Luke 59: Scandalous Grace

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1 I. In the Field of View: Message Notes Luke 59: Scandalous Grace Brad Julihn - May 25, 2014 A. Looking at the Moon: When you look through a telescope several things happen. The most obvious is that distant things appear larger. But other things happen too. The field of view or the size of the area you can see gets smaller. In fact the more you increase the magnification, the smaller the area you can see becomes. The entire moon is visible through the eyepiece at 60X. But at 100X you can only see a part of the moon, and at 200 power you're looking at one or two large craters. B. Looking at the Trial: The story of the trial of Jesus Christ is one most of us have heard or read many times. Such familiarity often causes our eyes to glaze over. How does one say anything fresh about it? My tendency as a teacher is to broaden our field of view by bringing in different elements from all four gospels to fill out the story. To look at the whole moon as it were. But this morning I want to do the opposite. I want to stick with Luke. I want to increase the magnification so that we see what Luke sees. In fact, if we refer to the other gospels at all, it will mostly be to point out that Luke specifically eliminates that from his field of view. We want to try see what Luke is specifically focusing on here. I don't want us to come away from the eyepiece and say; "Oh there are a bunch of craters on the Moon!" I want us to say; "You know my friend Luke, he showed me something I never noticed before. I am doing this because I always come to Scripture with the assumption that God inspired the writer to say the things God wanted said. So what did God want to say through Luke about the trial and crucifixition of Christ that is different from what He said through John or Matthew? What gets emphasized and what does not? Where is God trying to take us here? Lets read Luke 22:63 23:25. II. The Soldiers: 22:63-65 A. A Cruel Game: After having told us about the disciples sleeping, Judas betraying, and Peter denying; the camera shifts again. And this time we see the soldiers assigned to guard Jesus. They are mocking him and beating him. Since Jesus is supposed to be a prophet, they blindfold him and repeatedly strike him. Then in mockery cry out "Prophesy! Which one of us hit you?" It is a cruel game devised by those in control to torment and brutalize the person who is at their whim. B. A Minor Part of the Story: I find it interesting that this is the part of the story Luke focuses us in on. He tells us nothing of entire pre-dawn questioning of Jesus that was conducted back and forth between the homes of Annas, the former high priest, and Caiaphas his son-in-law and current high priest. If Luke were 1 P a g e

2 a reporter giving us the facts of the events, this would be an unforgivable error in judgment. But if it is intentional selection of what material to include by the Holy Spirit; we need to ask ourselves what does God want us to see here? 1. Why are we shown the abuse and not the details of the trial? 2. Was Jesus powerless in this situation? C. Grace Unmasked: We are seeing a staggering paradox here. The Almighty Creator allowing the creatures He created to mock Him and abuse Him. The injustice of the moment weighs heavy in the air. Jesus could not only have told them who hit him; he could have told them their parents names, where they grew up, how much money they had in their purses, who their sweethearts were, and the things they were most ashamed of in life. The One who spoke a word to calm the storm on the Sea of Galilee could have spoken a word and destroyed them. The blatant exercise of their seemingly complete power over Jesus appears to be self-evident proof that Jesus is fraud. It is definitive proof that he lacks the power to stop them or the prophetic insight of one who is close to the all-knowing God. Yet who but God Himself could resist the temptation to put them in their place. The scene shouts out for the King's vindication. But Jesus remains silent in that unbearably unjust moment of pain and shame. He restrains the exercise of his divine knowledge and power. Grace demands it. Grace and justice are opposites of one another. Grace is always unjust. Grace is not niceness. It is not about God overlooking minor flaws. It is about perfect one being unjustly treated. It is about the one who doesn't deserve it, getting the full measure of what we deserved. The book of Hebrews says; " In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters." Hebrews 2:10-11 Jesus was made perfect as the author of our salvation through suffering. "Made perfect" in the sense that He has really tasted the pain and injustice we must face in this world. Without suffering Jesus would be ashamed to call us "brothers and sisters", because he would not have earned the right to do so. He would not have truly experienced our suffering. Application: We sometimes glibly say "Life is NOT Fair". We say it; but we still want it to be fair. And we think God's job is to make sure we get a reasonably good size cut of the pie. We think we deserve reasonably good health until we get old, and that we should live happy, prosperous lives. We are angry with God when we seem to get a raw deal. But bearing up under injustice is part of the call as followers of Jesus. This is not saying an abused wife should just put up with it. There are times to remove yourself from harmful situations. But it is easy to get stuck and angry 2 P a g e

