Midweek Lent Service 2: Audio Sermon (24-Feb-2016)

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Midweek Lent Service 2 [Matthew 26:59-66] (24-Feb-2016)

This sermon was preached at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Magill, 7.30pm.

Click here for PDF file of sermon for printing.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, 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.”

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, bless all of us with your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

This week for our mid-week Lent sermon, we read about where Jesus comes to appear before Caiaphas the high-priest. Last week, we were reading about the passage that St John records where Jesus appears before the high-priest Annas. As we mentioned last week, there were two high priests, but Annas was kicked out of his position by the Romans. After this happened, then the sons of Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas carried on the priesthood. However, out of respect, they took him to Annas to examine and interrogate Jesus first.

Last week we read about how the high priest Annas questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. However, Jesus points Annas to his disciples: Ask them about me and my teaching. They know what I said. When Jesus had said this, he received a slap from one of the high priests’ servants. Is that how you answer the high priest? he says. Or we might say: How dare you speak to the high priest like that!

We might know of many situations where someone is being questioned, but they don’t expect the person to answer at all. We might think of an old movie with an old English boarding school, and the principal lines up a row of boys for a caning, and one of them points out that he hasn’t done anything wrong. The reply comes: How dare you speak to me like that? Or we might think of the old story by Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, where the boy Oliver asks for more food. More? The very fact that Oliver spoke at all lands him in deep trouble.

The conversation is not relevant here. What is happening is that the person who is in charge wants to show that he’s in charge, and will allow no one to point out that he has acted wrongly or unfairly. It’s as if to say: I will not have my conscience pricked in front of you, my boy!

This also happened with Martin Luther, actually. During his life, Martin Luther had become famous and he had written a lot of things against the pope and his teachings. The Emperor Charles V summoned Martin Luther to the city of Worms to recant all of his writings. To recant means that he had to say in public that everything he wrote was false. However, instead of simply saying the simple words “I recant”, Luther had something to say. He knew that not everything he wrote was controversial—but many things he wrote were simply the clear teaching of Scripture. How could he recant those things? If he said they were false, he would be saying the bible itself were false. But you see, nobody wanted Luther to speak—the simply wanted him to submit and bow, even if the pope and his teachings were wrong, and that was something Luther refused to do. So he said his famous words: Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.

So you can see how through history God lets his people suffer in a similar way to his Son, Jesus, not so that someone like Luther could atone for the sins of the world, but so that he could be comforted by Christ’s atonement and his suffering that already happened. Jesus was not being a rebel, he was being respectful, he was being polite—however, just the very fact that he spoke at all to Annas got him a slap on the cheek.

Now, Annas had had enough of all of this. He wasn’t going to be spoken to like that! He wasn’t going to have Jesus question his authority! So he fobs him off—he passes Jesus on to his son-in-law, the high-priest Caiaphas. Annas was a kind of high-priest-in-exile, but Caiaphas was the high-priest who was actually serving.

So let’s have a look at our text for this evening.

We read: Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death.

When it says the whole council, the actual word there is the “Sanhedrin”. The Sanhedrin was a council of Jewish leaders. The whole Sanhedrin, which is mentioned here was a group of 71 leaders. Actually, we read in the Gospel of John about a man called Nicodemus who came to Jesus at night-time. Jesus teaches him about holy baptism and that unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. This man must have been there too, but we don’t hear about him protesting. Next week, we’re going to read about Peter denying Jesus three times. We can see in our reading from last week, Jesus getting slapped, and this week, Jesus being spat upon and mocked. I don’t know about you, but if I were one of Jesus’ disciples there, I would be worried that if they found me out, they would probably treat me in the same way. Nicodemus also probably knew that there was dodgy stuff going on. He knew there was a conspiracy afoot. And if even a close disciple like Peter wasn’t prepared to stand up and be counted, it’s probably no wonder that Nicodemus kept quiet too. However, we see Nicodemus later turns up and buries Jesus together with Joseph of Arimathea. When there’s a lynch mob going on, it’s a very difficult thing to stop it, without being lynched as well. And so, Nicodemus keeps silent. Peter denies Jesus with his words, but Nicodemus denies him with his silence.

