Incomparable Matthew 26 Part 1: Contrast, Contrast, Contrast

we're in Matthew chapter 26 Matthew chapter 26 and I want to begin by apologizing to Jerrod where's Pastor Jared at where are you okay so I should tell you by way of introduction that Pastor Jared will I think you've said several times he'll say oh this chapter is just too big I can't preach this chapter it's got sixty verses 50 verses whatever it is I don't know how I can preach this chapter I'm always like just do it you'll be fine you'll be great no problem you can handle it but this last week I had this whole sermon in mind and then I started looking at Matthew chapter 26 and I realized that there are 75 verses in Matthew chapter 26 so I'm going to do the unthinkable Jared and I want to apologize to you because I never let you do what I'm going to do but in your absence I feel like I can just do whatever I want now we're gonna spend two sermons on Matthew chapter 26 two sermons on Matthew chapter 27 and somewhere between one and two sermons on Matthew chapter 28 so even though it looks like our series will be done in three sermons it's actually going to be probably closer to five or six and today we're gonna be in Matthew chapter 26 verses 1 to 35 getting us about halfway through the chapter so a public apology to you Jared I know that if I didn't say that you'd say he never let me do that he never let me break it into two so our sermon today I'm really excited about there's never a sermon that I'm not excited about but this sermon today is titled contrast contrast contrast and we'll be in the first half of Matthew chapter 26 let's pray together father in heaven big day today beautiful day the sun is shining outside and warming the earth and warming the water and may the Sun of righteousness Jesus Christ shine in our hearts and warm our hearts turn those stony hearts into fleshly hearts father today is also a big day because we're losing pastor Jared and Jen is moving on and it's Nathan's birthday and there are many other things that make today a special day father there will never again be a day just like this day so may we appreciate this day for everything that it brings for the gift that is in this day their father as we turn to the text of Scripture may we appreciate Matthew chapter 26 for the gift that has found therein we enter now father into the Passion of Jesus his death betrayal resurrection and ascension father I pray that even as we've been giving our attention to Matthew in the 25 sermons up to this point may we be particularly acutely tuned in for what is taking place in these last three chapters father right here is the crucible of all of Scripture and the crucible of the gospel the crucible of Christianity and so may we hear it may we hear it keenly may we hear it freshly and may we hear it personally father you know that I've done my preparation I've put my time in and so that I pray today that people would put their time in their minds and hearts would be open and attentive and malleable by your spirit we look forward to what you have in store for us today and we pray in the name of Jesus let everyone say Amen open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 26 we have arrived at the seventh and final chapter in our sermon series we've divided the Gospel of Matthew up into seven chapters son preacher healer leader teacher seer and we come now to Matthew chapter 26 27 28 our final chapter Jesus as conqueror Jesus as Conqueror but what we're going to discover we're gonna launch this today that Jesus will be a conqueror in a most unexpected and unanticipated way there is a plot twist in the gospel that could have never been expected never been anticipated we're gonna launch that today with our sermon titled contrast contrast contrast will be in the first half of Matthew chapter 26 we've already noted the chiastic structure of the five discourses of the Gospel of Matthew that is now behind us Matthew chapters 21 22 23 24 25 that final discourse there that's behind us now and Matthew has as it were used those five discourse is to set up the final act in this marvelous drama that is the life of Jesus chapters 26 27 28 which will tell the story of his death burial and resurrection we're gonna spend extra time as I've already mentioned on that and so let's get right into this Matthew chapter 26 verse 1 my Bible says in in the New King James now it came to pass it came to pass I love the way that the Kingdom New Testament says this so this is how it finally happened you get the sense that all the while we've been heading here we knew we were coming here we've noted that after Jesus ident are the identification of Jesus by the disciples in Matthew chapter 16 when he said that who do you think I am and they identified him correctly as the the Christ he then would say to them look I'm going to go and be betrayed I'm going to go and be killed I'm going to go and be crucified the disciples were flabbergasted by this they were gobsmacked by this there's no way that the disciples could have conceived of the idea that Jesus as Messiah would be going to be killed and to be crucified but that's the way that the Gospel of Matthew has been tilting and trending there's a sense of inevitability there's a sense of momentum change we've been heading here and now we're here in chapter 26 begins so this is how it finally happened The Passion of Jesus and it's appropriate and it was planned that we would be arriving at this period in the Gospel of Matthew around the Christmas season I love the way that Bruce Shelley says it in his book church history in plain language I'll never forget I bought this book about 10 years ago and I read that opening line the first sentence in that book and it literally was tattooed into my mind at that point and it has never left this opening line this opening sentence Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central event the humiliation of it's got quite a way to start a book what a great opening line and that's just been tattooed into my thinking who starts a religion who starts a major world religion and has as its major event as the epicenter of its of its teaching in the epicenter of its ethic the humiliation of its omnipotent omniscient all-powerful God who does that well the answer is nobody would do that that's what I meant when I said there's a plot twist here there's an unexpected wrinkle in the story of Jesus Jesus does show up as a conqueror but he's a conqueror unlike any conqueror of the world had ever seen before he's not a conqueror like Caesar he's it totally - he's not a Babylonian Conqueror he's not an Assyrian Conqueror he is a conqueror from heaven he's not the Messiah that was expected but he is the Messiah that was needed don't want to say that again he's not the Messiah that was expected but he is the Messiah that was needed and Shelley says the only major world religion to have as its central event the humiliation of its God and we come here in chapters 26 27 and 28 to that humiliation to that portrait where we're going to see the god of scripture the Creator God the God of the Hebrews humiliated and hung ignominiously on a Roman instrument of cruelty and torture just this week I came across this quotation from GERD Thiessen in his book the