So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews[d]arrested
Jesus and bound him. 13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.15
Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest,
16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in.
17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”
18 Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.
This morning I want to do theology. I want to make sure we all understand the meaning of imputation. Some of you are getting ready to settle into a good long nap…but
please, not only is this practical it is why you get to go to heaven.
When I was a boy I worked for my dad. He owned a potato packing plant and I worked on a wheel that required me to stack 100-pound sacks of potatoes for 14 hours a
day. It was not a fun job. To make matters more difficult for a 16 year old, I was one of two people who spoke English, so my dad, who was determined to show me no special favor evidenced by the fact that I too made $3.25 an hour, just like everyone else,
would hire a friend of mine, IF, I could talk a friend into the virtues of working the most miserable job in the world, to work by my side on the wheel. Gary said he would.
The only other English speaker was a man named Dennis who I tortured with practical jokes by the hour. The supervisor finally had enough of my shenanigans and came
over to Gary and me and said to me: If you don’t quit goofing around with Dennis I am going to fire ‘him’, and pointed at Gary. She couldn’t fire me, my dad owned the place, so she threatened to fire Gary. I fell on the ground laughing…Gary didn’t think it
was very funny.
That was my first lesson in imputation. My malfeasance was going to be counted as Gary’s…Gary was going to have to bear the guilt of my misdoings! A good deal for
me, not such a good deal for him. Imputation.
Then the detachment arrested Jesus and bound Him.
They bound God. They took the Creator of heaven and earth, the One through whom all things were made and they tied Him up as if he were some kind of scoundrel. Remember,
they were knocked to the ground when Jesus simply said, I AM and they watched as Peter cut off Malchus’ ear and then as Luke tells us, Jesus calmly put the man’s ear back, good as new…and their response was to tie him up?
So, Jesus is now a prisoner, bound in chains, being taken to what amounts to the prison, assigned to bondage. He who comes from the world of freedom as the King of
all things is now a prisoner.
But what kind of prisoner? He does not resist. It is one thing to submit to ill treatment when you have no power to stop it, it is another thing altogether to submit
to it, when all power and authority in heaven and earth is at your finger-tips. He does not use the Word of His power to cause his enemies to be slain or again to fall down enabling Him to make his escape. Jesus was led away captive and before the High Priest,
not because he could not help Himself but because WE could not help ourselves.
Do you see it? You and I were the prisoners. He becomes the prisoner, the One bound by chains, to suffer the indignities of crimes committed, not his own, but ours.
Here is the ultimate free man, knowing no sin, perfectly living in the will of the father, walking perfectly in the law of freedom with nothing able to lay hold of Him and he willingly becomes bound, becomes the slave and we, we are set free.
And they bound Him.
These are powerful words, worthy of our deepest consideration. Or how about the soldier who struck Jesus and mocked him saying, Prophesy, who was it that hit you?
He struck…God. Can you imagine the sheer terror of that man’s soul and the fear that gripped him when he died and then saw the One He struck all those years ago, high and lifted up, his hair white like wool and his eyes like a flame of fire, His countenance
shining like the sun in its strength…Wouldn’t want to be that guy.
Sometimes commentators refer to a given passage as being thick. What they mean is that there is so much going on in a particular passage that you could preach a number
of sermons on it and never run the risk of being repetitive and that is certainly true with our text this morning. We could focus on Peter and look at his denials and follow closely the way sin works, the way temptations build as though the trap is being laid
by a masterful tactician, which of course it was.
We could make much this morning of our own denials of Jesus, after all, how many
times has the same thing happened to every one of us in this room? How many times have we found ourselves acting in ways that are a complete betrayal of everything we believe as Christians? How many times have we been turned into cowards, caring for nothing
but ourselves and just thinking about it, makes us blush.
There is much to be unpacked in how Peter’s situation and the Lord’s situation are interwoven, back and forth, back and forth, told in a masterful manner so that we
might make the necessary comparisons. We have Jesus taken to Annas as the paragraph begins in v. 12; then we switch to Peter in the courtyard in vv. 15-18…back to the Lord before Annas in vv. 19-24, and then complete the account of Peter’s denials in vv. 25-27.
