We’re walking out of Wal-Mart and realizing we don’t exactly remember where we parked our car. As we wander around, we pass by a car with a silver medallion on the dashboard. It’s a St. Christopher medal, the patron saint of all travelers. The owner hopes St. Christopher will keep her safe as she drives. Here we are driving down the road in the right hand lane. A blue Honda Accord passes us and staring out its back window is a small white statue of Mary, whom the driver hopes has his back. Other people use different symbols as a sign of God’s protective care for the car: rosary beads, crosses hung over the rear-view mirror, and, of course, bumper stickers. “God is my co-pilot,” says one, or, its cousin, “God is my pilot.” All of them are symbols asking for God’s protection.
A number of years ago, my dad was pulling out of a parking space and noticed a car with a religious symbol. It had a front license plate holder, but instead of a license plate, it held a text plate that said, “Angels are watching over me.” That’s a nice saying; the driver is trusting God will watch over his or her car and protect him on the road. Dad noticed the saying because it belonged to the car that he backed into. He hit it, pulled forward and got out to survey the damage. Fortunately, it was a gentle bump. There wasn’t any damage to his car or to the other, except that the front plate was broken. The plate saying “Angels are watching over me” was now cracked. Was that symbolic? I’ve wondered about the owner of the other car, whether the crack to the front plate dented that driver’s trust in God. If God can’t even protect a front car plate, can we trust Him with our lives and what we face? Is God big enough to manage the big things in life, much less the small things? Is God able, as the Bible says, “To do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think….” (Ephesians 3:20) Is God in control?
We speak of God as being all-knowing, all-powerful and all-present. We call this aspect of God, the sovereignty of God; God’s capacity to deal with the world in love and grace and carry out his purposes. We don’t get very far in speaking of God’s sovereignty before we hit a problem. For, as Dr. James Boice puts it, “We are speaking of the rule of God over a world that has obviously gone its own way. We may grant that God rules heaven. But the earth is an ungodly place. Here God’s authority is flouted, and sin often prevails. Can we really say that God is a great God here, that he is totally sovereign in the midst of this world?” You may think it odd that we are looking at Scripture this morning that presents Jesus arrested and put on trial. But, let us see what we find.
Jesus stands before the High Priest and other religious leaders. In front of them, he is put on trial. Before we look at the trial, let me just say a word to those of you who have perhaps read elsewhere about Jesus’ trial and heard the objections by some scholars that this is not an accurate or historical account of what really happened. After all, Jewish legal procedure called for a trial during the day, well-publicized, and not during holy days, such as Passover, when this occurred. However, these legal procedures are recorded in a third century document and it is not at all clear that they were in effect in Jesus’ time. Furthermore, even if they were in effect, it is important to note that the priests wanted to get rid of Jesus immediately. His sudden departure from Jerusalem, at night, and into the lonely Garden of Gethsemane, would have presented just the right time for the priests to arrest him without stirring up the crowds and acting quickly. So, act they do. Jesus is arrested, hustled to the High Priest, and, as his trial begins, we find Peter sitting just outside by the fire. (Read Mark 14:53 – 55)
In walks the first witness. He is sworn in, takes the stand, and tells the assembled priests what he heard Jesus teach. It’s not pretty. Murmuring breaks out among the priests; heads shaking. How could Jesus say such things? The witness is thanked for his testimony against Jesus, but even back then, it took more than one witness to convict a person. The Law demanded it. (Deuteronomy 17:6) So, a second witness is called in, but watch the movement of the witnesses. One finishes his testimony and leaves the room and another enters the room. Now, let’s see if you CSI fans can help us figure out why that is important. What’s the impact of the witnesses not being in the room at the same time…? They do not hear each other’s testimony. When the second witness speaks, it becomes quite clear that their testimonies do not match up. They’ve made up the charges. They’re lying; Jesus remains silent. The result? (Read verses 55, 56) Other witnesses are brought in, one at a time. Yet, in each case, their words do not agree. Again, Jesus is silent. He says not a word in his own defense. He is silent.
The priests try a new attack. More witnesses are brought in. “We heard Jesus say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” (verses 58) This is indeed, a serious charge. Anyone threatening the destruction or desecration of a temple was liable to arrest and death, because they were speaking against God. The prophet Jeremiah narrowly escaped death by prophesying against the temple and Jerusalem in his day. Now, Jesus did say, according to John 2:19, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up,” but he did not say that he would destroy the temple. In fact, Jesus was referring to his body as a temple, not the building. And, yet, even with this serious charge, that would have sealed Jesus’ fate, the witnesses could not agree. During this whole time, Jesus is silent. He says not a word.
Now, the priests are really frustrated. Their witnesses can’t agree. Jesus says nothing, so they can’t use anything he might say. At this point, they have nothing to use against him. They must strike now, before the city wakes up. So, the high priest directly speaks to Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” (verse 60)
Jesus says nothing. He says nothing even when directly asked to speak. Silence. Why? Why is Jesus silent? Is he afraid? Yet, when people are on trial for their life, they want to defend themselves. They would have told these witnesses, “You lie,” or “That’s not right. No, no, no.” There is a natural instinct to defend ourselves when we are threatened. The more we fear the threat, the more we try to defend ourselves. On trial for his life, Jesus was silent, unafraid.
