The Redeemer’s Charge

Our gospel writers, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, record with a gripping and explicit
detail our Lord’s journey to the cross. They tell us that
he’s traveling with a small band of followers, his 12 apostles,
of course, and a small contingent of additional disciples. Their
course has taken them through Perea, advancing toward Jerusalem
and now crossing into Judea, drawing near to the city of Jericho. Soon they will arrive at their
destination. Jesus, of course, knows what
lies ahead for him. He knows that his time on earth
His time in the flesh is dwindling away. The time remaining to instruct
his followers can now be measured in days and hours. He alone knows
the urgency of the time, and that he must fill every moment
with spiritual instruction. In our Savior’s advance toward
Jerusalem, the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, capture
a reunification of sorts. In one of the most unique features
observed in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and John himself fall mostly
silent during Jesus’ ministry in Perea, Of the synoptic writers, only
Luke, for nearly eight full chapters, records the events that occurred,
the teaching that was given, the parables that were spoken, the miracles that were performed.
Only in the Gospel of John do we find anything added to Luke’s
account. and that in John’s chapters nine
through 11. But suddenly, in Luke 18, there’s
a mighty reunion of the synoptic writers. Matthew resumes his
chronicle of Jesus’ ministry in Matthew chapter 19. Mark picks
back up in his chapter 10, while John alone falls silent. In these chapters, the synoptic
writers capture Jesus teaching his followers on a variety of
subjects. He cautions against, for at least
the second time, hindering children from coming to him. He issues
several of his rich and instructive parables. The parable of the
rich young ruler, captured by all three of the synoptic writers. He also tells the parable of
the vineyard, presented only by Matthew. But there is a subject
that Jesus addresses that he’s mentioned again and again to
his followers, that of his death and resurrection. And with the
hours of opportunity now waning, Jesus addresses this delicate
subject once again. All three of the synoptic writers
capture this lesson. Matthew begins it in chapter
20, verse 17, Mark in 10.32, and Luke in chapter 18, verse
31 through 34. And that’s where we’ll begin
this morning. Would God’s people please turn
to the gospel of Luke and to chapter 18, Luke chapter 18. Only four verses this morning,
that’s plenty. Pick up if you would, follow
along beginning in verse 31. And he took the 12 aside and
said to them, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and all
things which are written in the prophets about the son of man
will be accomplished. For he will be delivered to the
Gentiles and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And
after they have scourged him, they will kill him. And the third
day he will rise again. And they understood none of these
things. And this saying was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend
the things that were said. And before we get too deep into
Luke’s account here, I’d like you to tuck a bulletin or your
finger perhaps in Luke 18 and flip over to Mark’s gospel so
that we can grasp the context of this lesson a little more
fully. Mark chapter 10. And when you get to Mark chapter
10, please glide down to verse 32. The reason we’re here is that
Mark adds some very important detail to Luke’s account, and
to Matthew’s account as well. Mark tells us something here
that neither Matthew or Luke address. We see it in that first
sentence of verse 32, four lines. And they were on the road going
up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them, and
they were amazed. And those who followed were fearful. It may not sound like much in
the way of crucial information. The things that Mark communicates
here are subtle, but Mark provides a wealth of information here,
actually. First of all, he tells us that Jesus and his followers
are on the road to Jerusalem. Matthew doesn’t tell us that.
