God on Trial: Misconceptions

Text: Luke 23:1-12

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  Luke 23:1-12
  

Luke 23:1-12

Jonah Albrecht

Midweek Lent 3

February 28^th, 2024

God on Trial: Misconceptions

Luke 23:1-12

Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. ² And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” ³ And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” ⁴ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” ⁵ But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.” ⁶ When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. ⁷ And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. ⁸ When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. ⁹ So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. ¹⁰ The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. ¹¹ And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. ¹² And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other.

In the Name of Christ, who is our way, our truth, and out light, dear fellow redeemed:

It has been said, “You hear something enough, you are prone to start believing it.” This is the truth behind many misconceptions throughout history. Being able see the Great Wall of China from space is one such misconception. No Apollo astronauts have testified to seeing it. Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world. While, it might be the highest point in the sky, Mount Mauna Kea is taller when measured from base to the peak. Napoleon Bonaparte was short. He was actually 5’7” tall, which was slightly above average for a French man at the time.

Most of these misconceptions are harmless. Whether you believe them or not has no real effect on your life. This is not the case with Scripture. The Bible might just be the one thing that people glean the most misunderstandings from. These are not harmless misunderstandings, but can be the difference between life and death. Misconceptions in the Bible are not due to the Bible itself, but because when mankind inserts his opinion and his logic ahead of Scripture, misconceptions are bound to happen. The more reason takes over, the more dangerous the error.

Jesus faced many misconceptions. Most people did not understand who He was or what He was there to do. Some were His very own disciples. Even after He rose from the dead, His disciples asked Him, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” They still thought Him to be the one to restore the physical kingdom of Israel when He had liberated spiritual Israel from sin and death.

Not one person at Jesus’ trial before Pilate and Herod understood Him. The Sanhedrin, the leadership of the Jews, saw Jesus as a threat and one to be eliminated instead of the One who came to set them free from their sin and instruct them how to rightly worship God and be His people. Pilate saw Jesus as this normal looking man whom the Jewish leaders propagated as a supposed king and threat to Caesar.  Herod saw Jesus as a second John the Baptist. One who intrigued Him and could do miracles, but never understood why those miracles were being done. The only one at the trial who had no misconceptions was Jesus. He knew why He was there, what was going to happen, and how to continue to honor God in the face of His trials.

The accusations of the Sanhedrin come in the form of two lies and a half-truth. They claimed that Jesus had spent His ministry misleading the people. In a sense, they were right. Jesus was leading the people away, but not from the truth of Scripture. Rather, from the destructive false teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees. Not once did Jesus lead the people into falsehood, nor were the Pharisees ever able to catch Jesus in a “gotcha” moment. He continually testified to the truth as revealed in the Old Testament about who He was. Instead of recognizing Him, the leaders of the Jews chose to ignore the truth of His words and present Him as this threat to Rome.

Their second lie is that Jesus was forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar. Jesus had been asked this question about paying taxes to Caesar. His response shut down His enemies in their tracks: “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” Jesus honored the government without making it take priority over God. And yet they spout a complete lie in order to get Pilate to misunderstand Jesus.

Their third accusation is actually true, but not in the way the Sanhedrin understood it, nor in the way they hoped Pilate would understand it. he himself is Christ, a king. We know by faith that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the King of kings. He is God made flesh who is over all and above all. We know by faith that Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, but His ruling is in our hearts through the Gospel. The Jews did not understand this about Jesus, but behind this truth was their lie. The goal: to get Jesus executed, by any means necessary.

Despite their best efforts, Pilate finds Jesus to be innocent. The lies do not stick. The half-truth does not stick. Even before Herod, not one misconception stuck to Him. Herod has an interesting reaction to Jesus. While he appears to be happy to have Jesus, it is for the entirely wrong reason. He had heard so much about Jesus’ miracles. He wanted to see for himself this new prophet that might be greater than John, whom he had beheaded. When Jesus didn’t perform any miraculous acts, he was disappointed and sent Jesus back to Pilate.

Herod’s misconception is most like we tend to be. Herod had an idea of what he wanted Jesus to be, but when it turned out that Jesus did not fit that mold, Herod had no use for Him. That is the temptation for us, isn’t it? Do we not often want God on our own terms? God, I will turn from gambling, getting drunk, and swearing if You get me this promotion at work. Whatever it might be, God becomes someone we think we can barter with and use our behavior as a bargaining chip. If God does not answer our prayer in the way we want, or He seems to be ignoring what we have to say, well, then we “send Him away” disappointed because that is not the “god” we wanted.

Misconceptions about God are very much alive and well among Christians. God is actually accepting of my behavior; or He doesn’t care what I do as long as I repent of my sins at some point. These misconceptions are dangerous to have because by them, we are attempting to change God. God is very clear about who He is. He is the I AM, the Beginning and the End, the LORD and there is no other God. He is the one who does not change, nor does His Law change. His eternal decree is this: Be perfect as I the LORD your God am perfect; and the soul that sins shall die. It is foolish for us to try and barter with God, or to try and change Him by what we think it right. That is a very quick way to lose the gift of salvation Jesus died to win for us.

There is one person in this account who did not have any misconceptions: Jesus. He was faced with falsehood after falsehood, and it would have been easy for Him to set the record straight, prove His innocence beyond a doubt, and make Pilate release Him. But He didn’t do any of that. Why? Because He knew exactly why this was happening.

He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. ⁴ Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵ But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.  He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. ⁸ By oppression and judgment He was taken away; Isaiah 53:1-5,7-8a

All this was foretold in the Old Testament. It was part of His suffering, His humiliation, and it was necessary for Him to continue His journey to the cross. He endured these misconceptions, not because He didn’t know the truth or was too scared to fight for Himself. He endured these misconceptions because He was to be numbered among the transgressors. He was to be wrongly sentenced to death. In God’s eyes, the Jesus hanging on the cross was the worst sinner the world had ever seen. Every single person, past, present, and future had their sins placed on His shoulders, on His name. Jesus, the innocent Son of God was charged with your sins and mine, punished by God, and died to pay for their price. Every misconception we have about God, or thing we wish to wrongly change about God, paid by His blood.

To the world, this seems like a mistake, a foolish thing to have happened. But to you, me, and all believers, it is the source of our salvation. It is the very reason we are here tonight and have a hope to endure this life and eagerly wait for the next. In Pilate’s court, God was placed on trial. He faced enough misconceptions to drive anyone to the point of frustration and anger. Rather than giving into their misconceptions, our Savior showed the world exactly who He is. He made it clear that He was not an earthly king, but the King of kings and Savior of the world. Jesus left no doubt so that believers 2000 years later could read Luke’s account and be certain about what kind of Savior we have.

The list of misconceptions in the world today are many. Unfortunately, many have fallen victim to misconceptions concerning God and our Savior. Praise the LORD you have the message of the truth to show: God is love. Jesus left His throne above to die in the place of the sins of the whole world. To show: God is power. By His perfect life and death on the cross, the grave had no power over Him and He rose from the dead. Our God has power even over death. While the world will continue to put God on trial through misconceptions, we ask that the Holy Spirit grant each of us the courage to be beacons for the truth so that others may receive a clear understanding of their Lord and Savior and the salvation that is found through Him. In Jesus Name, Amen.