Instead of telling each story separately, John has made a point of telling them at the same time. As one commentator describes the effect of this technique, “John has constructed a dramatic contrast wherein Jesus stands up to his questioners and denies
nothing, while Peter cowers before his questioners and denies everything.”
Jesus is tempted with real danger, the prospect of real torture and real death but remains steadfast, honest, and pure. Peter is faced with nothing more than the mockery
of servants, people below him in the class structure of that day, and he surrenders everything: his integrity, his honesty, his loyalty to Christ, everything! One man faces his temptations bravely and the other succumbs to cowardice.
Let me say a couple things about Annas as he shows up quite a bit in the gospels. Annas, name, ironically, means Jehovah is gracious. He had been appointed high priest
by Quirinius in about 6AD. Interestingly he was deposed about 15 AD, however, he remained for a long time as the ruling spirit of the Sanhedrin. He was the dominant member of the Jewish hierarchical machine. He had five sons and one son in law, Caiaphas, another
familiar name and a grandson who followed him into the priesthood.
He was in effect the big wig, and although not formally high priest, as long as he was around the general consensus when any decision was to be made would have been,
“Have you run this by Annas?” He was proud and exceedingly ambitious and fabulously wealthy and his family was known for its greediness, with much of his wealth coming, according to history, through the sale of sacrificial animals in the temple. He got rich
abusing the sacraments of God and despising the people of God. Annas had no respect for God or for the law of God, he did as he pleased and although despised by the majority of his own people exercised authority throughout his lifetime.
The Geneva Study Bible does a good job listing the irregularities and violations of Jewish law in regard to the trial that is before us in this text. Jesus was repeatedly
struck from attendants during the trial which was illegal. It was against Jewish law for the Sanhedrin to meet for a capital case on the eve of a Sabbath or feast day. This was not a trial, this was mob rule…this was the fury and confusion of hell itself.
Brothers and sisters, are you seeing this clearly? Here is a man unjustly accused, a farce for a court, a corrupted minister who seeks nothing but his own gain…but
don’t just stop there…do you see that in all of the chaos and hatred, still does the plan of God from all eternity, calmly and perfectly make its way forward. It was to Annas that the lamb of sacrifice would typically be brought, he was the priest after all…so
the perfect lamb for sacrifice would be brought to him…and what do we see but the perfect Lamb of God being brought…and presented to the priest. Here is the one called to be representative of the kingdom of God, who has become corrupted by the world, even
as he stands in the dress of his holy calling. He is not merely a hypocrite, he is an apostate, a snake, an imposter.
The world will question Jesus, Pilate’s turn is coming, but this is not the world, this is the church…this is the religious folk whose addiction to themselves and
this world have led them to a place where they can’t recognize the King of Glory and what it is that they are doing…and they think they are doing the will of God. What is clear, is that there has not been only one man who dared to slap the face of Xp when
he spoke, but it is an occurrence that has gone on from that day forward…when people called by the name of God, scoff the Word of God and pretend to be one thing, saying all the right things and then set themselves above that Word, living to themselves, and
all under the pretense of Xnty.
Every time the church ignores, changes, and despises the Word of God, every time you and I choose our way over Christ’s way, or when we ignore His word and think everything
will be just fine…we are in effect, subjecting Him again to the slap of our hands. How dare we…how dare we mere men, think to question the Word…how dare we in our arrogance stand up against heaven so brazenly.
I said we would get to imputation…more tomorrow.
Prayer: Father, it is breathtaking to see in Scripture how men wrangled and plotted for their own purposes of power and standing without ever knowing that You were
behind all things accomplishing Your holy and perfect will. Help me to see beyond my circumstances to Your kind hand that places my minutes, hours and days into mine that I might trust You, praise You and walk faithfully through the time you have given me,
in Jesus name, Amen.
Hymn: O Father You are Sovereign