And Luke, even though Luke has mentioned this several times
in his narrative, over the course of eight chapters, other things
quickly move in and seem to crowd out that thought that they were
heading to the sacred city. Let’s please stay here in Mark’s
gospel. Just listen to a few of these
references from Luke. In Luke 9.51, Luke records that
Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem. Two verses later,
verse 53, Jesus and his friends paused near a Samaritan village
to get supplies, groceries. And the Samaritans refused them
because he was traveling toward Jerusalem. Just little tidbits
sprinkled here and there by Luke. And then in Luke 13, 22, Luke
adds a narrative note here to tell us that Jesus was passing
through from one city and village to another, teaching and proceeding
on his way to Jerusalem. So Luke has informed his readers
of the purpose of this journey, but it often gets obscured by
his narrative. So the fact that Mark here in
10.32 mentions this detail, it’s very helpful. It recenters the reader back
to Christ’s mission, the reason for this very journey. Oh yes,
it’s Jerusalem. And observe that Mark’s detail
is very precise. He says that they were going
up to Jerusalem, acknowledging that advancing toward the city
of Jerusalem almost from any direction was a slow and steady
climb from sea level. Jerusalem, after all, was a city
set on a hill. But that’s not all. Glance again
at Mark 10, 32, this time at the second line of that verse,
Mark tells us that Jesus was walking on ahead of them. Now
this is subtle, I’ll admit, but it pictures Jesus as very much
alone in his own thoughts, bearing his burden all by himself, likely
in communion with his heavenly Father, and yet very much taking
the lead. Jesus wasn’t shuffling his feet,
pulling up the rear of the pack, and it elicits thought of some
great military leader braving the front lines. But even more
poignantly, this is the good shepherd who leads his sheep. He goes ahead of them, and the
sheep follow him. Mark adds two final details.
Would you look again at verse 32? He tells us that Christ’s
apostles were amazed, but that the greater portion of his disciples
were fearful. The apostles were no doubt amazed
by Christ’s resoluteness in advancing toward Jerusalem. Given the hateful
treatment that he always experienced when he went to Jerusalem, Meanwhile,
the remainder of this following, the additional disciples were
fearful. They knew that they were heading
into hostile territory and that to be in the company of Jesus
of all people could spell trouble for them personally. They were
fearful. And so it is in this particular
context, the detail that Mark provides, that our synoptic writers
capture this solemn announcement. This declaration by our Lord,
the news of his impending passion, his arrest, his mistreatment,
the abuse, and even his death. It’s nothing short of astounding. This is not the first or the
only time that Jesus has forecasted this horrible event. All three
synoptic writers capture two additional instances where Jesus
tells them the same dreadful thing. Before we turn back again
to Luke’s gospel, would you turn to Matthew chapter 16? Matthew
chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16, Mark has
it as well in 831, and Luke has it also in 922, but this is Christ’s
first announcement of his death and resurrection, and it’s recorded
while they were near Caesarea Philippi. All three Accounts
have it, but here in Matthew chapter 16, glance down at verse
21. From that time, Jesus began to
show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many
things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed
and be raised up on the third day. Very clear. Now this, Jesus’
first mention of these things, Jesus speaks generally of the
abuse, only that he would suffer many things. He tells us further
that the perpetrators would be the Jewish leaders, the elders,
chief priests, and scribes. And he announces that he would
be killed. He just doesn’t say by what means. But he concludes with wonderful
news, which should have overshadowed all of the other parts of the
announcement. He tells his disciples that he
would be raised up on the third day. And the truly astounding
thing is that none of the gospel writers recorded any response
at all by Christ’s friends. likely because they’re stunned
at the totality of the message, but Jesus has told them. And
so Jesus has to address the matter again. And while his followers
were passing through Galilee, it’s also recorded there, all
three of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. For our purposes this morning,
since we’re already here in Matthew, would you turn over to flip over
to Matthew 17? As I said, this is also recorded
in Mark, Mark’s Gospel 931, Luke 944. But here in Matthew, glide
down, if you would, to verse 22. And while they were gathering
together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is going
to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him,
and he will be raised on the third day. and the astounding
response, and they were deeply grieved. This account, too, provides new
but subtle detail that Jesus, the creator of the world, would
be delivered into the hands of men, people that he had created.
His very creation, mankind would take hold of him, abuse him,
and kill him. But here again, he adds, for
the sake of his disciples, he will rise three days later, and
only Matthew captures this immediate reaction, that they were deeply
grieved. Mark and Luke do record a response
by Jesus’ followers. In short, they did not understand
this statement. Luke goes on further to explain
that it was concealed from them by God so that they would not
perceive it. God himself prevented them from
fully grasping the significance of this announcement. And so
these things, Christ’s abuse, his death, his resurrection,
they were not new to Christ followers. This was not a new announcement.