This is a useful thing for us to examine ourselves. Have you ever stood by and watched someone be unfairly treated, even though you knew it was wrong, and even though you could have easily done something to stop it? What about when someone blasphemes and says something against Jesus: have you stood up for him, or have you denied him with your silence? Keeping quiet and sitting on the fence is not doing something—allowing evil to happen is no better than if we committed the evil ourselves. And yet, there is another silence, a better silence—when all our sins are numbered and recorded against us, and are ready to be read aloud, there is a silence. The record is washed clean, there is nothing to be read anymore. As Psalm 51 says: Blot out my transgressions. With his suffering and death, Jesus takes all our sins, one by one and blots them out with his blood, so that in the sight of God, there is nothing left to read, but only silence, calmness and peace with God.

So we read that the chief priests and the whole council—the whole Sanhedrin—were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none. Here we see a blatant breaking of the eighth commandment, which says: You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour. And here the priests and the council know that they are seeking false testimony, and yet they are seeking for it anyway.

We even read: They found none, though many false witnesses came forward. Then it says: 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.’”

Notice that there was two people who came forward. In Numbers 35, and Deuteronomy 17 and 19 it says that a person who is to be sentenced to death has to have two witnesses testify against him. Here we can see a situation where two witnesses come forward and they testify, and then this gives the priests and the council to tick off their little box and make sure that they justify their actions according to the law.

Now, let’s have a look at what these witnesses actually say… This man said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.” In Mark’s gospel it is put a little differently: We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’ Mark also adds: Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.

What’s interesting about this is that Jesus actually did say this. In John 2, we read where Jesus says: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Gospel of John continues: The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But—John writes—he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he has said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. We’ll come back to this passage in a moment. Let’s go back to Jesus’ trial.

We read in the Gospel of Mark that the witnesses kind of remembered that Jesus had said this but they still didn’t report it accurately or spell out exactly what he was talking about. But none of that matters—what matters now is that we’ve got him! Nobody really cared about the testimony—everyone was looking for some kind of excuse to kill Jesus, they just had to find a pretext, or an excuse. Now they had one! Who cares about the details too much?

And so, what they do is that they twist Jesus’ words around to make them suit their dodgy politics. They misquote him. Can’t you imagine what it must be like to be a politician? I could imagine that this must be one of the most frustrating things about that job. One day a politician holds a press conference, and then he wakes up in the morning and switches on the morning news or reads the paper, and they’ve quoted him as saying “what”?!! You see, a lot of the time, politics is not about giving people a fair hearing, it’s all about the agenda. If someone says something that doesn’t suit the agenda, then they get throttled in the press… people are trying to catch politicians out, people are trying to find some way to construe their words so that they look like fools, even if they know it’s not right, and put the worst possible construction on it.

But this is how the world deals with Christians too. It takes everything Christians say, and twist things around so that it all sounds bad in such a way that it doesn’t fit the political agenda of the day. I could think of so many examples, but I’m sure you can think of a situation where this has happened.

Jesus here bears this kind of sin. And he remains silent. He refuses to answer. They know that they are just looking for an excuse to kill him, and so what’s the point of trying to defend yourself. They already twisted Jesus’ words, the more he says, the more they’ll twist. None of this has anything to with justice, with fairness, it just has to do with the fact that they hate Jesus and want to get rid of him. Jesus here takes all the sin of hatred that are committed against us and which we have committed against others, and he stands still, silent, and bears it for us.

St Stephen in the book of Acts, who is the first Christian martyr, is actually killed for the same reason. We read in Acts 6, that it says: This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place [the temple] and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.

