Mid-week Lent #4

March 17, 2007

Scripture Readings: Harmony of the Passion History

Hymns: 149; 721; 153; 534

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. The word of God taken for our meditation today is taken from the account of our Savior’s passion recorded in the Gospel of Luke chapter 22, verses 66-71:66 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 also ask you, you will by no means answer 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.”

Theme: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth!

In the name of our Savior Jesus, who committed no sin, yet suffered for us – Dear Fellow Redeemed,

This year during our Lenten services we are considering certain questions from the passion history in connection with the beatitudes. These short verses were spoken by Jesus near the beginning of His ministry. In the beatitudes Jesus describes sprit-produced qualities of the follower of Christ and the blessings of being watchful, righteous, merciful, humble, trusting, courageous, and even oppressed. We have seen the failures of Peter, James and John, Judas, and Peter again. But we have also seen the victory of Jesus over each of those failures. Christ was watchful, completely righteous, and full of mercy which He put into action for our salvation. This afternoon our focus will be on humility - both failure and success. We will see the arrogance and self-righteousness of Caiaphas and the Jewish leaders who accusingly asked the Lenten question “Are You then the Son of God?” The arrogant attitude of these men is a stark contrast to the humility we find in Christ who told His followers: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” May the Holy Spirit grant us meekness toward others and humility to trust in the Christ the Son of God - our Savior. Amen.

Our justice system was built upon the idea that a person is innocent until proven guilty. It was set up with checks and balances in order to try to ensure that justice would prevail. But in spite of these checks and balances in our legal system, we sometimes find that justice has not prevailed. We hear of defense attorneys getting their guilty clients off on a technicality. We also hear of over-ambitious district attorneys covering up evidence in order to get a conviction - even if the person convicted is really innocent. In high profile cases we hear of witnesses being bribed, and juries being tampered with. When we hear of such situations, we probably feel that our justice system has failed, and it may even cause us to question the “justice” of our justice system.

Today we are going to be reviewing the justice of a very high profile case. This is a case which, although it took place almost 2,000 years ago, has a verdict that directly affects every person that has ever lived and will ever live. When we read the inspired transcripts of this courtroom scene, we might at first think that this trial was a disgrace to the legal system and that in this case, justice was overthrown. And while this trial was a complete disgrace, a closer look will show that it was really a victory.

First, let’s consider our theme: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” What is meekness? In our English language the word meek has both a positive and negative usage. It can mean humble, or it can mean cowardly. But in Scripture the word “meek” is only used in a positive sense. In Scripture, meekness describes the quality of enduring suffering, loss or ridicule patiently and without resentment or retaliation. While the world sees meekness as a bad quality which indicates weakness, Jesus tells us that meekness is a good quality, and one which brings great blessings.

In our study of Christ’s passion today we will again see Christ as our example and also as our substitute. Christ demonstrates what meekness is by willingly submitting to the abuse, suffering and death inflicted upon Him by the Jewish leaders. We will also see the lack of humility on the part of the Jewish leaders who by their arrogance failed to see Jesus for who He really was: their King and their Savior.

When we consider the events surrounding our text it is apparent that the checks and balances of the Jewish justice system were being abused in the trial of Jesus. Jewish law demanded that all trials be held during daylight hours. This was to assure that justice be upheld. Why would something like this take place at night? The reason for doing something like this at night is because people don’t want others to know that it is taking place. This was the case in Jesus’ trial before the Jewish leaders, which is recorded in our text. As we heard last week, the Jews came and arrested Jesus in the middle of the night. Then they led Him away to be tried, not the next morning, but immediately - while it was still night. They were doing this under the cloak of darkness, when those who may be brought in to defend Jesus would be sleeping in their homes, unaware that Jesus was on trial. John tells us that after the trial before Caiaphas was over, they took Jesus to the Praetorium, “and it was early morning” (John 18:28).

But there was more abuse: The Jewish law also demanded that in cases involving the death sentence, two trials be held - conducted at least a day apart, once again to insure justice. As we heard in our reading of the harmony of the Passion History, there were two trials, a preliminary trial conducted at the home of Annas, and another short trial before the whole council in the early hours of the morning. But they were not seeking justice. They had already determined the outcome of this trial before Jesus was ever accused, or witnesses ever spoken to. The High Priest Caiaphas had said not many days before, “it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:50). They thought that by killing Jesus, they were looking out for the people, and themselves. So they felt that it was alright for them to bend some of their laws in order to save the whole nation.

