THE TRIUMPH OF GOD COMES THROUGH HUMAN EVIL

Matthew 26: 47-68

INTRODUCTION

Imagine with me that you are unemployed and looking for a job. You’ve sent out your resume to dozens of employers and have been going to interviews for the last six months. You are my friend and I’ve been praying with you for a job. After church today I excitedly come up to you and tell you that I have found the perfect job for you. I was talking with a friend of mine who owns his own business. He has a position that is exactly what you described to me as your dream job. The salary and benefits are greater than what you’ve told me you need. I gave him your resume and told him what a conscientious worker you are. He called all your references and is very excited to meet you. He has definitely decided to give you this job. If you’ve been unemployed for six months, how are you going to feel at this news? You will be full of joy, even though you do not yet have the job. Your joy will be due to your faith in my word to you. My description of the job and my assurance that the business owner is going to give you a job will be sufficient to create joy where there was sadness and hope where there was discouragement.

It is my aim today, through the description of Jesus Christ in this passage, to give to you joy and hope. It is my prayer that as we consider this record of Jesus’ betrayal, abandonment and trial that our hearts will be filled with joy and hope as we consider the greatness of our Savior. The reason it is my aim is because it is the aim of the Scriptures and of the Holy Spirit. By aiming to set before you the glory of Jesus Christ, I am cooperating with the great work of God’s Spirit through the Scriptures in the world. Paul describes this in 2 Corinthians 4: 4-6. “And even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, has made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” What unbelievers do not see and therefore find no joy in is “the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.” In other words, unbelievers do not see Christ as impressive. They are either indifferent to him or he is only of passing interest. What every believer does see and does rejoice in is, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” In other words, we see in Jesus the revelation of the great love and power of God.

Jonathon Edwards says it like this, “The excellency of Jesus Christ is the suitable food of the rational soul. The soul that comes to Christ feeds upon this, and lives upon it… The delight and contentment that is to be found here passes understanding and is unspeakable and full of glory. It is impossible for those who have tasted of this fountain, and know the sweetness of it, ever to forsake it. The soul has found the river of water of life and it desires no other drink; it has found the tree of life, and it desires no other fruit.” Jesus is the Christian life. The Christian life is not first about moral transformation or about love for people, as important as those are. The Christian life is Christ. He is the center of our attention and our affection. We are on a quest each day to discover more of the glory of Christ. If you are a Christian or if you want to be a Christian, then make it your aim each day to learn more of the majesty of Christ through a careful meditation upon God’s word while asking God for the enabling work of the Spirit to give sight to your eyes and love in your heart.

That is what I aim for us to do this morning. The suffering of the sinless Son of Man for the sins of all those who trust in him is the greatest display of power and love in the universe. It is a display of love and power not only because of what he endures and not only because it was for us. It is also the premiere manifestation of God’s power and love because Christ ordains it. Humans bring this suffering upon Christ but it is the will of God. Humans do evil to Christ because Christ has voluntarily determined that this must be. Jesus is no martyr. He is not at the mercy of wicked men. Wicked men, while they do evil, accomplish Christ’s perfect plan. We know this because of Jesus’ prayer in the garden. This is the will of God, the cup that the Father ordains the Son drink and the Son willingly drinks. We know this is God’s will because twice Jesus says in our passage today that all this is happening because God said it would happen in the Scriptures hundreds of times. As Isaiah 53:10 says, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.” This is the Father’s will for the Son and it is the Son’s will for the Father.

MAIN POINT

Jesus Christ displays his power and love for his people by ordaining and enduring…

I. Human treachery (vv. 47-50)

Jesus and his eleven disciples are in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is the middle of the night. Several hours before this, while they were eating the Passover meal in Jerusalem Jesus had revealed that Judas was the one who would betray him. While none of the eleven disciples understood this is what Jesus said, Judas did. He hurried from the room and quickly went to the house of the chief priest, Caiphas, and informed him that now was the time to arrest Jesus, while he was alone with his eleven men and the rest of the city was indoors, eating the Passover meal. He hurried because he didn’t know how long it would be before the other eleven figured out what was going on. It took some time for the priests to gather the temple guards and a detachment of Roman soldiers. They couldn’t take any chance of the alarm being given to the city. Therefore, they came with overwhelming force. They went first to the room where Jesus and his disciples shared the Passover but they had already left. However, Judas knew where he most likely had gone, to the quiet garden on the slopes of the Mt. of Olives, across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem.

