Sermon Tone Analysis

According to an article published by the History Channel, we read this about the assassination of Julius Caesar.

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Crime

44 B.C.

The ides of March: Julius Caesar is murdered

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Julius Caesar, the”dictator for life” of the Roman Empire, is murdered by his own senators at a meeting in a hall next to Pompey’s Theatre.

The conspiracy against Caesar encompassed as many as sixty noblemen, including Caesar’s own protege, Marcus Brutus.

Cassius Longinus started the plot against the dictator, quickly getting his brother-in-law Marcus Brutus to join.

Reportedly, Caesar was handed a warning note as he entered the senate meeting that day but did not read it.

After he entered the hall, Caesar was surrounded by senators holding daggers.

Servilius Casca struck the first blow, hitting Caesar in the neck and drawing blood.

The other senators all joined in, stabbing him repeatedly about the head.

Marcus Brutus wounded Caesar in the groin and Caesar is said to have remarked in Greek, “You, too, my child?”

What a betrayal.

Julius Caesar had plenty of warnings and much could have been avoided or at least delayed.

Yet, one of the closest individuals to him was part of the plot against him.

However, that is where the similarities between him and the betrayal of Jesus stops.

For Jesus knew exactly who would betray Him.

He knew that those who pretended to love God were really haters of God and that they would stop at nothing to destroy Him.

However, we all know that death could not hold Him in the grave.

Today, we’ll be looking at some situations that may seem out of control, but were actually quite purposeful and part of God’s plan.

First, we’ll be looking at the Hearers and Haters.

All of them had listened to Jesus.

Sadly, there were some who were actually hearing what was being said, while the others became hateful because of what was being said.

Then we’ll look at the Betrayal and Bribery.

We’ll see one who was among the twelve that should have known better, but to accomplish what he felt was best, he decided to betray his Master.

Sadly, the religious leaders knew that some coinage to seal the deal was all it would take to turn someone completely against Jesus.

Finally, we’ll be looking at Preparation for the Passover.

The setup for this appears to have been done in a somewhat secretive, covert manner, instead of being open and celebrated.

Yet, it was still all part of the plan.

Today, my desire is that We should be careful to exercise trust and obedience to our Lord.

Hearers and Haters - 21:37 - 22:2

Jesus has just concluded His teaching about His second coming, according to Luke’s writing.

As we finished chapter 21, we saw that Jesus was continually teaching publicly in the temple, even though He knew the crucifixion was coming soon.

He would leave to camp out at night at Mt. Olivet, then be down at the temple during the day to teach.

For Jesus to have stayed in Jerusalem overnight would have the potential of Jesus being arrested or killed.

Interestingly, a large number of people were there early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.

I don’t want to add anything to what is written here; yet, I do feel compelled to share what I believe is a principle that we could possibly take from this.

Regardless of whether these hearers were there because of fascination or genuine hunger for God’s Word, they made that effort to get up early in the morning for the purpose of going to listen to [Jesus].

As I reflected on this, I began to wonder how we as people who claim Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, really make the effort, whatever time it may be, to listen to Him, whether it be through the reading of the Bible, through prayer, through worshipping together with our church family.

Then I asked myself the question, if not, then why not?

Is it possible that many Christians have become complacent and comfortable in their position in Christ, so that they don’t feel it necessary to make the time to listen to Him? Can it be that we have become so involved in the things of this world, that they take precedence and priority over the intimacy of quietly listening to the Lord?

I leave this with you and God to consider together.

Then as we look at the beginning of chapter 22, we are introduced to the setting of the event and the haters.

According to Deuteronomy, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a separate event from the Passover.

However, at this point in Jewish history, the Passover celebration was tied together with the longer period of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

This Feast was one of the three major feasts for the Jews.

This feast would have taken a full week.

The Passover was supposed to be the day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Thus, they were brought together.

This Feast was one of the three major feasts for the Jews.

