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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
The scene is the trial of Jesus and the participants are as named: “Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying, ‘We heard Him say, “I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.”’ But not even then did their testimony agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, ‘Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?’ But He [Jesus] kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ Jesus said, ‘I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes [tunics] and said, ‘What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?’ And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. Then some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, ‘Prophesy!’ And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.” (Mark 14.57-65; emphasis mine, jb).
The tunic that Jesus wore, the one which the soldiers took later, was notable in that it was made of one piece (woven from top to bottom). Apparently the high priest thought less of his tunics than the soldiers thought of the one Jesus was wearing. At any rate, he was willing to make a “statement” by tearing them when he heard Jesus confess that He was the Christ. Such demonstrations were fairly common in biblical days. On one occasion hundreds of years earlier, Micaiah the prophet was summoned to prophesy before King Ahab of Israel and Jehoshaphat King of Judah. Prior to the appearance of Micaiah, a false prophet named Zedekiah had advised the two kings to proceed with their plans of war against the King of Syria. To emphasize his prophesy, Zedekiah “…made horns of iron for himself; and he said, ‘Thus says the LORD: “With these you shall gore the Syrians until they are destroyed.”’” (2 Kings 22.11). The high priest in the time of Jesus had taken a page from Zedekiah’s playbook with his demonstration and for apparently the same reason, that is, to reinforce a point that was diametrically opposed to truth.
Such shenanigans did not end with biblical times. A few days ago I was watching a self-proclaimed prophet of God on TV. I had seen him before and witnessed how fast and loose he played with the truth of God. On this occasion (as on many others) he was urging his TV friends to send him a letter with their return address on it. He needed the address because as he said, “If you don’t give me the address, God won’t give it to me; you have to do it.” Now this man claimed to be a prophet of the same stripe as Paul and other of the apostles; he could even provide prayer handkerchiefs which were endowed with miraculous healing power. However, God wouldn’t give him a listener’s address should it be left off an envelope! I find this strange – no, I find it bizarre – that a man could be a prophet of God endowed with miraculous powers and yet he could not discern someone’s address if absentmindedly left off an envelope! With tongue in cheek I say, “They just don’t make prophets like they used to!”
The seamless tunic of Jesus was an item around which error, lies, evil, and despicable deeds revolved. Perhaps if that tunic could talk we would hear it say something similar to what we have written in these short essays. However, we do not have to depend on the tunic to talk; God has revealed Himself through the scriptures. When error is encountered, it sometimes needs a boost to appear equal to truth. Be careful of claims that cannot be backed up by demonstrations, but be wary of demonstrations that seek to prove too much!
Questions:
1. What did the high priest seek to prove by tearing his clothes?
2. What did Zedekiah seek to prove by making horns of iron and pretending to rout the Syrians?
3. Which is more difficult for God – to heal the sick or to give one of His prophets some missing information (like an address on an envelope)?
4. When someone protests too much or makes much ado over nothing, what does it sometimes show? When the evidence is weak, how do some people try to make up for it?
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