Midweek + Lent 3
***Throughout Lent, we are hearing the Passion of our Lord drawn from the four Gospels. Tonight we heard “The Palace of the High Priest.”
The Passion of our Lord ended last week with the captain and officers of the Jews seizing, arresting, and binding Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. This evening begins with Jesus now being brought to the Palace of the High Priest.
But to begin tonight, I want to ask, what does it mean to be “arrested” and “bound?”
Well, the Greek here renders the word “arrested” as meaning to seize, apprehend, or grasp. However, the etymology of the word today means to stop a person.
But to “bind” a person implies using restraints, maybe ropes or chains.
In any instance, we should take away from this that a person who has been arrested and bound now finds themselves in a state of helplessness; they are captive.
What has you captive and helpless tonight? What is the darkness that binds your heart and has you living in a state of fear?
I leave this question open, as no darkness and despair are ever the same from one person to the next or from one time to the next.
The heart of man is a twisted and dark place, isn’t it?
Jesus said as much in the gospel of Matthew, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” (Matthew 15:19)
“Out of the heart come evil thoughts and murder.”
“Out of the heart come…false witness and slander.”
The heart of man is a battleground.
The Chief Priests and Council knew the commandments; they knew that it was against God’s law that they bear false witness against their neighbor, but they had also just received the report of how Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, along with the many other signs and miracles Jesus was performing.
So the chief priests and council had no qualms about seeking false witnesses to slander Jesus, that they might have Him arraigned and hung upon a cross.
For out of the mouth of Caiaphas, the high priest, he said, “You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” (John 11:49b-50)
The Gospel of John goes on to say, “Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death. (John 11:53)
No matter the cost, whether it meant lies, betrayal, or slander, they sought death.
For this reason, as Jesus stood before this audience, the words of the Psalmist come to mind,
The pains of death surrounded me,
And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow. (Psalm 116:3)
Yet, it’s not just the false witness of the chief priests and the council that is so alarming tonight; think about Peter, too. His disciple, friend, and brother.
Peter had followed Jesus, warming himself by the fire as Peter not once but three times denied Jesus with the words of His lips.
As this denial was occurring the third time, we heard, “And immediately while he was still speaking, the cock crowed a second time, and the Lord turned and looked on Peter.”
There are no words from Jesus to Peter. He simply looked upon Him.
Then it said that “Peter remembered [what]that Jesus had said to him… [and] Peter broke down, and went out, and wept bitterly.”
The heart is a battleground. What turmoil and agony must Peter have experienced as he turned away from his Lord with the false confession of His lips?
How often do you similarly betray your Lord?
How often do your words and actions say, “I do not know the man” – “I do not know the Christ?”
Do you treat your friends and family the same way? Do your words, thoughts, and actions express evil thoughts, false witness, and slander against your neighbors?
Are you any better than the chief priests and council? Or what about Peter? Are you any better than him?
Sadly, no, you are not.
While silence should be your friend in many instances, too often, you speak; you speak only out of self-defense and insecurity. You speak to justify yourselves, your positions, your livelihood, and your personal interests.
And yet, what did Jesus do when false words and charges were brought against Him, “He was silent and gave no answer.”
This brings to mind the words of Isaiah as he wrote,
He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
Something we don’t give as much thought about here is that as Jesus was bound and led to the palace of the high priests, He was led into Jerusalem through what was known as the sheep gate. This is the gate in which the lambs were brought to the temple to be slaughtered as an offering and sacrifice for sin.
And for this reason, Christ Jesus was sent to be oppressed and afflicted, to be bound and led to the slaughterhouse of the cross.
And for the prophecies of God to be fulfilled, “Jesus was silent and gave no answer,” so that upon the cross, He would be not only the final Word but the final atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world and for you.
Interestingly, tonight, the only time Jesus spoke was to affirm the only truthful question posed to Him by the high priest as he asked,
“Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
Jesus said, “I am.”
Jesus did not entertain or engage the false witnesses nor the slander; He confessed what was true that His Father sent Him to redeem what was lost in the Garden of Eden by the sin of your first parents.
Let this be your confession, too.
Learn again to confess with your lips how you have not kept God's commandments; let us confess how we have slandered not only our Lord but also our neighbors.
But then rejoice, for redemption has come through this one man, Jesus Christ. On the cross, you are set free from the sin and darkness that arrest and bind your heart.
So approach the tomb confidently because, through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, you are redeemed and forgiven. +INJ+