But truly these things were not yet fully comprehended by these
men. And so Jesus declares this solemn
announcement a third time. And we have it in Luke 18 verse
31, if you would turn back there now. We’ll keep taking some details
from the other gospel writers, but for now, let’s go to Luke
chapter 18. I would characterize this section
as the Redeemer’s charge. This is Christ’s marching orders
from the Father. This is what he has been sent
to do. Remember, Jesus wasn’t surprised in his arrest. They didn’t lynch him, so to
speak. Jesus came when he was born as a child. He knew exactly
what his mission was. And what he’s going to do here
is review it for us. Christ’s assignment in God’s
plan of redemption. The first thing that you see
is the reiteration here of Christ’s mission. Look at verse 31. He
took the 12 aside and said to them, behold, we are going up
to Jerusalem and all things which are written in the prophets about
the son of man will be accomplished. When Luke says here in verse
31, he took the 12 aside. I mean, he’s plainly speaking
here of the apostles as over against the larger group of disciples
that are traveling with them. And perhaps Jesus didn’t want
to create a panic among the larger group of followers, and so he
pulls his closest friends aside for a moment of private instruction.
Now you’ve had these kinds of meetings before. Whenever someone
in authority pulls a small group aside, whether it’s a coach or
a teacher or a leader of some sort, the drama is already increased. What is this about? This must
be important. And Jesus only adds to that drama
when he says, behold, look, He has their attention and he maximizes
that attention as he begins to share this special message. And
he reiterates what they likely already knew, we are going up
to Jerusalem. And in a sense, he needs say
no more. Jerusalem was the spiritual center of the Jewish people. Jerusalem was also the city that
killed God’s prophets, the place that had been consistently hostile
and hateful towards Jesus. And so Jerusalem, they likely
knew, would also be the place where Jesus would be killed. Jesus didn’t say it, but he didn’t
have to say it. This would be his final earthly
journey. to Jerusalem. But Jesus has some
new and important detail to share with his apostles. This he hasn’t
told them yet. He’s not going to be suddenly
attacked by an overzealous mob. Everything he would face would
be in fulfillment of divine prophecy. Everything. All things, he says,
which are written in the prophets about the Son of Man will be
accomplished. And note this unique title that
Jesus assigns to himself, the Son of Man. This title, he and
he alone, most often uses of himself. This is one of his favorite
ways of referring to himself. In the Gospels, he uses it some
75 times, and only he uses it. We might even think of this title
as his self-designation. It’s the way that he wants to
present himself to others. It speaks of his humanity as
well as his deity, and it presents him as the spiritual link between
heaven and earth, the representative of God to man and man before
God. But when Jesus says this to the
apostles, that all things which are written in the prophets about
the Son of Man will be accomplished, this was not news to them. It shouldn’t have been news to
the apostles. The things that Jesus was to
face was all perfectly according to God’s plan of redemption foretold
by the prophets in the Old Testament. Only Luke captures that little
tidbit. The events to occur will soon
begin to fulfill prophecies that were written hundreds of years
earlier. There are literally dozens of
these that will be fulfilled in the coming days ahead for
Christ. There are dozens of them. Let
me just cite three. In his triumphal entry into the
city, Jesus comes riding in on a little young donkey in fulfillment
of Zechariah 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout in triumph, O daughter
of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to
you. He is just and endowed with salvation,
humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a
donkey. During the course of his brutal
treatment, in the hands of his own countrymen, as well as the
Roman soldiers, is a fulfillment of Isaiah 53, 12. Therefore,
I will allot him a portion with the great. He will divide the
booty with the strong, because he poured out himself to death
and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he himself bore the sin of
many and interceded for the transgressors during the course of his crucifixion.
