66 As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying, 67 “If You are the Christ, tell us.”
But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe. 68 And if I [a]also ask you, you will by no means answer [b]Me or let Me go. 69 Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.”
70 Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?”
So He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.”
71 And they said, “What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”
Luke 22:66-71
Jesus faces the Sanhedrin. Emboldened by His arrest and captivity, the Sanhedrin confronts and accuses Jesus yet again. No more pretense or trick questions here, what they ask now they already know the answers to but deny the truth. Is Jesus the Christ? Yes. Would that truth change them, make them believe, or let Him go? Of course not.
Their love of power far exceeded any fear of God here. They had seen and heard of all His signs and wonders, they saw, actively allowed, and aided in the fulfillment of prophecy… but all their wicked and hardened hearts desired was that last confession that Jesus is the Son of God. Then they could find comfort in their legalism as it justified their crime.