Gospels in context social and political history in the synoptic tradition and he says it very simply as a student of ancient history he says there is no analogy to the passion narrative in all of ancient literature there's no-one now there's nothing like this in ancient literature no analogy nothing is analogous to what's taking place here where you take your central figure you take your protagonist you take God in the flesh and he wins by all appearances losing by being hung on a Roman cross and is quite funny I didn't I don't know much about Kurt Thiessen he's a German theologian so I decided I'd do a little research on him google him because he was a reference in a book that I was reading and this picture came up and I thought man anybody with hair like that he can be trusted that's gird decent ladies and gentlemen what a head of hair what thesis and the theologian what Thiessen the historian says is there is no analogy in the ancient literature to this something unique is happening here's something different let me just put let me put a little bit of a few of my cards out on the table right out front you're gonna see this over the course of our next five sermons no one could have and no one would have written this story the story of Jesus is the story that if somebody could have written they wouldn't have and if they would have it's not possible the the story of Jesus the climax of the story of Jesus is uninvent able in fact where I'm at right now my own personal walk with Jesus and my own personal understanding of the faith is that the uninvent ability of Jesus is I think the most profoundly persuasive evidence of the truthfulness of the Christian message no one would have written this story who puts their omnipotent omniscient all-powerful God on a Roman instrument of torture who makes that up that doesn't exist in the heart of man but as we're going to see it is central to the heart of God so this is how it finally happened our sermon today contrast contrast contrast and in the first half of Matthew chapter 26 we're going to see three vignettes three instances of contrast and to my mind this is the way very clearly as I've been reading over Matthew chapter 26 this is the way that Matthew wanted his gospel to be understood I I'm gonna do my best to try and tell you what I think Matthew was doing and what Matthew was saying as he introduced this greatest of all plot twists the death of the Messiah let's read the first five verses together and this is how it finally happened when Jesus had finished all these sayings that long sermon Matthew chapter 23 24 25 he said to his disciples you know you know that after two days is the Passover you're Jews you know what season it is you know you also know that the son of man let's just pause right there that son of man language has lifted straight out of the Book of Daniel this was Jesus favorite term for himself son of man son of man son of man in Matthew chapter 24 Jesus spoke about the return of the Son of Man in glory in Matthew chapter 25 when the Son of man comes he will separate those on his right and those on his left the Son of Man the Son of man in Jewish thinking and Hebrew thinking the Son of Man is the quintessential power figure he's the guy that shows up and thwarts the overtures of the little Horn of Daniel chapter seven and eight the Son of Man is a figure not to be trifled with he is powerful he is mighty he comes with angels and strength and glory and majesty the son of man lifts it straight out of Daniel but what Jesus says next is a square circle it's a wet desert and it's a dry ocean it is oxymoronic it doesn't make any sense you know because you were Jews that after two days is the Passover and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified what it's a square circle a crucified Messiah is an absurdity it's internally incoherent it's illogical and not only is it illogical it's impossible because a Messiah by definition is as a deliverer is a mighty warrior he is not himself delivered he inflicts punishment he inflicts judgment he does not receive punishment and judgment the Son of Man will be delivered to be crucified Jesus has been using this talk ever since Matthew chapter 16 the disciples do not grasp it they lack the theological social psychological capacity to grasp the idea of a messiah who's killed and not just killed Jesus Jesus says not just killed not just a sword run through him in the heat of battle but crucified the height of Roman imperialism and power and cruelty and humiliation the son of man this powerful mighty glorious majestic figure will be crucified totally completely utterly nonsensical and impossible it doesn't even make sense Jesus might as well have been speaking Spanish the language did not register with the disciples it's a certainty it wouldn't have registered with any first century Jew verse three then the chief priests the scribes and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas ki FS is the son-in-law of Anna's he is one of the two high priests that are alive or around in Jesus ministry period they plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill him but they said not during the feast lest there be an uproar among the people the concern of a high priests and of the Sadducees and aristocracy was that things not get out of hand they were concerned about Jesus they had seen that Jesus had won the heart and the attention the affection of many people and Jerusalem is a city of not more than about fifty or sixty thousand at the time and on the the Passover week it could swell to as many as maybe two hundred thousand right so this is a massive influx of people and many of the people that would come into Jerusalem would be rural right rural Jews that have travelled in Jesus ministry has been largely a rural ministry and the the religious leaders were not stupid they could see that he had largely won the attention and affection of the rural people's and they said man we cannot make a scene of this with all these extra people here it will be hard to control it could get out of hand and the primary concern of the sad you see and aristocracy and the high priest was to keep the peace so they said yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah we're gonna deal with that guy but we'll do it at a time that's more politically expedient we don't want to do it during the feast in these opening chapters here at these opening verses here in Matthew chapters 1 to 5 we see this fascinating contrast here's the first of three contrast and I want notice that Matthew sets the stage with this contrast notice first of all Jesus is planning a meal and the religious leaders are planning his death there's planning on both sides but notice the contrast in the planning number two Jesus has just said that he will give his life the Passover is coming the Son of Man will be crucified I will give my life as contrasted with they were plotting the religious leaders how they might take his life number three Jesus tells the truth the Son of Man though it is impossible for your first century mind to Jewish mind to wrap your mind around this he will go and be crucified he will tell the truth unpopular though it be and incomprehensible though it be and they will use trickery to