3 with people and with God, when life doesn't turn out the way we would like. In those situations God's word says; "If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."1 Peter 2:20-23 Illustration: Admiral William McCraven is the Commander of US Special Operations and a Navy Seal. He captured the flavor of enduring injustice in his commencement address at the University of Texas this year. He spoke about "10 Things I Learned about Being a World Changer from Navy Seal Training!" One of those "10 Things" was this: Several times a week, the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform immaculately pressed and your belt buckle shiny and void of any smudges. But it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat, or pressing your uniform or polishing your belt buckle it just wasn t good enough. The instructors would find something wrong. For failing the uniform inspection, the student had to run, fully clothed into the surf zone and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand. The effect was known as a sugar cookie. You stayed in that uniform the rest of the day cold, wet and sandy. There were many a student who just couldn t accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right it was unappreciated. Those students didn t make it through training. Those students didn t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform. Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie. It s just the way life is sometimes. If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward. Friends; Jesus WAS PERFECT and still ended up a "sugar cookie". He did not deserve to be treated that way. It was actually and truly unjust. If He was to receive what we deserved, it could not be any other way. That is the scandal of grace. And the way he dealt with it was not to threaten or demand justice, but to entrust himself to the One who does and will judge justly in the end. III. The Sanhedrin: 22:66-23:2 The next scene we come to is actually the third hearing before a Jewish Court for Jesus that night. Luke skips the accusations by members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, and various false witnesses throughout the night. He focuses on Jesus being brought before them 3 P a g e

4 once more after daybreak, as was required by the Law. The Sanhedrin is acting in exactly the same role as a grand jury in the United States. Their role is to investigate and determine whether charges should be brought against someone. And if so, what charges? Luke only records the end of the proceedings. The accusers ask Jesus; "If you are the Christ, tell us." Jesus answers them; If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God. They all asked, Are you then the Son of God? He replied, You are right to say that I am. Then they said, Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips. Luke 22:68-71 Once again, Jesus has spoken the truth, but they have already made their minds up about who He is. In spite of the many miracles which even they acknowledged he had performed; no amount of evidence could convince them that he was the Son of God. The question I want to ask you is this: 1. "What wrong did they believe they had just heard Jesus confess to? 2. When they take him to the Roman Governor Pilate, what charges do they bring? Tax evasion and treason! Talk about injustice! They are lying and publicly slandering Jesus. They are making up completely different and false charges that they hope Pilate won't take time to investigate. They know Pilate doesn't care about their religious differences, so they have to come up with something that at least sounds sinister. So what he actually is, they deny. And what he isn't they make up. It is a "can't win" situation. It is another uniform inspection. No matter how well you prepare or perform you are still going to end up being "sugar cookie". But grace demands that he gets what he didn't deserve, so that we might get what we don't deserve. Only in this way can God be just in justifying or declaring us "Not Guilty". Romans 3 says; "God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood... God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is both just, and the One who justifies those who believe in Jesus." Romans 3:25-26 IV. The Politicians: 23:3-25 A. Pilate's First Ruling: v. 3-7 Luke now shifts the camera onto the politicians in the story. Pilate is first to appear. Luke leaves out almost the entire dialogue between Jesus and Pilate. it is not in his field of view. He gives us Pilate's opening question, "Are you king of the Jews?" Jesus initial answer; "It is as you say." And Pilate's conclusion spoken to the chief priests and the crowd; "I find no basis for a charge against this man." Sounds like a "Not Guilty" verdict to me. 4 P a g e

