I AM

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

I AM

Mark 14:61-65

Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" 62 "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."  63 The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. 64 "You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" They all condemned him as worthy of death. 65 Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him.

NIV

Man is capable of the most gruesome of behaviors in the entire kingdom of God when faced with the truth which threatens their own self-centered life. One simple question, right to the point, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One? And Jesus breaks his silent with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, “I am”. Of course he does not leave it with that but also includes those men would see him again, but when they do he will be sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. Sitting on the right hand is the ultimate place of honor which they certainly could not stand for. They wanted to discredit him before the people as a false prophet, a false teacher, and here he tells them that God the father, the Mighty One, the Blessed One would sit him at his right hand, the highest honor anyone could ever have. This had to stop, and stop now, for is they let him go on their whole power structure over the people, their own self-righteousness, their own piety would be in danger. But the truth we should see in this horrific portion of the history of mankind and its relationship to Jesus is his answer, “I am”. What more evidence do we need? How many more witnesses do we need to hear from? How much more of scripture do we really need to know? Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One, God the father. The whole of scripture points us to this one truth. The whole of our life is based on this fact, Jesus is the Christ. In addition we live our lives based on the truth he spoke when he told them he would be sitting at the right hand of God and that we, mankind would see him again sitting there. We could only conclude that we, all of mankind, will be where ever he is, of course some will be cast out and some will be invited to stay. But this truth he spoke invoked so much anger in those who were threatened by him; they did unspeakable acts of brutality against him. Things have not changed much in our times. People, who violently oppose the truth of Jesus, do unspeakable acts against him, serving only their own self-centered passions. Man will always be man, but Jesus is the “I AM”.