achieve their goal number four they said hey we can't let this happen at the feast because of political expediency Jesus says this will happen at the feast because of theological significance Jesus will be personally faithful to God and they will use political power and machinations to try and achieve their ends and finally number six we are introduced here to Caiaphas the high priest but in fact Jesus is the true high priest and Caiaphas is a little more than an impostor that has been set up by Rome there's no doubt that Matthew is purposefully creating a contrast here there's planning there's planning there's the giving of life there's the taking of life there's personal faithfulness there's political expedience all the way down the line Matthew is saying look pay attention two very different things are happening here this is the way the world works this is the way God works contrast number one and we're gonna look at three such contrasts and let's go now let's actually know what's the take away from the first contrast we're gonna take away one lesson from each of these contrasts and here it is ultimately and that's a key word there that's an operative very important word in the ultimately God's plans will succeed and the plans of wicked men will fail can the church say Amen now notice that the word ultimately occupies a modifying context here a modifying a purpose there are certainly instances many of them hundreds of them sometimes even in my own life where my plans triumph over God's plans can anybody here testify that occasionally God does not get his way in your life but I want to tell you this even though there are instances even though there are there are situations in which it looks as though the evil are prospering it looks as though the wicked men will prevail this is one of the major laments of the Psalms the psalmist again and again says God why do the wicked prosper why - the evil prosper I want to tell you that even though there are instances in situations whether it's despotic dictators or unscrupulous businessmen or even in my own life where I am unfaithful and things great and small ultimately God's plan and God's will will succeed over the wicked devices of mankind can you say Amen ultimately there will be a resolution just today on our Sabbath school class in our in our teen youth Sabbath school class we were talking we were looking at the story of Jonah and in Jonah chapter 2 it says that the wickedness of Nineveh Nineveh came up before the Lord and I asked the young people in the class I said look does that make you uncomfortable or does it make you happy what's your emotional reaction to the idea that wickedness comes up before God I don't know how that makes you feel it it does and the young people pointed this out they did a very good job it does make me slightly concern because if all wickedness is coming up before the Lord that means that mine is coming up but it also gives me a peace and a and a hope and even a kind of tranquility that all the wrongs will ultimately be made right there is so much injustice so much oppression so much taking advantage of happening in the world today whether environmental or business or political or ethical or sexual people are using and manipulating their power over and I take great comfort knowing that when it's all done when the dust is settled God's plans will succeed over and above the wicked plans of men and their oppressive unjust ways Matthew opens by saying there were men and they had a plan and they were plotting and they were strategizing not at the feast but here's Jesus in this quiet secret Passover planning strategizing announcing the plans of man and the plans of God are coming into direct conflict and contrast here and Matthew wants you to see it let's go now to our second point of contrast we'll read beginning in verse six down to verse 16 and when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper a woman came to him having an alabaster flask a very costly fragrant oil and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table but when his disciples saw it they were indignant they were outraged they said why why this waste for this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor but when Jesus was aware of it he said why do you trouble the woman for she has done a good work for me for you have the poor with you always but me you do not always have for in pouring this fragrant oil upon my body she did it for my burial assuredly I say to you wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her seeing one in our second contrast here scene two then in the aftermath of this scandalous event one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said what are you willing to give to me if I deliver him to you notice that word has already come up twice now Jesus says the Son of Man will be delivered judas iscariot now becomes the vehicle or the means by which that deliverance will take place I will deliver him to you and they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver that is to say the price of a slave so from that time he sought opportunity to betray him here's our second scene and it's actually two scenes just as with the first contrast the scene of Jesus quietly planning with us with his disciples and the scene of the high priest and his compatriots in Caiaphas's house planning plotting strategizing contrasts so here's a woman a nameless woman who in an act of supreme love and devotion and adoration embarrasses herself socially and the next scene that we see is a disciple who we know he's a known disciples name is Judas and he's securing his future these alabaster flasks were quite expensive and they were not only expensive that the the the alabaster stones quite soft easy to form into different ornaments and statues and flasks and little things but they have found flasks just like this one that would have been very similar to the one that the woman would have had and what would happen was is they would take whiteman expensive ointment the particular aunt meant here it doesn't say it in Matthew but on the other Gospels it says it was spiked nard which is a very costly expensive essential oil from India and you would you put that in the flask and then you would seal it with some sort of amber or even a wax that would Harden and the idea was is that sometimes it was you couldn't just open the lid it's not like they had screwed technology so in order to get the the stuff out yet to break it but this was worth huge amounts of money in fact in many cases these flasks containing very expensive ointment would be passed on generationally they would be given to the next generation of the next generation like a nice painting or an expensive ornaments or something maybe some jewelry they would be passed on because there was huge value in them and he didn't want to it was only it was a one-off you broke it you used it and an important event or a burial or something so there's a there's a little bit of wastefulness going on here that's the way the disciples Percy but they're like man that's worth a lot of money now let's talk about the contrasts that are taking place here first of all we have a nameless woman Matthew does not name her versus a disciple whose name we know and we know