Mark 14:53-65
Jesus Before the High Priest
53 They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together.54 Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.
55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. 56 Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.
57 Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’” 59 Yet even then their testimony did not agree.
60 Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” 61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, 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.
John 18:33-37
Jesus is King of Another World
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
John 4:7-26
Jesus Talks to a Samaritan Woman
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
John 4:28-29
The Samaritan Woman Thinks She Knows He is the Messiah
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
The conversations with the people Jesus met are very incredible...He makes people think with very much with an inclination on the spiritual and thoughts of God...And every time Jesus meets someone, He makes them think and think deeply about things...To listen to Him, His Words do not just go in one ear and out the other...When I read about Him in the gospels, it seems to me He wants a reaction from the conversations He has with people...And when I first read the Bible I missed that aspect about how He affected others, when He spoke with them...
When Jesus interacts with people the conversations are just different and unique...His conversations are very much worth looking at...Jesus gets arrested and is taken to the High Priest...When Jesus is questioned by the High Priest, the High Priest waits and waits for an answer from Him...Jesus remains silent before He gives an answer to him...The High Priest must wonder why is this criminal waiting to answer me?...Doesn't He know I am of authority?...Jesus really doesn't seen to try to defend Himself...Then Jesus, finally, says to the High Priest and tells everyone (and the world) that He is, in fact, the Son of the Blessed One -the Son of God...The High Priest so upset, tears his clothes...The High Priest has much to say if Jesus will live or die, yet He is silent and not rushing to give out any answers...Next He is taken to Pilate...And His very life is on the line...Pilate questions Him...Jesus calmly answers Pilate by saying He is in fact a King, and He really is a King from another Kingdom, and that Kingdom is from another place...He then says that He is born and came into this world is to testify to the Truth...Everyone on the side of Truth listens to Him...He is about to die, and He seems to want Pilate to think about is He really a King and ponder on what Truth means to him...Pilate is the judge and jury of Jesus...He has the ability to set Him free, if he wishes...Jesus fate (at least His earthly fate) depends on the High Priest and Pilate...Yet, it is Jesus who has made both the High Priest and Pilate think about Him and what He has said to them...It is as if Jesus is in charge (and He is)...The High Priest and Pilate do not and cannot see who He is...
And as we know Jesus met a woman in Samaria during His travels and teachings, and she was a Samaritan woman...And the Jews were not supposed to interact with Samaritans, let alone Samaritan women...And this woman had problems and a troubles in her life...She was an outcast...Again the interaction and conversation with her about her previous five husbands and her tainted past is opened up by Jesus...And He makes her think...But she listens intently to Him...It is a much troubled woman, who listens to Him, and then blurts out the Grand Answer "Could this be the Messiah?"...The One who we have all awaited to hear and see and He is with me -she must be thinking...A very great time to be this troubled Samaritan Woman...
In Jesus conversations with these three, He told the High Priest that He was the Son of the Blessed One...He told Pilate He was a King and had a Kingdom of Another World, and He came to tell others and teach them the Truth...He told the Samaritan woman that He was the Messiah...All three knew what He was implying about Himself...
Three people meet the most important Man to walk out earth...Two great men, the prominent High Priest of all of Israel and the ruling Governor over Israel and one Samaritan woman with a troubled life and a troubled past...And the troubled outcast recognizes that He is the Messiah, the One who was to come...The other two really just do not believe...How odd, how contrasting and counter to what we believe should and would happen, and somewhat of a paradox...The educated and smart ones could not see what the Samaritan had seen and felt -and what she saw and felt was Greatness...
If one believes in God, then one might expect He would do things differently from us and have us think about His Father...