WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:39.759 As you take your Bibles and open them to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, I'd like to take a moment and explain, give at least some kind of explanation to my sermon title this morning. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:43.679 A Divine Tragicomedy. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:46.399 I was asked this week, is that a word? 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:48.560 Yes, it's a word, actually. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:50.479 You can find it in the dictionary. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:01:02.000 My sermon title is generated by a commentator's use of the term tragicomity to describe this section of Matthew's gospel. 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:13.040 A tragicomedy is a story that incorporates tragic and comic elements into the same account. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:20.640 And there have been variations in the meaning of that term and in the application of it throughout the centuries of its use. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:32.799 I am using it this morning as it was meant by the Roman dramatist Plautus, who invented the word in the second century BC. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:45.920 Plautus used the term to denote a play in which gods and men, masters and slaves, reversed the roles traditionally assigned to them. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:53.280 The comedy part may make you laugh because it's funny. 00:01:55.200 --> 00:02:10.719 But it also may be that the plot is so intense, so serious, and maybe even sinister, that the only thing left to do is to chuckle, to relieve tension. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:17.919 In simpler terms, in a tragic comedy, everything is turned upside down. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:26.560 And some tragic comedies focus the comedic element not so much on the humorous, but on the ironic. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.080 And that is the case before us this morning. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:42.159 We have an account featuring God the Son, one of his disciples, and human rulers and leaders in unexpected roles. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:49.199 And it's a tragic account where the God of truth is condemned. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:55.199 Look with me at Matthew chapter 26, beginning in verse 57. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:07.919 Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:18.560 And Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:28.560 Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:31.199 But they found none. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:44.479 Though many false witnesses came forward, but at last two came forward and said, This man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:49.280 The high priest stood up and said, Have you no answer to make? 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:52.719 What is it that these men testify against you? 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:56.479 But Jesus remained silent. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:08.159 And the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:12.639 Jesus said to him, You've said so. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:22.000 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. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:26.879 The high priest tore his robes and said, He's uttered blasphemy. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:29.040 What further witnesses do we need? 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:31.120 You've all heard his blasphemy. 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:32.959 What is your judgment? 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:38.399 And they answered, he deserves death. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:44.399 And then they spit in his face and they struck him. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:50.319 And some slapped him, saying, Prophesy to us, Christ. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:52.879 Who is it that struck you? 00:04:55.839 --> 00:05:01.040 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:07.439 And a servant girl came up to him and said, You also were with Jesus, the Galilean. 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:12.399 But he denied it before them all, saying, I don't know what you mean. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:20.879 And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:23.439 And again he denied it with an oath. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:25.600 I do not know the man. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:36.160 After a little while, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:44.800 Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know the man. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:51.920 And immediately, immediately the rooster crowed. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:59.759 And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:04.560 And he went out and wept bitterly. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:06.639 Lord Jesus, may we. 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:23.759 May we by your words here through Matthew be moved to respond to our own sin by this account, just as Peter was. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:32.240 But to have that motivated by your grace and your mercy to us just as Peter was. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:34.639 Open your word up to us. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:36.480 Show us Christ. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:42.720 Enable us to see how you indeed are, as we've just sung, the true and better. 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:46.480 Cause us to worship and bow before you as a response. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:48.319 We ask this for your glory. 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:49.279 Amen. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:07:02.800 Verses 57 and 58 set the stage for our characters being in unexpected places. