Matthew 26:55-75

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Matthew 26:55-75

“In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled. And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest’s palace, to see the end. Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; but found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee? Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.”

“We have journeyed with Jesus through Gethsemane to the point where Peter decides to help him by cutting someone’s ear off, just in case Jesus couldn’t do that by himself. Jesus telling him to put his sword into its sheath, he said ‘Don’t you know I could call 12 legions of angels now?’ and how those angels must have been leaning over the ramparts of glory, yearning, just for the word. Jesus heals the ear of this man, Malchus, the servant of the high priest, and then challenges the crowds that have come, in verse 55 of chapter 26. He said to the multitudes, “Are you come out against a thief, with swords and staves, to take me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled” (verses 55-56). So, entering now into this series of trials, he will be taken first to the house of Annas. Annas was high priest from AD 4 to about AD 15. The Romans gave that position then to Caiaphus, though Annas had a number of sons, Caiaphus was his son-in-law. And he was high priest from about AD 18 to 32 or 34AD. Though Annas still held sway with the people, was still respected by Caiaphas. So first he’s taken to the house of Annas, John 18 tells us that (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/john/John18-1-16.htm and http://www.unityinchrist.com/john/John18-15-27.htm for John’s account). Then here Matthew takes us to the house of Caiaphus. From Caiaphus he will be taken to Pilate. Pilate then realizing he’s a Galilean, and not willing to deal with the problem, Pilate will send him to Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas, discouraged because he hoped to see a miracle or a sign from Jesus, mocks him and sends him back to Pontus Pilate, and then finally there he’s scourged and sentence is passed and he’s crucified. So this series of about five trials, interesting for us to look at, because certainly he’s completely human and completely God. He heads into the most difficult time in his life, with all of his disciples forsaking him. And again, there is a great humanness to that. He’d asked Peter, James and John to come a little closer with him, to stay awake while he prayed. Now he’s forsaken by all of them. And all of us know what it’s like to be betrayed and forsaken. All of these emotions were real in his life, just as real as they are to us, in fact, probably deeper. And I think he loved his friends more than we love ours, because he loved them more perfectly. And I think when someone forsakes us, when someone lets us down, again we can remember there the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. And that’s a real thing. And we could ask him at that time, how to love and how to pray for those who let us down. Because I know that in the natural we want to strangle them. [chuckles] That’s why we need to go to Jesus and say ‘Teach us how to love them.’ And then he heads off into this series of trials. And again, thinking again that he’s also completely God, just here is God on trial, the King, that it might be fulfilled which was written in the Scripture, completely submitting himself to puny, bitter, jealous angry little man. God, who laid out the heavens with the span of his hand, subjecting himself to the spitting and beating and the trial of human beings. I mean, it’s staggering to think of the things that, you know, ‘What’s wrong with this picture?’ that are out of kilter here, his great love driving him through all of this. It says in verses 57-58, “And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphus the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.” And it wasn’t they who laid hold on him, it was love, bound by love he went away to Caiaphus. This was after Annas, in John 18:12, the high priest. “But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest’s palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end.” Matthew, writing, remembering Peter his comrade and his friend that evening, in brief mention, tells us that Peter was following afar off unto the high priest’s palace. “And he went in and sat with the servants” notice, “to see the end.” Peter is hopeless, we know that. Because when he writes his first Epistle he tells us in the 3^rd verse “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has begotten us again unto a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” So, his hope [at this point] is gone. He’s like Thomas, he’s going along just to see the end. Thomas had said in John 11, ‘We might as well go to Jerusalem and die with him.’ Ah, Peter is going to see the end. So Peter’s hopeless. And it’s interesting to watch his behavior, because it reflects the way that you and I act when we’re hopeless. Jesus is not being who Peter thinks Jesus should be, and because Jesus is not being who Peter thinks Jesus should be, Peter then is following afar off. And Peter will deny him. And it’s the same rut that you and I get into when something’s happening in our life, and we’re left saying, ‘Lord, you’re crucified, you’re risen, you’re at the right hand of power, there’s pain in my life, this is unfair, you tell me that you love me with an everlasting love, your mercies are new every morning, my heart is broken, you’re not being who I know you should be, you’re not taking suggestions---and we find ourselves following afar off. Not wanting to be real vulnerable, not wanting to be real recognized. [Pastor Joe just described how I feel right now, wow!] And Peter, made of the same stuff that we are. So we watch him through this sequence.

