19th Day of Lent
Beloved. Tonight’s reading is full of spiritual battles. We have the account of St. Peter as he faced the temptation to deny our Lord. And he failed miserably as three times he was given the opportunity to confess his faith in Jesus, even just simply to confess that he was one of Jesus’ followers. That was a great spiritual battle. It was one Jesus had warned Peter and the others was coming. It was one spiritual battle that was part of the bigger battle waging between Satan and Jesus, between Satan and Jesus’ followers. Jesus had warned Peter that Peter would deny Him. And, yes, Peter would deny Jesus and he would go out, break down and weep bitterly. But the devil would not get the victory. He would not get Peter to despair of his sin. In fact, Jesus gave him the promise/ comfort that he wouldn’t when He said to Peter earlier that evening [Lk. 22.31-32]: “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” Jesus prayed for Peter that he would not fail—and he didn’t. By the Lord’s prayer and intercession for him, Peter was preserved—not from the sin, which Peter did of his own free will, but from the damning consequences of that sin. We, too, can be certain of our Lord’s intercession for us in our spiritual battles. Yes, like St. Peter, we may by our own will and desire sin but Jesus’ prayer is that our faith should not fail us; that in sorrow and contrition over that sin we in faith run to the Lord for forgiveness of that sin and in that faith receive our Lord’s forgiveness and perfect righteousness. That’s what Lent is for—that special time for examination and returning to the Lord. May we use these holy days of Lent as we are in the midst of spiritual battle.
Another spiritual battle we see in our reading is with Judas. He too sinned; he too denied Jesus in a most horrific way by betraying Him. But here we see one who lost that battle, one whom Satan led into despair, who forsook that faith in Jesus as Savior and the forgiveness of sins in Him. Like Peter, Judas was sorry for his sin of betraying innocent blood; but unlike Peter, there was no faith in Jesus and so there was despair. Satan had won that battle.
The other great spiritual battle we see in our reading is Jesus on trial before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, with the High Priest presiding. Here was the continuation of that battle that began already as soon as Jesus came into the world and certainly intensified in the Garden of Gethsemane and continued on all the way to the cross and the moment of Jesus’ death.
Here we see that Jesus is again all alone. Not only had the disciples all run away already in Gethsemane, but all the while this is going on [Mk 14.66], Peter was denying Jesus the three times—and Jesus, as the all-knowing God, knew that before and as it was going on. And how that must have made the battle all the more difficult for Him! Here Jesus is rejected by the people—people/ false witnesses were bringing false testimony against Jesus. Here Jesus is rejected the by leaders of the Jewish religion—that very religion was all about Jesus, all about that coming Savior. Here these leaders were trying to get false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death. Here we see in this great spiritual battle that Jesus is fighting against all—the religious leaders and the people who rejected Him. It was a great spiritual battle because it was an attempt of the devil to get Jesus away from His saving work, off the path leading to the salvation of the world. And now against all these false charges and false witnesses, who didn’t even agree among themselves, we see the devil through the High Priest as Jesus: Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? This is very much the same temptation we heard about when Jesus was in the desert and after fasting 40 days and nights, the devil comes up to Him to tempt Him: If You are the Son of God, turn these stones into loaves of bread. Here it is: If [You are] the Christ, the Son of the Blessed what are You doing here, all alone, forsaken by Your disciples, rejected by the people and the religious leaders? Prove You are Who You are by doing something glorious, by not going to the cross! But what does Jesus answer the High Priest: Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? Not with a mere simple yes or no, but with the words I am. To us that may sound like a simple “Yes”. But to the High Priest and all the Jews it meant much more. Remember, in the Old Testament God revealed His name to Moses when He met Moses at the burning bush: I am, which in Hebrew is YHWH, Jehovah—God’s personal name revered and honored by the Jews. With that background hear again Jesus’ powerful answer: Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? I am.
And the High Priest’s question is loaded as well. The High Priest, to avoid saying the name of God, called Him the Blessed. He asks Jesus point blank if He is the Son of God. That’s what Jesus had been saying His whole earthly ministry! They got the point of what Jesus was saying; it’s just that they were rejecting it. Also notice as well—the Jews at that time—unlike Jews today—accepted the idea of Persons in the Godhead. The High Priest’s question presupposes that God can have a Son and that the Messiah/ the Christ would be the Son of God: Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? I am.
