Everything Upside Down

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 28

Psalm 28 ESV

Of David. To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary. Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward. Because they do not regard the works of the Lord or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and build them up no more. Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed. Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 53:4-6

Isaiah 53:4–6 ESV

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Sermon:

Well once again and as always, Good morning Church! I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

SO there is a movie that Desiree and I used to watch, its a pretty dumb movie, not much redeeming quality, but there is one scene where the main character and his friend march into a courtroom and protest what they call a “gross miscarriage of Justice”.

Well I looked it up this week, and it turns out that is not just a weird and funny line, that is actually a thing. According to Cornell Law School: In criminal law, a miscarriage of justice can be defined as an outcome in a judicial proceeding that is unjust, unfair or improper. The term miscarriage is oftentimes used to describe an error made by the Court that results in the conviction of an innocent person for a crime they did not commit.

And if ever there was a time where we could say that there was a miscarriage of Justice, it will be in the passage that we will be looking at this morning. Again, it must be “unjust, unfair, or improper. Jesus trial is the epitome of these three things. As we will see from the get go he is assumed guilty and the proceeding march on as we attempt to find “false witnesses”.

Then moving forward the definition says that for this term to apply there must be “an error by the court that results in the conviction of an innocent person for a crime that they did not commit.” and as we will see that is more true of Jesus here than it has ever been and will ever be for anyone else.

Really this whole trial is a sham.

So lets begin by reading Matthews account of the proceedings

Matthew 26:57–68 ESV

Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. 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.’ ” And the high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But Jesus remained silent. 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.” Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.” Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”

These are the words of the Lord for us thins morning. Let’s open with a word of prayer

Our father in heaven, holy righteous and perfect is your great name We do, pray that your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Even here as we read Your will, in some sense coming to pass, we know and proclaim that we don't always have access to fully understand the ins and outs of these things. However, we do pray that you would speak to our hearts. That you would, by your grace and mercy, reveal yourself to us. Help us to see you clearly. Help us to see the work of your son, our savior, and lord, jesus christ. We pray that by your holy spirit, you would speak to us. For it is in jesus name, we pray Amen.

As we look at this passage one of the things we can know as we talk about this, “miscarriage of justice” that takes place here and part of what makes this passage so difficult -- Not necessarily in a, “we can't understand it”, but like these are difficult things that happen and occur here. Is that it seems like everything in this passage is turned upside down.

Up is down, left is right. Right is wrong. Wrong is considered right. And nothing Correct Feels like it's happening in this passage. And so, as we walk through this passage again this morning, the goal is to see just how broken most of these things are. Because we are as peter sees, And as peter knows, we're coming to the end.

Verse 58. It's interesting. Peter seems to know this. Matthew definitely knows it with the benefit of when he's writing. But Verse 58: “Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest and going inside he sat with a guards. To see the end.” And here we are. We're at the end. And it feels just completely wrong. The the main character of the story, the one whose life we've been looking at. the hero the teacher, the only innocent one to ever live. He's on trial. To be put to death. Experiencing humiliation and shame and injustice. This doesn't seem right, this feels upside down and wrong. and it is!

And the first way we note this, the first way, we can understand everything being turned upside down here. Is by seeing what i'm going to call TRUE FALSE WITNESSES.

TRUE false WITNESSES

And there's layers to understanding how these are “true false witnesses.” The first is this, these are truly False witnesses. In fact, that's what the high priests are looking for. Now, the chief priests in the whole council verse 59 were seeking false testimony against jesus. We just need someone. We don't care who — Bring them in. We know he's guilty. So we just need someone to say something about this man. In particular, we need someone to say something about this man that can get us to convince Rome to kill him. They already assume he's guilty.

And so part of what makes this upside down is seeing how this trial flies in the face of justice. When you go into any trial, If you go into any trial and the verdict precedes the charge, a real trial is nowhere to be found. This is why we proclaim (and this is one of the things this country is founded on, though this ideal is not always lived up to…): It's important that someone is innocent until proven guilty. Because if someone is guilty, And then we're going to go have a trial to prove it, you end up with this sort of charade. Truly false witnesses coming again, and again. One commentator notes this: One would have thought if the testimony was to be false. There would be no great difficulty in persuading someone to present it. And it turns out there was no lack of readiness to help. Again, we could note going back to the passage here. verse 59

Matthew 26:59–60 (ESV)

Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none

Many false witnesses came forward. So tons of false witness are coming forward. What's the holdup? The authorities could scarcely say to them... is what Morris says… “the authorities could scarcely say to them, this is what we want to hear to you. And not being sure of what was expected. The false witnesses were not able to come up with what the authorities were looking for. Presumably part of the trouble at least lay in getting the agreement among the false witnesses that would stand up in a court of law.”