5 But that is not the end of it. The priests claim he is stirring up the people and include the fact that he started in Galilee. Rather than end the matter as he has already decided and incur the wrath of the Jewish leadership, Pilate seems to see a way to pass the buck. He asks if Jesus is a Galilean. When he learns that he is; he sends him to Herod who is the ruler of Galilee to make the decision. He evades their wrath by making a jurisdictional decision. B. Herod's Show Trial: v Herod is Herod Antipas. This is the guy who seduced and married his brother Philip's wife and then killed John the Baptist for criticizing him about the fact that it was incest, since she was his niece. Herod had consistently trampled on Jewish sensitivities and cared very little what the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem thought. After all, they were Pilate's problem. But Herod did like a good show and he had heard about the miracles Jesus had performed. He wanted to see something spectacular and miraculous. But Jesus refused to answer any of his questions or respond in any way. That must have frustrated a man who was used to controlling people with ruthless intimidation and fear. So Herod orders his soldiers to dress him in a purple robe, a royal robe. Remember purple cloth was so extremely expensive that only royalty could afford it. The purple dye came from mollusks harvested around the city of Tyre. In doing this, they were mocking his claim to be the Messiah, the king of the Jews. But notice who is doing the mocking. Herod and his father Herod the Great claimed they were the kings of the Jews. That is why 30 years earlier, Herod the Great secretly ordered the slaughter of the infant boys around Bethlehem after the Magi asked; "Where is he who was born King of the Jews?" None of the other Gospels record this encounter with Herod. So why does Luke tell us about it? He is not just being historically complete. He often merely summarizes the events recorded in more detail elsewhere. Why this glimpse of Herod's little show? Are we not once again being shown the incredible irony and injustice that Jesus endured. False charges made up by the priests were presented to Pilate and dismissed. But now he is passed off to Herod, the pretender to the throne of the Jews. Herod Antipas is the one Herod the Great appointed to rule in his place over the Jews. But he was given much diminished power and territory by Caesar. The irony and injustice here isn't just that someone was mocking Jesus as King of the Jews. It is that the pretender to the throne is mocking the real king. The king of evil is mocking the King of righteousness. The self-styled king who is in reality the appointed governor of an obscure minor territory in the Roman Empire is mocking the Lord of Heaven and Earth. But grace demands that Jesus endure such obscene injustice. It demands that he receive what he did not deserve. So, the One whom angels adore remains silent and entrusts himself to the One who judges justly, while Herod and his soldier turn him into a royal "sugar cookie". C. Pilate Rules Again... And Again: v Jesus is then returned to Pilate. And Pilate for a second time renders judgment. He says; "You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him and neither has Herod". 5 P a g e

6 Well, there it is; "Not Guilty again!" Surely they will release him. But contrary to appearances, this is not a trial about guilt, or innocence, or even justice. In fact, the whole point of Luke's focus here is on the injustice of it all. This has become a trial about political expedience. Pilate attempts to use the tradition of releasing a prisoner at the feast as a means of releasing Jesus. But the priests incite the mob to ask for Barabbas instead. The Holy Spirit is being very intentional to include this detail in the story. Don't miss the irony of it all. Here is someone who is really guilty of the charges they are trying to convict Jesus on. Barabbas was trying to incite a rebellion and had murdered people in the process. But the priests and the crowd demand the guilty one be released and the innocent one be punished. Jesus, whose kingdom was not of this world and who came to heal and forgive, not murder will bear the punishment for him. He will receive punishment he did not deserve because that is what grace demands. The staggering injustice here would be like a judge releasing the Bacon brothers and sentencing Mother Theresa to life for drug dealing and murder. So, one final time Pilate appeals to the crowd declaring Jesus innocent. But the crowd is out for blood and they shout "Crucify him! Crucify him!" And Pilate caves to their demands. He orders Barabbas released and hands Jesus over to be crucified. This truly obscene exchange gives us a flesh and blood picture of what Christ has done for all of us. " For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." 1 Peter 3:18 But we do not understand grace. We think of grace as God being nice to us. Grace friends, true grace is always a mockery of justice. Grace is completely unfair. Grace is you and I in Barabbas's clothes, walking away; while they nail Jesus to the Cross for the very things we have done. If you or I want what we think we deserve; we had better be careful. Because we might actually get it. V. Through the Eyepiece: When we gaze through the eyepiece of Luke's narrative, of the Holy Spirit's narrative through Luke; the field of view and what we can see is quite different from Matthew, Mark and John. What we see is the incredible irony and injustice of how Jesus was treated. Soldiers abuse him and mock his prophetic connection to God. The Jewish ruling council denies the truth and the evidence which supports it, then make up false charges to bring against the Messiah. Pilate repeatedly finds him innocent, but appeases public opinion and punishes Jesus for the very crimes actually committed by the rebel he sets free. And the pretender to the throne mocks the royal majesty of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And Jesus remains silent because grace demands that He unjustly receive what He does not deserve. So when you sing about grace or speak about grace, do not use the word cheaply. It is scandalous really. It is God taking the full weight of our punishment and also our shame upon unjustly himself, so that He might justly forgive. And do not be quick to cry "unfair" when you receive the short end of the stick. He will judge justly in eternity and He has already given us far more than we deserve. 6 P a g e