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:18.160 The rulers and the leaders have convened, not during normal operating hours, but as a secret, clandestined kind of grand jury functioning at night. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:23.600 They have to because it's Passover. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:35.439 Time demands that they act, and they must determine if there is enough evidence to try the God of life with a crime worthy of death. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:50.160 The disciples were last seen fleeing Jesus in verse 56, leaving him to face the trial alone. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:58.399 But Peter's regained some of his boldness here to follow at a distance to see how everything turns out. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:02.399 There may be some irony here in Matthew's use of the end. 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:05.920 Does Peter think this is the end? 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:11.839 Has all of his three plus years of following Jesus, has it come down to this? 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:13.279 What is this end? 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:15.600 Is this it? 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:18.560 Is this how it's all going to turn out? 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:30.160 Matthew paints him, Peter that is, not with the disciples, but with the guards. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:32.080 Did you catch that? 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:41.600 Matthew goes into this courtyard, this area around the high priest's house, and he sits down and he has a conversation with the guards. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:45.840 There may be some irony there in Matthew's choice of language. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:09:03.039 The with, the guards, may be an intentional word choice to indicate that Peter displayed a withness, if I can use that word, a withness that is more like an insider than an outsider. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:15.440 If that's the case, then Matthew's portraying Peter as though he's with the guards, no longer with the disciples. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:20.720 Peter is looking like one who had joined the opposition. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:27.279 The one who promised to never abandon Jesus appears to have done just that. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:39.279 Now, after the stage is set, Jesus is in place, and Caiaphas' household, the council is gathered together to hear the testimony. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:45.279 And Peter's out in the courtyard watching, listening, waiting to see what will happen. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:49.919 Matthew then recounts two acts in the script. 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:59.600 First, beginning in verse 59 through verse 68, and then verses 69 through 75. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:10.320 So look look with me at this account and consider the tragedies, the ironies and the triumphs that lead us to humble trust in Jesus, the Son of God. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:22.000 First, consider what we might call Act 1 with the title Son of the Blessed or Son of Blasphemy. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:34.720 Mark's gospel phrases the main question from the high priest like this Are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:37.279 It's a fair question. 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:38.879 It's a fair question. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:48.240 It is the question that Matthew has answered on nearly every page of this biography of Jesus. 00:10:49.120 --> 00:11:02.000 Matthew's evidence is primarily God the Father's own declarations, verbal declarations, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:03.200 Listen to him. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:17.279 Matthew's evidence is further explained by repeated demonstrations that Jesus has fulfilled the Old Testament again and again and again. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:27.840 And that doesn't even begin to get us to the points of miraculous powers demonstrating that he is unlike any other human being that has ever walked the earth. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:32.720 He is God the Son by declaration of the Father. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:35.840 He is God the Son by fulfillment of Scripture. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:39.759 He is God the Son by the demonstration of his power. 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:47.440 Matthew affirms repeatedly that Jesus is the one the scriptures anticipated. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:56.320 So the question posed by the high priest is the question of Matthew's gospel. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:03.840 It is the question everyone who encountered Jesus had to answer. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:10.240 It's the question you have to answer. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:14.639 Is this Jesus? 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:17.519 The Messiah? 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:20.240 The Son of the Blessed? 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:24.320 Or is he a son of blasphemy? 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:31.600 The answer is either good news full of hope for you or bad news with an expectation of judgment. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:46.639 So if Jesus responds to the high priest's question with a, yes, I am, but in reality it's false that he's not that person, then he is guilty of blasphemy. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:59.120 That is, if Jesus claims to be the Christ, the Son of God, but he is not the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, then his claims are blasphemous, and he ought to die. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:11.759 If he answers, no, I'm not the Christ, the Son of God, but he really is, then he's a liar and the truth is not in him. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.320 But we know that God cannot lie. