“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” You probably know these words by heart. Americans are well-acquainted with our legal system. The Bill of Rights, courtroom TV dramas, and celebrity trials are part of the air we breathe. And one of the things we loathe as Americans, or at least should, is unjust, unfair trials.
We’re disturbed by miscarriages of justice whether someone is falsely accused, like mistaken eyewitness testimony, or found guilty for doing something good, like obeying God. Jesus’ journey to the cross includes both of these things: false accusations and being found guilty for doing something good. It’s profoundly important to know all that Jesus did for us, and enduring His trial is big part of it. First let’s review. We’re learning to…
“Live The Cross-Shaped Life” – Cruciformity is learning to embody the self-sacrificial love of King Jesus, which God always deserves and honors.
God doesn’t always make things easy for His people, but He always makes it worth it. The living, breathing proof of this is Jesus. Everything about Jesus is humble self-sacrifice from birth to death, but God brought Him back to life and crowned Him King of kings. That’s cruciformity, and we’re learning His cross-shaped story as we preach through the Gospel according to Matthew.
We’re also learning cruciformity in the beatitudes, the cross-shaped attitudes of God’s kingdom people. We’ve been memorizing these beatitudes this year:
Blessed are merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. (Matthew 5:7-8)
Last week, we saw Jesus prayerfully and intentionally choose the way of the cross in the garden of Gethsemane. He prayed three times, “Not my will but Yours be done!” Even though He dreaded the cross and bearing God’s wrath for our sin, He humbly submitted to His Father’s will for the glory of His Father and for the salvation of sinners who would believe in Him. Immediately after surrendering in prayer to God’s will, Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested. We pick the account up at that point…
The Story
1) Jesus was first tried by the Jewish leaders. (26:57-58)
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.
There will actually be two parts to Jesus’ trial, as He has predicted about a week or two earlier in Matthew 20:18-19. The first part of the trial is before the Jewish leaders. Many of them have gathered, including teachers of the law, mostly Pharisees, and the priests and elders who would be mostly Sadducees. The Jewish ruling council called the Sanhedrin consisted of seventy leaders from these groups. While they made important social and religious decisions, the Sanhedrin did not have ultimate authority in Jerusalem in Jesus’ day. That power belonged to the Roman Empire, specifically the Roman governor named Pontius Pilate, whom we’ll meet next week when we look at the second part of Jesus’ trial.
All that to say, did you notice who else was present at Jesus’ trial? Peter! Judas had betrayed Jesus, and all the disciples had run away, but Peter had stuck with Jesus, just as Peter promised hours earlier at the Last Supper. Jesus had also predicted that Peter would deny Him, and we’ll see that later. Essentially, two interrogations will take place…one with Jesus, and one with Peter.
2) Jesus’ Interrogation (26:59-68)
A) Jesus refused to answer false accusations. (26:59-63a)
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.
Many false witnesses came forward yet they couldn’t find any false evidence? They were trying so hard to find dirt on Jesus–even false dirt–yet they kept coming up with nothing. In today’s Old Testament reading plan, we read in Number 35:30: “No one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.” So, in order to find Jesus worthy of death, the Jewish court needed at least two witnesses to agree. That means that even though they were trying to make up dirt on Jesus, no two people could agree on anything! That’s how blameless Christ is! What a crooked trial!
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.’”
Finally, there’s a false accusation they can agree upon. Threatening to destroy the temple would be a serious crime, and apparently Jesus said something about destroying the temple…and rebuilding it very quickly? Now, Matthew records no such thing, but the Gospel of John actually records what might be the inspiration for this accusation. After Jesus had confronted and cleansed the corrupt temple leaders…
The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2:19)
This is probably the basis of the false accusation leveled at Jesus, but they twisted His words! He did not say that HE would destroy the temple as a sign of His authority; He told THE LEADERS to destroy the temple and He would rebuild the temple as a sign of His authority. John goes on to note in his Gospel that Jesus was actually talking about His body as the “temple”–the place where God lived on earth–not the literal building. Thus, THEY WOULD destroy Jesus’ body, when they crucified Him, and JESUS WOULD rebuild it as a sign of authority when He rose from the dead three days later!
How did Jesus respond to this false accusation?
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.
But Jesus’ silence is not fear because He will speak up in a moment. Instead, Jesus simply refuses to defend Himself against a blatantly false lie. He fulfilled God’s words through the prophet Isaiah, who wrote about Jesus 500 years before His birth, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (53:7) Jesus would not defend Himself with angelic armies or even logical arguments because He knew He must be God’s sacrificial lamb for the sin of His people.
B) Jesus affirmed His supreme authority. (26:63b-64)
The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
The real issue all along has been Jesus’ authority. The Messiah is God’s chosen King who would punish evil, save His people and rule in justice and peace forever. In other words, the Messiah would have the highest authority of all! Jesus taught and acted with this kind of authority, but He has been questioned and opposed by the religious leaders from the start.
As readers of the Gospel of Matthew, we know the answer to the high priest’s questions. In chapter 1, Matthew introduced Jesus in his Gospel as “the Messiah” and as “the Son of God.” In chapter 16, when Jesus had asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am,” Peter recognized that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. But how will Jesus answer…
If Jesus remains silent, He breaks the religious oath the high priest had just commanded. If Jesus says no, He lies about His identity and His mission is over. If Jesus says yes, the Sanhedrin will find Him guilty and demand His execution…
64 “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Jesus essentially affirms the high priest’s question and even expands upon it. The high priest, like many others in this Gospel, has the Messiah all wrong. Their idea of Messiah is a merely human and political king of Israel, whose chief enemy was the Roman Empire. But Jesus is the divine Son of Man, given authority over all to bring glory to God, judge all evil, and redeem His people.