Jesus, surrounded by sleeping disciples, rises from his prayer, strengthened by hope in the glory of God that will be his after his suffering and declares to his men that now is the time of betrayal. At that exact moment, right on time, according to schedule , Judas shows up, being followed by a large crowd of Jewish and Gentile guards and soldiers, armed with clubs and swords to capture the Son of Man. Look at the depth of the treachery revealed here. Judas is “one of the twelve.” Jesus had personally chosen and invited him to come and be his disciple. He had lived in close company with Jesus for three years. How many conversations around the campfire had he experienced? How many miracles had he witnessed? How much love and friendship had Jesus given to him? How many miracles had Judas performed in the name of Jesus? How often had he born witness that the kingdom of God had come near with the arrival of Jesus Christ?

Yet, he abandons and betrays Christ because he doesn’t like the kind of kingdom that Jesus is bringing. He cannot tolerate the thought of losing worldly pleasure for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He wants his pleasure now, not later and so he sells Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Imagine this scene with me. The guards and soldiers are gathered in the courtyard of Caiphas’ house. Caiphas and several of the other members of the Sanhedrin call them together with Judas in the middle. Judas tells them he will reveal to them who Jesus is by kissing him. They march across the Kidron valley and stealthily make their way up the slope of the Mt. of Olives. As they approach the entrance to the olive grove, a soldier is sent ahead to see what is going on. He hears the gentle breathing of the sleeping disciples and sees their slumping silhouettes in the light of the full moon. Upon his return, the mob is arranged behind Judas, with several of the chief priests most trusted servants immediately next to Judas. They rise from their concealment and quickly stride into the garden among the waking disciples as Jesus strides towards the entrance to meet them. Judas hastily walks up to Jesus and says, “Greetings, Rabbi!” He then embraces him and kisses him on both cheeks.

Why did Judas arrange the kiss as the sign? Here we see the greatness of his deceit. He wants to betray Jesus but he doesn’t want Jesus or his disciples to know that he is betraying them. He acts as though he is still the friend of Jesus and that he is not responsible for bringing these soldiers to Jesus. He hopes, in some way to maintain his cover. He doesn’t want these men who have been his close companions to know how wicked he truly is. However, Jesus will not let him get away with it. As Judas is pulling away from Jesus he says to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.”

He calls Judas his friend and he exposes Judas’ pretension. Jesus is no helpless victim but a sovereign and gracious king. He towers among these men, fully in control and fully intent on yet seeking the lost sinner. By commanding Judas to do what he came to do he is saying, “I know fully what you have come to do. You cannot hide. Your wickedness is in plain view to me. Yet, I still call you friend. Though you are my enemy, yet I will love you and plead with you to turn. You think you have destroyed me and saved yourself. I tell you that this is for my glory and for the salvation of all God’s people and you have brought destruction upon yourself.”

Have you ever been betrayed by a friend? Has a person whom you trusted and counted your friend, ever intentionally harmed you and betrayed your trust? I doubt there is a more exquisite pain than the pain of treachery. It is an immobilizing and then an enraging act. People who are betrayed are rarely in control of themselves. The pain, shock and anger that is experienced keeps most from acting rationally. Yet, look at Jesus, confronted with the most despicable act of betrayal the world has ever known, loving and commanding. He is in control. He is seeking the good of another. He is not overcome but he overcomes his betrayer.

Jesus Christ displays his power and love for his people by ordaining and enduring…

•  Human treachery

•  And…

II. Human cowardice (vv. 51-56)

The commotion awakens the sleeping disciples. Wiping the sleep from their eyes they see armed men forcibly laying their hands upon Jesus. One of them draws a sword and rushes with a cry upon those who are seizing Jesus. He swings the sword at the head of a man who is the servant of Caiphas. The servant sees the blow coming and ducks, but not completely. His ear is severed from his head and blood covers his face and spatters on the clothes of those nearby. Jesus, turning to his bewildered disciple, commands him to put his sword away. Then he gives his disciple three reasons why he should not defend him by force. First , he tells him that everyone who seeks to use the sword to advance the kingdom of God will die by that sword. Here is a good word for all those who think that God’s rule on the earth can be moved forward by military might or political muscle. God’s kingdom cannot be established on this earth by any means other than the preaching of the gospel and the suffering love of the church. The individual Christian or the church that uses coercive force of any kind to seek to make people obey God will be destroyed by those methods. The history of the church is littered with the dead bodies and institutions of all who have attempted to follow the lead of this disciple.