“You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” And they all condemned him to be worthy of death. In this great spiritual battle between Jesus and the devil, we see Jesus being condemned to death, ultimately to the cross for them, for their sin of rejection of Him, just as He was condemned for all of your sin and mine. In other words, Jesus went to the cross loaded down with the sins of all—not just for His dear Christians but for all, even His enemies whom we see so clearly in action here. What great love of our Lord do we see here! He knows exactly what was in store for Him; He knows He will die for the sins of His enemies of those who reject Him. How that must have weighed on His holy heart; but that holy heart reveals itself as Jesus prays at the crucifixion [Lk 23.34]: Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do!
With all this rejection and all these false accusations flying against Jesus, what does Jesus do until in despair and fury the High Priest asks Him if He is the Son of God? He is silent. He kept silent and answered nothing. Here we see the fulfillment of the prophecy the Lord spoke through the OT prophet, St. Isaiah [53.7]: He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. This silence is very powerful. Not only does Jesus by it here and later before Pilate fulfill this prophecy, but by His silence Jesus preaches a powerful sermon. It is a sermon on the world’s guilt and His innocence. The lies of the false witnesses deserve no answer. By not answering anything Jesus was letting the false witnesses contradict each other. Isn’t that still the way in the world? There are all these different and competing voices in the world all rising up in opposition to Jesus and His Church, all trying to deny the truth of the Gospel, the truth proclaimed by His Church—that Jesus is the Son of God and the only Savior of the world. But they all disagree among themselves as to what makes for true happiness and fulfillment in life. They are only united in their rejection and opposition to Jesus and His Church. All these loud voices of the different thoughts and philosophies of the world only all the more show the world’s guilt—trying to grab ahold of anything that will disprove and reject the holy Christian faith. And the more they disagree among themselves they go down in flames and the truth of Christ and His Church stands.
And really, there is truth in that old line: Me thinks thou dost protest too much! Christ stands there. Truth, His truth, will win out. His innocence was shown at this trial as He said nothing; everything else shown a lie and shows the guilt of those who said it. The more they spoke, trying to convince others and themselves, trying to make their point—protesting too much—the innocence of Jesus, the truth that He spoke shone forth more brilliantly. The lesson for us today in this increasingly hostile world? Let the world around us bellow as much as it wants. Christ and His Church will remain. We stand with Christ in the truth and proclaiming that truth. Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? I am.
There is also another great comfort that Jesus kept silent and answered nothing. And it is this: His silence preaches His mercy and patience. How easy it would have been for Jesus as the true God to lash out in wrath against this assembly, the Jews and the false witness and send down legions of angels to destroy the lot of them! But He doesn’t! Here is His mercy and patience for us and our salvation. He endured these things for us in order to save us from sin, death, devil and hell. He endured these lies and this contempt from sinners in league with the devil all in order to save us. Remember, this was the big spiritual battle—the devil trying to get Jesus off that path leading to our salvation. What a tremendous comfort to us the Lenten season! As we examine life and conscience, as conscience accuses us of all sorts of sin, as Satan dredges up all sorts of sin to torment our conscience, we see Jesus silently standing there in patience and mercy. He shows us that same mercy and patience to us in our sin. He is rich in forgiveness.
Now we see this great spiritual battle of the devil against Jesus unfold even more. “You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” And they all condemned him to be worthy of death. Here was one more assault of the devil against Jesus to lead Him to doubt and question and lead Him off that path leading to our salvation. The temptation to despair/ doubt was this: Since they all condemned him to be worthy of death how could Jesus be who He claimed? Certainly God would not let His Son suffer such humiliation and defeat! That was a real temptation. And what did Jesus do? He did not give way to the devil’s temptation. Instead: Then some began to spit on Him, and blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands. And it continued to His cross and crucifixion. It looked like Jesus was defeated. But precisely in Jesus’ seeming defeat—His rejection, condemnation, tortures and ultimately His crucifixion—there was victory. He was seemingly defeated but yet He conquered. He conquered precisely through His suffering! And in His suffering is our salvation. The thing is, we must look at things in God’s way—not through human eyes that look for the grand and glorious. Here, in seemingly greatest defeat and disgrace, is victory—Jesus’ victory for us.
We may very much feel defeated and buffeted by Satan; we may very much feel our sin and the accusation of the Law; we may very much feel our guilt and see nothing but great sin. But we dare never judge by this; we dare never despair. So here, as we face spiritual battles in our own lives, let us keep our eyes on Jesus who fought the battle for us and won. His victory is ours through faith in Him. Whether or not we are Christians and in the faith are not determined by how we feel or how it looks. By seeming defeat, Jesus won that great spiritual battle for us and gives us the fruit of His victory in His holy word and Sacrament and humble embattled faith clings to it. INJ