were holding Jesus in custody. Luke reports what they did and said to Jesus, while He remains

The Long-expected Prophet (Lk 22.54-65) WestminsterReformedChurch.org Pastor Ostella July 28, 2013 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, "This man also was with him." 57 But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know him." 58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not." 59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, "Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean." 60 But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about." And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times." 62 And he went out and wept bitterly. 63 Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. 64 They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, "Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?" 65 And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him. (Luke 22:54-65 ESV) Introduction Some commentators complain that we lose sight of Christ if we focus on Peter in this text about his denials (Lk 22.54-65, our text for today), but Luke appears to fix the spotlight directly on Peter. He tells us that they seized Jesus, took Him to the high priest s house, and Peter followed as far as the courtyard (54-55). Then, he elaborates on what happens in the courtyard in some conversations there with Peter uncomfortably in the middle of them. A comment is made about Jesus in verse 61a (He turned and looked), but no record is given of anything He said. In 61b-62, Peter is the subject again. Furthermore and notably, in 63-65, the subject is the men who were holding Jesus in custody. Luke reports what they did and said to Jesus, while He remains silent. So, it appears that Luke loses sight of Christ. Of course, it does not even sound right to suggest that Luke (by the Spirit) loses sight of Christ. So, we need to broaden our grasp of the context. Accordingly, if we recall that both Peter s actions and the actions of these men were prophesied by Jesus, then we understand that our Lord exerts a dominant presence in the narrative, even when others are in the spotlight temporarily. Therefore, the point of the text is to teach us that Jesus is a prophet, a rejected, but true prophet who reveals God and the gospel of the kingdom. Therefore, the rejection by Peter and the rejection by men reveal that Jesus is the true voice of God, the long-expected prophet. I. Let s begin with The rejection by Peter reveals that Jesus is the long-expected prophet In Psalm 38.8-11(you may want to turn there), the prophet-king David speaks of being crushed while his friends stand aloof and far off. David anticipates the experience of the true prophet and righteous King who is wounded by His unfaithful friends and who waits in silence for God to answer with deliverance ( Ps 38.13-15, 22; My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off. 12 Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long. 13 But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth. 14 I have become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes. 15 But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer...make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!). Interestingly, the disciples and close friends of Jesus simply disappear from the narrative in Luke, not to reappear until after the resurrection. They are unfaithful friends and their unfaithfulness is epitomized in the narrative by Peter s actions. To understand the prophetic overtones regarding Peter s sin, we need to consider the prediction of it, the realization, and the rest of the story. A. First, the prediction was given in the upper room. 1. On one hand, Jesus predicted that Peter (and the others) will turn away in denial

A good translation (of 22.31) is: Simon, Simon, listen carefully, Satan has been granted his request to sift all of you (you and all of you) like wheat. This tells us that for Simon to be Peter truly; that is, for him to fulfill his role as a called disciple and apostle, he has to listen carefully to the prediction that he will be torn apart and picked to pieces as wheat in a sieve by Satan. Jesus tells Peter that he will lose his way. It is imbedded into his memory that his faith is going to be shaken at its foundations, but it will not be destroyed because Jesus is his intercessor (22.32a). However, at bottom is the sober fact that Peter will turn away from the Lord; he will not acknowledge Him but deny Him. 2. On the other hand, Jesus predicted that Peter will turn away three times Of course, the idea that he will turn away from Jesus is not something about himself that Peter is ready to hear. Showing that he hears only bits and pieces of this instruction, Peter bonds himself to the Lord: Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death (33). However, he misses the point that his life depends completely on the intercession of Jesus. He hears the prediction of turning away in denial then denies the idea of denial; no, I will not turn away; I will go with you; so, I do not really need your intercession for my return. Despite the disclaimers (the denying that he will deny), Jesus confirms the reality that Peter will be thrown into such turmoil and confusion that he will disown Jesus. He will do so this very day and he will do it three times: I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me (34). Luke gives us nothing more of this exchange between Jesus and Peter in the upper room. He simply leaves us with an unfinished story. B. Second, the realization of what Jesus predicted comes after His arrest Soon after the Lord gave His prediction, He was taken away to the high priest s house, and Peter followed along: Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance (Lk 22.54). A friend and follower of Christ follows Him at a distance. How distant? There is no closeness of spirit in prayer because moments earlier Peter was sleeping instead of praying for deliverance from temptation. His distance does not translate into faithfulness or obedience. Instead, Peter is outside sitting with our Lord s enemies by a fire: And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them (22.55). The people (they) who made this fire are no doubt members of the arresting party: they seized him...and...they...kindled a fire). Jesus is inside in the hateful hands of His enemies and Peter is outside while more than an hour passes. The Lord is being mistreated and Peter is being warmed. However, Peter is not comfortable. He is in tension. He wants to follow Christ, but now from afar; now unknown; now in anonymity; now in denial sitting with the enemy. The relative comfort of anonymity does not last long. The denial implied by his distance will soon be verbalized because the people around him will not let him be without disturbance. With tension within and pressure from without, in three stages, he denies Christ. Let s pause and reflect on each stage. At the outset, he uses the very language of the Lord s prophecy: Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, "This man also was with him." 57 But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know him" (56-57). Under close scrutiny, the servant girl identified Peter as an associate of Christ, a man who had been with him, with the teacher now in a pretrial in the house of the high priest. Jesus had said, you will deny that you know me (22.34). Peter says, I do not know him (57), which says much more than I was not with Him. Next, a little time passes and another person looks at him and connects him with the followers of Christ: And a little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them" (58a). When Peter replies, Man, I am not (58b), he not only denies to be among the disciples of Christ (I am not one of them), he also denies attachment to the instruction these disciples received, and in turn, he denies the instructor 2

