“Yup – I’m the One.”
Matthew 26:57-68
September 6, 2009
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Introduction:
I loved comic books growing up. Especially Spider-Man and other super-heroes like Batman, Superman, and the Avengers.
In fact, I still like them. If you had a comic book collection, especially of comics from the mid-70’s, I’d be all over them.
Anybody else like that?
When they made the first Spider-Man I was ecstatic. I don’t go to movies very often, but I’ve seen all the Spider-Man movies.
One thing about all the super-hero comics: they featured someone who had to hide who they really were.
They either wore a mask, or in Superman’s case, put on a pair of Buddy Holly glasses and moved a lock of hair to disguise themselves.
And by the way – were Superman’s friends totally blind, or what? Who couldn’t catch the resemblance? Say no to drugs, folks!
But anyway, the point is that these superheroes had to hide who they really were, and just hope they didn’t get caught.
God: In our passage today, we find Jesus revealing who He really is.
But unlike a comic book superhero, Jesus hadn’t been running around trying to hide who He really was.
He had been out there for over three years, teaching, healing, and all sorts of things to show people who He was – the Messiah who had come to save His people from their sins.
But in our passage, the religious leaders finally realize what Jesus is trying to communicate, as they put Him on trial to try to get rid of Him.
Matthew 26:57-68 (p. 704) –
As we go through the passage I’m going to stop and just explain a few things, and then I’m going to focus on a couple things after we’re done reading the passage.
57 Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. 58 But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.
So Peter, after fleeing in the garden when Jesus was arrested, follows the procession and actually ends up with a seat at the proceedings before the Sanhedrin.
The Sanhedrin was, for the simplest definition, the supreme law of the land of Judea, up to the boundaries of what the Romans would allow.
They weren’t just the “religious Supreme Court” as some say, but these guys could try criminal cases and punish up to certain limits.
For cases where the death penalty was called for, they had to get permission from the Romans.
They had a lot of power within Judea, and these guys saw a major threat in Jesus. So here Jesus is, probably before dawn.
59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 60 But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.
Finally two came forward 61 and declared, "This fellow said, ’I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’"
62 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" 63 But Jesus remained silent.
The Sanhedrin wanted evidence to convict Jesus of a crime deserving death, but they did not find any. The obvious conclusion should have been that Jesus was innocent of any crime.
But this wasn’t a trial for justice; it was a trial to accomplish an evil purpose.
Let’s talk for a moment about the witnesses, shall we?
There was no shortage of witnesses, according to verse 60. The problem was in finding two witnesses who agreed. According to Moses’ law, no one was to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness; there had to be two or three agreeing witnesses.
This must have been totally exasperating for the religious leaders. They had to be afraid that Jesus would get away on a technicality!
Finally, two men were found who claimed that Jesus had said he could destroy the Temple of God.
The problem for these guys, however, Jesus had not said that He would destroy the temple.
And he didn’t said anything linking his words with the Temple building.
Instead, Jesus said, according to John, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
Jesus, of course, was talking about his body, not the building.
Ironically, the religious leaders were about to destroy Jesus’ body and three days later He would raise it up. (LACNT)
And then we come to the conversation on which hinges everything and seals Jesus’ fate with the Sanhedrin (but of course, Jesus knew that this would be just another step to fulfilling His mission.)
The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."
64 "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66 What do you think?"
"He is worthy of death," they answered. 67 Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him 68 and said, "Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?"
There is a lot of stuff in this passage, and I’m gonna try to get through as much as possible without drowning it in details.
But for me to get to where I believe God wants to challenge us today, I need to address some things, okay?
First, back in verse 63, the high priest asks Jesus if He was the Christ. Why would he ask that? His name was Jesus Christ, right?
No, His name was actually Joshua, or Y’shua in Hebrew. Jesus is the Greek form of that, and since the New Testament was written in Greek, that is how we Gentiles would pronounce it.
And we need to keep in mind that “Christ” is not Jesus’ name, either. It’s His title. It’s the Greek form of the Hebrew word, “Messiah,” which means “Anointed One.”
So His name to us would be “Jesus the Christ,” but because the Scripture writers use the phrase “Jesus Christ,” that’s how we refer to Him.
That’s perfectly okay if we understand, like the writers and the first-century readers did, that this wasn’t just a case of someone using first and last names like we do in our culture.
Back then they didn’t use last names like we do in our culture.
The belief in Jesus’ day was that the Messiah would be a human warrior-king who would push out the Romans.
So if Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, He would be denying their image of what the Messiah was all about, because their image of a Messiah didn’t include someone beaten and in chains being tried for blasphemy.
But Jesus flat-out tells them, “Yup – I’m the One. I’m the Messiah, only you’ve missed what the Messiah is all about.
And not only that, the next time we get together, you’ll see me, the Son of Man, coming in a way you won’t miss.”
He knew who He was. He wasn’t confused. Remember, He was on task from the very beginning.
Jesus calls Himself the “Son of Man throughout Jesus’ ministry, and He uses that term in His answer to the Sanhedrin, because He knew that they would tie it to the Messiah.
That term has a lot of meaning to it. It wasn’t just something Jesus picked out because it sounded cool.