Can you see that this actually happened? The Jewish temple has actually been destroyed now, and the customs of Moses have been changed. We no longer sacrifice lambs, but we hear the preaching of Christ’s death and celebrate the Lord’s Supper. It is no longer the priests that enter into the temple on earth, but all Christians through Holy Baptism enter into the temple of heaven. What Stephen said actually has come true.

But Jesus himself never appeared at any time with a sword or a hammer in his hand to destroy the temple. And yet, in history later on it happened. The Jewish temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70 AD. And it was destroyed by the Romans. Now in Matthew 24 we read where it says: Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Now, it so happened when the temple was destroyed, that because the Romans set it on fire, that all the gold melted, and ended up in all the cracks of the temple floor. The Romans pulled up all the stone right down the foundations to get all the gold. So it actually happened in history that there was not one stone upon another left. Today, there is an outer wall still there, called the Wailing Wall, but this wasn’t actually part of the temple.

So what did Jesus have to do with the temple being destroyed? Well, Jesus is actually the God of history, and he raises up empires and brings them down. He has been doing this right from the beginning of the world, and he is still doing this today. Even though the Romans were a terribly corrupt people, God still used them to destroy the temple. The Roman Empire also doesn’t exist anymore either. They also had their own crimes to account for to God.

And so we see here, that Jesus has everything to do with every part of history. He brings down the mighty from the thrones, and lifts up the lowly. And this,--this!—this God is the man who is on trial in our reading tonight.

We might look today at the city of Jerusalem—even today the Jewish temple has not been able to have been rebuilt. In the years 688—692, Muslims built a mosque on the exact place where the temple used to stand. Some Muslims believe that this was the place where Muhammed ascended into heaven. And so, could you imagine if Jewish people decided to put a bomb under this mosque and rebuild a temple? It would start another World War or worse!

And so, there’s this terrible stalemate and hatred between Jews and Muslims still today in the middle-east and right there in the city of Jerusalem. And as Christians, this shows us one thing—it is not for us Christians to take sides with Muslims or the Jews, with the Palestinians or the Israelis. The time for the temple in Jerusalem is over, and Islam is not the true faith. The city of Jerusalem even today stands as a testimony that all people—even Jews and Arabs together—should go outside the city of Jerusalem and find not the place where temple used to be, or where Muhammed supposedly ascended into heaven, but the place where Christ suffered and died on the cross. As we read from John: Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. Jews and Muslims together are called to reconcile through Christ, and Christ is the only one that will reconcile them. He is the only one who will reconcile anyone.

Now, let’s think for a few moments more about the accusation which they threw at Jesus. Or better still, let’s call to mind what Jesus actually did say in John: Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.

Jesus is silent. He won’t answer the accusations. But all the while, this is exactly what is going on. They are destroying Jesus, they are the ones who are destroying this temple at this very moment. And Jesus silently lets it happen. He gives up his own life. Jesus has the authority to lay down his life for the sheep, and he has authority to take it up again. Jesus is in control of the situation, as he allows his body to be destroyed, and then prepares to raise it up in three days.

What a wonderful comfort it is to us that Jesus willingly gives up his life. It wasn’t out of his control, but he allowed himself to be destroyed, so that for us he would be raised up again in three days. Let’s listen to what Isaiah said about this over 500 years before: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

After Jesus keeps silent, we read that the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

The high priest says: I adjure you. This means that is calling upon Jesus to make an oath. It’s as if he gave Jesus a bible and said: I call upon you to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

It’s almost as if this is what Jesus has been waiting for—this is Jesus’ opportunity to speak the truth. So many times, we read in the gospel where Jesus does something for someone and he tells them to tell no one about it. Sometimes of course, they go off and tell people anyway.

