Learning from the Rebukes of Jesus

Introduction

My father was 6’7 and had hands like a catchers mit...

He only spanked me once in my life...

However, he could give me a talking to that would make me wish he would have just spanked me instead...

The reality is, throughout our lives we sometimes need “talking tos.”

It’s one of the reasons the church is so vital…because it allows us to be accountable to other Christians who can challenge us to live more Christ-like, Gospel-centered lives.

This is a really good thing.

However, there are sometimes people need a rebuke.

Rebuke means to express a sharp disapproval or criticism of someone because of their behavior or actions.

The purpose behind rebuking someone is that they will have a change of heart and will change their behavior or actions.

Returning the the Garden of Gethsemane, we will look at the arrest of Jesus. In this event we will see Jesus give three powerful rebukes. All three serve as a warning to us in our walk with Christ today.

Body: Luke 22:47-53

Verses 47-48

Rebuke #1: Jesus rebukes Judas for his deceit.

Luke is purposely showing the shocking nature of one of the twelve betraying the Lord...

The betrayer’s kiss...

What it meant culturally...

Why this one was so heinous...

One wonders what was going through Judas’ mind?

Was he simply using the kiss as a way to show who Jesus was? I doubt that, because he could have just stood in front of him and shouted, “Here he is, arrest this guy!”

But instead, he chose an affectionate greeting of intimacy. Did he believe Jesus wouldn’t see through this? Or maybe the other disciples?

That’s the thing about sin. It works hard to disguise itself.

Timeless Truth: The rebuke of Judas should challenge us to examine our hearts.

Many today are also guilty of trying to deceive the Lord and others by appearing to be devoted followers of Jesus, but their heart is far from Him.

Like Judas, their goal can be personal gain, political zealotry, or going with the crowd. Or any other number of reasons.

When we read a passage like this, instead of doing the easy thing and castigating Judas, we ought to say, “Lord, let it not be me! Let me not be the one who puts myself before You!”

Before you confidently say, “No way that could be me.” Think about this:

I doubt Judas started out saying, “I’m going to follow Jesus for awhile. Then, at some point, I’m going to betray Him!”

It happened because Judas put his own agenda before the Lord’s.

And it can happen to us if we are not watchful.

We tend to be very “my agenda” focused. That’s why it’s so hard when God leads us a completely different way.

In multiple places the Bible challenges us to examine our hearts:

Psalm 139:23–24 ESV

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Lamentations 3:40 ESV

Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!

2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

One of the greatest spiritual disciplines we can develop is purposeful examination of ourselves, leading to honest confession and committed repentance.

Verses 49-51

Rebuke #2: Jesus rebukes the disciples for failing to understand Him.

Remember what we looked at last week when it came to swords...

The disciples (especially Peter) remove all doubt that they missed the early point.

Jesus does something amazing here: He heals a man who showed no faith, and actually takes part in His arrest!

I can’t believe that, upon seeing this, everyone there didn’t fall down and worship Him!

Jesus models the behavior the disciples should have gotten by now. He didn’t call them to fight an earthly battle, but the fight a spiritual battle...a battle not won with earthly weapons, but with spiritual armor, prayer, evangelism, worship, and good works.

Yet, the disciples still didn’t understand this.

Timeless Truth: The rebuke of the disciples should challenge us to examine our understanding of Jesus.

Something important to understand here: the cutting off of Malchus’ ear here belays a bigger issue…after all this time, the disciples still didn’t really understand the kind of Messiah that Jesus would be.

Today, many Christians and professed Christians don’t understand who Jesus is and what He came for.

Lifeway recently did a survey about Jesus mission on earth. It showed that only 51% of the people interviewed knew that the Bible teaches that Jesus came to give His life of many.

31% knew that Jesus said He came to give abundant life and to testify to the truth.

91% believed that Jesus came to bring peace on earth. (In fact, in Matthew 10:34 Jesus says He will bring division, not peace.)

In most churches today, if I was to ask people what’s the message of the Gospel of Jesus, many would not know or would be afraid to answer, just in case they were wrong.

The point is: we need to be students of Jesus!

((Kyle convicting me about my pro-wrestling knowledge…))

How many of us need to spend a lot more time learning about Jesus, and a lot less time learning about foolishness?

Am I preaching or meddling?

Verses 52-53

Rebuke #3: Jesus rebukes the religious leaders for their hypocrisy.

Jesus words here are sharp and to the point.

First, they come after Him like He is leading a rebellion, which He was not.

What’s more, they had every chance to arrest Him while He was in the temple, but they were too cowardly to do it, so they come out with the cover of night.

But, this is the hour of evil, when Satan was at work in these people’s hearts, attempting to overcome God’s plans.

Timeless Truth: The rebuke of the religious leaders should challenge us to examine our behaviors.

Throughout Jesus ministry, the religious leaders attitude towards Jesus becomes increasingly hostile which results in their behavior becoming more and more hypocritical.

They claimed to be the experts in the Law, and yet they didn’t realize that they were talking with the very Author of the Law!

Their behavior here, and throughout the rest of Luke’s Gospel, does not mesh with what they taught.

They lie, break their own laws, attempt to offer brides, and take part in the execution of an innocent man.

In short, their personal agendas drove their personal beliefs.

If we are to examine our behaviors the first step is to realize that our beliefs ought to drive our behaviors.

If any of our behaviors don’t mesh with our stated beliefs, then we don’t really believe what we claim to believe or we are deceiving ourselves.

In his book, You Are What You Love, James Smith writes: “Our wants and longings and desires are at the core of our identity, the wellspring from which our actions and behavior flow…Discipleship…is a way to curate your heart, to be attentive to and intentional about what you love. So discipleship is more a matter of hungering and thirsting than of knowing and believing.”

What to your behaviors tell you about what you are hungering and thirsting after?

Would you want other people to know?

I was having a discussion with Lydia the other day about how I wouldn’t want to know what other people were thinking because it would probably hurt my feelings. But what if people could see what you were really hungering and thirsting after…like a thought bubble in a comic book.

In truth, our behaviors say a lot about what we hunger and thirst after.

So, just as we should examine our hearts and our understanding of Jesus, we should also examine our behaviors, because they will tell us a lot about our heart and our understanding of Jesus.

Where’s the Good News in all this?

There is hope in these words here, because of the word “hour.” While this “hour” of darkness was horrific, an hour is a fixed time. Jesus point:

Even though now was the hour of evil, God would overcome this evil with the greatest good of all.

Evil’s time is fixed and limited by God

JC Ryle: “When He was led forth to Calvary, it was ‘their hour.’ When He rose victorious from the grave, it was His.”

The great irony of the story is that the cross will accomplish just the opposite that the evil one wishes.

This was evil’s hour…but after evil’s hour was over, joy would come in the morning!

And this is where we find our true hope and our greatest motivation!