This is a message of warning for professed Christians. We must mean business with the Lord—mean what we profess. Here a man did something visible which meant little. The Bible says “he rent his clothes.” Aside from the usual definition we think of, the dictionary defines “rent” as a tear in cloth or the act of rending. The word “rend” is defined as to tear forcibly apart. This gives us a better mental picture of what was done. The High Priest was doing something on the outside but the inside was not involved.
“But neither so did their witness agree together. 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? 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? 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. 63 Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? 64 Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. 65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.” (Mark 14:59)
This was the trial of trials. Trials before were carried out in the proper order. This one was done backward; it was a joke, but it concluded with a “confession” of his wrong. Jesus was accused of blasphemy because he told the truth. The Sanhedrin, the priests, and the High Priest had the word of God. They should have known. Throughout the mockery, Jesus remained silent. At the end the High Priest said to Jesus “I adjure thee by the living God.” He enacted a ritual. When he ripped his garment open, he declared Jesus guilty. The others agreed. He was guilty of being Christ, the Son of God.
Rending of clothes was hypocritical on the part of the High Priest. Little did he know a greater rending was about to happen. He opened the door for a rending so the Son of God could provide salvation. His gesture of baring his chest was nothing to Jesus; his rending was the opening of his body by the beating, slapping and crown of thorns. He laid on a cross bleeding and suffering for hours on Calvary. He gave us the opportunity to rend our hearts not our garments. We can do the outward things. We can pray and come to church and be “Christiany” all we want, but unless we’ve accepted Jesus, unless we have rent our heart, anything we do is superficial and means nothing to God.
The High Priest could have rent 50 garments but it would have been for nothing. His heart was closed against the Lord. Jesus is on trial today. Verse 55 says “And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.” They had tried for years to do this. They set it up. They wanted him out of the temple, their country, the whole world. Why? They had their religion just the way they wanted. It was their way or bust. God help us not to be so churchy that we shut the Lord out.
Christianity is Jesus being Lord; it’s not church or religion. How can we be a Christian without Jesus? How can we be a Christian without a rending of our heart? How can we conceive Christianity without letting Jesus in? In the book of Joel, God told the children of Israel they must rend their hearts and not their garments. God was tired of their actions.
Determined to kill Jesus they sought credible witnesses against him and found none. Today the world still does that. They want proof to discredit Jesus. There is a lot being said about him today. Lie after life is told. He’s called every name in the book. He’s a great teacher, even a prophet, but not the Messiah. They still find nothing. With all this being set up by the Sanhedrin, no wonder Jesus didn’t say anything. He is not the author of confusion. They ignored the truth that Jesus was the son of God; they would not allow any to come in and give a valid witness. When you ignore the truth of the Lord in your life, confusion turns your world upside down. Your life will fall apart just like this court room.
Annas was older and considered the Chief High Priest. He postured and pointed his finger at Jesus. Matthew wrote that he said “I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.” How dare anyone question God, and in this manner? Do we think we’ve come so far we can question him? One day we’ll have to answer his questions.
By his presence Jesus forgave adultery. By his presence the lame walked. By his presence leprosy was cleansed. By his presence demons came out of people. The dead came back to life by his presence. Jesus didn’t have to answer him. His presence spoke for him. Jesus looked him in the eye and said “I am.” In so many words Matthew said “you say it.” He was telling Annas ‘YOU KNOW I am or you would not be trying to get rid of me. If I wasn’t really the Savior, the Christ, and son of the living God, how could I have this power? You know who I am. You said it.’
Jesus continued by saying “ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Jesus is coming. Not many believe that anymore. He didn’t come in the year 2000, and now there are many believers who have forgotten about it. “It’s just a little economic crisis.” Wake up! We’re on the verge of the hour for Jesus to come for us in the rapture. I want him to come for me—not after me.
When he rent his garment, he was saying “look what I’m doing.” It was not with the broken-heartedness that Job, Ezra, or David did it. It had become a cold ritual. It’s the same now. The rituals are there, but the heart is kept for the self. He spoke the sentence and concluded the trial. He inadvertently set the wheels in place for a rending like none other. When Jesus died a great earthquake rent the earth in two. Even the rocks rent asunder. The veil of the temple was rent in two. The graves rent open. On Easter Sunday morning the angel rolled the stone away and another earthquake occurred. Jesus had rent the power of sin and came out victorious over it.
He didn’t “have to” say it then. He doesn’t have to say it now. His very presence says to turn away from the hypocrisy of religion. Don’t worry about rending your garments. Rend the heart and he’ll send away sin and give you grace. All that’s standing between you and the Lord is the rending of your heart. The High Priest did very little by the rending of his garments, but everything we need has been rent. Everything Jesus opened up is here for us right now. He’s asking us to rend our soul.
Is your heart a garment that remains closed? Jesus was rent from head to toe for you. All that he asks is that you rend your heart for him.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 