3 who bonds Himself to His students with tight cords of love. Finally, Luke tells us that about an hour later, another man confronted Peter and confidently identified him: And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, "Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean" (59). He is insistent and certain, even offering evidence for his identification: He is a Galilean like the arrested man. Now, Peter s denial, his not knowing Christ, involves a response to obvious evidence that shows he has been lying about his knowledge of Christ and His disciples. He pleads befuddlement: I cannot figure out what you are talking about; there is no way possible for me to have been with Him: But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about (60a). Thus, I deny that I know Him. When all else fails, you can always dodge the truth by claiming puzzled ignorance! Therefore, it is just as Jesus predicted. Things have changed drastically in an hour since leaving the upper room. Reality has set in; the disciples have disappeared except for one, and this one sits among enemies and disavows attachment to His Teacher and Lord. Thankfully, the narrative does not break off here. After considering the prediction and its realization, we come now, third, to the rest of the story. C. Third, the rest of the story deepens our grasp of the true Prophet Perhaps, we can call this section the Lord s prophetic acknowledgment of Peter. Timing is everything here; it all unfolds as Jesus prophesied. While Peter is uttering his third denial, a rooster crowed, the Lord turned, looked at Peter, and Peter remembered: And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times" (22.60b-61). If you know how prophets did their work in the OT, then you know that this is all prophetic enactment: the rooster crowing, the Lord turning and looking. Nothing is accidental; nothing is without meaning. To take this in fully, note some assumptions that Luke expects us to make regarding the concurrence of things. Intuitively, we know that for Jesus to turn and look at Peter, they must have been in eyesight of each other. So, Jesus has been brought out of the house in transit to another location, ultimately in route to the assembly place of the Sanhedrin (Lk 22.66; other Gospels record more on what happened on the way to this assembly). Thus, we easily assume the following scenario: Jesus was brought out of the house in transit. He comes within eyesight of Peter. He paused at the crowing of the rooster. Thus, within view of Peter, He turned toward the apostle. As for Peter, while denying the Lord the third time and hearing the fowl crowing, he must have noticed the movement of people out of the house that brought Jesus into the courtyard. Also, we must assume that Peter was looking at Jesus when Jesus turned and looked at him. Thus, their eyes met across the courtyard as the reflections of the fire began to give way to the dawning of a new day. Peter felt the gaze of Christ. Jesus did not pass by without pausing, turning, and looking him straight in the eye. That momentary look struck him like an arrow into his heart. Among the enemies, claiming anonymity, in deafening silence, Peter heard the word of the prophet par excellence. Thus, Jesus and Peter were not mere ships passing quietly in the night without any communication. Even though not a word was spoken between them, much was communicated. It is a special thought that Jesus would not take another step without first having a silent conversation with Peter. Love communicates: whatever the circumstances, love will find a way to speak, heart to heart, mind to mind, soul to soul with the person loved. That is a true friend, one that sticks closer than a brother. O Lord, we pray that our friendships may emulate yours! Therefore, Peter remembered what Christ had said (Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times"). The expression the narrator uses, the saying of the Lord, is literally the word of the Lord, which is the speech (the