They seek false witnesses to testify against Jesus

Verse 59 says, “Now the chief priests and the elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death.” Now, there’s a slew of illegal things taking place here. First place, the Sanhedrin never met at night. It’s an illegal trial. That was their tradition and their law. They would meet during the day. For a minor incident there had to be at least three of them present, for a major incident, there had to be at least 23 of them present. If they found someone innocent of a major crime, they could pronounce his innocence and release him right on the spot. If they found someone guilty of what they considered death, their law, their tradition said that they had to go home and sleep on it and come back the next day before they passed sentence, hoping that mercy would take place in their decision. None of that is going on here. They had to have, for a major offense, at least two independently interrogated witnesses that were interrogated in different places that corroborated the same story, which would then be brought together. None of that is going on. They are simply seeking any story that might condemn him to death. It tells us right from the beginning, that’s all they want, they want the end of his life. Peter is there watching, to see what will take place. We wonder as this goes on, what it is in fact he sees. Their tradition said that during the Feast they were not allowed to pass a death sentence. And they’re right in the midst of the Passover Feast. So, highly illegal on their side in many different ways. And there are other things, I can’t remember them all. “The chief priests and the Elders and all the Counsel sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death”, so it tells us right there their frame of mind at the beginning of it, they’re looking for false witnesses, they’re not looking for the truth, and all they want is a death sentence---“but they found none, yeah though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. And at the last---finally---came two false witnesses.” It was hard to find anybody to bear witness against him, because he had put them all to silence in the Temple courts, he had done nothing wrong. He had healed people, loved people and cared for people, and fed people and delivered people and raised the dead and taught the truth, it was hard to find false witness against him. People do it today, don’t they? They find we need to take “Under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance, you know, we can’t have you wearing a cross in a public place, ‘Oh, we don’t want any of those Nativity Scenes in a public place at Christmas, people find all kinds of things against him today, it’s remarkable. Again, Howard Stern has his rights, but Jesus Christ doesn’t anymore. I don’t know what’s going on. Things are topsy-turvy aren’t they. But Jesus is coming to straighten them out soon, put them right again. We’ll know what decency is then, there will be no confusion. What they said was, in verse 61, “This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.” Now that’s not what he said. After the first cleansing of the Temple in John, the end of chapter 2, he said, “Destroy this temple,” speaking of his body. He didn’t say “I am able to destroy”, he said to them, “Destroy this temple, I’ll raise it again in three days.” And John said he was speaking of his body, his frame. They’re accusing him of saying he was going to destroy the Temple. Now it’s interesting, we wonder if Saul of Tarsus is present here, who was very zealous. It’s hard for me to believe the Sanhedrin would have gathered and he wouldn’t have been there. No doubt Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who are believers, they’re disciples, secretly at this point, are gathered there watching all of this. Matthew gives us some interesting details because Matthew is a tax collector. When we get to the tomb, Matthew is the only one who tells us about the Roman Guard, because Matthew is the only one that had the relationship with the Romans to know what went on, and the story that they went back and told to the priests, Matthew is the one who gives us all of that. And Matthew has some interesting insights here, into this whole process. “We heard him say that he is able to destroy this temple and build it again in three days. And the high priest arose and said to him, ‘Answerest thou nothing? What is it that these witness against thee?’ But Jesus held his peace.” Because, you know the accusations are so ridiculous, he doesn’t even enter into it. He had settled in Gethsemane the fact that he was going to take the cup, and he was going to drink it, and he doesn’t bother to step in now and get into a shouting match or an argument over these ridiculous accusations.