You might know the passage where Jesus asks the disciples: Who do you say that I am? And Peter says: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Jesus gives Peter his new name, changing it from Simon Peter, and says that this confession of faith that he just made is a rock, and that on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And then—can you believe it?—Jesus then tells Peter not to tell anyone. It says: Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Well, here we are, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The high priest actually asks Jesus to testify with an oath if he is the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus says: You have said so. We might say in Australia: You said it, mate! In the Gospel of Mark we read that Jesus says: I AM. He speaks: I AM, just as he—yes, just as this same Jesus—said to Moses so many years ago, tell the people that I AM has sent you.

Jesus testifies this right in the presence of everyone. And he even adds a little bit extra. He says: You have said so. I AM. 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.

Jesus here knows what will happen to him. He knows he will ascend into heaven, but he wants to do it with wound marks in his hands. And now, these people are going to help put them there. In fact, we have put his wounds there. But we know that for us the wounds of Jesus are a wonderful pledge, the proof of the forgiveness of sins and of everlasting life. Jesus says: You will see the Son of Man. Where is he? He is sitting and he is coming. He is seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

The same Jesus that is in charge of world history will also end world history and judge the world. And this is the man who is on trial.

Either it’s true, or it’s rubbish.

We Christians believe that it’s true. But at Jesus’ trial, they condemn what he says as blasphemy. They say that it is a sin against God.

The high priest tore his robes and said, He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? They answered, “He deserves death.”

If what Jesus says is wrong, then he deserves death. But if what he says is right, then everyone in the world deserves death, because all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. I deserve death. You deserve death. Our sinful flesh, our sinful nature thinks Jesus deserves death. But Jesus accepts the verdict, and he goes to die on our behalf.

And just as at the same time the high-priest tears his robes, Jesus, our true high priest, puts on his. He puts on his priestly robes, and walks to the altar to make a sacrifice. He is not walking to the altar in the temple, but to the cross, and he is not wearing robes of silk, but a covering of blood. And still to this day, we bring all our needs and our troubles to this high-priest, our living Jesus, and he brings us into God’s presence together with him, covering us, robing us with his blood, and making us completely pure like him.

What a wonderful, trustworthy Saviour we have! Romans 8:1 says: For now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you that you were despised and rejected by men; we thank you that you are a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief for us. Have mercy on us and strengthen our faith as we think upon your suffering and death. Amen.

Midweek Lent Service 1: Audio Sermon (17-Feb-2016)

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Midweek Lent Service 1 [John 18:19-24] (17-Feb-2016)

This sermon was preached at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Magill, 7.30pm.

Click here for PDF file of sermon for preaching.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The high priest then question Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, bless all of us with your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

Tonight for our first midweek sermon we’re going to be reading about Jesus when he appeared before the high-priest, Annas. What we’re dealing with here over the next few weeks is a trial—Jesus, the completely innocent man, appears before the priests, but it given a completely unfair trial. He is innocent, but in the end he is condemned. Jesus receives an unfair trial.

But then it is a wonderful mystery when we consider on the other hand our own trial. We will also appear before God on the last day—when all our thoughts, words and actions will completely laid bare before God’s judgment throne. Even before then, there is a constant trial going on in our own minds day after day, and hour by hour. We often find ourselves with our conflicting thoughts accusing and excusing ourselves. Now, unlike Jesus, we are guilty—we are actually sinful. As we often say on Sundays: We have sinned against you in thought, word and deed. Or sometimes we say: I a poor, helpless sinner. You might remember the words of prodigal son when he returns to his Father: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. We know that this prayer also is true about us. Heavenly Father, we have sinned against heaven and before you. We are no longer worthy to be called your sons and your daughters.