It may be that Jesus said nothing to fulfill Scripture. Isaiah 53 describes the treatment the Messiah would face and his reaction. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7, 8 ) However, Jesus was not trying to steer his life to fit as many prophecies as possible. He lived his life and the prophecies described it but did not drive his life.
No, we must go back and find out what is in Jesus’ mind during his trial. Earlier, (Mark 10:33) Jesus told the disciples, “Behold we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles and they will mock him and spit upon him and scourge him and kill him….” At some point, it is revealed to Jesus by his Heavenly Father that he will die. Not only that he will die, but it is God’s plan that he die. In the Garden, Jesus struggles, asking that he not have to go through what lies ahead. But when comes to the point of realizing he must go through with it, he submits to it, because it is the Father’s plan. Jesus may not understand fully his future. He may not fully know why God is asking him to be humiliated and suffer and die, but it is His Heavenly Father’s plan and he will carry it through. Jesus… trusts.
A couple of years ago, I put a damaged chair in the middle of the confirmation classroom and asked someone to sit on it. One of the youth did, but just on the corner, with his legs right underneath him, so that if the chair gave way, he would not fall down. He did not fully trust the chair to hold his weight. So, did he trust the chair? No. Trust is not trust unless our full weight is on it. Jesus leaned the whole weight of his life upon God. There was no need for Jesus to speak, no need for Jesus to defend himself, because the trial was where God was leading him; being declared guilty and dying was where God was leading him, and Jesus submitted to God’s plan because he trusted.
Up until this point, there is no evidence against Jesus. In desperation, the High Priest openly asks Jesus, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” (verse 61) It was a desperate, last shot question. Say yes to it, and be condemned. Say nothing and they may not be able to do much against him. The smart thing to do would be to stay silent.
What does Jesus do? He responds to this question; not to false charges, but to the valid question: “Are you the Christ?” he says yes. Jesus is directing his own trial. He is not the victim. He is lord of his own life, as he says in John, “No one takes (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my (Heavenly) Father.” (John 10:18) Jesus is incomparable. The priests think they are directing the trial, but it is Jesus who is in control!
He wishes to be tried for being the Messiah of God; not just the Messiah, but the Son of God, equal with God. “I am,” he responds, “and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (verses 62)
The priest tears his robe at what he considers such blasphemy. (read verses 63 – 65) The trial has ended. The priests have secured the conviction they were seeking. Now they can be rid of this Jesus, who says he is Messiah and calls himself equal with God. They spit on him as a sign of utter contempt and hit him. They cover his face, hit him and call out, “prophesy,” that is, tell us which one of us hit you. They are referring to a passage in the Old Testament, Isaiah 11:3, one of many passages that speaks of the Messiah, “he (the Messiah) shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear….” The priests began to wonder about that passage. If the Messiah can not see or hear, how will he be able to judge? They decided it must be through his sense of smell. So, if Jesus was truly the Messiah, they could blind-fold his eyes, and he could still tell who hit him. “And the guards received him with blows.”
Jesus’ trial reveals his trust in his Heavenly Father. Now on his way to death, Jesus still affirms that God is in control of the events of his life, even when everything seems careening out of control. God is still sovereign.
Where are we when it comes to trusting God as sovereign in our lives? On a scale of 1 to 10, with one being the lowest, where would we put ourselves? Some of us would put ourselves around 2 or 3. After all, we’ve seen the evil and horror of this world and concluded that God can not be in control of the world’s events. Things happen. People suffer. People die. 200,000 just died in the Haitian earthquake. Things just happens. Particularly the poor suffer. The Bible says God is strongly on the side of the poor, but it seems that the poor suffer most. It was not 200,000 rich people who died in Haiti. Some of us would put ourselves in the middle of the scale. We want to believe that God is in control, but we’ve had personal experiences that still leaves us wondering why. Why? If God is in control, why can’t God… and we can more than fill in that blank Jesus’ trial shows Jesus on the scale at the 10, fully trusting his Heavenly Father. It was his trust that powered his living.
That may shed light on how Jesus can say, “Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink nor about your body, what clothes you shall put on.” (Matthew 6:25) He trusted. Certainly, Jesus didn’t just sit by the road and hope people would throw food in his lap, but he trusted that God was able, and would give him what he needed. It’s not easy making it economically. We have much we can worry about, but Jesus shows us the way of trust.
Jesus trusted God when he was abused. He spoke not in his own defense, because he trusted in God to bring about his defense. What is our response to false claims against us? Do we answer out of a sense that we have to defend ourselves because no one else will, or do we respond out of a deep trust in the sovereignty of God?
Only someone who trusts the Father can invite us to forgive actually, those who have harmed us. And only one who knows God is in control can be fully freed to love.
C.S. Lewis said, “In God we come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to ourselves. Unless we know God as that – and, therefore, know ourselves as nothing in comparison – we do not know God at all.”
Where will you decide to put the full weight of your trust? Edge farther back on the chair, will you? God is able to carry you.