THE DECISION
Who is Jesus?
We get a
little nervous when we see specials on TV that declare they are going to
explore the historical Jesus. A&E or History Television, from time to time,
will present some radical or controversial aspect of Christ’s life. Underlying
these documentaries is the intention to get at the real life of Jesus, who he
was, what he did, while stripping him of the evangelical clothes or the
Christian legend. That’s where we grow nervous; what kind of Jesus will they
present?
History
cannot get away from the fact that Jesus impacted the world in a profound and
unforgettable way. Even H. G. Wells declared, “I am an historian, I am not a
believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from
Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the
most dominant figure in all history.”
However,
simply being the greatest figure in history is not enough to describe Jesus. He
was much more than that; he presented himself as more than that. Thomas Shultz
said, “Not one recognized religious leader, not Moses, Paul, Buddha, Mohammed,
Confucius, etc., has ever claimed to be God; that is, with the exception of
Jesus Christ. Christ is the only religious leader who has ever claimed to be
deity and the only individual ever who has convinced a great portion of the
world that He is God.”
Jesus is
presently on trial. He is being judged by the world and found to be a fraud, a
charlatan, a con-artist, a lunatic, a menace, impossible to live up to, and a
host of other descriptions. Some of you here today may still have Jesus on the
examining table. You have believed in him but are still testing him to see if
he is reliable. Some of you believe without a doubt that Jesus is the most
significant person in your life. Jesus is being judged by humankind, yet one
day he will come to judge humankind on the basis of what they thought of him.
Who is Jesus?
1. Jesus is abused by men
In our text today (Luke 22:63-71), we are introduced to
the cruel fury of humankind. It is inexplicable that the men, the police as it
were, who were guarding Jesus after his arrest in the garden, would begin
beating and mocking him. Why? What caused these men to unleash their crudest
feelings on Jesus? “They blindfolded him
and demanded, ‘Prophesy! Who hit you?’” (64). Then they insulted him.
When we
look back to how Jesus entered Jerusalem a few days prior, we see Jesus
throwing tables around in the temple. But we also see a meek and mild Jesus
taking the time to care for people. The blind and the lame came to him at the
temple, and he healed them. He spoke powerful and loving words to the people
that set them free.
Oddly
enough, this did not sit well with everyone. Matthew tells us, “But when the chief priests and the teachers
of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the
temple area, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant,” (Mt
21:14). Yes the table turning and the claim of royalty were upsetting, but it
wasn’t that which upset the priests. Something about Jesus created controversy.
If a man
came into our foyer during this service and healed a few people and they
started shouting “hallelujah” and praising God, we might find that disrupting
and upsetting, and we might ask that healer to leave. Can you imagine? Jesus
was kind of doing that in the temple.
On the
other hand, I was at a Jets game the other night and heard Christ’s name being
thrown about as a curse. I don’t know what Christ’s name had to do with the
temperature of beer but even his name is abused in our public places. We don’t
hear, “O for Buddha’s sake.”
Jesus
draws either the praise of men and women or the abuse. He is a polarizing
character. The guards abused him, mocked him, spit on him, played games at his
expense, and mimicked him. Why would a gentle man like this draw abuse?
2. Jesus is judged by the elders
The trial of Jesus began in the dark of night. What is
not immediately apparent to us is that midnight trials are illegal. This is why
we read, “At daybreak the council of the
elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met
together…” (66). With the sun up the real trial, if it can be called that,
began.
This is
the Sanhedrin, a council of 71 members with the high priest serving as its
leader. It was made up of Sadducees, Pharisees, middle-class laymen and wealthy
men. Jesus was not being tried by a mob or by revolutionary upstarts. Behind
this court lay a tradition of righteousness superior to anything the world had
ever seen. Behind this court lay the prophets God had sent, the covenants, the
Holy Scriptures, the sacrifices and offerings. Behind it lay the Ten
Commandments. Behind it lay all the examples of case law and grieved over
prophets whom God had sent, whom their fathers had murdered. These were top
lawyers of Israel, skillful, learned and discerning.
And yet,
for all their experience and learning, they could not see who was sitting
before them. Earlier, Jesus had said, “though
seeing, they may not see; though hearing they may not understand,” (Lk
8:10). That describes even today why some do not recognize Jesus. They just
can’t see him.
So they
ask him, “If you are the Messiah, tell
us,” (67). This is not a query for faith’s sake; they want to know so as to
convict him.
Jesus
answered, “If I tell you, you will not
believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer.” This is a similar
situation as back in ch. 20:1-8 where they ask Jesus how he got his authority.
Jesus turned this question on them and said, “Where did John’s baptism come
from?” It doesn’t matter how Jesus answers the question, they won’t believe it.
So why bother answering? Some people don’t want to know the truth.
However,
Jesus goes on, and what he says next seals his fate. “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of
the mighty God,” (69). As Jesus is being judged, he declares that he will
be at the right hand of the power of God judging them. He refers to the Daniel
7 image of the Son of Man which is pregnant with meaning. It was not a crime to
claim to be the Messiah; history reveals plenty of those that didn’t get
convicted. Jesus is claiming here that he is able to go directly into God’s
presence and rule at the divinity’s side from heaven. This is worse than
defiling the Holy of Holies. Jesus is offending their sense of God’s holiness.