The high priest puts Jesus “under oath”

“And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the Living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God” (verse 63). “I adjure thee by the Living God”, Leviticus chapter 5, verse 1, number of places in the Old Testament, this is a legal oath he places him under, Jesus has to answer now, if he doesn’t answer he’ll be breaking the Law. He places him under an oath, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, swears Jesus in, puts him under oath. ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Living God?---Are you the One?---Are you the One that Moses spoke of?---Are you the One that Isaiah spoke of?---Are you the One that Jeremiah spoke of?---Are you the One that Zechariah told us of?---Are you the One to take up David’s throne and David’s kingdom, are you the One that’s the center of our Nation, the center of our hopes, the center of our dreams, are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of God? Are you the center of all of this? Are you the One?’ “And Jesus answered,” now under oath “and said, Thou hast said”, which is “You said it.’ It’s an affirmation, “nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (verse 64). ‘Let me put it this way, Caiaphus, the next time you see me I’ll be sitting at the right hand of all power, coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.’ The Son of man, he picks up from Daniel chapter 7, verse 13, the Ancient of Days, the One who comes to establish the Kingdom. They knew exactly what he was talking about. [Many Christians don’t know what Jesus was talking about here, but the high priest certainly did. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm] And that will be the next time Caiaphus sees him, the end of the Millennium, heaven and earth flees away, Christ on a White Throne, that will be the next time that he sees the Son of man. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm for various interpretations about what hell is.]

The high priest condemns Jesus of blasphemy

“Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy” (verse 65). We’re not told specifically if he has the high priest’s robe on, which would have been woven with a sky-blue from the top to the bottom, it had golden bells, and pomegranates around the bottom, which would ring, would remind them that they were to give clear testimony of their faith. The blue would remind them of heaven, it had a mail around the neck so that it would not tare, and the only time that it was torn was in the face of blasphemy, and he was under tradition to tare it in the face of blasphemy. But we’re not told whether it was that, it may have been that particular garment. Israel would need it no longer, because God’s high priesthood was about to be established in his position, and the priest of Israel would no longer need it, there would be a new high priest in town, and of course, it’s this Jesus. The high priest then tore his clothes, saying, “He hath spoken blasphemy, what further need have we of witnesses, behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy”, you’ve heard it.’ “What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death” (verse 66).

Caiaphas runs into a problem

Now, there’s a problem. Because about AD 4, the Romans had taken the right of the Jews away to execute the death sentence. The means of death would have been stoning. That was the sentence for blasphemy. Rome had taken the right of the Jews away to execute the death sentence, that would now be handed to the Romans. He’s guilty of blasphemy [in the eyes of this corrupt high priesthood], the Romans would not put Jesus to death for blasphemy, that’s a religious issue. So they’re going to have to trump up some civil charges, and particularly that he’s claiming to be King, and that he’d be a threat to Caesar. And they’re going to say “We have no king but Caesar” ultimately. So they can’t get him put to death by the Romans for blasphemy. So they’ve made their decision, they’re now going to have to twist this around before Pilate to turn it into a civil matter. AD 4, when the decree was made that they could no longer execute the death sentence, the high priest went through the streets of Jerusalem wailing and crying, saying that the Word of God had been broken, because the Great Prophecy by Jacob on his deathbed said “the sceptre shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come”, that authority would not depart from Judah until the Messiah had come. And executing the death sentence was bearing the Sceptre, that was authority. And he went through the streets crying, saying that the Word of God had been broken. Of course little did he know, that in a carpenter shop in Nazareth the Messiah was busy trimming out a window-jam, picking up the splinters from under his fingernails---in fact Shiloh had come [by AD 4].

