Holy Week Devotion - Day 3 (Matthew's Gospel)

Matthew 26:57-27:10 - The third day of a 5-Day devotion for Holy Week (SANHEDRIN TRIAL; PETER’S DENIAL; AND JUDAS’ DESPERATION ) 

Join Pastor Mark as he leads us through the Passion of Christ in Saint Matthew. (That is Matthew’s account of the suffering and death of Christ).  
    Each day will include five sections:
    1 – Reading the Bible passage
    2 - Reflection and teaching about background, context, and helpful insights
    3 - Responses and points to ponder (with three questions for you to consider)
    4 – A Prayer
    5 - Hearing the text again, this time with more depth 

Devotions from Pastor Mark, Advent Lutheran Church in Harleysville PA.   

Special thanks to Mr. Vince Ryan for the piano music.

For more information or to contact Pastor Mark, go to https://www.adventharleysville.org/contact

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

This is the Passion of Christ according to Saint Matthew, day three. Welcome to this five-day devotions for Holy Week using Matthew chapters 26 and 27. The Passion of Christ, the account of the Last Supper, Arrest, Trial, Crucifixion, Death, and Burial of Jesus. I'm Pastor Mark from Advent Lutheran Church in Harleysville, PA, and I invite you into this Holy Week time together. I want to also thank Vince Ryan for the musical interludes and background music in these recordings. Day three. Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. But Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end. Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, This fellow said I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. The high priest stood up and said, Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you? But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, I put you under oath before the living God. Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, You have said so, but I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, He has blasphemed. Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. What do you think? They answered, He deserves death. Then they spat in his face and struck him, and some slapped him, saying, Prophesy to us, you Messiah, who is it that struck you? Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A female servant came to him and said, You also were with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied it before all of them, saying, I do not know what you are talking about. When he went out to the porch, another female servant saw him, and she said to the bystanders, This man was with Jesus the Nazarene. Again he denied it with an oath, I do not know the man. After a little while the bystanders came up to Peter. Certainly you also are one of them, for your accent betrays you. Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath I do not know the man. At that moment the cock crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said. Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. When morning came all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. But they said, What is that to us? See to it yourself. Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple he departed, and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priest taking the pieces of silver said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money. After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter's field as a place to bury foreigners. For this reason that field has been called the field of blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, and they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price on the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me. They visit the United Nations, and when the Pope speaks to them, he asks them, Have you met Jesus Christ? And they said, Yeah, JC, a wonderful guy comes and visits us every year. The Pope said, Wait, every year? He came once two thousand years ago, and we're still waiting for his second coming. The alien says, Well perhaps it was the chocolates. What what do you mean chocolates? says the Pope. Well, the first time he visited us, we gave him a box of chocolates and he loved them. Why, what did you give him? Hmm. I tell that because it's an incredible way for us to feel the collective guilt. I mean, we can talk about the chief priests, we can talk about the crowds, we can talk about the pilots, we can talk about disciples, we can talk about all those people back then. But the reality is it was our sinful humanity that crucified Jesus, that treated this Son of God in that way. Jesus' way of loving and valuing all people, with calling out and challenging religious leaders and political leaders, that doesn't sit well with us. We're guilty. Need to be reminded again about how easily the anti-Jewish wording potentials in this can be used in a deadly way. In fact, some of the Bible, some of the passages we have here have been used by Luther and Augustine and others to say that it is the responsibility, the duty of Christians to hate Jews because Jews killed Christ. That is just never okay. Remember, Jesus was Jewish, as were all his followers, the early church were Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah. And there was bad blood between them and the Jews who did not believe Jesus was the Messiah. Matthew's writing to Christians who'd experienced that conflict in encounters with synagogue leaders. He was writing inspired by God, we believe, but as a product of his time within his lenses. And there were real divisions, real struggles that come through in that. We're in a different time. To go ahead and to use that now in a way that points to Jewish people or our relationships with them is inappropriate as taking a particular piece from Irish Protestants or Irish Catholics and judging all Irish people or all Christians with that. And even, even if we took all of this literally from back then applying now, even if, and it doesn't apply now, we have to remember that Jesus told us to love our enemies. That Jesus from the cross, Luke's gospel, said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Jesus in the Last Supper said, This is my blood of the new covenant shed for you for the forgiveness of sin. And that blood, that forgiveness, that loving is what we're called to do. For us in our day to take