Christ's Sonship to God was the reason for the Sanhedrin's

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III






Christ's Sonship to God was the reason for the Sanhedrin's sentencing Him to death. The chief priests could not find a reason to condemn Him because even though many false witnesses came forward, their testimonies did not agree. So the high priest rose and said to Him: "I adjure You by the living God that You tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God' (Matt. 26:63). If His Sonship were an ordinary sonship like the sonship of all the people to God, what was the significance of the high priest adjuring Him before the greatest Synagogue at the time asking Him if He was the Son of God? When the Lord answered in the affirmative, adding two points befitting His Divinity, namely, that He will sit at the right hand of the Power and will come in His glory on the clouds of heaven, "the high priest tore his clothes, saying,
'He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!"' (Matt. 26:63-65) And they sentenced Him to death for this reason.