This feast would have taken a full week.

The Passover was supposed to be the day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Thus, they were brought together.

I wonder if you see the irony as we read that the Passover is about to take place, yet the religious leaders are continually looking for ways of putting Jesus to death.

The Passover celebrated the freedom the Israelites experienced as God removed them from the bondage of slavery to the Egyptians and led them on a journey to the promised land.

However, the religious leaders were enslaved to their sinfulness of worshipping their religion and were trying to destroy the very one who wanted to deliver them from their bondage to sin and to experience freedom in Christ with the promise of a home in heaven.

They had all the scholarly, theological brilliance in one area, yet they were so hopelessly blinded and lost.

As we look at the last part of verse 2, we might wonder why Luke would comment on the fact that the religious leaders were afraid of the people.

Obviously, they couldn’t just go out and have Jesus arrested in public.

After all, Jerusalem’s population increased tremendously during the Passover celebration.

Jesus’ popularity was at an all-time high.

If they had him arrested, there would surely have been a riot and potentially an attack upon them for promoting such a thing.

Plus, they would then be looked down on by Rome.

They would have lost their lucrative and crooked income.

They would be forever exposed for their hypocrisy.

They would no longer be able to manipulate the people through their religious propaganda to do their bidding.

So how, exactly, would they be able to accomplish their desire while still looking good to the people?

Betrayal and Bribery - 22:3 - 6

In these verses, we see the most infamous betrayal in history.

Judas, who had been with Jesus over a period of three plus years and had heard all the teachings, was willing to listen to Satan and pursue a bribe.

Interestingly, Luke states in verse 4 just how intentional Judas was in all of this. . . . he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them.

In other words, his intentions were to set Jesus up to be captured.

Luke is the only one of the Gospels in which Satan is spoken of as being involved.

Some might want to exonerate Judas since verse 3 tells us that Satan entered into Judas.

We must remember that Jesus spoke of the religious leaders in as children of the devil.

However, Judas has already shown us in other situations that his mind was not exactly in line with Jesus.

He seemed to be more concerned about appearances, what was best for him, and of course, the liberation of the Jews from the Romans.

Jesus wasn’t on the same page, nor would He ever be on that same page.

Judas willingly took responsibility for his actions, though the ideas were planted in his mind by Satan.

Satan merely took what was already there and put fuel on the fire.

There is an interesting comment by Luke in the last part of verse 3, belonging to the number of the twelve.

It is as if Luke is making it quite clear that though he was part of a group that walked with Jesus, that doesn’t make him a true follower of Jesus.

There are many unanswered questions we may have about Judas.

How could he have experienced all that he had with Jesus for that period of three years or more and still not believe Jesus to be the Messiah?

He was one of twelve people who experienced this.

Interestingly, Judas is the only one of the original twelve disciples who was not from Galilee.

Yet, according to , , Jesus knew about the evil in Judas’ heart from the very beginning.

Again, obedience to the Father was paramount to what might have made better sense from a human perspective.

John himself, called Judas a thief.

Friends, Judas is like many people who want Jesus to perform according to their wants and wishes.

Then there becomes a dissatisfaction and a disconnect between the person and their idea of Jesus.

They then begin to listen to voices and ideas which contradict the Bible.

Finally, Satan begins to whisper his lies into their ears and they begin to act on them.

Sadly, for the one who merely professes to be a follower of Jesus, but has not genuinely surrendered their lives to Him, Satan has that access to literally take over a person or have one of his demonic henchmen take possession of a person.

Sadly, we see in verse 5 that there was almost a gleeful attitude about this.

Taking money that was given for the glory of God and using it to try and destroy God’s plan, didn’t seem to bother them at all.

In fact, it is even more ironic that the amount given was that of the price of a slave.

After all, Jesus was supposed to have been his Master.

The reason this is so pleasing to the religious leaders is found in verse 6: a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the crowd.