but it is not really the case. They condemn themselves, sink even further, let themselves drown in darkness.

MEDITATE: Who is Jesus? How do we relate to him? His identity does not depend on us. He is the King. But our identity does depend, absolutely, on accepting Him as Savior and Lord of our lives!

Translation By: Emily Stader

Sebastián Winkler (169)

Sebastián Winkler lives in General Pinto, a small town in the interior of Argentina, and serves the Lord in the Baptist Church of his city as a teacher of Bible studies. He is a Professor of Literature, he likes music, reading and sharing the Bible with others.
He is married to Karina they have two daughters named Julia and Emilia.
He is the main author in his blog: engraciaysabiduria.com (in spanish)