recorded by all four of the gospel writers. They divide my garments
among them and for my clothing they cast lots. Psalm 22 18. Jesus says everything that was
written about me in the prophets is going to be fulfilled. In
just a few hours these things are going to begin to unfold
Jesus’ sufferings were a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Jesus
has tried to tell his friends of his eventual fate, but they
didn’t, or better, were not able to understand it. But anyone, including his Jewish
detractors, anyone who could take up the Old Testament scriptures
and read could clearly see these things play out. Jesus knew. Jesus knew first and foremost
that the things that he had come to endure were all elements that
were ordained by God in his great plan of redemption. Jesus is
just reviewing it here. He’s not learning it for the
first time. Would you finally note at the
end of verse 31, Jesus says, these things would be accomplished. That word, it impresses us, doesn’t
it, with a sense of finality. That the work that Jesus came
to do would be fully and finally achieved, completed in full.
This word accomplished is, it’s a wonderful and a powerful word.
The apostle John uses this word in chapter 19, verse 30. because
he uses it there to record Jesus’ final verbal utterance on the
cross. You remember it? It was the same
word. It’s translated there by three
English words. It is finished. It’s accomplished. God’s plan
of redemption is complete. That’s what Jesus forecasts for
his disciples here. And so first here in Luke 18,
Jesus reiterates his mission. In the next two verses, he provides
specifics about this mission. Would you just glance there?
Not only the reiteration of Christ’s mission, but the specifics of
his mission. For he will be delivered to the
Gentiles and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And
after they have scourged him, they will kill him. and the third day he will rise
again. I told you that we would import
detail from the other two gospel writers, Matthew and Mark. Here’s
one of the very important junctures. Luke just enters in abruptly
that Jesus is going to be delivered to the Gentiles. Terrible news,
as we’ll learn momentarily. You see, up to this point, the
disciples knew that Jesus was indeed at odds with the Jewish
leaders because of his Sabbath healings and his very direct
teachings, confronting these religious rulers. But they figured
that stoning would be the worst possible scenario. That was the law’s method of
execution. of a false prophet. Matthew and
Mark both point out that first the Son of Man would be delivered
into the hands of the scribes, the chief priests and scribes.
You see, this wasn’t an event in which the Jewish leaders were
innocent. Far from it. On the contrary,
they were the driving force against Christ. This was their doing. And by the participants mentioned,
chiefs, priests, and scribes, this would be an official action
by the Jewish leadership, a trial before the highest religious
court, the Sanhedrin. And Jesus even tells them of
the verdict that they would render guilty, and that they would condemn
him as such, condemn him to death. They wouldn’t risk leaving the
sentence to the Romans. And so the Jewish leadership
would condemn Christ by their own shaky authority. Now at this juncture, in the
blended account, all three gospel writers provide various details
of what’s going to befall the Savior. All three writers mentioned
that Jesus would be mocked. What a terrible enough thing
for the creator of the world to come and to be verbally and
mentally mistreated. In his second trial before Herod,
Luke records in 2311 that after treating him with contempt and
mocking him, Herod’s soldiers dressed him in a gorgeous robe,
an additional visual mockery. Pilate’s soldiers as well, John
19, 2 and 5, mocked Christ’s claim to be a king, putting a
crown of thorns on his head and a purple robe in mockery of his
claim to be king, chanting, Hail, King of the Jews! The Roman soldiers
did the same thing, recorded in a separate incident in Matthew
27. Pilate mocked Jesus with the sign that he placed above
the cross, saying, this is the king of the Jews, hanging here,
dying. Even while he was on the cross,
Jesus was mocked by the Jewish authorities, the Roman soldiers,
by the general public, even by one of the thieves being crucified
next to him. He was not only mocked, he was
scourged. Severely and brutally beaten. And this with a vicious leather
whip. Pilate twice ordered Jesus to
be scourged. The attending soldiers often
