Darrell Loomis was a long haul trucker with a route that ran from Cincinnati to Atlanta. One summer day he stopped for lunch at his favorite eating place in Tennessee. He sat down at the counter and ordered his usual: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and iced tea. About that time there was a roar out in the parking lot, and in walked 12 members of a motorcycle gang. They had parked their Harleys right next to Darrell's 18- wheeler. As they came into the diner, the ringleader looked over at Darrell and sneered. "Hey, guys, look at this. I wonder who told this sissy he had our permission to eat in this joint." Darrell didn't pay any attention to him. He just kept right on eating his meatloaf. The other miscreants gathered around Darrell and began to taunt him. One got mad because Darrell wouldn't respond, so he picked up Darrell's iced tea and poured it over his head. Darrell just dried his face with his napkin and said nothing. Another guy took the mashed potatoes off the plate and crammed them in Darrell's ear, laughing all the while. Darrell calmly continued eating until he had finished his lunch. Without saying a word, he paid his bill and left. The gang leader laughed uproariously, "What a wimp! That guy sure ain't much of a man!" The owner of the diner looked out the front window and replied, "Well, maybe not, but he ain't much of a driver either. He just ran over 12 Harleys." Darrell Loomis was a victim, but he was also a victor. What began with defeat ended, for him, in triumph. While we would be careful not to promote vigilante behavior, Darrell’s response, his cautious, controlled reply has a certain similarity with how Christ responds in our passage this morning. For Christ what begins with the Cross ends in the Crown; what at first appears hopeless changes to conquest. This transformation from victim to victor is what Matthew’s gospel presents. Where defeat appears most certain, God’s final judgment and ensuing victory are guaranteed. In Matthew 26:57-68 we are told of the late-night inquisition by the Jewish leaders. Because of Judas’s betrayal Jesus is captured. Once in their custody the leaders are determined to create charges sufficient that their Roman overlords will agree to the death penalty. As an occupied country the Jews were allowed to maintain their court system, but capital crimes could only be punished by Rome. If they wanted rid of this rabble-rouser once and for all it would be necessary to find just the right crime.
The events in this passage are a series of responses. Peter responds to his bragging of never leaving Jesus by following at a distance. The leaders respond to the threat of Jesus’s popularity with fear and Jesus responds to the threat of death at the hands of the Sandhedrin and the Romans with silence. PETER’S RESPONSE (Verse 58). While Jesus’s life hung in the balance in the courtroom, Peter hid out in the courtyard. Just a few hours before he swore allegiance to follow Jesus to death, now he hides like a curious coward awaiting the results of the investigation. Next week we’ll look more closely at how this distant disciple responds to the pressure of his hopes being shattered. But right now we have a clear picture of fear overshadowing faith. He was reduced to a spectator. No doubt there is some bravery as he ventures so close, hiding out with the guards whom he attacked back in Gethsemane. But his prayerless bravery of the garden is now reduced to huddling by a fire, awaiting the outcome. He is nothing more than a compromised disciple. Soon that compromise will challenge what little discipline is left in this disciple. SANHEDRIN’S RESPONSE (Verses 59-63). What is the Sanhedrin? Matthew tells us that after Jesus was arrested He was taken to Caiaphas’s house where the chief priests and the Sanhedrin interrogated Him. The Sanhedrin was the Supreme Court of Israel, consisting of the High Priest serving as its President. Under the High Priest’s oversight there were three groups, each consisting of 23 men. The Sadduccean priests, whose anti-supernaturalistic presuppositions lead them to reject much of the Scripture, were the political elite of the day and in league with the Roman overlords. Another 1/3 came from the same group of Sadduccean political insiders who were not priests but wealthy land owners. A final third were lay ministers and bible teachers whose commoner background and pietistic bent landed them the name the “pure ones." We know them as the Pharisees. What are they trying to do? This is not so much a trial as it is an inquisition. We may be able to identify this with a Grand Jury investigation hearing if there is sufficient evidence to proceed with a trial. The prosecutor holds all the cards and the person questioned has little opportunity to defend himself. In this situation Caiahphas, the High Priest, is not so much interested in compiling evidence as he is in manipulating the process to be rid of Jesus once and for all. All this, is done under the protection of the stealth of night. The Sanhedrin was under pressure. Earlier they concluded it best to wait until after the Feast of the Passover before killing Jesus for fear of the mob. Judas enabled them to arrest Jesus at