We'll bring in these liars. But we need to find liars that somehow lie... The same. The these liars testimony needs to back each other up. So we need two people to, really at least two people to lie the same such that we can convict Jesus. And so they bring false witness after false witness and they cannot seem to find two that will work. Until finally two come forward. Verse 60

Matthew 26:60–61 ESV

but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. 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.’ ”

But now we can ask about the “witnesses: did jesus actually say that? Matthew records Nothing like that. The closest thing that Matthew has comes back in chapter 24. After all of the Seven woes to the scribes and pharisees after his lament over jerusalem.

Matthew 24:1–2 ESV

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.”

It's important to note that this is a legal proceeding these things should be accurate. Jesus did not say in matthew. I will tear down the temple though. He did say, it would be torn down. The closest thing we have to this comes in john. There's actually early in the gospel of john. It's in john chapter 2. Jesus clears out the temple early in john 2. And the people are like, okay jesus, you know, thrown out the money changers flipping over tables. It's kind of rough. What's going on here? How can you tell us that you're able to clear out the temple like this? And in john chapter 2 verse 19. Jesus says this

John 2:19 ESV

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Again, It's important to note here. Not, i will destroy this temple and then i will rebuild it. He says this temple will be destroyed, but i will raise it up. But john makes a clarification. Jesus wasn't speaking about the real temple. He was speaking about his body. Here's where this is interesting. That these are true false witnesses. These two men come forward and They give a distorted warped version of what jesus actually did say. But this is what they're going to convict him with. But even as they say this, They make what jesus actually said come true. These false witnesses Bring about the truth of what jesus said. (we will talk about this more on Thursday, but note this here) For these words are what will ultimately cause Jesus to loose his life. This is the impetus, This is what starts at all. And they will destroy his body, but in three days, it will be risen again.

This whole situation, this whole trial, it hinges, on the words here of these true false witnesses, And because of what's said here, and because of what goes on here, The innocent... Because of the going ons of this sham of a trial. As we continue to turn everything upside down, it's not just that we have false witnesses that are saying the truth. But they're not saying the truth because they're truly falls witnesses. But also, we have this situation where the INNOCENT IS GUILTY.

The INNOCENT is GUILTY

First, we can note, the innocent is declared Guilty. Again, that's the thought behind this entire trial, the, the verdict has already been declared. They're just seeking someone to say something so we can kill him. All the way back to the arrest and the scheming in the plotting, in the further back we go, we see: Jesus truly is innocent. But yet their desire is to kill him. He's guilty of whatever it is they think he deserves death for in their minds and so, In their minds, the innocent is guilty. But yet here come these false witnesses saying this man said, i am able to destroy the temple of god and to rebuild it in three days. So the high priesthoods stands up. Have you no answer to me? What are you going to say to this false accusation? How are you going to defend yourself from these false charges? And here, jesus remained silent.

By emphasizing jesus silence. Matthew portrays jesus As one who is just allowing these events to take place. He doesn't stand up against this injustice. He doesn't fight the fight here. But what Matthew’s also doing here, importantly Is speaking to Isaiah 53. Continuing further than The passage we read this morning. Starting in 53:7 as Isaiah begins to speak of God’s servant he speaks of one oppressed and afflicted about to be led to the slaughter. And yet he opens not his mouth. Jesus, The innocent lamb Is here, declared guilty. That's not the only way, this passage turns everything upside down. Because truly, In this trial. And in life. And in the whole scope of the universe. It's not what jesus has done. But who he is, that's the heart of the issue. This is an upside down trial because there is no crime per se, but a person that is at the heart of this trial.

Truly what's on trial here is not what jesus has done. For what has he done? He's performed miracles. He's healed. He's taught the truth of god. Who he is as the heart of issue. But even in this Jesus isn't here to defend himself. He's not here to defend himself any more than he was when they came to arrest him in the garden. How can he defend who he is? So they fill in all sorts of false accusations, some with hints of truth. But as the false accusations come against him. Jesus says nothing. But then the high priest pushes him. I adore you, by the living god. You must tell me. You must swear on god. To tell me. If you are the christ, the son of the living, god,

This is what peter proclaimed. Jesus said, who do you say I am. You are the Christ, son of the living God. In chapter 16. hear the high priest wants to put the words in jesus mouth. Though in his own words, jesus has never really been one to claim this name, he allowed peter to and agreed with him. But here, This time: Tell us, are you the christ th son of the living God? Again Jesus allowed someone else to give him this name. You said it! Your words. You're not wrong.

