Mark 14:60

Mar 14:60-62. The high-priest stood up in the midst, &c. — See notes on Mat 26:62-64, where this paragraph is largely explained. Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed — Here one of the peculiar attributes of the Deity is used to express the divine nature. Supreme happiness is properly considered as belonging to God: and as all comfort flows from him, suitable ascriptions of praise and glory are his due. But this form of speech was conformable to the ancient custom of the Jews, who, when the priest in the sanctuary rehearsed the name of God, used to answer, Blessed be his name for ever. The title of the Blessed One, signified as much as the Holy One; and both, or either of them, the God of Israel. Hence such expressions are frequent in the rabbis. See also Rom 1:25; 2Co 11:31. “This is a very sublime and emphatical method of expressing the happiness of God. It conveys such an idea of the divine blessedness, that, comparatively speaking, there is none happy but he.” — Macknight.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:60-61 Since the false witnesses failed to agree (14:56), the high priest sought incriminating testimony from Jesus.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 14:60. Οὐκ; τί; answerest thou not? What is it that, etc.?) Two distinct interrogations.[4]

[4] But Tischend, has but one interrogation at the end of καταμαρτυροῦσιν; Lachm. says in his Preface that to introduce an interrogation after οὐδεν (;) here, where the τί is used for the relative, is subversive of the sense. Breads ὅ τι. But ADPd, τι. Vulg. “non respondes quicquam ad ea quœ tibi objiciuntur.”—ED. and TRANSL.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 14:60 . εἰς μέσον : a graphic feature in Mk., suggesting that the high priest arose from his seat and advanced into the semi-circle of the council towards Jesus the action of an irritated, baffled man. οὐκ ἀποκρίνῃ : on the high priest’s question vide notes on Mt.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

60. And the high priest stood up] The impressive silence, which our Lord preserved, while false witnesses were being sought against Him (Mat_26:62), was galling to the pride of Caiaphas, who saw that nothing remained but to force Him, if possible, to criminate Himself. Standing up, therefore, in the midst (a graphic touch which we owe to St Mark alone), he adjured Him in the most solemn manner possible (Mat_26:63) to declare whether He was “the Malcha Meschicha”—the King Messiah, the Son of the Blessed.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye have heard the blasphemy,.... The "manifest" blasphemy, as the Arabic version renders it; and "out of his own mouth", as the Syriac version adds, agreeably to Luk 22:71,

what think ye? what sentence is to, be passed upon him?

And they all condemned him to be guilty of death; excepting Joseph of Arimathea, Luk 23:51; See Gill on Mat 26:66.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Vers. 60, 61. And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing?... But he held his peace, and answered nothing. The high priest would naturally be seated at the top of the semicircle, with the members of the Sanhedrim on either side of him, and the Accused in front of him. Now he rises from his seat, and comes forward into the midst (eiv to meson), and demands an answer. But Jesus answered nothing. It would have been a long and tedious business to answer such a charge, which involved a garbled and inaccurate statement of what he had said. It would have answered no good purpose to reply to an accusation so vague and inaccurate. Our Lord knew that, whatever his answer was, it would be twisted so as to make against him. Silence was therefore the most dignified treatment of such an accusation. Besides, he knew that his hour was come. The high priest now asks him plainly, Art thou the Christ, the son of the Blessed? Here he touches the point of the whole matter. Christ had frequently declared himself to be such. Caiaphas, therefore, now asks the question, not because he needed the information, but that he might condemn him.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sentence of the council:

v. 60. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest Thou nothing? What is it which these witness against Thee?

v. 61. But He held His peace and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him and said unto Him, Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?

v. 62. And Jesus said, I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Power and coming in the clouds of heaven.

v. 63. Then the high priest rent his clothes and saith, What need we any further witnesses?

v. 64. Ye have heard the blasphemy; what think ye? And they all condemned Him to be guilty of death.

v. 65. And some began to spit on Him, and to cover His face, and to buffet Him, to say unto Him, Prophesy; and the servants did strike Him with the palms of their hands.

Caiaphas felt the imperative need of quick action to save the day, for the matter was rapidly coming to a point where the entire council would be obliged to confess its helplessness. Arising therefore from his chairman’s seat, he steps forward into the semicircle formed by the chairs of the members. His first thought was that of browbeating Jesus, and thus provoking Him to some statement which could be used against Him: Answerest Thou nothing to these condemnatory charges? But Jesus kept His silence and answered never a word. In many cases, where the enemies of Christ bring accusations against Christ and the Christian Church, that Christianity is a dangerous religion, that it stultifies the intellect, etc. , this is nothing but false testimony, which they do not believe themselves, where it would be a waste of breath to argue and to try to convince them of the contrary. The helplessness of the witnesses and of the council, the judges, was in this case so obvious. that any argument on Christ’s part would have been useless and would have spoiled the effect. But the high priest feels that he must save the day at all costs. So he finally asks the direct question: Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? Here is a specimen of high-priestly religion. For the expression was chosen deliberately, a hypocritical term of relevance in refraining from using the actual name of God. In such matters the high priests could be extremely punctilious. Jesus now determined to end this farce, which must have hurt Him to the depths of His soul. He frankly answers: I am. But He adds that these His false accusers and judges would see Him, the Son of Man, sitting at the right hand of the power of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven as His throne. When these hypocrites see Him again, it will be in His capacity as the Judge of the world. And how thoroughly will these unjust blasphemers be filled with terror when this same Christ whom they rejected will sit in judgment upon them and require a full account at their hands! But the high priest had gained his object; he thought he had a word now which he could use to establish a case. In order to get the proper dramatic effect, he took hold of his mantle and perhaps both of his tunics, and tore them open, ripped them to pieces at the top. That was a sign of deep. grief, of intense suffering. He meant his act to. imply that it hurt him more than words could express to hear the prisoner make such a statement. He rejected all further testimony as useless; had they not all heard the blasphemy that this man claimed to be the Son of God? There was but one question to ask yet: What is the fitting penalty, in your opinion, for such a transgression? And with great unanimity the well-instructed hypocrites took their leaders’ cue and condemned Christ to be guilty of death. "Therefore Christ is put to death, not in a tumult, nor by rebels, also not by them that did not possess the proper authority, but by those was He killed that had the proper authority. Just. as it is done in our days: all the harm that is done to the Christian Church is done by those having the proper authority. Just as we must confess and say of our persecutors that they are princes, bishops, rulers that have power, even from God, both as concerns worldly dominion and also the power which they might have in the Church by God’s Word, if they would only use it correctly. Such as have the full and proper authority are now persecuting the Gospel."