Second , Jesus tells him to put away his sword because he doesn’t need the disciple’s help. He says that if he wanted to be kept safe from this large crowd with their swords and clubs he need only ask his Father and immediately 72,000 angels would be present to defend him. Jesus doesn’t need our help to defend the kingdom of God. We have work to do, but we never have to be afraid that God’s work in the world depends upon our work in the world. God doesn’t need our service. He isn’t looking for a few good men. I think this is one of the greatest illusions we live under. God commands us to love and preach and work and serve. We therefore make the false conclusion that our work is the cause of any effect we see. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is always true, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.”

The action of this disciple is sheer arrogance. He presumes he is strong and Jesus is weak. He thinks God needs his help. Jesus is fully in control and if it was his will to escape this situation, then he need only speak and he would be delivered. There is much of our work that is motivated by the same thing that motivated this disciple. He acts in fear and confident that his action is the most necessary action. Isn’t that just like us? We act out of fear that if we don’t act everything will collapse. Then we act, not trusting God to work but depending upon our effort, anxiously toiling to make things work. My dear friends, you do not need to fear that God’s will, will not be done. We don’t need to take ourselves so serious. We ought always to take God serious but we should not take ourselves so serious.

Third, Jesus tells the disciple to not fight because by fighting he is acting contrary to God’s will. He thinks he is doing God’s will but in fact, he is working against God’s will. It is God’s will for Jesus to be arrested, tortured, tried and crucified. From the disciple’s point of view that seems to be the worst possible thing that could happen. However, it is exactly what God wants to happen and it is the best possible thing that could happen. God’s ways are not our ways. The manner in which he intends to save us rarely conforms to the manner in which we want to be saved. We want a painless salvation. God knows that the only way to be saved requires death to this world and its pleasures. We must be careful that we do not presume to know what God is doing. What we view as a horrible thing may be the very thing that is going to bring to fruition God’s saving work in our life or in the life of someone we love. God turns what we view as mistakes and tragedies into glorious salvation.

What is remarkable about this conversation is how in control Jesus is. You cannot imagine a more chaotic and unsettling set of circumstances and yet, here is Jesus, in the midst of the confusion, calmly instructing his disciples on how to live the Christian life! He is like a rock in the midst of a foaming and turbulent river. All around him appears to be out of control and yet he is fully in control. How often our lives appear to be all chaos. We need to see Jesus, standing in the midst of it all, seeking to teach us how to trust and to be calm. There are no circumstances over which Christ is not sovereign and through which Christ cannot save. He is our rock of refuge, our fortress. When we hold to him we cannot be shaken, no matter what happens. In the chaos of your life, look to him, listen to him, he is teaching you how to live.

However, notice that Jesus doesn’t simply address the disciples. He now turns to the mob that is arresting him and confronts them in their cowardice as well. He exposes their weakness and hypocrisy. If he really is such a horrible criminal, then why didn’t they arrest him when they’ve had the chance so many times before? He has been in the temple day after day teaching the people. They could have arrested him at any time. The reason they didn’t do it then and the reason they are doing it now in the middle of the night, is that they are afraid of the crowds. These men with their clubs and swords are cowards or they would have done this in the open. Jesus confronts them in their sin, in doing so, he shows his power, and expresses his love. It’s not too late for any in this crowd to acknowledge their sin and turn. How many of these men remembered these words later, after the resurrection, we do not know.

Please don’t simply gloss over v. 56. Jesus says that all of this is happening because God wants it to happen. Immediately all the disciples flee, just like the OT prophesied and just like Jesus predicted. All of this human evil is the will of God for his glory and the eternal good of all of his people. The love and power of Christ is being displayed in all this tumultuous evil.

Jesus Christ displays his power and love for his people by ordaining and enduring…

•  Human treachery

•  Human cowardice

•  And…

III. Human cruelty (vv. 57-68)

Jesus is led, in the middle of the night, all alone, bound by chains and ropes, surrounded by his enemies back into Jerusalem to the home of Caiphas the chief priest. While the guards and soldiers have been out arresting Jesus, Caiphas has gathered many members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council into his home. These are the same men who we were told back in vv. 3-5 gathered in this same home to plot how they might kill Jesus. If you will remember, they determined then to wait until after the Passover feast. Jesus, however, in the verse before that had said he would be betrayed and killed during the Passover. We see here whose word stands. So according to the will of God, they are gathered on this Passover night to put on trial the only innocent man to ever live.