well a trusted disciple Judas right now here's one of the tricks one of the problems in reading this story and almost any biblical story I was saying this to the young people in Sabbath school this morning is that you have to forget that you know how the story ends you have to unknown have to forget at least momentarily that you know that Judas is the betrayer you have to enter into the experience of the disciples who are seated around that table and who cannot imagine that one of them would become a betrayer and they couldn't have imagined that it would be Judas none of them could imagine themselves as the betrayer we're gonna see that incredulity in just a moment but you have to enter into this story and just clear your mind from the knowledge of what's going to happen this is a disciple that we know this is a cycle that we trust Judas Judas so there's a contrast between a nameless woman and a named trusted known disciple number two the woman is the only one in the story who gets it and it's it's hard to avoid the sense that Matthew is painting women in an extremely favorable light at the end of his gospel this woman gets it none of the men get it when the men are fleeing Mary will remain by the body of Jesus when the men don't believe the women will discover the body when the men are hiding for fear the women are announcing I mean it's really hard to avoid the idea that Matthew is purposefully telling a story in which feminine spirituality should be celebrated and I love this because this was a man's world so much more than our world today you know we have something that loosely looks like equality and it's basically equality except in the economic realm and maybe the governmental wrong but it's something that approximates equality not in Jesus day in Jesus day a woman was the equivalent of a second-class citizen in many regards and we've already talked about one of the criterion for historical veracity is the the the criteria of embarrassment if something's recorded it's like man I wouldn't have made that up and here at the end of Matthew's Gospel it just sounds like the truth it just has the ring of truthfulness and veracity why would a woman be the only one that gets it all the disciples are clueless but a woman gets it and not just any woman but a woman and the other gospel accounts of ill-repute a woman who not in the matthew account but and the other accounts lets her hair down that was a very sensual act in the Near East to let your hair down and then begins to to anoint and wash I mean there is a you're like me you wouldn't make that up this is this is socially not it's there's an impropriety here there's a scandal here there's a sensuality here but Jesus receives it he doesn't receive it as a sensual act he receives it as an act of devotion she's not giving it as a sensual act but it was perceived that way there is something really beautiful about the quiet faithful devoted obedience of a woman of God men are often in the limelight such as the case this morning the men are the presenters and the men are the preachers and the men are the up-front and the men are the governors and the men but I tell you there's something happening in Scripture there's this there's this swirl of authenticity in in in in affirming women at the end of Matthew's Gospel it's inescapable and I just want to say to the women out there today you need to be comfortable in your own feminine skin in your spirituality in your connection with Jesus it doesn't have to look like my connection with Jesus it doesn't have to look like your husband's or your brother's connection with Jesus or your father's connection with Jesus God made both men and women in His image can the church say Amen and there's something really beautiful about the humble quiet service-oriented feminine aspect and I love the fact that Matthew highlights it you know the men go out and do their bike riding and the men go out and do their fishing trips and the men go out but often the women are home with the children home dutifully quietly dispatch are passionately doing the thing that needs to be done while the men often do what they want to do and you know I'm telling the truth this woman is doing what needs to be done while everybody else in the house is having a party conversing and talking and socialising and doing the things that that you know the stuff that wants to be done but there's something that needs to be done and what needs to be done in Matthew 26 is done by a woman and not only is it done by a woman she is then held in contempt for doing it by expressing her devotion in her own feminine way she's held in contempt notice this she's anointing for death Judas is betraying to death she is publicly rebuked what wastefulness as the aroma and the fragrance of her act of devotion began to creep out she people were looking at her devotion her devoted act and they were holding her in contempt everybody in the room held her in a kind of contempt except for Jesus and it's not difficult to imagine here on number three that Judas would have been privately affirmed by the religious leaders when he came around and said hey look what what I'll deliver him into your hand what do I get they said okay they negotiate thirty pieces of silver and it's not difficult to imagine that a very masculine firm fraternal handshake would have been extended at Judas and said Judas you're doing the right thing good on you mate you're doing the right thing there would have been a kind of fraternal acceptance Judas this thing's getting out of hand you and I know he's not a messiah figure and and Judas is conflicted because he thinks that he doesn't quite know what to think but we it's not difficult to imagine that there would have been the Fraternal acceptance and the affirmation of his decision to do the right thing the woman grasps the situation nobody else in the room does this is maybe my favorite point of contrast if as the historians tell us these alabaster flasks full of costly pointment could be passed on generationally because they were so valuable they were a kind of economic security in the same way that an expensive painting or a piece of jewelry might be passed on generationally don't let that go don't let that go no that's a family heirloom this woman takes something that might have been handed to her from a grandmother or a great-grandmother and she takes it and she knows that this could be sold for a cotton she knows is not actually stupid she doesn't not that she doesn't know that it's worth a lot of money but I love this she takes no thought for her financial future when G when something needs to be done for Jesus she takes no thought for her financial future beloved that is probably not true of most of us when something needs to be done for the kingdom do we take no thought for our financial future now I am certain that we return a tithe an offering I'm certain of that I myself returned tithe an offering and I expect the same of you I'm certain that you give offering and that you return tithe me too but it could not be said of me with accuracy that when David found out about that situation when David heard about that need he made an offering that was so big so magnanimous that you could say justifiably he was taking no thought