took matters literally into their own hands, punching him in the
face with their fists. Luke adds that Christ would be
mistreated. He’s the only one that uses this
word, which really gives kind of an overarching description of
this entire incident. Given the rest of the treatment
of the Savior, this word mistreatment seems mild, like an understatement. But think of it, truly Judas
mistreated Christ. The arresting mob mistreated
Christ, coming after him with swords and clubs. His own disciples
mistreated him, abandoning him in his hour of need. They all
left him and fled. Annas, the retired high priest,
mistreated Jesus by inserting himself into the legal process
and then unjustly ordering Jesus to be slapped. The Jewish leaders
mistreated Jesus by drumming up false accusations against
him and sending him to a ceremonially unclean Gentile prison, a prison
that they wouldn’t dare walk in. They mistreated him by asking
for the release of a guilty criminal instead. Caiaphas, the official
high priest, mistreated Jesus by accusing him of blasphemy. Peter mistreated Jesus by denying
him three times. Pilate mistreated Jesus by denying
him justice, and the ultimate act of mistreatment, the crucifixion,
demanded by the Jewish leaders, ordered and carried out by the
Romans, crucifying him between two thieves. To say that Jesus
was mistreated is an understatement. The entire episode could be characterized
as mistreatment. Only Mark and Luke add the gross
indignity of Christ being spit upon Mark and Luke mentioned
this disgraceful treatment. Matthew records the exact incident,
Matthew 26, 67, that during the course of his initial questioning,
the Jewish leaders spat in his face. But this is where Luke rejoins
Matthew and Mark, where all three Gospel writers record Jesus as
telling us that he will be delivered up to the Gentiles. And as soon
as he said this, this had to have troubled his followers immensely. They may have come to grips with
the idea of Jesus being killed, but delivered over to the Gentiles? Any reasonable person would have
understood the dreadful consequences of those words. The Jewish leaders
had no authority under Roman rule to carry out an execution.
That must be done by the Roman government, and the Roman government’s
method of execution at the time was the insanely cruel crucifixion. The Jewish elite could condemn
Jesus, but the Gentiles, the Romans, had to kill him. So the
Roman government’s means of crucifixion was a thought that the apostles
could likely hardly bear. While Mark and Luke also say
that Jesus would be killed, only Matthew spells out the horrible
truth that he would be crucified. And that clarifies the implication
of Jesus being delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, that
the Romans would kill Jesus by means of the cross. But just at the bleakest moment,
the pit in their stomach, tears in their eyes, horror in their
minds at the very thought of these things. At the bleakest
moment when Christ’s apostles might be tempted to give up in
despair, Jesus adds the glorious news that on the third day, The
crucified and dead and buried Jesus would rise again. This
again is the third time that Jesus has disclosed this detail,
the resurrection on the third day. The apostles are no doubt
stunned by the previous elements of Christ’s message, so much
so that they miss Jesus’ intended hope here. It’s almost as if
everything else should fade. And we should focus only on the
resurrection. The other details were difficult
to understand. This element of Christ’s revelation
almost certainly escaped them. They may still have been focused
on the horrible predictions that he was making, mocked, mistreated,
spit upon, scourged. They were likely dumbfounded. But this, that Jesus would rise
again, it may not have even registered with them. All of this, the mistreatment,
the beatings, the crucifixion, the subsequent burial, all of
this, after all of this, Jesus would rise from the dead. What
hope? Their faith might be rattled,
shaken to the core by the horrors of crucifixion. All of that should
immediately evaporate at the news of the resurrection. Their
faith should not only be restored, but magnified a hundredfold. As horrible as Christ’s passion
was, his arrest, his abuse, his trial, his crucifixion, his resurrection
brushed all of that aside. One final magnificent confirmation
of God’s plan of redemption. So how did the apostles receive
Christ’s glorious news? We come to the third aspect of
Christ’s mission. That it remained, at least to
the apostles at the moment, a mystery. Would you glance at verse 34?
