At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. "If you are the Messiah," they said, "tell us." Jesus answered, "If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer.  But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God." They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?" He replied, "You say that I am." Then they said, "Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips." (Luke 22:66-71)   Odd things happen here in the Council chambers.  The Council does indeed decide to make a declaration to the Roman governor that Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah King.  They will attribute this to him, even though he does not "own" the declaration himself.  "You say that I am," is all that Jesus will give them.  Jesus will not incriminate himself, except by allusion to scripture—in this case to the book of Daniel, which talks about the Son of Man, or Psalm 110 where the Lord says to my Lord: "sit at my right hand."  Jesus calls Scripture to testify on his behalf rather than speak for himself.  This scriptural testimony, of course, is testimony that each of the religious leaders will have to ponder and decide about for themselves... if they're so inclined. But they're not.  They've already made up their minds.  Even still, Jesus confronts them with the truth and calls witnesses to testify on his behalf through his allusions to scripture.  He loved them and offered them the means to hear and respond to his Messianic presence all the way to the end. Those words of truth Jesus speaks are arresting though.  When they ask him if he is the Messiah, he replies: "If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer."  In one of the most consequential questions of the Jewish faith at that time—the identity of the Messiah—no one in the religious leadership was genuinely seeking an answer.  They were committed only to leaving their options open.  If Jesus had asked them if he was the Messiah—they would not have answered him one way or the other, not even to say "no."  And if Jesus were to tell them plainly who he was, that wouldn't inspire any faith either, because they didn't really care.  They were committed only to keeping their options open.  Which is to say they were committed to other things.  To keeping their power.  Keeping control of their place in the Temple.  Keeping the Romans or the crowds appeased. If any of us are to be converted more deeply to faith in Jesus, to become more deeply transformed, we will have to hear Jesus' challenge to the religious leaders too.  Do we really want to believe Jesus is the Lord of our lives?  Do we really want to take on the implications of needing to change and be transformed because he is?  If he asked us, would we answer?  If he told us, would we believe him?  Or are we actually committed to other things?  

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