for his financial future he was all-in for the kingdom I'm in for the kingdom but I'm not all-in financially my suspicion is you probably are similar to that you're in you're in this woman was all-in as contrasted with Judas who has spent two years with Jesus and he's increasingly frustrated two to three years he's increasingly frustrated with Jesus and he's thinking to himself man this Messiah ship is sinking he can read the handwriting on the wall this guy is gonna end up on a Roman cross I know where this is going another doomed Messiah another failed Messiah I need to secure my future so he's gonna try and he's gonna try and and and and retain as much of his investment as he can and Matthew makes the point look someone is lavishly almost wastefully in an act of devotion throwing their worship on Jesus someone else is trying to salvage any residual investment they can get out of the last two to three years hey how about thirty pieces of silver maybe it started something like this I need a hundred pieces now I know hundreds too much we'll give you 20 no no no I need eighty no will go 25 no I need at least 70 will go 30 that's our final offer he was hoping to get a hundred he was hoping to secure his financial future okay thirty number three wasteful our number six wasteful love and Judas calculated departure another point of contrast what's the lesson that we take from this second instance of contrast in the opening verses of Matthew chapter 26 ultimately friends there's that same qualifier ultimately heartfelt devotion and worship will triumph over false and shallow religion can the church say Amen the indignation at the the expense that was lavished upon Jesus was a farce it was a it was a joke oh this might have been given to the poor by the way that's what Jesus means when he says are you kidding the poor have been here all along you suddenly have an interest in the poor right now the poor have been here for a long time they're gonna be here for a long time and you suddenly have this great big interest in the poor he was calling out their hypocrisy friends I want to tell you this the show of religion when others are looking oh that might have been given to the poor and Jesus sees your checking account and Jesus sees your savings account he's like well what about the money that's in there now I haven't given any of that to the poor why do you worry about what their lavishing up Jesus friends at the end of the day Hiep hypocritical shallow religiosity will not prevail but what will prevail are those that in true devotion and in true worship give themselves wastefully and unreservedly to jesus and his kingdom jesus is not fooled by our caricatures of religion he is not fooled by the overtures by our by our pious words that are said in public situations to endear us to the hearts of those around us Jesus is not fooled by hypocrisy Jesus is not interested in our words so much as he's interested in the authenticity and the sincerity of our actions wasteful and contempt the contemptuous though they be in the eyes of onlookers a little bit religious aren't you I went again this last week did something I said I wasn't gonna do I went and saw hacksaw rich a second time I thought man once is enough it was a great movie but I don't need to see all that again there was a beautiful non-adventist family that wanted to go see it and I said yep I'll go let's go see it went saw it a second time in fact I'm actually really glad that I did because the sermon for next week is built off of an insight that I got while watching hacks are rich yesterday two days ago next week's sermon is titled swords and Lords swords and the Lord's and it was a tremendous insight that God gave me while watching that but I tell you Desmond - look like a damned fool his religion was a little too extreme a little too wasteful a little too legalistic a little too ridiculous the woman looked ridiculous - and I want to say that if people don't think you're a little ridiculous it's entirely possible that your religion is not sufficiently fragrant - God if people don't see us as a little weird as a little backward as a little excessive as a little extreme as a little strange if we could have looked just like everybody else let me get along just kind of like everybody else it's entirely possible that our religion is just enough to keep us religious in our community but it's not a sweet fragrance to the heart of God ultimately heartfelt devotion and worship will triumph over follow and over false and shallow religion now let's read next let's read what happens next verse 17 we find ourselves in the Passover meal now on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus and they said to him what do you want us where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover and he said go into the city to a certain man and say to him the teacher says my time is at hand which is fascinating because Jesus has said repeatedly my time has not yet come my time has not yet come my time has not yet come the disciples should have sensed that something my time is now here my time is at hand I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples we don't know who this person is but Jesus had made a previous and prior arrangement and he says go to that place here's his address you can google it get there get the gift get the meal ready so the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover when evening had come he sat down with the twelve this is a private meal now as they were eating he said assuredly I say to you one of you will betray me this is hardly like good social conversational fodder right this is not like light talk hey how's the weather how are those new sandals you got Peter comfortable no assuredly I'm telling you the truth one of you there's only 12 there one of you will betray me and I love this verse 22 they were exceedingly sorrowful that's a key phrase that phrase exceedingly sorrowful is going to come back to us next week when Jesus goes into Gethsemane and he says to his disciples I am exceedingly sorrowful we're gonna come back to that phrase next week they were exceedingly sorrowful and each one of them began to say to him Lord Lord is it I I love this yes they're clueless and yes they don't appreciate the the wasteful love of the woman at that Simons feast but at least there's enough self-distrust that they genuinely wonder if is it me me me is it me he answered and said he who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me no doubt this was the dish of bitter herbs that was eaten at the Passover meal there's no mention of the lamb eaten here it's very likely that the Passover lamb would be slain a day or two later and that Jesus is holding a Passover in advance he's holding a Passover early because he knows that the true Passover lamb will be slain there's no mention of the eating of the lamb here or the killing even of the lamb but he says he that dips is his hand with me and very likely that would have been a cup there or a dish there with bitter herbs and oil and he he would have taken his bread and he would have scraped it into those bitter herbs verse 24 I'm getting a timer here it's telling me I need to stop preaching but I'm not done yet clunk now I just ignored it I'm in