He is claiming something no man has ever claimed.[i]
3. Jesus is accused of heresy
Luke records the question simply, “Are you then the Son of God?” (70). Matthew adds a detail, “The
high priest said to him, “I charge you
under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God,”
(Mt 26:63).
Witnesses
proved useless. Jesus won’t talk. Finally, Caiaphas, the high priest, forces
Jesus under oath to tell the truth. This is pretty humiliating. Imagine that a
man who has dated a woman for two years decides it’s time to marry. He declares
his love for her and proposes. She says, “I don’t believe you. Put your hand on
a Bible and swear to me that you love me.” That is distrust. That is suspicion.
That’s how Caiaphas treated Jesus. Caiaphas was saying, “I don’t believe that
throughout your life you and your Father have been one. I don’t believe that
you are the Messiah of truth sent by the God of light into the world.”[ii]
He doesn’t want to know the truth. Caiaphas just wants to condemn him.
But
Caiaphas asks the most important question ever asked. Feminists ask why Jesus
only chose men for his twelve. The gay community asks if homosexuality is
really a sin. Post-modernists question the absolutism of the Scriptures.
Evolutionists question the origin of creation. But the more fundamental
question that supersedes all questions is this: Is Jesus the Son of God? Did
God the Creator, the One and true living God, send Jesus into the world to
bring his children out of darkness and into the light? If you answer “yes” you
have found the starting point for the answer to all those other questions. We
must always come back to Jesus.
Jesus
answers Caiaphas, “You are right in
saying I am,” (70b). This is a roundabout way of saying “yes.” In effect,
Jesus really says, “I will not deny it, but I would mean it a little
differently from the way you mean it.” Jesus has admitted to claiming to be the
Son of God. Ghandi revered Jesus as a great moral teacher; many admire him for
his way of life; Jesus has changed history. But you cannot stop there; the
claim of Jesus to be the Son of God will not let you. Either Jesus is the Son
of God or some kind of mad man and deceiver. You can spit at him, or you can
fall down before him and call him Lord and God. But he is not just some
teacher.
4. Jesus is condemned for being Jesus
Following Jesus’ admission to being the Son of God, the
elders said, “Why do we need any more
testimony? We have heard from his own lips,” (71). Matthew’s gospel adds
details again. The high priest, Caiaphas, tore his clothes and cried out, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any
more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”
(Mt 26:65-68).
The
answer from the council? “He is worthy of death.” Oddly again, they start
hitting him again. Yes, he is confessing to be the Son of God. You call it
blasphemy. But why hit him and spit on him and mock him again. Put him away in
an asylum. But why lose control of all senses and logic? Why do they act like
animals?
Remember
what Jesus prayed in the garden? “Father, not my will but yours be done.” This
is it. This is the Father’s will. The Father’s will is that Jesus be handed
over to the insanity of men controlled by their sinful natures and to be
treated like the prophets of old. Jesus has identified with the prophets who
were before him. He had to be rejected and be killed. This is the Father’s
will. It goes against all human logic, but there it is.
The high
priest tore his robes. This is a sign of despair before the Lord, a sin
actually, because the priest’s robe was designed never to tear. A priest must
never despair before the Lord and tear his clothes (Ex 28:31-32).
We see
this despair in the lives of our friends and family who just can’t seem to
grasp Jesus. We grieve their rejection of Christ and wonder why their eyes are
blind to the Savior. But as Paul says, we were once like them (Eph 2).
Even now
we are guilty of taking our eyes off of Jesus and fail to see him. I read this
week that we tend to look at our sins and mourn the long list of transgressions
we have committed. The writer says it is not the sins we ought to grieve but
the fact that we have offended a holy God. Our God is the focus, not our sins.
And when we grasp who Jesus is, we find the One who died for our sins and
cancelled them.
Jesus is
condemned for being Jesus. If Jesus is who he says he is, then we have to
confess our sins and call him Lord and God.
Conclusion
“But what about
you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15-16).
You must
also answer the question: Who do you think Jesus is?
Jesus is
not merely a good teacher.
Jesus is
not an insurance policy against hell. Salvation is sometimes viewed as a
reservation in heaven. If believing in Jesus is only about heaven and eternal
life when we die, then living as a Christian in the present is futile.
If Jesus
is the Son of God, then a decision needs to be made. You and I must give him
the space in our lives to be the Lord of all we do and think and say. All we
plan and work at are under his authority then. If Jesus is the Son of God and
you choose to believe this and confess this, He will change your whole way of
life. This is called discipleship.
Philip
Yancey, in his book The Jesus I Never
Knew, wrote “It occurs to me that all the contorted theories about Jesus
that have been spontaneously generating since the day of his death merely confirm
the awesome risk God took when he stretched himself out on the dissection
table—a risk he seemed to welcome. Examine me. Test me. You decide” (JNK, 21).
Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me," (Luke 9:23). That means a daily decision to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. When you wake up each morning - Jesus is Lord.
AMEN
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