Joel M Bradshaw

61But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.–Mark 14

There’s a narrative in the culture that Jesus never claimed to be God. The simple answer is that the religious court took great offense at Jesus’ response, treated it as blasphemy, and sentenced Him to death. Sounds like they received it as Jesus claiming to be God!

So what claim did Jesus make that caused such uproar? Claiming to be the Messiah wouldn’t technically have been blasphemy, as they all knew the Messiah would also be a man. Especially since they all knew of Jesus’ miracles that backed up His claim. But when Jesus claimed to be the Son of Man?

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14, with emphasis)

Every Pharisee in the crowd depended upon the book of Daniel (ch. 12) in their theological war against the Sadducees regarding resurrection. So they would have all paid attention here. Daniel’s Son of Man received worship just like the Ancient of Days. His Kingdom is equal to Yahweh’s. At minimum, two individuals are treated like God in the text with no repercussions.

Every Pharisee who read the book of Daniel would have felt the theological tension of chapter 7 and Jesus stood before them resolving it. Jesus was claiming to be God. As Christians, we understand God the Father and God the Son are present in Daniel 7 and also recognize that reality in the Gospels. We proclaim Jesus as God in the flesh so His words affirm our beliefs. ‘Son of Man’ is Jesus’ favorite way to describe Himself in the Gospels for a reason!

But just remember they sentenced Jesus to death for those very words. They knew what He was claiming!–JMB