control of my phone it's not in control of me I hope you can all say that same thing is it me and it sure he said it sure he said and he answered and said of them he who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me the son of man indeed goes just at his written of him but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed it would be good for that man if he had not been born then Judas who was betraying him answered and said and this is key and Matthew gives you this little hint he just drops this little linguistic hint in there notice the hint rabbi is it me notice the difference did you did you see it did you catch it when the other disciples respond in incredulity self-distrust full inquiry Lord is it me Lord master master is it me and then Jesus says there was obviously one there that was not inquiring because Jesus says it's he that dips his hand with me in the dish and perhaps at just that moment Judas had had his hand in the dish or perhaps not maybe it had been just a general reference to the meal at in general but he says rabbi not Lord not master just teacher you already get the sense that Judas affections are withdrawing from Jesus and Matthew makes the linguistic point everybody else is calling Jesus Lord confused and mistaken though they be about the nature of Jesus mission he's still their Lord for rap for Judas he has done the deed already he's made the arrangement and he can no longer conscientiously call Jesus Lord and Jesus knows it and Judas knows it and here's this little betrayal of intent teacher is it me and this is another phrase that's gonna come back to us two more times in the passion narrative it is as you say you said it you said it Jesus is gonna stand before the high priest and he's gonna say to the high priest or get this we'll get there next week you said it and in a couple weeks Jesus is gonna stand before Pilate when we get there and he's gonna say to Pilate you said it we'll pick that up later and as they were eating Jesus took bread and He blessed and he broke it and he gave it to the disciples and he said take eat this is my body then he took the cup and he gave thanks and he gave it to the min he said drink from it all of you this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins but I say to you you will not drink of this I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day I drink it new with you in my father's Kingdom and when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives then jesus said to them all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night for it is written I will strike the Shepherd and the Sheep of the flock will be scattered but after I have been raised I will go with you before I will go before you to Galilee Peter answered and said to him huh huh huh even if all Armada stole because of you I will never be made to stumble jesus said to him as surely I say to you this night before the dawn comes before the Roosters start crowing you will deny me three times and Peter said to him even if I have to die with you I will not deny you and so said all the disciples several things here let's talk about the Passover meal and what's taking place here first of all Passover was to go back here Passover was the great Jewish festival of freedom and deliverance Passover hearkened back to the very dawn of the Israelite nation when the Angel of Death passed over and the tenth plague fell horrific Allah on Egypt and they went out and went through the Red Sea to the Mount Sinai and ultimately on their way to the promised land so so Passover is this great Jewish feasts that have been celebrated for more than a thousand years a feast of freedom and a feast of deliverance and Jesus does something really fascinating here he takes the Passover Feast and he repurposes it he takes this feasts that had been invested with with more than a millennium of theological and social and cultural investment and he takes all of that yes freedom yes deliverance yes all of that but then he adds some wrinkles that are really fascinating look at what empty right says Jesus was drawing into one event a millennium and more of Jewish celebrations the Jews had believed for some while that the original Exodus pointed on to a new Exodus in which God would do at last that which he long had long promised he would forgive the sins of Israel and of the world once and for all sin a far greater slave master than Egypt had ever been would be defeated in the way God defeated not only Egypt but also the Red Sea and now Jesus sitting there at a secret meal in Jerusalem was saying by what he was doing as much as by the words that he was speaking this is the moment this is the time and it's all because of what's going to happen to me he wraps that thousand plus years of Jewish significance into this Passover and then he repurposes the bread and the wine and the bitter herbs notice Craig keener here the disciples could not guess that their teachers death was a part of God's sovereign plan remember you have to read the story as if you don't know the outcome sit there with the disciples and find yourself troubled and confused by his words pretend like you don't know how the story plays out they could not have imagined that the good news would have something to do with this Jesus their beloved friend and teacher and rabbi and Lord hanging on a Roman cross Jesus repurposes the bread and the grape juice and the bitter herbs they now point to his death back to keener he says here that Jesus interprets the food elements in a strikingly new way for centuries the Jews had eaten the bitter herbs and the the unleavened bread and they had partaken to the juice but but Jesus here he reorients them he takes the bread and he breaks it and he says this bread is my body they would have been like what and this juice is my blood slowly but surely you would hope that that some sense of Cataclysm and doom is beginning to seep into the disciples consciousness but again their first century sensitivities and their first century prejudices prevented them from even embracing the idea that a messiah could be killed but Jesus is giving them in advance he's announcing to them what is coming and what will be by instituting the Passover service Jesus says deliverance is coming in that which separates God and his people will be split there's a fascinating little element in this and I'll just mention it now maybe tease it out a little bit later after the first Passover the Red Sea separated the promised land and God's promise says from his people and so it was split God split the thing that separated him from his people in Matthew chapter 27 when Jesus cries out Iloilo I lama sabachthani the veil of the temple will split and the veil was the thing that separated the people from God because all the people had to be outside of the temple they had to be outside only the priest could come into the holy place and then only the high priest could come into the most holy place and so even though it was a point of access it was also a point of exclusivity and it was forbidden you could just go waltzing into the most holy place but when that splits when the veil between the holy and the most holy place splits in the temple God was saying that thing that separates us is split and