any of what Matthew wrote, any in the Bible, any of early church teaching to judge or discriminate against Jewish people or Romans or any other group is unchristian. Antisemitism is unchristian. When the high priests are questioning Jesus, Jesus speaks about himself as a son of man, seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. That term, son of man, is one that's used multiple places in the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament. It's a term for a human, but someone with divine power or authority. In places like Ezekiel, it can be translated as mortal or human one. In the book of Daniel, in chapter 7, it gets connected with a vision where this human one, this Son of Man, is, quote, coming in the clouds of heaven, and given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed. So when Jesus basically quotes that vision from Daniel, well it's not subtle. So a word on behalf of those religious rulers. They're presented as trying to get false testimony. Bad. But when Jesus responds to that question about being the Messiah, the Son of God, and he answers that way, they have two options. They can't let him go as a religious eccentric. They can't agree to disagree. They cannot accept him as just another teacher. They can either accept his claim and bow down and worship him on the spot, or they judge this as the ultimate blasphemy and worthy of death. Unless we judge them too quickly, do we really bow down and worship him totally on the spot? Or do we try and find some middle ground sometime? Both Peter and Jesus are interrogated. Peter lies and swears. Jesus is silent and then gives a statement about the last days. Both Peter and Judas fail. Both were at the supper, they were fed, forgiven by Jesus. Peter went out and wept bitterly. Judas went and hanged himself. And a reminder in suicide, we lean on a God who especially loves the hurting, and suicide is an ultimate act of hurting and of insanity is one that we commend to God. In the early church, when some Christians had been facing persecution and chose to deny their faith to save their lives, the story of Peter may have been extra comforting to say to them that there was still hope, that God is a God of forgiveness. Going to the theme of prediction that we've used before, Jesus says you will see the Son of Man seated on the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. He's speaking of the future, and yet right away we can see his previous words about Peter's denial coming true. It's a reminder that Jesus can be trusted. It looks like everything is falling apart. And yet God is in charge, and the future is settled. Section three Your responses Again, the first question is always the same. What did you notice? What jumped out to you? What spoke to you? What troubled you? What might God be saying to you? Pause for a moment and ponder on that. When you are aware that you have failed Jesus, or messed up, or let God down, how do you respond? How might it help to remember that even the strongest disciple messed up? How might it help to remember that Jesus shared that holy communion with them, speaking of his forgiveness? How might it help to remember that Peter, who wept in failure, was welcomed by Jesus after his resurrection and became a leader in the church. Pause for a moment and ponder. In times of hurt and suffering, how does it feel to be reminded of Jesus' promise to come again? To be reminded that God is still in charge even when things look bleak and we're hurting, and be reminded that the future is in God's hands, that we are in God's hands. Pause and ponder. Loving Jesus, there are times when we feel frustrated, we mess up, we are not who we want to be. Help us to remember your words of forgiveness. When we receive communion, help us to know that forgiveness. As we focus on the cross, fill us with wonder and gratitude at your forgiveness and your love. Amen. Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. But Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end. Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. The high priest stood up and said, Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you? But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, I put you under oath before the living God. Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, You have said so, but I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, He has blasphemed. Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. What do you think? They answered, He deserves death. Then they spat in his face and struck him, and some slapped him, saying, Prophesy to us, you Messiah, who is it that struck you? Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A female servant came to him and said, You also were with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied it before all of them, saying, I do not know what you are talking about. When he went out to the porch, another female servant saw him, and she said to the bystanders, This man was with Jesus the Nazarene. Again he denied it with an oath I do not know the man. After a little while the bystanders came up to Peter. Certainly you also are one of them, for your accent betrays you. Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath I do not know the man. At that moment the cock crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said. Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. When morning came all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. But they said, What is that to us? See to it yourself. Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple he departed, and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priest taking the pieces of silver said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money. After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter's field as a place to bury foreigners. For this reason, that field has been called the field of blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price on the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me. Thank you once again for being part of this devotion time. There will be two more devotions that'll be dropping in the next couple days. I invite you to use this whole series, and if it's helpful to you, share it with someone else. May God bless you in this holy week journey.