Station Three: Jesus is Condemned by the Sanhedrin
Art
Chaim Soutine, Landscape with Figures-Ceret
Luke 22: 66-71
When day came the council of elders of the people met, both chief priests and scribes, and they brought him before their Sanhedrin. They said, "If you are the Messiah, tell us," but he replied to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I question, you will not respond. But from this time on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God." They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?" He replied to them, "You say that I am." Then they said, "What further need have we for testimony? We have heard it from his own mouth."
Reflection
Frank Mulcahy | Executive Director, Georgia Catholic Conference
As Jesus is judged before the Sanhedrin, his inner landscape and the landscape of the entire universe take on the chaotic quality of Soutine’s landscape. Jesus speaks the truth of his being to a religious authority which refuses to believe and then condemns him for his words. The rejection of belief in the truth also draws the universe back toward the chaos from which the power of God had created all things. Jesus accepts the chaos but looks toward the reality of salvation that comes from his death and resurrection through the power of God.