night, away from the crowds, but now they faced a deadline. In 18 hours the High Sabbath would begin and in that time they had to be certain Jesus would be found guilty and executed; otherwise, they would have to wait until Sunday, giving the masses time to become agitated at their subversive plans. If the laws outlined in the Mishnah were applicable at this time, they had to have some time during the night between their decision that He deserved death and the final vote to execute. To wait until the sunrise would add another day to the time table. Another deadline was Pilate. Roman occupation meant they only they had the authority to execute and they would not do so for religious crimes. They had to determine a suitable crime for the Romans to follow through. So the pressure was mounting. Now was their time to strike, but they were unable to get two witnesses to agree as the Law demanded. While they were twisting the law with regard to evidence, they sought to maintain some semblance of justice in order to kill Jesus. They prostituted justice as they first resolved to ruin Jesus and then seek the proper means of effecting that end. Without evidence they declare him a criminal and then seek some law He could have broken. But they find nothing. But then they finally found two to agree on a charge that would be sufficient This is close to what He said, but not quite. In John 2:19 Jesus does not claim that He will destroy the temple, but that they would destroy the temple and that He would raise it up in three days. He does not claim to rebuild but to raise and He was talking not of the temple structure, but of Himself. What was remembered by these witnesses was warped enough to be based in the truth, but enough to be considered a sufficient threat to their faith. Why did this bring such joy? It was outrageous and not enough for the death penalty. But in demeaning the temple, it would appear that He maligned God. While temple desecration was a universal crime in ancient culture, the threat is insufficient for death. But in this statement Caiaphas saw his loophole. To attack the temple was to attack God. In so doing Caiaphas understood that Jesus was placing Himself above the temple and on par with God Himself. With these two witnesses now in agreement, he took the next step. Caiaphas stood up, his agitation evident as the High Priest was never to rise from his chair during the proceedings, and demanded Jesus to answer by means of putting Him under an oath: "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." The trap was set. There was no fifth amendment, no opportunity to refuse. If He denied He is the Messiah, the Son of God, He would be lying. But to tell the truth would enable them to charge Him with blasphemy. JESUS’S RESPONSE (Verse 64). What does Jesus’ answer mean? “Yes, but let me explain.” He is saying, in effect, “I would not have put it that way, but since you do I cannot deny it.” or “Yes, but not as you think.” The lack of clarity is not the wishy-washy ramblings of someone too afraid to commit, or a politician needing to protect every word, but rather He need to redefine who the Christ is, what the Messiah is all about. This response is the speech Jesus gives before being nailed to the Cross, but in these words He clarifies who He is and what His work is all about. While throughout the gospel His identity is largely veiled to all except the disciples, now at the final hour He is clear. "In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." When will they see this? When will these leaders ever witness this? It is important to look more closely at His response. His answer comes in two parts. What the NIV translates as “in the future” means “from now on.” What the Jewish leaders do not understand about the Messiah which Jesus seeks to correct is that this Son of Man is one and the same as the one who sits at the right hand of God. They conceive of the Messiah in terms of power and authority, but before that comes the Suffering Servant, the sacrificial Lamb. The power of God will be displayed before their eyes in a form they do not expect, in a way we too often read only as tragedy and not in terms of victory. The suffering of Jesus, the mockings, scourgings, trials, cross, nails, blood - all this is the means by which the incarnate God will take His place at the right hand of the Mighty God. It is only through these sufferings that Jesus will then ascend and be seated. Being seated at the right hand of God points to a unique position held only by God the Son. What He describes can in no way be attributed to any man. To claim the position at the right hand of the Mighty One, literally - The Power - Jesus’ claim of deity is clear. This position is the place of power and authority. Jesus here quotes from Psalm 110 where David speaks of Yahweh speaking to Adonai - "Sit at my right hand." The Sandhedrin understood this passage to refer to the Messiah as the ruler of all the earth. This place of authority is made more clear as Jesus continues by quoting from Daniel 7:13. Here again Jesus describes Himself as one who receives that which belongs exclusively to God: authority, glory, sovereign power and worship of all people. As Jesus moves