Matthew captures the hypocrisy of these men so vividly by the language he uses. In vv. 59-60 he says they begin calling in false witnesses to testify against Jesus. They are trying to come up with a legal reason to seek his death. This word, “false witness” is the word that is used in the ninth commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” They are breaking that commandment. This also means that their desire to kill Jesus is murder because there is no legal reason to do so. They are breaking that commandment as well. Yet, they are trying to obey the law when it says that no one can be condemned to death without the testimony of two witnesses. Therefore, they go through witness after witness and cannot find any two to agree with each other. They are trying to maintain the appearance of justice by interviewing witnesses privately. If this scene weren’t so evil, it would be comical. Don’t we do the same thing? We look for ways to sin that don’t look like sin. We are proud of ourselves for obeying God’s law to show up in church all the while we are here not to worship but to use God to find friends or impress others, in violation of God’s law.

Finally, they find two people to agree that Jesus said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.” This is close to something that Jesus said as recorded in John 2. He actually said to many of these very men about three years before this, “ You destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” He never said he would destroy the temple. In fact, he wasn’t even talking about the physical temple but about his own body. He was predicting then, what is happening now. This is what they seize upon as the first grounds for his condemnation. Anyone who desecrated the temple or threatened to desecrate it could be legally killed. Here they have the two witnesses and a charge they can make stick. However, Caiphas knows this will not impress the Roman governor, Pilate. So growing impatient he places Christ under legal oath, by the Living God, to tell whether he is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Jesus’ answer appears to us very indirect and not clear. However, you must remember that what Caiphas and the rest of his cronies believe about the Messiah is not what the OT says about the Messiah and is not who Jesus is. Therefore, Jesus’ response affirms that he is the Messiah but it is also seeks to correct and warn these men. He alludes to two OT passages about the Messiah; Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13. His point to these men is that yes he is the Messiah but that they will only experience his Messianic rule in the future when he comes in judgment upon the world. They cannot conceive of a Messiah who would oppose them and who would not endorse their vision of reality. They have read the OT with filtered glasses and have excluded every verse that contradicts their view of reality. This is the danger we all are in. It is very easy to ignore or to selectively read the Bible. We want a Savior and a salvation that accords with our own views. We must plead with God for eyes to see the truth and not simply presume that what we think and want is what is true.

Caiphas, in an act that is supposed to reflect profound sorrow and horror, tears his robe. He, however, is not full of sorrow or disgust, but rather full of delight and joy. His victim has walked right into his trap and has blasphemed in the presence of dozens of witnesses. They don’t need the two false witnesses; they have all heard the insult to God. This peasant man from Nazareth, this pretender to “messiahship” has given them all the rope they need to hang him. “What do you think?”, he bellows to his co-conspirators. They all answer, “He deserves to die.” This is what they believed before the “trial” began. This is the end for which they have longed and worked. Now that the verdict is given, they set out to prove they are correct. They spit in Jesus’ face; they slap him and punch him. They pour out their fury upon him and mock him. They do this, not only to humiliate and show their hatred but also in order to prove he is not the Messiah. In willful ignorance of the hundreds of passages that talk of the suffering of the Messiah, they conclude that because Jesus does not stop them and because he is not able to identify who is striking him, he must not be the Messiah.

Jesus knows who he is and he knows what the future holds. He knows that he is about to be seated at the right hand of the Mighty God and that he is going to come on the clouds with power and great glory. But he also knows that this humiliation is the will of God. The glory only follows the suffering. He knows that the OT prophets must be fulfilled. This is God’s will and he will endure it for the joy that is set before him. They think they are proving he is not the Messiah by their mockery and cruelty, while he knows they are proving he is the Messiah by their treatment of him. Again, he stands as a rock in the midst of raging turmoil. He could end this torment with but a word to his Father. Yet, for his Father’s glory and for our salvation, he endures it. It appears as though God has abandoned him. It appears as though God is doing nothing. Yet, this suffering is the power and love of God. These men are not in control, Jesus is. God’s plan to save all of his people as revealed throughout the OT, will be fulfilled by the Son enduring the mistreatment of men.

Jesus Christ displays his power and love for his people by ordaining and enduring…

•  Human treachery

•  Human cowardice

•  Human cruelty