in a really deep theology that Matthews certainly understood but the disciples don't have a clue about the New Testament teaches that the veil is the very flesh of Jesus and Jesus following his crucifixion when the Roman rule run the Roman centurions were just probing to see if in fact he was dead they they split his side the flesh the veil Jesus manhood is now that Jesus death and his incarnation in his manhood now splits and the thing that formerly had separated God and man is now gone the veil is split Jesus flesh is split the red sea is split geez this is all Passover language and Jesus is repurposing Passover so here's our final point of contrast and there's actually about 20 of these but I'm only gonna give you the first five today will give you the next 10 to 15 next week here's the first five first of all the point that we made about exceedingly sorrowful the disciples are exceedingly sorrowful is that a high Lord is it I Jesus will soon be in Gethsemane exceedingly sorrowful we'll pick that up next week Jesus is certain about betrayal one of you will betray me I tell you the truth there is uncertainty among the disciples number three Jesus submission but Peters pride Jesus submission to the will of the Father Peters pride this will never happen to you number four Jesus reliance on scripture I've read in the scriptures in Zechariah when the Shepherd is struck thus the flock will be scattered Peters reliance on self and the other sciples reliance on self not we're not gonna let that happen Jesus is confident of his resurrection he says when I rise I will go before you into Galilee but the disciples don't even grasp the resurrection of course they don't they don't grasp the death either here's our third and final ultimately third takeaway from the third contrast ultimately Jesus death and resurrection will win over prideful hearts and minds can the church say Amen God does not drive with force he draws with attraction he draws not drives and we're gonna pick this up in fact we're gonna see this in 27 we're gonna see it in 28 this is gonna be the big theme in fact this is the central theme I think of all of Scripture that God is not driving us to an end he is drawing us to himself we'll see that in greater detail as we move forward again NT Rida last few last slides here and I'll let you go I love this point that NT Wright makes the theories about why Jesus died so-called theories of the atonement they're like maps and old photographs of a mountain taken from a distance a theory of atonement a theology of atonement they may be accurate these theologies and theories in their own way and they're helpful particularly when it's cloudy and you can't see too much for the moment you can't see the mountain summit but they're not the same thing as climbing to the top yourself all this is a great point I hope you won't miss it theories of the atonement and theology around the cross is one thing it's what religious people do we look at Scripture and we come up with ideas about it there's two kinds of words God's words and man's about words excuse me God's words and man's words about God's words these are not inspired these are but here's the key these are not just to be appreciated and affirmed theologically in fact I think I've got that up here Jesus death and resurrection are not to be merely appreciated and affirmed theologically that's not what's going on here the illustration that NT Wright uses is yeah it's one thing to look at map it's one thing to look at a photograph to appreciate a mountain from a distance he says it's an entirely different thing to climb the mountain yourself there is a perspective in climbing the mountain yourself that a photograph could never give that a map could never give that a topography could never give and friends don't want to tell you when you experience the life death and resurrection of Jesus by the spirit in your own life it's a very different thing than having a theological opinion about the death of Jesus it's night and day it's the difference looking at a picture of a mount looking at a painting of a mountain looking at a map of a mountain and standing on top of the mountain one is a theology of observation the other is a personal experience of being with Jesus they are meant to be the death and resurrection of Jesus are meant to be and must be experienced personally and by the way no one develops this theology more fully than the Apostle Paul look at this this is Matthew in Matthew chapter 26 verse 35 Peter gets the story wrong here he'll later get it right but he gets it wrong here this is how this is how our last verse ends today Peter said to him even if I have to die with you I will not deny you and all those iple said the same thing don't miss this this is so awesome this is where the big contrast comes in here unsurprisingly Peter had the story all wrong Peter announces with confidence Peter announces with certainty Peter announces and says I will die with and for you he had the story all wrong the good news is not me dying for Jesus it's Jesus dying for me the good news is not your sacrifice impressive though it may be to you even the only person the only person in the story other than Jesus who actually makes a substantive wasteful sacrifice is the woman who breaks the alabaster flask but even that is only a response to what she knows is the real sacrifice that's the sacrifices that geez that's the sacrifice that Jesus is making your sacrifice is nothing in fact you make no sacrifice it's not even possible for you to sacrifice for God because everything you give is returned to you in earnest I mean think about that philosophically you cannot make a sacrifice to God joel marshall is up here he said he gave seven years in the mission field seven years in the overseas mission field was that a sacrifice Cho probably the best time of your life you've got a wife there you have a beautiful son you cannot make a sacrifice for God oh you could take all your retirement money your hundred and fifty thousand dollars you've got all stored up you're gonna buy whatever and you could just you could just give it I'm not advising you to do this I'm not a financial adviser but if you want to do it you do it if you if you pour that money into the church you say oh I made a big sacrifice you didn't make a sacrifice you made an investment you say I I mean these stories drive me crazy I used to tell them myself people get up and they said well you know I could have been an actor but I gave it all up for Jesus oh I could have been a rock musician but I gave it all up for Jesus yeah I could have had an amazing life I could have been awesome but I gave it all up for Jesus oh really is that the story that's the good news the good news is how much you gave up for Jesus how lucky he is to have your amazing sacrifice friends Peter got the story wrong I will die with and for you and you and I sometimes get the story wrong I want to tell you today the story is not your sacrifice the story is Jesus sacrifice and anything that you might be doing in response to that is not an Akron it's an investment it's an investment in the kingdom the good news is not our dying for Jesus it's Jesus dying for us Paul developed this theology profoundly and he says that he captures