through His humiliation, His suffering, He is clear that while He may be the victim He will be the victor. He is, however, the victim not of these evil men, but the sacrifice of the Father and for that reason can be certain that by the Father’s good pleasure He will then be victorious. The Cross is not just an aspect of His life; it is the gateway to the Crown. What the Cross and Crown means for those who listen to Him depends all on whether they will repent and believe. Like Darrell Loomis, He is now quiet, but Judgment Day is coming. At this point they see the Messiah in His humiliation and they refuse to believe, but when He comes again in glory, then it will be too late. Judgment will be the only option. Why does Sandhedrin respond as they do? Caiaphas rips his clothes and pronounces blasphemy. With a false zeal and a mask for religion he stirs up the rest of the Sanhedrin to agree that Jesus is worthy of death. With that they spit on His face. Spitting on someone is a vile form of repudiation. Our word “empty” comes from the Greek word here “emptuo" - to spit. By emptying their spit onto His face they pronounce Him to be an empty King, a phony with no authority. They punch and back-hand His face. Mark tells us He was blindfolded and here it is assumed, for with each hit they ask him: “Who hit you?” They are so certain that His claims of superiority over their temple are false, that His assertion to be the Messiah is wrong, they test His powers to tell them what He can not otherwise see. What they do not realize is that in denying His position as Messiah, He fulfills the very truths about the Messiah when the prophet Isaiah spoke of the suffering endured by the Messiah; he said: “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7) Jesus said nothing not because He was worthy of their condemnation, nor was He confused but because the time had come for Him to take on the sin of His people. He took on the reproach, the curses that are due to us. He was silent before His accusers so that we may have something to say to our Accuser, that His silence means our life. But how does all this apply to us? OUR RESPONSE (1 PETER 2:18-25). What do we do when we are faced with suffering? God’s law is clear: We are called to submit. This kind of response is not something we do very willingly. We want to stand up for ourselves; we want the other to know when he is out of line. But verse 21 gives us a powerful wake-up call to our proclivity to demanding our rights. When it comes to suffering, this is what we are called to. Christ suffered and so must we. But as He suffered He has left us an example. This word “example” was a schooling term. It referred the way a teacher would faintly write a letter and the child was then to copy the movements. We do this still today. Creativity is not wanted at this point: Follow the lines, make a copy, trace the lines. That is what Christ desires of us. He has suffered and His suffering serves as the pattern for ours. Peter then takes us back to Isaiah 53:9 and what happened early that morning when Jesus was on trial. Despite all His suffering He made no threats. Instead He only placed His life in the Father’s hands who will judge justly. There is something we can follow verse 23; in suffering we keep our mouths shut. How are we to respond to the jerks in our lives? The answer here is simple: nothing. Keep your mouth shut and let God deal with it. Jesus’s response in His final hours as He was forced to suffer the insults, the spit in the face, the fists - that is to be our response as well. No excuses, no defense. How well do you do with this? What is your response to persecution, to pressure, to bothersome people? I don’t know about you, but I blow. It may not be right away; I may simmer a bit, but there will come that point when I boil over. When I do, watch out. What does this passage have to say about it when I lose my cool, when my temper flares, when I say or do something that I’ll regret later (even if the revenge feels rather good)? It is sin. I break God’s law because it denies that simple truth of verse 21 that as believers we have been called to suffer. Verse 23 is what we are to do, but there is more. There is, however, something we can not do - verses 24-25. We follow in obedience to the point that we see it was our sins He bore on the tree, that we were the ones going astray. Here we find the answer to our inability to obey and suffer. When we do not obey verse 23 perfectly, there is verse 24: He bore our sins in His body. Why? So that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, so that we might cease trying to defend ourselves and learn the hard lesson of trusting God in suffering. The popular reminder that is imprinted on bracelets and T-shirts, WWJD, focuses on the first part. But just following Jesus’s example goes only so far. What is needed is WDJD. Following Jesus always leads us to see our sin and His grace. We need grace to follow. We're not able to do it alone; no reminder or coaxing will ever be enough. Just pumping ourselves up by reminding ourselves to obey is never enough. We need grace, given from God to us, received by faith, grace that we receive as we partake of the Lord’s Supper. |
