Binding Jesus

By Scott K. Miller

July 6, 2026

Mark 15:1 …in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus….

While reading the Scriptures one morning, these two words astonished me. As any Bible reader, I know that you have also read these words; yet there are times when certain phrases seem to intrigue us.

Jesus bound. The very thought of the Creator being bound or restrained by the creature is incredible! Of course, we know that He allowed this to occur to fulfill the Scriptures. When Peter took out his sword to “protect” the Saviour, his misguided weapon cut off Malchus’s ear instead. Jesus instructed him:

Matthew 26:53-54 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

While there was a reason for Christ’s past binding, many people still bind Him today.  How?

Psalm 78 rehearses the story of God’s wrath against His people. They saw how God, after Moses smote the rock, provided streams in the wilderness; yet they turned around and spoke against Him by asking: “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness…Can He provide flesh for His people?” Ps. 78:19-20. Verse 22 states that they believed not in God.

Unbelief binds God.  Matthew 13:58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

God is able to do great and mighty things—things beyond what we can ask or think—if we will allow Him to by believing.

Are you binding Jesus in your life today? It’s time to repent of your unbelief and see that He is able to do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Eph. 3:20.

Reflection—Unbind Jesus by believing.