Condemned

 This week we begin worship with:

Matthew 26:63-64

And the high priest said to [Jesus], “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

After failing to find false testimony about Jesus, the high priest asks the question “Are you the Christ”?

Jesus answers formally so that there would be no mistake.  Mark records it simply as “I am” (Mark 14:62), but Matthew records the formal phrase here that validates the assertion made by the high priest.  Jesus attested to exactly what the High Priest said.

It was this answer that condemned Jesus to the cross.