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:21.919 It is not in his character to lie, for God is truth. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:37.600 But more importantly, if Jesus answers truthfully with a yes, and it is true, yes, he is the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, then everyone who hears that must respond to that reality. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:53.360 If Jesus truly is the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, then no one can walk away from that question, from that declaration, from that answer without deciding if they will believe in him or reject him. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:58.960 The question is a fair question. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:07.919 It's the right question, which is why Matthew has used so much ink to reveal the answer. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:16.559 And now, now Matthew places the answer not in his text but in the mouth of Jesus himself. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:20.080 But that's getting ahead of our plot. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:25.600 The Jewish rulers and leaders had an agenda. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:34.559 Says they were seeking false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, verse 59. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:37.200 So the verdict was already determined. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:51.840 After years of failing to find legal reasons to arrest Jesus, the only way to find guilt in him was to produce false witnesses. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:55.919 And apparently, according to verse 60, they had many. 00:14:57.600 --> 00:14:58.639 How many is that? 00:14:58.879 --> 00:14:59.440 We don't know. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:03.440 But apparently there was more than one set of witnesses that came forward. 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:09.360 And apparently every time they came forward, their testimony, their stories didn't match. 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:14.480 If they were contrary to one another, they couldn't be admissible. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:18.240 These prosecutors, however, had already determined the verdict. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:20.240 The trial had not yet begun. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:25.519 That will begin later, after daylight, and now they are already convinced of the end. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:31.200 We have to find a way to put him to death. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:37.679 The God of justice was tried without justice. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:43.759 Lies convicted the God of truth. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:47.519 But we know too, right? 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:53.679 As God's people, we know that God determined this. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:16:04.559 Peter will preach, and in just a few short months from this time, Peter will preach that God foreordained every single step of this plan. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:18.559 Emmanuel, God with us, humbled himself to be judged without justice by those he created with his fingertips, by the word of his mouth. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:22.399 Friends, let that sink in. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:41.600 Anytime, anytime you feel or you perceive or you actually encounter injustice in this world, remember that you follow a Lord who knows all about it. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:50.080 He not only sympathizes, but he empathizes because he's walked that road. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:58.480 And the injustice that he has faced is far greater than any injustice human beings will ever encounter. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:11.519 And he knows how to work it all out according to his purpose, so we who follow him, who claim the name of Christ, can entrust our circumstances and our feelings to him. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:16.160 Now don't overlook the role reversal here. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:44.480 You remember how Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, he said to God the Son in millennia past, when he was considering injustice, potential injustice, he he said, Will not the judge of all the earth do what is right? 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:56.640 And now that judge who does what is right endures an unjust judgment. 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:12.880 Where David David prayed, Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me. 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:16.000 And they breathe out violence. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:26.319 You can't read some of these texts from the Old Testament without recognizing God knew what he was doing. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:35.119 They tried to find two people telling the same lie about Jesus. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:41.279 Because the law required at least two or three witnesses with the same testimony. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:49.119 We see no desire to try justice with justice or truth with truth. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:55.119 For the goal is not justice or truth, but the destruction of Jesus. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:05.440 And finally, finally, you think they have three years to get this in motion, but they still can't get it right until many tries. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:15.599 Finally, they find two people coming forward, alleging that Jesus asserted that he would destroy the temple and rebuild it. 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:24.000 Interestingly, no record of that statement from Jesus is found in Matthew's gospel. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:31.839 The only thing close to it is the railing of the crowds at Jesus while he's hanging on the cross. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:44.880 In Matthew 27, verse 40, they said to him, While he's hanging on the cross, you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, mocking him. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:58.960 In John's gospel, though, we read in John chapter 2, verse 19, where Jesus said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:03.680 The Jews then said to him in response, are you nuts? 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:08.880 It's taken us forty some years to build this temple. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:11.759 And you're gonna build it in three days? 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:21.359 Then John adds this qualifying statement, but he was speaking about the temple of his body. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:28.559 Now that statement was very early in Jesus' ministry and apparently was remembered and repeated. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:33.279 But from the very beginning it was misunderstood. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:37.599 Everyone thought Jesus was speaking about the actual temple. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:51.440 And that's curious because acts, especially destructive acts, against temples was often considered to be a capital crime in the ancient world. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:57.680 Not only were they places of worship, but they were also business centers and banks. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:06.640 So any attack of any kind against a temple was considered an attack against the people and the nation in which the temple existed. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:15.359 So if the if the people of Israel heard Jesus speaking of destroying the temple, it would have been received very seriously. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:23.920 It would have been, it would have been treasonous and worthy of death to the right people. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:35.599 But no one understood Jesus' intention when he stood accused before the get the gathered members of the Sanhedrin. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:42.240 The prosecutors' key witnesses then are giving false testimony. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:48.400 By misunderstanding Jesus' intent, they're declaring that he made a statement that he didn't make. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:56.000 You've been there. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.759 Jesus responded. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.480 Response is recorded in verse 63. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:06.240 Silent. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.559 I don't know that I could have done that. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:15.119 My natural reaction is that's not what I said. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:17.920 And that's not what I meant. 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:22.720 So this seems very hard to comprehend. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:25.599 Why didn't Jesus respond? 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:27.359 Why didn't he defend himself? 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:30.160 Why didn't he correct their misunderstanding? 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:33.680 Wouldn't the God of truth want truth to reign? 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:37.200 Matthew doesn't tell us. 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:42.240 But we may find some kind of an answer in the prophet Isaiah. 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:51.839 For Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53, 6 and 7, he was oppressed and he was afflicted. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.599 Yet he opened not his mouth. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:06.559 Instead, he was like a lamb that was led to the slaughter, and it didn't bleat, it didn't cry, it didn't try to run away. 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:10.319 Before its shearers, it's silent. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:14.720 And just like that, so he opened not his mouth. 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:19.920 One writer declared, and I love this phrase, it was a sovereign silence. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:26.240 A sovereign silence intended to accomplish the will of God. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:30.480 And even here, in his silence, he's fulfilling scripture. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:42.240 And that incensed the high priest. 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:49.599 So he invokes the name of God to push Jesus to force him to answer. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:54.400 The high priest calls on the living God. 00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:04.960 I adjure you by the living God, verse 63, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God. 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:12.480 He wants to compel Jesus to respond, and the irony is intensely tragic. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:17.759 The high priest has no clue. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:28.480 He has zero recognition that his Savior, his God, is standing before him. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:34.640 The high priest called on Jesus to swear by himself. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.720 Since Jesus is the living God. 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:41.759 Truth in human form. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:47.680 By answering, by answering with, you have said so. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.160 Jesus essentially says, Yes, yes, I am. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:54.319 But those are your words, not mine. 00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:03.680 And then he clarifies his answer by using a messianic term to refer to himself. 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:07.039 The Son of Man. 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:21.119 He says, the Son of Man is someone that you're going to see from now on seated at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:26.400 So the high priest asked Jesus if he was the Messiah, the promised one sent by God. 