They abuse and beat Jesus

He’s guilty of death [in their perverted eyes], they’re going to have to twist that around to make it happen. Now, that’s not enough for them. Isn’t it interesting, these are the religious leaders, listen to that, that’s what they’re called. These are the chief priests, the elders, the Council, the religious leaders, they find him guilty of death. Look at verses 67-68, “Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?” They continued to beat him, others smote him with the palms of their hands. Now Luke tells us, in chapter 22, verse 64 that they blindfolded him first. So now they have him sitting there, these are the religious leaders, these are the people you’d expect some kind of civil behavior, some respectable behavior. There’s so much hatred they begin spitting on him, they’re punching him. And he can’t even roll with the punches or flinch and duck, because he’s blindfolded. So he’s brutally being beaten. And it tells us in Isaiah 52:13, beyond human recognition, his beard is ripped out of his face. Some are slapping him with the open hand, saying, they’re mocking, “Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?” And I wonder, you know it will tell us in the Book of Acts that many of the priests came to faith. Man oh man, how’d you like to be one of those priests who had spit on him or punched him in the face, coming to faith, after he’s ascended, thinking ‘Man.’ Now, I’m sure Saul of Tarsus, as Paul, was an encouragement to those priests, because he had blasphemed his name, killed Christians. But they beat him, this is so brutal.