However, we also receive a trial which seems unfair. Jesus is the innocent one, but he is condemned. We are the guilty ones, but we are set free. We are actually forgiven. From a human viewpoint, we would think that Jesus, because he is innocent, should go free because he deserves it. But that would mean that if we are guilty, we should be condemned. That would be the right thing to happen according to God’s justice. But Jesus came down from heaven as a helpless baby at Christmas time for one purpose—so that could take on himself the sin of the world. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He takes all our guilt upon himself, and then he is condemned not for his own guilt but for ours. So what does this mean for us? It means that when we appear on trial before God, all our guilt and sin has already be dealt with in a previous trial. Jesus has already charged for it, and he has already died for it, and he has already paid for it with his death and with his blood. When we appear on trial before God, since Jesus has already been tried for us, now we go to be tried for Jesus, the innocent one—we go to trial before God as if we are Jesus, innocent and perfect. Jesus was condemned, but we are forgiven. Jesus blood has paid the price, and by faith in Him, and by faith in his trial, his suffering, his death, his blood, we are completely forgiven. Luther writes in the Small Catechism that Jesus redeemed us so that I may be his own, and live under him in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.

So let’s look at our text for tonight. The history about when Jesus is questioned by Annas is only recorded in the Gospel of John. In the history of Jesus’ suffering and death, we actually read about two high-priests, when normally we would expect there to be only one. It so turned out that Annas served his term as high priest earlier, but he was deposed by the Romans. So the sons of Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas carried on the position. However, because Annas was wrongly kicked out of his position, they brought Jesus to him out of respect. It might be a bit of similar situation as in the Roman Catholic Church at present—normally, we would expect there to be one pope, but we know there’s also a retired pope, Pope Benedict XIV, living somewhere in a monastery out the back of the Vatican somewhere.

So Caiaphas is the high priest who is actually serving, but Annas, his father-in-law, should have continued to serve if the Romans hadn’t kicked him out. Jesus, too, is kicked out and rejected by the whole world. He comes into the world as its Saviour, and our true high-priest, who prays for us constantly. And then we—like the Romans did to Annas—try to kick him out of our hearts, and reject him. However, there is no one to replace Jesus, only wolves. There is no one to replace Christ, only antichrists. There is no one to replace the true Son of God, only idols.

We read in John: The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. When someone has a large gathering of disciples and followers, people start to worry. What’s he going to do with all these disciples? Are they going to start up a revolution? And so, since Jesus has a large group of followers, what’s he actually saying to them? You can see here why the high priest is questioning Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. With the word, teaching we might also say: doctrine. Jesus’ teaching and his doctrine is the same thing, it’s the same word. Sometimes today people prefer to talk about Jesus’ “teaching” rather than his “doctrine”—people avoid using the word “doctrine” because it has a certain ring to it, as if it is legalistic, negative and old-fashioned. But actually, it is a good word. But there’s a difference between doctrines, with an “s”, plural, and Jesus’ “doctrine”, without an “s”, singular. Jesus actually has one doctrine to teach, one unified whole, one unity of teachings—and what this means is that everything Jesus says is connected with something else. If we just take the bits we like, and reject the bits we don’t like, then we don’t really accept Jesus’ authority at all, and we even undermine and do damage to the bits we like. When Jesus sends out his disciples later, they are charged to teach them to observe everything I have commanded you. Not one piece is to be left out, everything fits together into a unified whole, like a gold ring. When you cut a piece out of the ring, then it’s not a circle anymore. That’s what the word doctrine means.

So Annas the priest questions Jesus about his disciples and his teaching, or we could say, his doctrine. However, it is not the disciples who are be questioned—it is Jesus. Now normally, wouldn’t you think that it would be better to ask the disciples about Jesus and his teaching? But also, what was Annas wanting to ask Jesus that he already didn’t know?

So we read that Jesus says: I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Jesus points out the fact that here he is bound in chains, having been arrested in the middle of the night, not in broad daylight where everyone can see it, and now Jesus is being questioned by the priest. They had had plenty of opportunities to do this before. Jesus wasn’t secretive. He didn’t hide anything. And so he testifies of the fact that what he has said has always been public. And because it is public, there should be many people around who are perfectly capable of telling Annas what he wants to know.

Jesus says: Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.