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:31.119 Jesus answered, Yes, I am, but I'm much more than that. 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:46.000 And Jesus references two key Old Testament texts, one from Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14, and the other from Psalm 110, verses 1 and 2, to identify himself with a particular prophetic figure. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:53.920 And according to those passages, that figure called the Son of Man is none other than God Himself. 00:25:55.279 --> 00:26:02.960 Those two passages in Daniel 7 and Psalm 110 show that the promised Son of Man possesses all dominion. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:04.319 He rules. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:10.079 In him is found all power and all authority. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:13.119 He is a ruler whose kingdom will never end. 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:20.160 And is demonstrated by him sitting at the right hand of God in the place of honor and rule. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:26.559 Coming on the clouds of heaven was a sign of dominion and victory of God Himself. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:30.880 And here they were, judging the judge, and trying the truth. 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:41.359 In Genesis Reborn, it's the creation seeking to rule over the Creator. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:49.519 Acting acting as a judge, the high priest declares the verdict. 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:55.119 To claim messiahship is one thing. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.519 But to declare equality with God was blasphemy. 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:07.519 To the high priest, Jesus' statement rose to the level of blasphemy, and so he reacts in horror, ripping his clothes. 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:10.079 The ultimate sign of mourning. 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:22.240 His thinking had no place for a for a God man who would come to save his people from their sins. 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:33.759 The question before us is Is there room in our thinking for a God man who would come to save his people from their sins? 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:38.640 Is there room in your thinking for that reality? 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:42.960 The judgment. 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:44.960 It's quick. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:48.880 Death is deserved. 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:55.200 Naturally, with a served with a side of mocking and brutality. 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:04.000 Jesus' claim of the position and the prerogatives of God was blasphemous in their eyes. 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:06.640 So the judgment is he deserves to die. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:16.319 They wanted to kill the Lord of glory rather than humbly repent before Jesus and see him with eyes of faith. 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:25.839 The irony begins in verse 59, but we only notice that irony by reading it in light of Jesus' statement in verse 64. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:28.240 Jesus is the Messiah. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:30.240 Jesus is the Son of God. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:32.880 But those are the words the high priest used. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:44.799 The high priest likely has some vision of a revolutionary, of a political opportunist, maybe even some kind of terrorist. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:50.559 Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, but Jesus is going to be the one who defines those terms. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:29:00.160 And he says, I am that Son of Man, whom you will see seated at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. 00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:04.079 And there we observe the ultimate irony. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:14.000 The divine judge, the power of the universe, displays his strength through weakness and injustice. 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:25.680 This is blasphemy and worthy of death if what he says is false. 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:37.599 Yet, yet it is his glorious humility and his path of exaltation if what he says is true. 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:40.480 And it is true. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:47.279 And because it is true of Jesus, it will be true of every person who follows Jesus. 00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:55.519 That's why he said, Everyone who desires to follow me must take up his own cross and follow me. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:58.880 He said, The way to glory is not up but down. 00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:04.960 Jesus stood firm. 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:09.279 He did not succumb during his trial. 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:16.079 He succeeded in his trial because he endured in prayer in the garden in the previous section. 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:20.480 The divine plan was to endure the ultimate irony. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:35.519 For God, the God of life, the God who breathed life into creation, to be killed by his creation. 00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:44.960 But Jesus will be justified, he will be declared right by his resurrection and his ascension. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:53.759 This first scene of tragedy, irony, and divine triumph closes with a pitiful abuse scene. 00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:57.920 It's not that surprising. 00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:05.519 It was a widespread belief that the coming Messiah would be able to prophesy. 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:15.920 And so this scene closes with a mocking of God based on that popular conception. 