But the abuses continued. Mark tells us, “Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.” The Jewish leaders were seeking a one sided story. They weren’t interested in giving Jesus a fair trial where witnesses would be brought in to support Him and His teaching. They were only looking for evidence which would condemn Jesus, evidence that they had been trying to trick Jesus into all week long.

But the witnesses were useless. Jesus was not convicted of a crime, because He was guilty of breaking no law. He was perfect, holy, sinless. For “Christ also suffered for us, ‘Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:21-23). There was no reason for Jesus to reply to the charges brought against Him because His innocence had been proven by the contradictions of the false witnesses.

Finally, Caiaphas asks Jesus, “Are You then the Son of God?” No matter what they tried, they could not condemn Jesus, not even with the lies of false accusations. Jesus could have been silent here as well, but He knew that it was necessary that He be condemned. So Jesus spoke the truth knowing that this would be used to condemn Him. To this Jesus replied, “You rightly say that I am.” His condemnation was necessary in order for God’s Justice to be achieved. In spite of all the lies, Jesus through His meekness remained the victor! Through the false accusation of blasphemy, Jesus was condemned to death and was sent to Pilate to carry out the sentence of death on a cross. But through that death sentence Jesus would bring about God’s justice. His innocent condemnation was necessary to make the full payment for our sins, and through His innocent death He has attained our eternal salvation.

Our Lenten question “Are You then the Son of God?” was not asked by Caiaphas because he really wanted to know. His mind was already made up. He was already convinced that Jesus was not the Son of God. Jesus told Caiaphas, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe.” This question was asked in arrogance and unbelief. As sinful human beings we can only see Jesus as our Savior through Spirit-produced meekness and faith. We first have to be humbled by the Law which tells us that we are corrupt and full of sin. This must be done by a true understanding of ourselves and the sin that is in us. We will not come to this conclusion by looking at others and comparing ourselves to them. If we compare ourselves to others we will look around and our pride will always find greater sin in others, and make us feel that we aren’t as bad as God’s Law or our conscience says we are. Jesus describes that feeling in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. The pharisee was eager to compare himself to others - making himself feel better about his own sin. This lack of humility leads people to believe that they are good enough on their own, and that they have no need for a Savior from their sins. But true meekness requires recognizing our sin for what it is, humbling ourselves before God, and asking God to be merciful to me a sinner.

If these Jewish leaders had searched the Scriptures carefully they would have seen that Jesus was telling the truth, they would have seen how the Old Testament which they held so dear pointed them directly to Jesus as their Messiah, the very Son of God. But they weren’t concerned with the truth. They were only concerned about themselves.

The meekness and humility which receives Christ as the Son of God cannot be produced on our own, but is produced by God. When Peter made his confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). Thanks be to God for bringing us to know our sin, understand its consequence, and trust in Christ for deliverance! Through the working of the Spirit may we continue to have that meekness which trusts in Christ.

Jesus says: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth!” What does He mean when He says they will “inherit the earth”? Even though Jesus speaks of the earth, He is not describing an event that will take place on this earth, or in our earthly lives. In the beatitudes Jesus is pointing His followers to the blessings that will be theirs in eternity, as a result of His work on our behalf. In this verse Jesus is describing the blessing of inheriting the kingdom of heaven which Peter describes saying: “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwell” (2 Peter 3:13).

In our Lenten meditation today we have considered meekness. We have seen Christ as our great example as He patiently bore the unjust judgment of the Jewish leaders without complaint. With Christ as our example and with the help of the Holy Spirit may we also bear our crosses patiently and without retaliation. Thank God that through Spirit-produced humility you have been brought not to ask “Are You then the Son of God?”, but to confess it as truth. Because Christ willingly went to the cross as the sinner’s substitute we have been redeemed from our sin and its result of death. In Christ, be confident that you will inherit the new heavens and new earth where righteousness will dwell, forever. Amen.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Nathanael Mayhew