this in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 this is the verse that many of us know well I have been crucified with the Messiah yes yes I died with the Messiah but not in the sense that Peter was saying this is where Paul is saying I died experientially with Jesus Jesus is the one that died the good news is not my martyrdom the good news not my death the good news is not how faithful you are the good news is how faithful Jesus was I have been crucified with Messiah Paul says I am however alive by some miracle of grace I remain alive but it isn't me any longer it's the Messiah who lives in me and the life that I do still live in the flesh miraculous though it be I live within the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me anything you have ever done for God you have done as a response to his faithfulness the little story in Scripture is your faithfulness your love your worship your devotion and the big story in scripture is God's faithfulness to humanity and God's faithfulness to you the gospel is not about our faithfulness it's about Jesus faithfulness unto death that's the story that's the Christmas story our devotion our worship our obedience our but a response to his amazing faithfulness to us I want to disabuse your mind of the notion that you are making sacrifices for God you cannot make a sacrifice for God only an investment contrast contrast contrast we see the plotting of the evil men and the planning of Jesus in the Passover we see the woman lavishly wastefully wantonly throwing her affection on Jesus and our worship on Jesus with Judas carefully plotting his departure securing his financial future we see Peters prideful arrogance that he will die for and with Jesus and we see Jesus humble submission to the will of the Father contrast contrast contrast this is what we've learned today ultimately God's plans will succeed in the plans of the wicked men will fail can somebody say Amen number one number two ultimately heartfelt devotion and worship will triumph over false and shallow religion can the church say Amen friends I just want to urge you to be a little weird for Jesus not for the sake of being weird but allow your devotion to spill over and if somebody doesn't think you're a little weird a little wacky a little strange you're doing it wrong finally number three Jesus death ultimately Jesus death and resurrection will win over prideful hearts and minds in my invitation to you today is to let him win your heart you can let him win it today right now this week is I've been cycling it's what I do for my exercise as many of you know I've been cycling and I'm listening to a book called the emotionally healthy leader great book man I'm loving it and I listen to about two hours a two and a half hours of it writing listen to about two hours of it it was so good then I said man we'll listen to that again so I listened to it again really listened to it and and there's this great story in there the the author's name I think it's like Peters Carazo or something like that it's Italian last night and he tells the story how he was basically an agnostic Catholic living in New York City and a friend of his from university invited him to come to a little Pentecostal Church for like a praise service so he went is like a 21 year old agnostic Catholic studying at New York University or something and he goes to this little like small Pentecostal church and at the end of the service this little prays service in this Pentecostal church a guy gets up front makes an appeal and says anybody that wants to give their heart to Jesus that wants to have their sins forgiven why don't you come forward right now and and in in this book Pete's Grasso says he couldn't he couldn't have told you the difference between the Old Testament the New Testament he didn't know anything about Scripture he didn't but he just knew that something in this simple message of Jesus something in this idea that somebody died for me somebody did something for me and I can be free from my sin that Passover message that liberation message that forgiveness message Pete said he found himself almost involuntarily getting out of his seat and coming forward to this little Pentecostal church and it changed the whole course of the rest of his life changed everything friends I want to tell you the message of the gospel does not have to be saturated with a theological sophistication it's really just this simple God loves you Jesus came and did for you what you could have never done for yourself and your job is to believe in God's faithfulness in Jesus it's not a celebration of your faithfulness it's not a celebration of your sanctification it's not a celebration of your holiness it's not a celebration of your religion it's a celebration of who God is in Christ he is faithful he is awesome and he deserves your attention and not just your attention but your affection your adoration and your worship I wonder if there's anybody here today that wants to lavish their attention and their affection and their worship and their life on Jesus Father in heaven contrast contrast contrast the ways of men and the ways of God father today I pray that we'll get the story right and not just today but I pray that for some myself included that this might be a watershed moment a watershed sermon a watershed concept but the gospel is a grand celebration of your faithfulness in Jesus and father we receive that we believe that we accept that today father we want to thank you for the gospel we want to thank you for Scripture and for the book of Matthew and father I want to pray for those of us that have been tempted in our timidity and in our social propriety and carefulness to be a little radical to be willing to be a little weird here we have a Hollywood movie that is celebrating the weirdness of a faithful seventh-day Adventist Christian father may we embrace that may we be willing to be a little strange a little excessive a little wasteful in the way that we live our lives and in the way that we lavish our love and affection on you and father we know that at the end of the day that's not even the big story our love for you the big stories your love for us help us father today and for the rest of our lives to live in the light of your amazing and attracting love this is our prayer in Jesus name let everyone say amen god bless you all have a great Sabbath hey greetings from beautiful and sunny kingscliff Australia want to take just a moment of your time first of all to thank you for tuning in watching the program I trust it was a blessing to you and your soul drawing you closer to God in His will for your life I also want to let you know that we are planning a significant expansion of our existing media ministry here at the kingscliff Church to find out more about this expansion and how you can get involved go to bring it kingscliff comm you can go either to the home page or to the our gifts page to find out how you can come alongside us and support not just with your viewership but also financially and with your prayers hey thanks again so much for watching and take care [Music]

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Length: 65min 54sec (3954 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 18 2016