A lot of people dive into asking did jesus actually commit blasphemy. So we can look and ask: What's going on here? In the eyes of the Pharisees, truly, he did. And this is why it's important to understand this. When jesus says 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. His blasphemy here came not in a formal misuse of god's name. Saying something evil and vile about god. His blasphemy here, comes in claiming for himself, a unique association with god. No one sits of god's right hand. While a claim to be the Messiah is not outright blasphemy, though it might be unwise. He could be like, yeah: “Well yeah, i'm the messiah.” that is in, and of itself is not blasphemous. What jesus says, here goes far beyond anything else that you could say. He is claiming here to be able to share in god's throne. To come in power and judgment to be seated at the right hand of god. And so as Spurgeon rightly notes: if he had not been god, He would have been guilty of blasphemy. If he had not been god. He would be guilty.

But he is God. Put on trial here. And declared guilty. This is so upside down and backwards. The innocent one is guilty because the nature of who he is and who he is, is god. And so, all of this leads us, To sort of the last thing that gets thrown upside down in this passage And i want to ask it in the form of a question. Let's look at what jesus deserves. What does jesus deserve?

What JESUS deserves?

We move here and ask ourselves the same question that the high priest asks the rest of the council. It's an important question. One that eventually every person on earth will have to wrestle with and answer, What does jesus Deserve?

Here's the pronouncement of the Elders, the sanhedrin. Verse 66, what is your judgment? They answered. He deserves. Death.

So how do these answer what does Jesus deserve? He deserves to die. I mean on the basis of these witnesses... though they're false witnesses. On the basis of his guilty words... though He spoke nothing but truth. They declare this man deserves death and they double down. So now The official proceedings of the The preceding verses the court proceeding. Now descend into undignified, physical abuse.

They spit in this face and they struck him. Some smacked him with an open hand. And they said to him, Prophesy to us, you christ. Who is it That struck you? They mocked him. Though, even in this we can see their true hearts. We should see in these actions and denial of everything. Jesus claims. This is the heart of it. If you're going to deny who jesus is that jesus is god, then you can say, this is what he deserves. So spitting on him in their mind, refutes the claim that he has authority. He has NO authority. So we spit on him, he's below us. The blows and the strikes that they hit him with show that he has no power. He can't even defend himself. A failure to prophesy about who hit him is for them Clear proof he is a total sham. He can't even say who hit him. He's no prophet. They proclaim jesus deserves death, humiliation, and shame.

But ultimately, we're left with some great irony. As jesus is being struck and spit on. As he's being mocked by those, who believe he cannot prophesy. We're supposed to remember That jesus predicted these very things would happen, not once not twice but three times. Truly, jesus knew the future. Truly, he knew what was coming. Truly he knew what to expect. and So, he endured. And So, he suffered the shame. And humiliation. As Matthew henry writes. Christ was accused, that we might not be condemned.

The people here proclaim jesus deserves death.

But I ask again, WHAT DOES JESUS DESERVE?

Revelation. Chapter 5. John. Who was there When this was going on. John disciple of jesus. The beloved one. In fact, with peter, the only one who sort of stuck around enough to be included in other parts of the end of this story. The beloved disciple, john. Is caught up in a vision.

Revelation 5 (ESV)

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

There's this great scroll which is the proclamation of god's wrath judgment justice and his plan for all time. There's a lot going into what this scroll is. Let's just say it's a really important scroll and we need to open it. What is inside is a critical important value for the entire universe. But no one can find it. There's no one to be found who can open it. We look. In the earth or under the earth. There's no one who can open it. So john begins to weep and we continue in verse 5:

And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

what does jesus deserve? to open this scroll! He is worthy. The line of the tribe of judah, he has conquered and now he will open the scroll.

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders

Note: he elder sitting in heaven the true elders. This is where jesus is seated. Note the Elders Who proclaim that jesus deserves death. But the elders sitting around the throne of God, these elders. continuing again.

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

WHAT DOES JESUS DESERVE? THIS!:

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

What does Jesus deserve? all glory honor and praise!

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

These are the angels he could have called down when he was being arrested. But he didn't. But here, though he didn't call them they are here and they are singing his praise.

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

What does jesus deserve? Not this ignoble, shameful Death and beating and humiliation. What does he deserve? Glory honor and praise. He is worthy to receive power and wealth wisdom and might honor and glory and blessing. That's what he deserves. It's not what he got.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

THAT IS WHAT JESUS DESERVES The lamb, who was slain. Who Purchased a people. Who faced a Mockery of a trial... He deserves all of our devotion and affection. Let's pray.