So Jesus incorporates a couple of His favorite Scriptures into His answer. “The Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven” comes from a vision Daniel (chapter 7) had of powerful monsters, each representing wicked human empires. Once those monsters are judged by God, He gives His kingdom to “one like a Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.” The Son of Man simply means “human being” as opposed to a monster, a ruler who has not been distorted by sin into something grotesque and evil but instead reflects the image of God perfectly and thus deserves divine authority. “Sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One” comes from Psalm 110, where God says to the Messiah to sit at His right hand–the place of honor–while God defeats His enemies and enthrone Him as King. So in one simple answer, Jesus affirms His identity and authority and warns the high priests that He will judge His judges.
C) Jesus was condemned and abused. (26:65-68)
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.
Because of Jesus’ brave and honest answer, the high priests accused Him of “blasphemy,” which means to slander God. Everyone understood that Jesus’ answer was a claim to not only be the Messiah to be equal with God Himself. Jesus was found “guilty of blasphemy” and worthy of death because He, in effect, claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God–which He was–but they did not believe Him!
67 Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him 68 and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”
Once He was found worthy of death, the abuse escalated. As they spit on and beat Him, they had also blindfolded Him. And they played a sick game where they took turns beating Him and asking Him to prophetically reveal which of them landed the punch. Jesus again fulfilled God’s Word in Isaiah 50:6: “I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” The next verse is “Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.” And Jesus would go to the cross for God’s glory and for our reconciliation.
Now remember that Jesus’ disciple Peter was watching nearby to see what would happen to Jesus his Master.
3) Peter’s “Interrogation” (26:69-74)
69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. 70 But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
Jesus’ trial is happening inside the high priest Caiaphas’s house, while Peter’s just outside with a bunch of other people…servants, onlookers, etc. But Peter himself begins to be interrogated. A servant girl, not nearly as intimidating as the high priest, accuses Peter of being one of Jesus’ disciples, but he insists he doesn’t even know what she’s talking about!
71 Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” 72 He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
Peter has backed out of the courtyard and further from Christ. He’s now in the doorway. And again, another servant girl starts telling others that Peter is one of Jesus’ disciples. This time, Peter swears an oath–maybe something like “I swear to God I don’t know Jesus!” And he lies under oath that he doesn’t even know who Jesus is.
73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.” 74 Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed.
People begin to pick up on Peter’s Galilean accent and rightly conclude that he must be one of Jesus’ followers. Peter now calls down curses on himself in order to convince the bystanders that He doesn’t know Jesus. Something like, “May God strike me dead if I’m lying! I don’t know the man!” In his fear, Peter forgot his commitment to his Lord who was so committed to him. And then the rooster crowed…
75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
With deep regret, Peter now runs away all together, leaving Christ far behind.
The Lessons
1) Jesus was in control even when it appeared otherwise.
We’ve seen many predictions come true during Jesus’ passion. He predicted that a donkey’s colt would be available for His triumphal entry. He predicted the host for His last Passover meal with His disciples. He predicted Judas’ betrayal and the disciples’ abandonment. And He had also predicted His trial before the Sanhedrin and Peter’s threefold denial before the rooster crowed. If Jesus was in control of His own trials and temptations, He’s in charge of yours as well. Trust Him, trust His goodness, trust His greatness, even when things appear dark.
2) Jesus did for us what we could not.
All of the Gospels record Peter’s denial alongside Jesus’ trial. The contrast is stark. Jesus faithfully stands up to the high priest, and Peter cowers before the servant girl! Jesus did for Peter what Peter could not. Jesus does for us what we could not. Peter had done the best of all Jesus’ disciples and still failed miserably, but Jesus would die even for Peter. Peter’s weakness represents all of us.
Have you ever felt like you had surrendered everything to God, giving Him everything He deserved, never to sin again…only to sin again? Let me tell you: this is what Jesus came to die for and rescue us from…our sin. Jesus lived the righteous life we could never live. He died the sacrificial death we should have to die. And He gives us His life through faith. Believe in Him, and keep believing in Him!
3) The forgiven can follow Jesus’ cross-shaped life.
We don’t know if this old story is true, but “legend has it that later in his life, every time Peter heard a rooster crow, he would stumble in his preaching and grow red in the face, but then he would begin again with more fervor and zeal than before—and with more love and understanding.”
In fact, the story of Peter’s denial would have been told primarily by Peter. He was a major influence in which stories were told in the first churches and eventually recorded in the four Gospels.
John 21 records the beautiful, grace-filled conversion Jesus had with Peter after He rose from the dead. Jesus restored and re-called Peter to discipleship that day. And Peter spent the rest of His life spreading the good news of Jesus and pastoring churches.
Peter wanted us to know about his embarrassing failure so that we could know about Christ’s amazing grace! Jesus’ disciples aren’t perfect. They’re just forgiven. And they’re given new life and purpose.
When I think about all the sin Jesus has saved me from, it’s incredibly embarrassing at first. Pride, selfishness, lust, anger, greed, laziness, gossip, dishonesty, the list goes on. But then, when I think about how Christ willingly, graciously died for me even still, it’s incredibly empowering as I seek to obey King Jesus.
We’re all on a journey like Peter…from sin…to forgiveness by Christ…to new life and purpose in Christ. Where are you at? Wherever you are, take that next step!
Questions for Reflection and/or Discussion
- In what ways might your decision-making change if you fully trusted that God was fully in control of all things?
- Do you think you would have been braver than Peter or would you have denied Christ like him? Are there any other areas of your life where you fail to live up to the standard Christ set? Are you trusting Jesus for forgiveness of those sins and restoration to His kingdom?
- Having been comforted by the undeserved love of Christ, how can you stand up for Him and for others this week?
Calvary | Muskegon 