Not only the reiteration of Christ’s mission, the specifics of Christ’s
mission, but the mystery of Christ’s mission. Verse 34, they understood
none of these things. And this saying was hidden from
them and they did not comprehend the things that were said. That’s
astounding. Of the three writers, only Luke
records this reaction from verse 34. Look at that verse, if you
would, and try to graciously grasp the depth of the apostles’
confusion here. Even still, they were expecting
hoping for, counting on, a conquering Messiah. One who was going to
overthrow this evil Roman government, not one to be killed by them. And with the three running lines,
Luke says that they just didn’t get it. They understood none
of these things hidden from them. They did not comprehend the things
that were said. And it’s not as if some of the
ugly details were fuzzy or a little difficult to follow. They understood
none of these things. Nothing made sense. It’s perhaps
possible they thought that the things that Jesus was talking
about were perhaps metaphorical. Like his so many parables, maybe
this was a parable that we’ve got to unwrap. Forget about the
idea of resurrection for a moment. They were still stuck on Christ’s
death. These were all converts from
Judaism who thought that their Messiah would be of a completely
different kind. They were also still likely bewildered
with amazement at Christ’s insistence and his eagerness to go to, of
all places, Jerusalem. They didn’t yet have a hold on
the idea of Christ being the Lamb of God, as John the Baptist
first introduced Him to them. They didn’t understand that Jesus
would be their redemptive sacrifice, that His death on the cross would
pay in full for the sin of the world. Even after Christ’s resurrection,
John and Peter were caught off guard by the report that Jesus
had risen from the grave. They didn’t understand. They
didn’t understand these deep truths of God, that his redemption
of sinful humanity by his death on the cross, it was hidden from
them. They could not grasp it. They
didn’t comprehend it because as Luke says in 944, it was concealed
from them. God wouldn’t let them see it. But in time, in time they would come to understand
these things. They wouldn’t always remain hidden.
The apostles would eventually comprehend the deep things of
God in his plan of redemption. All 11 of the remaining apostles,
Judas accepted, would eventually meet face to face with their
risen Lord. That’s proof enough. They all
in time would come to understand, comprehend, these things would
no longer remain hidden or concealed from them. Think of it, Matthew or Levi,
as he was originally known, he came to understand Christ’s resurrection
so much so that he speaks of it at the end of his gospel matter-of-factly. After his resurrection, they
entered the holy city. Peter came to understand Christ’s
resurrection so much so that it was the very subject of his
first sermon in Acts chapter two. He said, this Jesus, which
the Jewish leaders had killed, this Jesus God raised up again,
to which we are all witnesses. To his dying day, this was Peter’s
great confidence. The opening words of his first
epistle, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. Peter believed. Matthew believed. Peter believed. The apostle John
came to understand and comprehend the resurrection. Near the end
of his gospel in 20 verse 9, he speaks wistfully of times
past that they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must
rise again from the dead. John understood. Matthew, Peter,
John, even Thomas Even Thomas doubting, absent Thomas, would
come to believe in Christ’s resurrection when he was lovingly confronted
by the risen Christ himself, remember? And Thomas’s reply,
my Lord and my God. The great apostle Paul met the
risen Christ in the midst of his persecution of Christians
so that he would one day write He who was delivered over because
of our transgressions was raised because of our justification. But you know what I say? I mean,
we see how the apostles, we see that it was difficult for them
given the context that they were in and God himself was hiding
those things from their eyes. But they all came to know, they
all came to understand about the resurrection, they all came
to comprehend it, My question is, enough about them, what about
you? What do you do with the resurrection? If you’re a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you’ve already come to an understanding,
a belief, a comprehension, a joyful reception of the news of the
resurrection, that Jesus Christ went to the cross for your sin,
and he died on the cross and was buried And with divine approval,
God raised him from the grave. For those of us who are believers,
what great and glorious news that is. But it’s great and glorious
news, whether you believe it or not. If you are not a Christian,
the Lord Jesus Christ went to his cross for sinners, and he
paid for that sin in full. with his brutal death on the
cross. It isn’t a life of good works.
It isn’t a whole string of victories for God that you’ve got to somehow
string together. It’s falling on your face before
him in repentance, acknowledging that you’re a sinner and pleading
with him for forgiveness based on what Christ has already accomplished
on the cross. Salvation is by faith, faith
alone in Christ alone. Would you all humble yourself
before him?