What does Luke 22:69 mean?

Jesus is at His third trial in the span of several hours, but the first which is legal. The Sanhedrin has been called; those who tried Jesus illegally during the night are trying to get Him to incriminate Himself again. At the previous trial, they gathered witnesses to accuse Him of blasphemy, but none of the witnesses' testimonies agreed (Mark 14:55–59). Jesus did admit to being the Messiah (Matthew 26:63–64); now, they need Him to repeat that claim before the whole council.

They ask Jesus if He is the Christ. He responds, "If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer" (Luke 22:67–68). His words reveal that as they are putting Him on trial, He is doing the same to them. They refuse to acknowledge their Messiah and are therefore guilty of blasphemy. Now, Jesus shows how deeply wrong they are. They aren't just rejecting their Messiah; they're rejecting their God.

Jesus knows He must walk the road to the cross, so He gives them what they need. He has referred to Himself as "the Son of Man" throughout His public ministry. It's possible He did so to point out that He is fully man, a representation of humanity, much like how God used the term to refer to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:1). Here, however, Jesus assumes the full meaning, the prophecy of Daniel 7:13–14:

"I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed."

The accusers see their chance. They think Jesus has committed blasphemy by claiming to sit at God's right hand; in their eyes, this denigrates God's status as transcendent. Now they go in for the kill by asking Jesus if He is the Son of God; He uses a common expression to agree (Luke 22:70). This is what they need: not only is He claiming equality with their God, but He's claiming equality with—even superiority over—the emperor.