“SCENES OF HIS SUFFERING: THE HIGH PRIEST'S HOUSE”
Midweek Lenten Worship III
March 2, 2016
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
Then they seized [Jesus] and led Him away, taking Him into the High
Priest’s house.
Luke 22:54 (ESV)
On the past two Wednesday evenings we accompanied our Savior to the
upper room and to the garden. Tonight we observe His first trial as
He stands before the religious authorities of His people. Tonight
Jesus is on trial before the church, so to speak. The Sanhedrin was
the “supreme court” for religious matters among the Jews. It was made
up of seventy respected and prominent men: priests, rabbis, and
laymen. We know that among those seventy there were at least two who
were secret followers of Jesus: Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who
later buried Jesus in Joseph’s tomb. Tonight Jesus faces those who
are charged with carrying out the Law of God among the Jewish people
of His time and place. In order to truly appreciate what is going on
here, we first must understand what Jesus is up against. If ever a
trial were one-sided, this is the one. If ever the deck were stacked
against a defendant in a court of law, it is here. Jesus is first
taken to Annas, who had no business passing judgment on Him or even
questioning Him. Annas was nothing more than a former High Priest who
happened to be the father-in-law of the current High Priest. Finally
Jesus is taken to Caiaphas, the legitimate High Priest. But Caiaphas
holds court with just a few hand-picked members of the Sanhedrin,
waiting until morning to get the whole council to “rubber stamp” the
judgment that he has already made. Caiaphas’ secret meeting takes
place in the middle of the night, under the cover of darkness, as does
all evil work. Everything is done privately, behind the scenes. The
agenda for this meeting is pre-determined: Jesus must be put to death
as a public criminal. It doesn’t really matter what the charge
against Him is. Any charge that works will do. There’s no need to
have an honest hearing of the case or a review of the evidence.
Caiaphas and his cohorts have already decided that the verdict will be
guilty and the sentence will be death, no matter what the charge is or
what the evidence indicates. What we have before us this evening is
nothing more than a legal sham.
Before this kind of court and these kinds of judges the Savior goes
on trial. And what is the verdict? No surprise here. Jesus is
convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death (even though the
Sanhedrin, as a religious body, had no authority to pass judgment and
sentence offenders in capital cases). But there is more than this
going on here. The believing eye of the Christian looks deeper and
sees in this trial what the Savior proves concerning Himself. In His
silence and in His words Jesus proves Himself to be the Fulfillment of
the past and the Hope of the future.
Our Lord proves Himself to be the Fulfillment of the past in that He
is everything that God had promised in a Savior for the world. The
Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah are pretty detailed.
One of these, in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, deals with the
suffering and death of the Messiah. These words seem to take on a new
significance as they are fulfilled in Jesus. As we behold His
majestic silence before this kangaroo court, we see the fulfillment of
Isaiah’s words: “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He
opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and
like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His
mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). Jesus proves Himself to be the despised Servant
of the Lord, who suffers humiliation, pain, and even death--all to
atone for the sin of the world.
Jesus proves Himself to be the Fulfillment of the past not only in
His silence but in His words as well, because He openly identifies
Himself as the Messiah of God. Caiaphas had put Him under the oath of
the testimony and asked Him: “Are You the Christ, the Son of the
Blessed?” (Mark 14:61). To this Jesus replied: “I am, and you will
see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with
the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62). There is much more in this answer
than what immediately meets the ear of the twenty-first century
hearer, because Jesus is here identifying Himself not only as the
promised Messiah, but as God Himself. He applies to Himself the
divine name, I AM--the name revealed by God to Moses from the burning
bush in the book of Exodus. This response of Jesus becomes even more
interesting when you consider the fact that earlier, when Jesus had
miraculously fed the five thousand and the crowd tried to make Him
king by force, He would have no part of it. But now, on trial for His
life and being questioned by one who is looking for any excuse to
condemn Him, Jesus doesn’t deny His divinity, even though His
statement will result in certain condemnation.
In this trial before the religious authorities Jesus shows Himself to
be not only the Fulfillment of the past, but also the Hope of the
future. This is clear from the rest of Jesus’ response to the
questioning of the High Priest. Jesus goes on to say, “You will see
the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the
clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62). He certainly doesn’t mince any words
here. He speaks very clearly and boldly of His future glory. The
story of our Lord and Savior is not something that is confined to a
library of sixty-six books, all written over two thousand years ago.
The story isn’t over yet. In His words to the High Priest He tells us
that He’s coming again with power and glory and warns the High Priest
that He will come again as Judge to make all things right.
This future glory--this second coming of Christ--is our future hope.
It is our future hope because when He comes in majesty, He will summon
to Himself all those who believe in Him. This is our only hope for
deliverance from the difficulties of this world--this “vale of tears,”
or “valley of sorrow” as Luther calls it in his catechism (Small
Catechism, explanation of the Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer).
When the Lord comes back to take us home, nothing will ever come
between the Redeemer and the redeemed. He will take them to Himself,
comforting them and caring for them forever, as John the evangelist
describes it in his Revelation: “The Lamb in the midst of the throne
will be their Shepherd,” he writes, “and He will guide them to springs
of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”
(Revelation 7:17). He who has fulfilled all of God’s promises of the
past will also fulfill all of His promises of the future--the promises
that He makes even now to those who put their trust in Him.
In this trial of our Lord and Savior we hear His silence and His
words. He is silent on His own behalf but He speaks up for us. He
does not deny the charges raised against Him, false though they are.
He is silent before His accusers, His tormentors, His murderers. But
for our sake He breaks His silence, even though the words that He
speaks are sure to seal His fate. The words that He speaks, while
they may be upsetting to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, are welcome words
for us because they give us the comfort of knowing who He is and what
He is all about: the Fulfillment of the past and the Hope of the
future for us.
Amen.
May the One who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
making us kings and priests before His God and Father, lead you to a
life of repentance and trust. May He also be glorified in the lives
of you, His people. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
Amen.