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:19.920 One of the Gospels says that they even blindfolded him. 00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:22.640 Prophesy to us, who hit you? 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:30.319 The God of life then is reduced to a sad caricature. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:33.519 That scene closes. 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:38.960 And a new one opens with a different but familiar character. 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:45.599 Perhaps we could title Act 2 Rocked by a Rooster. 00:31:49.680 --> 00:32:04.960 Luke chapter 22, verse 61, tells us that the courtyard that Peter was standing, sitting in, was somehow within view of Jesus. 00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:11.039 Because when Peter denied him for the third time, Luke tells us that Jesus turned and looked at him. 00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:16.319 So Peter is very close to the main scene. 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:19.119 The proximity is very close. 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:32.640 And as Peter failed to remain awake and pray while he was close to Jesus in the garden, he will fail this trial while also close to the Lord Jesus. 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:34.880 That will come later, though. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:39.039 First, we need to observe the stage that Matthew sets for us. 00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:47.599 And that image begins at least six months before this point in Matthew chapter 16, in a passage that resembles this one. 00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:55.119 In Matthew 16, verse 13, Jesus asked the disciples, Who do the people say that I am? 00:32:57.119 --> 00:32:58.799 Very similar, isn't it? 00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:00.319 Who are you? 00:33:01.359 --> 00:33:02.799 Who are you really? 00:33:03.759 --> 00:33:05.759 The disciples repeated the typical answers. 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:12.480 Well, some say you're John the Baptist, others say Elijah, maybe another of the prophets that's been resurrected. 00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:18.000 Of course, even that is far more than the high priest and the leaders of Israel acknowledge. 00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:24.240 But back in chapter 16, Jesus then follows that question and answer with this. 00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:27.920 But okay, that's fine, but who do you? 00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:31.920 My disciples, who do you say that I am? 00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:42.559 Simon Peter replied, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:51.920 And Jesus answered, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 00:33:52.000 --> 00:34:00.720 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:20.239 Peter, meaning the rock, becomes a picture of the stability of the Lord's work of gathering his people and assembling them together into an unshakable temple that even Satan can't tear down. 00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:30.800 This is the rock who refused to believe that Jesus would suffer at the hands of Israel's elders and chief priests and be killed and raised from the dead. 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:36.239 This is the rock who once set his mind on the things of man rather than things of God. 00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:41.119 This is the rock who said he would never leave Jesus nor betray him. 00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:44.960 This is the rock who is the leader of the disciples. 00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:49.760 This is the rock who walked on water. 00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:57.599 This is the rock who boldly wielded a sword in defense of Jesus. 00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:04.800 But this is also the rock who slept instead of praying in the garden. 00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:12.639 This rock is in the courtyard. 00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:18.719 Speaking with the guards. 00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:30.480 While the true rock, that cornerstone, is likely in fetters, chained to a guard. 00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:35.280 But Peter is unfettered, chatting with the guards in the courtyard. 00:35:35.519 --> 00:35:41.679 Unfettered, this rock displays his weakness through cowardice and falsehood. 00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:46.719 His weakness is highlighted by a chicken calling out his sin. 00:35:51.760 --> 00:36:02.800 The rock was crushed in his trial because he did not endure with Jesus in the garden. 00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:07.679 Yet, let's be careful. 00:36:08.159 --> 00:36:15.599 We must never reach final conclusions about people because of moments of weakness and sin. 00:36:16.639 --> 00:36:20.719 They're significant, they need to be dealt with. 00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:30.960 And they may point to the reality of being without Christ, but they may also be moments of learning to follow Jesus in the weakness of our flesh. 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:35.599 Remember, Peter followed. 00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:39.599 Do we see any other disciples following? 00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:45.280 He watched and he listened. 00:36:45.599 --> 00:36:50.559 And yes, he chatted it up with the guards in freedom while his king was chained to a guard. 00:36:50.719 --> 00:37:01.280 But when the sound of the bird touched his conscience in those early morning hours, he awoke out of his fleshly stupor and wept over the presence of his sin. 00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:14.480 Ironically, the king displays his power through weakness, while the rock reveals his weakness through fear of discovery. 00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:27.920 Yet the king's weakness will lead to the divine means by which Peter and all who follow him can be redeemed from their sin. 00:37:30.559 --> 00:37:39.679 And Peter, the rock, is redeemed by his humility and his repentance and his trust in Jesus. 