When I say, “Bond. James Bond.” What do you think of? You know that the hero has just introduced himself and he’s ready to go.
It doesn’t have quite the ring when you say, “Smith. Fred Smith.” Or, “La Croix. Brian La Croix…”
Lowell, out of all the stories and novels by Louis L’Amour, what is the one family name that stands out above them all?
Sackett.
That name has meaning. It stood for integrity, fairness, and for the fact that if you messed with one, you messed with them all. And you’d pay for it.
Those names have meaning. They carry weight, at least in their respective contexts.
And as I said a moment ago, the name, “Son of Man” wasn’t just a phrase. It was loaded with meaning.
It was a reference to Daniel 7:13-14 –
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.
Now listen to this part, because this is the crux of what Jesus was trying to communicate:
14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
In other words, He had the appearance of a human, but He was far from human.
THE Son of Man would be given authority over all creation, and would be worshiped.
Who does God allow us to worship, according to Scripture? Only God.
So the Son of Man had to be divine. He had to be God in the flesh, because He would be worshiped and would be given all authority.
In fact, after His resurrection, as He was about to go the Heaven to send the Holy Spirit to His followers and prepare for His return, He said this:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
When Jesus said He was the Son of Man, He was saying that He was the One spoken of in Daniel.
They knew what the term “Son of Man” meant.
It was both an affirmation of who He was and a warning to them that He would judge them for their actions against Him.
They knew exactly what He was saying and it sent them over the edge. They not only said He was worthy of death, but they beat and spit on Him, insulting Him.
You: It’s kind of easy to fault the Sanhedrin, especially since we have the benefit of the Scriptures explaining everything for us.
But in looking at this trial, I think we need to take a look at ourselves, and we need to ask a question:
How do you view Jesus?
Is He just another historical figure like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, or Mother Teresa?
Is He just a religious figure like Buddha or Mohammed?
Let me tell you – He’s none of these things.
He is the divine Son of Man. The Messiah. The Son of God.
He is God in the flesh.
He came to earth as the Messiah to save us from the penalty we deserve for our sins.
He laid down His perfect and holy life so we could be cleansed from our sins and spend eternity in heaven.
He rose again to conquer the stranglehold of death that sin brought.
And He’s coming again. When He comes He will gather His people to Himself, and He will judge those who have rejected Him on earth.
How do you treat Him while you’re on earth?
Do you ignore Him as someone unworthy of your time?
Do you insult Him by treating His name with contempt – using it as a swear word instead of the holy name that it is?
Or by saying He’s just a crutch for old women and weak-minded people?
Do you call yourself a Christian but push Jesus aside when His commands get inconvenient or too personal?
Or do you worship Him as not just the coming King, but the King of your life in the here and now?
Folks, how you choose to answer that is crucial.
For some of you, the answer is a positive. That you worship Christ as the divine Son of God who came to seek and save those lost in their sins, which was you at one time.
But for others, maybe some of you in here, the answer would be different.
If you were in court and asked to tell just how you thought of Jesus and how you treated Him, you’d have to admit that your relationship with Jesus was not one of worship, but maybe one of these other things, or maybe something else I didn’t mention.
So for you, I want to tell you that today, you can change all that.
You can call on Jesus to forgive you. Not only for these things, but for everything you’ve ever done.
His death on the cross made it possible for you to be forgiven of anything you’ve ever done, no matter how great or small.
He wants to do that. He wants you to be in a position that when He comes back, you’ll be welcomed into His arms instead of receiving the punishment we all deserve for our sins.
For some of you, you may have been white hot for Jesus once, but you’ve grown cold for one reason or another, or maybe a whole bunch of reasons.
Let me invite you to renew that flame, and allow Christ to live in you in a fresh way. He wants that more than you know.
He wants you to have a wonderful, full life, filled with meaning, significance, and security knowing that you’re in His care.
Folks, let’s all recommit ourselves to living for Jesus as the Messiah – our Savior and our King, anticipating that day when He returns, to find us living for Him on earth and ready to live with Him in heaven for eternity.
We: You know what’s sad?
There are so many people in the Church who live more like the Sanhedrin than like Christians.
They’re quick to condemn, quick to trample people who get their way, and very slow to show love and grace to those who aren’t like them or who say and do things that don’t fit in their little box of what they think a “good Christian” should do or be like.
They think they’re Christians, but they don’t act like Jesus at all.
But I think that if Christians would get serious about worshiping Jesus as their coming King, truly giving their allegiance to Him in every area of their lives, they would be less like the Sanhedrin and more like Jesus.
And folks, that’s what the world needs to see from the Church.
They see enough of the other stuff. They see enough the harsh condemnations. They’ve seen enough cruel words spoken in the name of Jesus.
They need to see the love of Christ. They need to see you and me reaching out with the good news that Jesus loves them and wants to do a wonderful work in their lives.
My prayer is that as people interact with you in the workplace, on vacation, being with your family, or just running errands or whatever, they will see Jesus, not the Sanhedrin.
My prayer is that you will open your heart to let Christ fill you all the more so you can let it overflow through your lips and your actions.
And I can guarantee that if you’ll do that, God will move in you and will use you to bring glory to Himself as you impact other people for Him.
Let’s pray.
