Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Reading

Introduction

One of the things that I’ve mentioned at the start of a number of the past sermons I’ve preached from Luke is the fact that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified.

As he’s journeying there, he continues to teach on important matters relating to the kingdom.

You will recall that last week we looked at the account of the rich young ruler that had come to Jesus, wanting to gain entrance to the kingdom of Heaven, but he had not been prepared to do everything that it took to enter the kingdom.

He was prepared to try to keep the commands of God, at least externally.

But he was not prepared to give away all that he had.

He was not prepared to sacrifice this great wealth that he had accumulated.

At the end of that passage, the disciples had said to Jesus that they had left all to follow Christ.

And he then went on to tell them that they would certainly receive their due reward due to sacrifice that they had made.

On the subject of sacrifice, that leads us into our present text, which is referred to as Christ’s Third Passion Prediction.

Through the Gospels, there are three passion predictions, and this is the third and final such prediction.

Essentially, this is a prediction of Jesus of the sufferings that he would endure in order to bring salvation to mankind.

When we speak of the “Passion” of Jesus, it simply refers to the sufferings that He would face in order to bring about the redemptive purposes of God.

The word “Passion” here comes from the Latin word meaning “to endure” or “to suffer.”

In Acts 1:3 we read…

So this is really Christ’s predictions of His own suffering that He will endure at the cross on behalf of the disciples, and all those who would come to Him.

In the Gospels, there are a number of veiled predictions, or rather, allusions to his suffering.

But on three different occassions, Christ speaks openly and clearly about the fact that he would be When we speak in this manner, we exclude the veiled predictions, or the allusions.

So, there are three explicit predictions that are recorded for us.

This is the last of those.

The first was in Luke 9:22

The Second was in Luke 9:43-45

Then we have the third before us this morning.

As we consider these few verses, I want to remind you of the significance of the suffering of Christ on our behalf.

Christ knew full well that his suffering was coming, and He understood the extent of that suffering.

The disciples had said to Jesus that they had given up everything for Christ.

Well, this was true to a certain extent, but they had not suffered at the hands of sinful men, and ultimately they had not given up their lives.

Christ was about to lay down His life for these disciples, and He would do so through extreme pain and suffering.

At this point in the Gospel of Luke, He is simply telling His disciples what He is about to endure.

With that in mind, consider firstly with me…

1.

A Predetermined Plan (v.31)

In Luke 18:31 we read…

The Privileged Disciples

The first thing that we see in connection with Christ’s Passion Prediction is that it was reserved for a particular group of people.

It wasn't for those who were followers of Jesus.... or mere followers.

In terms of the revelation of His plans and purposes, Christ didn't make all things known to all men.

This prediction of what would unfold was reserved for those that were specifically chosen.

He takes them aside and tells these twelve something particular, about that which must take place in the future.

It is evident from this that Christ was at least in some measure seeking to impress upon His disciples the gravity of the events that were to take place in the coming days.

In the text (at least in the original) Jesus begins by addressing His disciples with the word, “BEHOLD" (ESV = “See”).

The word is used to captivate the attention of both the hearer and the reader.

What Christ is about to say to His disciples demands their attention.

Going up to Jerusalem

As Jesus addresses his disciples, he explains to them that they are going to Jerusalem.

This is what would have been known as the city of God.

This is the place that God was said to dwell among His people.

This is where the annual holy days were observed by the Jews.

And so, perhaps in the minds of the disciples, the first thought would have been that Jesus was talking about going up to Jerusalem for the observance of one of those days.

Indeed, Christ would be crucified at the time of the observance of the Passover.

Usually, this would have been a positive thing... something good and proper.

But as Christ will reveal through these verses, they were going up to far more than merely the Passover.

It should be noted that when Christ was heading up to Jerusalem, it was not merely a matter pertaining to his feet walking towards Jerusalem.

Rather, it was a matter of His heart being set upon this course to Jerusalem.

As we have noted in previous texts along these lines, Jesus was Himself determined to go up and offer up His own life, because this was the will of his Father for Him.

Christ had come in order to do the will of the one that had sent Him.

Christ’s eyes were yet set resolutely on this goal.

Everything written by the prophets

As Christ continues to speak to His disciples, he says to them that "everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.”

We know that the “Son of Man” is a reference to the Messiah, to the one that would come to redeem and rescue the people of God.

That’s the Old Testament phrase (particularly found in Daniel) that was used in reference to the Messiah.

As Christ tells his disciples that everything about this Son of Man will be fulfilled, He is not merely saying that in the Old Testament, there were a few things that were written about this Son of Man, and those few prophecies would be fulfilled.

In one sense, that was certainly true.

There were prophecies that spoke about the coming Messiah, and particularly the kind of hardship that He would endure.

Isaiah 53 is such a passage / prophecy.

But really, what Christ was saying was that everything that was written concerning God’s salvation plan would come to fruition and fulfilment in this Son of Man.

If you recall Christ walking with the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, that is after his suffering… Luke 24::25-27

We see that although there are specific texts within the Old Testament that explicitly and specifically spoke about the sufferings that the Messiah would endure, it was really the entirety of God’s revelation in the Old Testament that was pointing towards that apex of God’s redemptive plans, the crucifixion of His own Son.

The time for the culminating point, the most glorious demonstration of God’s redemptive purposes in the world, was fast approaching, and Jesus was anticipating this, and telling His disciples to anticipate this.

Will be fulfilled

Christ tells his disciples that everything “will be fulfilled.

The fact that Christ was journeying to Jerusalem, in fact, was in order that these things may be fulfilled.

We must note that although there was more to it, one of the most important things that would be fulfilled was His suffering and death in order to bring about the redemption of souls.

2. A Painful Prediction (vv.32-33a)

At this point, Christ will proceed to tell his disciples exactly what it is that is going to happen to the “Son of Man.”

In Luke 18:32 we read,

Just as a general observation on this verse, take note of the details that are included in this.

Jesus was very specific!

Firstly, Jesus says here that he will be Handed over to Gentiles.

A couple of things are worth noting on this point.

We know well that it wasn’t the Gentiles that actually wanted Jesus put to death.

There was no real desire on the part of any of the Gentiles to put Jesus to death.

Rather, it was the Jews, particularly the Jewish religious leaders, that wanted Jesus put to death.

We’ve been noticing that as we’ve worked through Luke’s Gospel.

They despised Jesus, and didn’t believe him at all to be the Messiah.

They would want to put Jesus to death, but because they didn’t really have the power or authority to do that in Roman world, they would need to hand Jesus over to the Roman authorities, who would then have him put to death.

So, in this sense, the Jews would be behind His death.

The Gentiles would in some measure be behind His death.

But we must also keep in mind that all of this would be according to the perfect working of the will of God the Father.

In theological terms, there is what is referred to as a "Divine Passive."

The “Passive” is used when there is an action upon a person.

They don’t perform the action themselves, but rather something is done to them.

In this case, Jesus will be “handed over.”

It is not Him doing the action, but rather it is being performed on Him.

A Divine Passive, then, is when God is the One performing the action.

When God is the one, at least, who is behind the action being performed.

This very phrase from Jesus has been observed to be a “Divine Passive.”

So while it is true that Jesus would be handed over to the Gentiles by the Jews in order to be crucified, this was also in God’s divine purposes and plan.

Acts 2:22-23 brings clarity for us in this regard...

Jesus is telling his disciples that he will be handed over, in God's providential working, to the Gentiles....