00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:43.039 If you want to know more about that, you can check out the end of the Gospel of John. 00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:51.360 So do you see that Jesus displays his strength through his weakness? 00:37:53.599 --> 00:38:03.840 And now this rock is being crushed, and yet in his weakness we see his strength displayed in weeping over his sin. 00:38:05.599 --> 00:38:17.599 When we humble ourselves and confess our sins, our failures, and our own inability, we express then our reliance on the only power that comes from another. 00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:29.039 Nobody said no, so I'll keep going. 00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:46.880 The bystanders in verse 73 could hear with their ears that the rock is a Galilean rock from the sound of his speech. 00:38:48.320 --> 00:38:52.639 What Peter said, no, I don't know the man. 00:38:53.039 --> 00:38:53.840 Are you kidding? 00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:55.760 I've never met him, never seen him. 00:38:55.920 --> 00:38:58.480 I have no idea who you're talking about. 00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:03.760 The words he used were undermined by the sound of his voice. 00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:19.840 But the words of Jesus' speech, grounded in Scripture, would end up being confirmed through an empty tomb and being gathered up into the clouds of heaven. 00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:29.519 Such sin-driven tragedy and comedic irony. 00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:32.480 Oh, it's not funny. 00:39:33.440 --> 00:39:39.599 It's not funny unless you somehow mock Matthew's account and are mocking then Matthew's Messiah. 00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:50.000 Instead, it's comedic because we groan and chuckle, watching the bitter reality. 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:59.840 And we do that because we see the lowliness to which our Savior was brought to redeem us. 00:40:01.280 --> 00:40:05.039 For in one sense, we are all Peter's. 00:40:05.599 --> 00:40:06.719 Are we not? 00:40:10.239 --> 00:40:13.760 There's another group distinct from Peter. 00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:16.480 Not like Peter. 00:40:17.119 --> 00:40:22.559 Peter is the disciple who gave in to the desires of the flesh but was rescued yet again from his failing. 00:40:22.960 --> 00:40:33.119 But in the background of these two scenes is a group of people we might describe as fettered by faithlessness. 00:40:37.760 --> 00:40:49.679 Matthew describes them as gathering together, assembling together against God's anointed one. 00:40:53.679 --> 00:40:58.480 What does God say about leaders gathering together against his anointed one? 00:41:00.719 --> 00:41:02.159 Listen to Psalm two. 00:41:05.599 --> 00:41:09.920 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 00:41:11.519 --> 00:41:24.559 The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed ones, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. 00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:28.559 He who sits in the heavens laughs. 00:41:29.920 --> 00:41:33.199 The Lord holds them in derision. 00:41:35.039 --> 00:41:47.039 Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my king on my holy hill. 00:41:49.760 --> 00:41:51.599 Let me tell of the decree. 00:41:53.280 --> 00:41:57.920 The Lord said to me, You are my son, today I have begotten you. 00:41:58.400 --> 00:42:03.840 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. 00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:09.519 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. 00:42:09.760 --> 00:42:12.320 Now, therefore, O kings, be wise. 00:42:13.039 --> 00:42:16.000 Be warned, O rulers of the earth. 00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:22.880 Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. 00:42:24.880 --> 00:42:32.480 Kiss my son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. 00:42:33.760 --> 00:42:36.639 For his wrath is quickly kindled. 00:42:39.679 --> 00:42:44.400 Blessed are all who take refuge in him. 00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:58.719 Ironically, in the background of this courtyard, these leaders are looking desperately, waiting for the Messiah. 00:42:59.119 --> 00:43:07.119 Some of them, maybe all of them, will set an empty place at the Passover table in hopes that the Messiah might be there that night. 00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:14.400 They were looking for the Messiah, but they didn't have eyes to see him. 00:43:16.239 --> 00:43:19.039 They were chained to their faithlessness. 00:43:19.440 --> 00:43:23.039 They refused to listen and kiss the Son. 00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:39.280 But all who take refuge in this one, who embodied humility and through humility displayed his power to save, will be blessed. 00:43:42.000 --> 00:44:00.639 All of the ironies, the upside downness, ought to move us to humble trust in the God who gave himself for us and the awe of the King, the one who will come with the clouds of heaven. 00:44:00.880 --> 00:44:04.159 And we will all stand in awe of him. 00:44:05.039 --> 00:44:27.519 We all ought to be moved with Peter to tears of our sin and praise full of hallelujahs to the merciful Savior who humbled himself even to the point of death on a cross. 00:44:27.840 --> 00:44:30.639 Lord Jesus, we come and we bow before you. 00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:40.000 Thanking you for such a magnificent picture of who you are and of what you've done for us. 00:44:42.079 --> 00:44:46.159 Oh Lord Jesus, may we not be left unmoved. 00:44:47.920 --> 00:44:51.920 And we also thank you that you would take sinners like us. 00:44:53.679 --> 00:44:59.519 As John Newton described worms such as I. 00:45:01.440 --> 00:45:08.320 Worms like Peter, that crushed rock ground into gravel by his sin. 00:45:10.239 --> 00:45:12.239 And that you would restore us. 00:45:12.719 --> 00:45:23.440 You would redeem us and not just redeem us, but you would enable us to have the authority to be called the sons and the daughters of God. 00:45:25.920 --> 00:45:32.400 Inspire us to proclaim, hallelujah, what a savior. 00:45:32.719 --> 00:45:33.360 Amen. 00:45:35.360 --> 00:45:39.199 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:45:39.360 --> 00:45:46.239 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:45:46.480 --> 00:45:50.559 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.