4 speaking) of a prophet. For example, in Luke 3.2, it is said that the word of the Lord came to John in the wilderness at the beginning of His prophetic ministry. It is similar for prophets in the OT, The word of the Lord came to Hosea (1.1), and the word of the Lord came to Joel (1.1). This is indication that Luke has his eye on Jesus the true though rejected prophet. So, Jesus communicates the word of God even in His silence; even when suffering rejection by friends compounded by the abuse of enemies. His whole life is prophetic; He embodies the word of the Lord in His life, manners, and gestures. The prophet speaks and blessings flow to Peter and to all his brothers and sisters in the strength of the gospel. Peter thereby receives the gift of repentance: And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times." 62 And he went out and wept bitterly (61-62a). His faith was tried and shaken but not destroyed because His intercessor, Jesus, is also His prophet. Luke could end here having made his point stick like glue, but he gives a little more to complete the picture. That is our second main point to which we now turn. II. Rejection by men reveals that Jesus is the long-expected prophet In 63-65, Luke continues the narrative without a break in his demonstration that Jesus is the messianic Prophet: 62 And he [Peter] went out and wept bitterly. 63 Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. 64 They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, "Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?" 65 And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him. On more than one occasion Jesus predicted what would happen to Him at Jerusalem. He told the disciples that the Son of man would suffer many things, being rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes (Lk 9.22); that He would be mocked (Lk 18.32) and beaten like all those who speak for God are beaten (Lk 20.10-11). The mocking and beatings unfold in accord with the Lord's predictions for you will recall that the arresting party is identified as the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders (Lk 22.52; note how Luke omits reference to the Romans). The religious leaders beat and mock Him. The very mockery reveals that Jesus is a prophet. Their blaspheming draws attention to the truth and thus ironically underscores it. His prophesying is unfolding in its fulfillment in their actions and words while He remains silent. His silence to Peter was golden. Here, silence is a word of condemnation. There is no gesture of good will. These men condemn themselves for they speak the truth against their wills, yet they speak it nonetheless. They announce in mockery that Jesus speaks for God and that they stand condemned as unfaithful servants that kill the prophets of God and the Son of God. Their condemnation is present in the prophetic word of the Lord. For example, consider the answer to the question: what shall He do to those unfaithful servants? It is already on the record in Luke: He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. When they heard this, they said, "Surely not!" 17 But he looked directly at them and said, "What then is this that is written: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." 19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people (Lk 20.16-19). The religious leaders sought to do precisely what the unfaithful tenant farmers did: kill the prophets and kill the Prophet of prophets, the Son of the landowner of all the earth. Therefore, God s milestone will crush them to powder; it may grind slowly but it grinds exceedingly fine. Conclusion Jesus was rejected by friend and foe (friends through fear His cause disowning and foes insulting His distress). Nevertheless, their rejection fulfills His prophesies and show Him to be the prophet of prophets promised by Moses in Deuteronomy 18: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers- it is to him you shall listen And I will put my

5 words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him (15, 18-19). His appearance among men is not as expected by the people of promise and clearly not as expected by the leaders of Israel. Although rejected by His friends in the classic example of Peter, Jesus reveals the saving love of God that brings sinners to repentance and to repentant lives. He does so efficaciously as the long expected prophet, giving the word of the Lord. In silent providential love (by the working of the Spirit who comes like the wind), His word penetrates heart and soul. His penetrating look refers to His seeing us in need and making sure that our need of repentance is granted as His gift by the Spirit working with the word. It is granted both definitively and progressively, both to begin and to persevere through fiery trials and painful afflictions in the Christian life of repentance. Amen to the fact that He continues to look at His disciples, to look with loving care and nurturing concern, to see what we need and to meet all our needs (to see His offspring, Isa 53.10-11). Behind the eye is the thought. When you look into someone s eyes listening for their thoughts, what do you see when there is no opportunity to hear them speak? What does Peter see? What Peter sees is his own disobedience that stands in perfect accord with the prediction of Christ. He sees his bold overconfidence, his misunderstanding, his quest for superficial recognition and greatness, his betrayal of love, his denial of discipleship, his denial of Jesus of all the good He has done, of all that He taught, of all that He represents. He remembered what Jesus predicted. He remembered who He was, the Christ the Son of the living God; the one who has the words of eternal life; the holy one from whom sinner s must distance themselves, but He sees the one who does not leave because He loves, cleanses, and forgives. He saw his shame, guilt, exposure in the light; exposure by a holy look. Then his eyes filled with tears of repentance. What does Jesus see; what is in His path of sight? Peter sees himself and his sin. Jesus sees Peter as a man in need; a man in trial being shifted like wheat in a sieve by the powers of darkness; He sees an object of His intercession, an object of His love, a man to whom He chooses to reveal the Father, one to whom He will give the gift of repentance. In His thoughts behind the eyes, He continues His intercession and sends the Spirit to open the eyes of his understanding that he may grasp the reality of his sin and be turned around in repentance. Thus, He sees in Peter the comforted one become a comforter, the apostate an apostle, one who no longer denies but acknowledges Christ among men. He sees like this because He is the long expected Prophet, the Seer, who knows His own with a powerful saving love. May we fall down before the majesty of Jesus the head of the church; may the Holy Spirit enable us to learn from our Lord as the Prophet-teacher; may we lift our voices in praise to the rejected stone that has become the head of the corner by the resurrection; to the triune God be all glory in the church now and forever, amen.