Peter’s three denials of Christ

“Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee” (verse 69). Now he’s watching all of this, he sits where he might see the end. And it’s hard to imagine his emotions, as Christ is being spit on and beaten. “And a damsel came unto him,” in case you don’t know, that’s a young girl “saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.” Now she says “also”, because evidently they know John. John’s family was friends with the high priest, they were admitted to this courtyard between the house of Annas and Caiaphus. “You also”, so she’s acknowledging there was someone else there she recognized “Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest” (verses 69-70). ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Satan loves to get his hand on a boaster, doesn’t he? Was earlier that night Peter said, ‘Lord, you can count on me. The rest of these guys…’ Jesus said ‘You’re all going to deny me, you’re all going to flee this night,’ and Peter said, ‘I understand, you mean 11 of them, all but me, you know, I understand how you feel about these other guys, but you can count on me.’ And we probably would have said the same thing. And I’m sure he said it with all sincerity. ‘Lord, you can count on me. All these other guys might deny you.’ And then it says they all looked at Peter and they all started saying the same thing. And then when Jesus comes and they’re all sleeping, ‘you know, you’re the guy I could count on, you’ll lay down your life with me, and you couldn’t even pray for an hour with me.’ Peter tries to make up for it by hacking off an ear [chuckles]. Now you have overconfidence, prayerlessness, doing things in the flesh, following at a distance, you know, it’s a spiral downward, step by step, it’s interesting to watch. And of course, now he’s denying, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t know the guy, never saw him. Jesus who?’ “And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth” (verse 71). So he tries to get away from the ‘heat’---“another maid”, now first he’s chased by a damsel, now he’s chased by a maid, “saw him and said unto them that were there,---Hey---This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man” (verses 71-72). He swore, ‘I don’t know the man, I swear I don’t know him, I swear, I swear, I swear I don’t know him.’ Satan’s laughing in the background. “And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee” (verse 73). The other Gospels tell us, it’s about an hour (for this “after a while”). And worse than that, John chapter 18, verse 26, tells us the third person that recognizes him is a relative of Malchus! It says he’s a relative of the servant of the high priest whose ear Peter had smote off, saying ‘I know you, surely you’re also one of them! Your speech betrays thee, you’re got a Northern drawl, you’re from Galilee, you’re one of those hicks, you, we can tell by your speech.’ And it says that he recognized...“Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.” ‘He, Peter, began to curse’, we have a different word here now than just the oath he swore, “and to swear, saying, I know not the man.” Now what he says is “If I know him, let me be eternally damned.” He pronounces anathema upon himself, ‘I’ll be damned if I know him.’ But he doesn’t say it in just the slang way we say it, he’s pronouncing an anathema, he says “let me be eternally damned if I know him.” “Err, err, err, err, errrr!” The timing here is impeccable, of course. [chuckles] “And immediately the cock crew.” Somebody says to the rooster ‘You’re on!---your line!’ Now it’s an interesting scene, because there was a jurisdiction in Jerusalem at this time that no chickens were allowed inside the city walls of Jerusalem, because the religious leaders pushed for it, because they weren’t clean. You know, chickens, they just go to the bathroom wherever they want to, they were dirty animals, and they didn’t want them inside the city limits. So this is a really loud rooster whose outside the city somewhere with a microphone ‘err, err, err, err, errrr!’, or this is Rambo Rooster whose snuck in, got in there, got in his position, and the Lord pulled his tail when it was time, and he went ‘err, err, err, errrr!’ Perfect timing. Again, the old German grammarist, Linsky speaks of tradition that after the resurrection of Christ enough people knew about this, when they wanted to tease Peter they would walk by and people would go ‘err, err, err, err, errrr!’ People never change, do they. We start out as little kids with ‘Na, na, na, na naaa!’, which is an international melody. I’ve heard kids in Israel do that, I’ve heard kids in Mexico do that, I’ve heard kids in Yugoslavia when Tito was still in power go ‘na, na, na, na, naaa!’. I think that’s an international tease melody. For some reason everybody learns that. Luke tells us at this point in time something interesting, it says in Matthew 26:75, “And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly.” ‘Before morning you’re going to deny me three times.’ Luke tells us, when the rooster crowed, Peter turned and looked at Jesus, and Jesus though beaten, those eyes, their eyes met, Jesus looked and he saw Peter. Very interesting construct in the language, because in John chapter 1, when Andrew comes to Peter and says “We found the Messiah” and he brings Peter to Jesus, Jesus looks at him and said “Thou art Simon, thou shalt be called Cephas.” And the construct is that Jesus looked down into him. He saw more than what we see on the outside. He looked into Peter, it’s the same phrase there Luke uses. The rooster crowed, Peter turned and looked, the eyes of Jesus were waiting for him, they met, and Jesus looked into him again. ‘Boom, count on you, huh?’ You know it was with complete love. He said ‘I prayed for you that your faith doesn’t fail, when you’re restored, strengthen your brethren.’ He said ‘I’ll go before you into Galilee, and I’ll see you there.’ He will take particular care of Peter. In fact, when the women come back from the tomb on the resurrection morning [technically, he was resurrected late in the previous afternoon, exactly 72 hours after he had been put into the tomb.], they said ‘the angels appeared to us, and they said, ‘He is risen,’ and they said to come back and tell you guys, and they said, ‘Oh yeah Peter, they said to tell you too.’ And Peter must have thought, ‘My name is mud, the angels are looking for me…’ [he laughs] And he met with Peter that resurrection day, alone, we’re told in Luke, and talked with him (Luke 241-7, 33-34). And he must have said that same thing, “Shalom, Peace, Peter, the price is paid.” And Peter would say ‘Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has begotten us again unto an abundant hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.’ No wonder he says it. He says in 2^nd Peter chapter 3, verse 18, “Take heed, lest ye also are moved from your stedfastness.” We need to abide in grace, to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Take heed, lest ye also”, thinking of his own weakness, “you also are moved from your stedfastness”, as he was. Because he was stedfast, he was a good man and he loved Christ. He denied him three times, but he never changed gods, he didn’t go out and become a Harikrishna, or a Buddhist, he failed before his God, but he never changed gods, and he wept before his God. Judas is going to be very different, Judas is going to go out and commit suicide. Peter weeps bitterly in repentance of what he had done, and the Lord will restore him. He goes out and he wept bitterly….[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Matthew 26:55-75, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]