So here’s the situation: the high priest asks Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine, but Jesus points the high priest to ask the disciples about himself and his doctrine. And this is the way it continues for the church today, and Jesus shows us something really wonderful about mission. Sometimes people say, I like Jesus, but I don’t like Christians. I like Jesus, but I don’t like disciples. I agree that Jesus is a good guy, but his followers are a bunch of hypocrites.

Of course we are—Jesus is true God, and we’re a bunch of sinners coming to Jesus’ hospital for a cure, and for fixing up. Sometimes people read the bible and read about Jesus, but then they look at the church and say, I don’t see what I read there, and so they stay away from the church.

But this is not how Jesus has established it. He wants people to ask his disciples, his church, about himself and his teaching, his doctrine. Jesus actually sends us, and trust us, to give an answer about him and what he teaches. What is important is that we give a faithful witness.

Too often in the church, all people are interested in is bottoms on the pews, and money on the plate. But Jesus is interested in saving souls. When we give an answer about Jesus and his teaching, many people don’t listen, but the fault is not necessarily with us. We are not the ones who convert people, the Holy Spirit does that. But he does it through our witness, through our testimony to God’s word, so if we want to be useful missionaries in whatever little corner God places us, we do well to read and study God’s word and to learn it well, so that it’s there on our tongue as a wonderful means for the Holy Spirit to use. Jesus says in our reading: Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said. If Jesus says: they know what I said, it’s important that we know what Jesus said! We give the witness and the Holy Spirit works the faith, when and where he chooses, not when and where we choose. And so, we should not be discouraged when people don’t want to listen. When they don’t want to listen to the word of God spoken by us, his church, his disciples, they are not rejecting us, they are rejecting Jesus himself. As Jesus says: The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.

So the high priest asks Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. But today, people ask his disciples about Jesus and his teaching.

In fact, here in our reading, not only did people not want to listen to Jesus, but even we read: When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”

It’s not just that he doesn’t listen to Jesus, and is apathetic, but this man is hostile, and violent. This is all testimony to the fact that Jesus is perfect, and that his listeners are sinners. How many times have we often sat in the pew and thought, “I just want to get up there and slap the pastor?” Maybe it’s not him we want to slap, but Jesus we want to slap! Jesus word is a double-edged sword, and here this man, like us so often, want to make sure he defends himself.

In my life as a pastor, I once struggled for a time where I thought that people were apathetic. But then later, some people became hostile. And I talked to an older pastor about it, and said, “What am I doing wrong?” And he said, “Nothing—it’s easier to deal with people who are hostile than people who don’t care.” When boredom towards God’s word turns into hostility, then it means that the idols in people’s hearts are protesting.

And so this soldier also protests. And what’s his idol? He says: Is that how you answer the high priest? Hang on, Jesus is the true high priest! He is a high priest who is not unable to sympathise with us in our weakness, as it says in Hebrews 4. So Mr Soldier, is that how you answer the high priest? With a slap? Don’t you know who your high priest really is?

And so Jesus says: If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?

So what does he think was wrong with what Jesus said? Was he mad at him because he told the high-priest to do something, even if it was the right thing to do? Did he think Jesus was being rude? But was there anything that Jesus actually said that was wrong? No. So why the slap?

Actually, let’s go back to what Jesus said earlier in answer to Annas, the high priest. He says: I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.

Notice here that Jesus’ ministry is a public ministry. Everything is laid out in the open. Christianity is not a secret society with dark hidden secrets. Everything is laid out in the open. Anyone can go and buy a bible in this country from a bookshop and can read about the life of Jesus and the history of God’s people and God’s word. Jesus says: I have spoken openly to the world. Jesus speaks openly because there is nothing to hide. Of course, this makes Jesus vulnerable. When we hide our secrets, we protect ourselves. Opening himself up means he opens himself open to attack. We might think about when he preached at Nazareth, his hometown, and the people tried to throw him off a cliff.

Here in our reading, the fact that Jesus has spoken openly means that he even ends up on trial. However, even though Jesus has spoken openly to the world, Annas gives the impression that he knows nothing, so that Jesus has to remind him: I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me?

