The Trial: A Place of God's Will

Midweek of Lent 5
St. John's Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA
Luke 22:63–23:25

“The Trial: A Place of God’s Will” (Places of the Passion)

Over the past year or so, some high-profile productions have followed at least a few historical trials and criminal investigations: Serial, Making a Murderer, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Judging by the response people have had to those programs – along with all the TV shows from Ironsides and Matlock to Law and Order and all its spinoffs – we love a good trial. There’s drama in the way the opposing sides battle out a case. Sometimes the trial the trial goes as it should and those who have done wrong get what’s coming to them; however, all too often justice isn’t done.

As we’ve explored the places of the Passion in Luke’s Gospel each of the past many weeks, we’ve spent time digging a little deeper into what happened in those hours leading up to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Tonight, let’s look at how and why he went to the cross.

If you’re someone who likes the drama of a trial, Luke won’t disappoint you. In the portion of his Passion narrative that we read tonight, four trials take place, one after the next. You’ve heard how they turned out. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. Look at it this way: those trials weren’t about guilt or innocence. There were instances of predetermined verdicts in search of justification.

Jesus’ guilt had already been decided before his first trial. The temple guards that had arrested him held Jesus in those predawn hours Friday morning. They mocked him as they beat him, because of course he must be guilty. They wouldn’t have been sent to arrest him otherwise, right? Then after dawn, the Sanhedrin gather to put a verdict on Jesus. At least four different divine titles appear in this first trial: “the Christ,” “the Son of Man,” “the Son of God,” “I AM.” Do those titles apply to Jesus? Where’s the evidence? Evidence like prophesying what was to come, or healing the sick, or giving sight to the blind, or raising the dead? What should the verdict be?

The Sanhedrin sent Jesus off to Pontius Pilate, the Roman authority who had the power to deliver the sentence they sought for Jesus: death. In doing so, they try to focus Pilate’s attention on Jesus as a threat to Rome, framing the title of “Christ” politically. Pilate sees the beaten and isolated man before him, though, and questions his purported kingship. Is Jesus a king? Where are his kingdom, his authority? Where are the nations over whom he rules? What should the verdict be?

While Pilate found no fault with Jesus, he still sent him over to Herod upon hearing that he was from Galilee. This third trial is different from the others: Luke doesn’t report the dialogue. It’s the silence that stands out this time. Herod keeps flinging questions at Jesus, looking for some kind of spectacle or show. Receiving no answer to his questions or the additional accusations hurled by the chief priests and scribes, he mocks Jesus even more. Is Jesus the one “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7)? What should the verdict be?

When Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate, both of the primary ruling powers of the day had rendered a decision: Jesus was innocent. And yet, the leaders of the people incited the crowds to demand the release of another, Barabbas. Barabbas, who was under arrest for trying to overthrow the government – the main charge that the Sanhedrin leveled at Jesus! Yet after trying to release Jesus three times, Pilate gives in to the people’s demand. He was, after all, far more interested in stopping a revolt and keeping his superiors in Rome happy than he was in execution of one simple Galilean. Isn’t it better that “that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:50)? What should the verdict be?

Jesus’ trials revealed the truth. He was rejected by the people who should have best known that he was exactly who they said he claimed to be. He was rejected by people who welcomed him into the city with palm branches and shouts of acclamation. He was rejected by the authorities who only held their worldly power by God’s provision. And so it is today.

Jesus is still on trial in the world. Week after week, people make judgments against God. Sometimes, it’s happening in the highest courts of the land as the rights of Christians are called into question. Other times, it goes unnoticed: at the lunch table or in the office. People repeatedly subject Jesus to a trial of consideration and reject him to be their Lord. But while the world around us rejects Jesus as God, our hearts and minds are gladly doing so, too.

Your human will usually knows where it wants to go. You might acknowledge Jesus as God, even as the Savior, but you’d rather not follow him if it means denying yourself. That’s our sin at work in us. That’s you and me wanting to overthrow the authority above all other authorities – all so that we could have our own way. Have you ever done that? What should the verdict be?

That’s why each trial Jesus willingly endured is a place of God’s will. God’s eternal will to save His people is occurring while the very people He desires to save are blind to what God is doing. Yet, in the midst of human blindness, God brings about His eternal will: Jesus’ universal rejection paved the way for universal atonement. Jesus brings about forgiveness for all sin and by His death opens the way for eternal life. The death of Jesus is part of God’s eternal will. God so desires to save all people that He sends His own Son to suffer in their place. This is the will of God: a love stronger than death; a word more powerful than sin; the death of Jesus that brings forgiveness to all people.

God’s will is at work. Even here. Tonight. Every time we gather, Jesus comes and forgives us our sins and then sends us out, forgiven, into the world. He has taken what we deserved so that you and I can hear the verdict: “Not guilty.”

Amen.