The finding of the court and the sentence based upon it was the signal for a general abandonment of restraint; for with the sentence of death hanging over Him Christ had become an outcast, Lev 24:16. The counselors themselves began the cruel mockery, and the servants were only too willing to follow their example. They spat upon Him as an object of utter contempt; they covered a cloth around and over His head and beat Him with their fists, asking meanwhile in a jeering tone that He should prophesy and designate the offenders. And the servants added to the shame of their masters by receiving Him with slaps of the open hand—a cruel and painful torture. "This, then, is the hearing and the accusation which was done in the house of the high priest Caiaphas. And all this is written for our learning that we may know that Christ humbled Himself so deeply for our sake and permitted Himself to be accused, condemned, and killed as the greatest criminal; though He is altogether innocent, so that even His adversaries are obliged to confess secretly, feeling it in their heart that there was no cause of death to be found in Him."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Connecting Statement:

When Jesus answers that he is the Christ, the high priest and all of the leaders there condemn him as one who deserves to die.

stood up among them

Jesus stands up in the middle of the angry crowd to speak to them. Translate this to show who was present when Jesus stood up to speak. AT: "stood up among the chief priests, scribes, and elders" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

Have you no answer? What is it these men testify against you?

The chief priest is not asking Jesus for information about what the witnesses said. He is asking Jesus to prove what the witnesses said is wrong. AT: "Are you not going to reply? What do you say in response to the testimony these men are speaking against you?" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the Son of the Blessed

Here God is called "the Blessed." It is best to translate "Son" with the same word your language would naturally use to refer to a "son" of a human father. AT: "the Son of the Blessed One" or "the Son of God" (See: Nominal Adjectives and Translating Son and Father)

I am

This likely has a double meaning: 1) to respond to the high priest's question and 2) to call himself "I Am," which is what God called himself in the Old Testament.

he sits at the right hand of power

Here "power" is a metonnymm that represents God. To sit at the "right hand of God" is a symbolic action of receiving great honor and authority from God. AT: "he sits in the place of honor beside the all-powerful God" (See: Metonymy and Symbolic Action)

comes with the clouds of heaven

Here the clouds are described as accompanying Jesus when he returns. AT: "when he comes down through the clouds in the sky" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

high priest

Jesus

testimony

Christ

Son of God

bless

Son of Man

hand

power

heaven

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

60. Οὐκ ἀποκρίνῃ οὐδέν; This is a separate question (A.V., R.V.). Vulg. runs the two questions into one; Non respondes quicquam ad ea quae tibi objiciuntur ab his? The Greek in Mt. is the same, with the omission of one negative, but there Vulg. has Nihil respondes ad ea quae isti adversum te testificantur? Both these translations treat τί as if it were πρὸς ἅ. We might take τί as ὅ τι, “nothing as to that which”; but the two questions are more terse and more in Mk’s style. The double negative is in Mk’s style; see on Mar 14:25.

τί οὗτοί σου κ.; “What explanation is there of all this testimony against Thee?” The high-priest adopts this paternal tone in order to get evidence from Christ Himself which they had failed to get from their witnesses. Syr-Sin. make this a separate question, as also does Victor.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

60.] On the most probable punctuation and construction, see note on Matt. ver. 62.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

60. Failing to find testimony, the high priest proceeds to question Jesus, as if the testimony itself had been of such a nature as to require an answer from him. The silence of Jesus is due to this fact. It is as much as to say, “There is nothing to answer.”

Omit τὸ before μέσον, midst, Tisch. Treg. WH. and about everything, except DM Memph. οὐκ ἀπεκρίνατο οὐδέν, instead of οὐδὲν ἀπεκρίνατο, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BCL 33, Egyptt.

The high priest then puts a leading question, seeking to make Jesus criminate himself. And the question is put in the form expecting assent, Thou art, art thou? ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ εὐλογητοὺ—the Son of the blessed. This addition to the simple ὁ Χριστός, the Messiah, is intended to bring out the solemnity of the claim, and thus the blasphemy that would be involved in the false claim. It was not something added to the claim of Messiahship by Jesus, involving blasphemy, whereas the claim of Messiahship by itself would not involve that: but it was a legitimate part of the Jewish description of the Messiah. εὐλογητός is not found elsewhere in the N.T., except as a predicate of Θεός in doxologies. It means the one who is worshipped.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.