Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 5

28 Mar 2023

Text: Mark 14:53-72

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

There is more to this passage from the trial of Jesus and the denial by Peter than meets the eye.  For this is a battle in the cosmic war for the fate of the universe.

When Satan was cast out from heaven, he took vengeance on mankind.  He lied to them to kill them.  God told the truth to them in order to save them.  This has been the pattern ever since.  God gave us the Ten Commandments, including: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”  For that one commandment, broken by the diabolical lie, will be the devil’s undoing.  We see it happening here at the trial of Jesus.

Our Lord is brought to the high priest to be judged.  This is itself a diabolical lie.  For the high priest is a phony.  So is Herod, the so-called king of the Jews, who will also put Jesus on trial.  Jesus is the rightful High Priest and King.  The elders and the scribes are also liars, as are the members of the council assembled together, along with the leaders of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  They are all false children of Israel, being in reality “the synagogue of Satan” (Rev 2:9).  The real Israelites follow Jesus, mainly ordinary Jews as opposed to their powerful leaders – though there are exceptions, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, disciples and confessors of Jesus.

We can prove that these leaders putting Jesus on trial are Luciferian counterfeits by their suborning of false witnesses and false testimony.  Drunk on their own power and hatred of Jesus, they openly and knowingly break the commandment about false testimony, and embrace the lie.  Jesus had told them earlier that Satan was the father of lies, and Satan is also their father (John 8:44).  The Jewish leaders have become so corrupted by the devil’s lies that they no longer have a conscience.  This is in contrast to the Lord’s disciples, including Nathaniel, whom Jesus calls, “an Israelite… in whom there is no deceit.”

And the Jewish leaders are not the only ones who succumb to the devil’s lying.  Peter, the leader of the Lord’s disciples, who was so recently full of braggadocio, also lies and disowns his High Priest and King, as well as his friend and Savior.  But notice the difference, dear friends.  Peter lies three times, but his conscience convicts him.  He knows it is wrong, but he lies out of fear and weakness.  He weeps at the sound of the rooster crowing, for Jesus is not only Priest and King, but also Prophet who had predicted this very event.

But the Jewish leaders will not repent.  Their hearts are hard, like the Pharaoh who enslaved their ancestors.  They will mock Jesus at the cross.  Only the minority of faithful leaders will not live the lie, but instead will acknowledge Jesus as Prophet, Priest, and King.  Forty years hence, the temple will be destroyed – just as Jesus said it would be.  But more importantly, three days hence, the temple of His body will be destroyed, but will rise again in triumph – in forgiveness for those whose consciences convict them, those who repent, those who confess Him, those who believe the Good News!  And Jesus will come to Peter, and three times He will allow Peter to confess His love for Jesus, love that conquers the lie.  Peter will be forgiven and restored (John 21:15-19), as are all who follow the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

At the cross, Jesus destroys the devil in battle.  He overcomes the Satanic lie by the truth that He is the Christ, that He is the true Passover Lamb, that He destroys death by dying, and that He rises again as our Prophet, Priest, and King, as our friend and Savior, as the one who defeats Satan – for all eternity!

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.