But this is the way dodgy politics goes. Bullies in authority give the appearance of being fair and just and following the proper process and procedure, but in the background and in the wings there is a hidden agenda, there’s a scheming plot. What Annas is doing is to Jesus by giving this appearance of fairness is like what Psalm 55 says: His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

Jesus exposes the farce, the show, the appearances, and so no wonder he gets slapped.

But back to the fact that Jesus speaks openly. As I said before, the whole of God’s word is laid bare before the world, not so that the world can judge it and put it on trial, like Annas puts Jesus on trial, but so that by this word the world can be judged. It is not us that judges God and his word and his Son, but it is God and his word and his Son that judged us. And so it is for our benefit, it is for our instruction, it is for our encouragement that Jesus speaks openly to the world. Jesus gives his straight talk to the world, and since we’re are also part of the world, he gives us his straight talk too: God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. We read in 2 Timothy: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. And in Romans 15 it says: Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through the endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. That’s what the Scriptures are given for: teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, but most importantly, encouragement and hope.

We might think of some other religious groups which do not speak openly, but keep secrets. Freemasonry for example does not speak openly, but puts on a show as if it is nothing but a friendly men’s club. But then the more a person is initiated into all the different levels and goes up the ladder, then things get stranger and stranger. Masons take curses upon themselves if they were to tell anyone the secrets of masonry. Christians are commanded to tell people the secrets of Christianity. It’s the opposite.

Mormonism is a bit like this too. It starts off giving the appearance of being like any other Christian denomination, but then the more you learn, the weirder it becomes.

Another example of a religious group that does not speak openly is what is called Anthroposophy. This is a religious philosophy started by Rudolf Steiner, who also started Biodynamic Agriculture and Waldorf Education. There is a Waldorf school in Mt Barker where I was before, and also Trinity Gardens Primary School nearby here follows this philosophy. Biodynamic Agriculture gives the impression of being just like organic gardening, and Waldorf or Steiner Education gives the impression of being progressive, child-centred learning, but underlying these things is a whole philosophy which is basically occult, and even uses witchcraft. It’s a secretive show.

Christianity is not a secretive show—it is public and open, and it’s now a show, an appearance, but it deals with real things: the life-changing powerful word of God, and the powerful sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It deals with the real, concrete, in-your-hand, forgiveness of all your sins. We have a living Lord: a living Jesus, the Son of a real, loving heavenly Father, and a powerful living Holy Spirit. There’s nothing about Christianity which is reserved for a chosen select few—the whole of Christianity and the whole of God’s word is there to be learned and studied by anyone and everyone. Even pastors and theologians sometimes say: “We won’t tell the lay-people about that!” No! Jesus says: teach them to observe everything! everything! everything! I have commanded you.

At the end of our reading for tonight, Annas simply doesn’t both asking Jesus anything more and sends him off in chains to Caiaphas. Here we see a man pricked in conscience, fobbing him off. He is happy to have the prestige of being respected high-priest, but when it doesn’t suit him anymore, he sends him off to his son-in-law, Caiaphas.

We are so often tempted to this too. We don’t understand something Jesus says, and we just fob him off, we give up, we think it doesn’t really matter anyway. No—this is how the Holy Spirit works! Be like Jacob and don’t let your Jesus go until he blesses you. Don’t send him away to the next person in line. Let him stay in your house so that he may pray his blessing over it and your life. And what a wonderful Saviour we have who really does stay with us, right through each day, each week, each year—let’s not fob him off, and let him pass on, but hold on to him! Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, we praise and thank you that you have spoken openly to the world and to us. Send us your Holy Spirit that we may not be offended and angered by your living and active words, but that we may go wherever you send us and speak all that you have commanded us. We commend our bodies and souls into your holy wounds this night as we think upon your trial, your holy suffering and your death. Amen.