Luke 9:43-45
Please turn in your copy of God’s
word to Luke chapter 9. Our reading today is Luke chapter
9 verses 43 to 45. We’ll pick up about midway through
verse 43. Remember in Luke’s gospel, where
we are is Jesus Galilean ministry has been completed. He’s about
to take his ministry to a different region as he makes his way to
Jerusalem for his passion. his suffering, his death and
the work of redemption ultimately that comes through his resurrection.
But in these last weeks and in a few more passages, we’re seeing
Jesus on a retreat with his disciples where he has pulled them aside
away from the crowds and he is teaching them things about themselves
and things about himself in order that they might better understand
his kingdom. And so we may better understand
his kingdom. So give our attention to God’s
word. This is Luke chapter nine, beginning
at verse 43. We pick up a little ways into
that verse and it says, but while they were all marveling at everything
Jesus was doing, he said to his disciples, let these words sink
into your ears. The son of man is about to be
delivered into the hands of men. But they did not understand this
saying and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive
it. And they were afraid to ask him
about this saying. Let’s go before God in prayer.
Lord, the very thing that the disciples could not do. That
is to perceive what you were saying to them. We want you to
do for us now. We want to know and understand
and perceive and believe what you are saying to us by your
word and by your spirit. So give us the grace to hear. Give us the grace to see, give
us the grace to believe, and give us the grace to put into
practice in our lives that which you call your children of the
kingdom to do. And we pray it in Jesus name.
Amen. A survey was taken a couple of
years ago, and the first question of the survey is this. Religious
belief is a matter of personal opinion. It is not about objective
truth. That’s a false statement. But
60 percent of people polled believed it was true. Religious belief
is a matter of personal opinion. It is not about objective truth,
the scripture or some other statement of faith. No, dear friends, religious
belief is not a matter of personal opinion. It is a matter of objective
truth. Or a second question that came
in this survey. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross
is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin. That’s a true statement. But
only 42% of people polled agreed, 38% disagreed. Those in the middle couldn’t
figure out what the question meant. That question or that
poll question or statement is really a difference between belief
and unbelief, isn’t it? Jesus Christ’s death on the cross
is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sins. You believe that, you’ll live.
You don’t believe that, you will die. What if Jesus were to pull
his 12 disciples? And what if Jesus, as he pulled
his 12 disciples, said, OK, you 12, true or false? The Messiah must be delivered
over to wicked men to suffer, to be rejected, to die and to
rise on the third day. Every disciple to a man would
say false statement. Every disciple would say, no,
Jesus. You’re supposed to sit on the
throne of David and rule and reign. No, Jesus, you aren’t
the Messiah who will suffer and die. You’re the one who will
kick out the Romans. You’re the one who will rebuild
Israel. You’re the one who will make everything better. And we’ll
be like we were a thousand years ago when David sat on the throne. And thereafter, the prosperity
of his son, Solomon, his disciples would have said, false statement,
not true. Well, that’s exactly what they
really do. Jesus is about to tell them for
a second time, a true statement. Hey, disciples. Hey, you 12.
I will soon die. We want to look at this statement
of Jesus and their perplexity, their confusion in four ways. And I’m keenly aware of the time. I know when I listen to my iPod,
sometimes I put it on fast forward. I put it from one speed to 1.5.
So I may talk fast. I recognize the time we’ve filled
up today. But the first thing we want to
consider is Jesus. Saying to his disciples, listen
up and listen good. Notice what he says in verses
43 and 44. While they were all marveling
at everything Jesus was doing, that is healing people. Jesus
said to his disciples, let these words sink into your ears. Listen
up and listen good, he tells them. Some of you were fans in
recent years, I’m sure, of the British television show Downton
Abbey. And, you know, the old dowager,
the old grandmother in the cast of characters. Well, she had
a funny line years ago that my children thought was the greatest.
When she said something important, she would say, put that in your
pipe and smoke it. That’s what Jesus is saying.
Put this in your pipe and smoke it. Let it sink into your ears.
Let it get down into your hearts. Let it fill your mind so that
you ponder it and you believe it. The crowds you see are astonished
and amazed at Jesus. They are astonished and amazed
at Jesus, but that’s all they are. The disciples will see the
cross. The disciples will later preach
the cross. And the followers, even we who
sit here today, this side of the apostolic church, we will
see the cross. We will follow the cross. But
you know what is interesting about the crowds? If they were
to wear a symbol of what Jesus meant to them, they would have
not a cross around their necks. They might have a magic wand.
Or they might have a set of healing hands that they wear as their
symbol of faith around their neck. And Jesus is saying, no,
the symbol of those who follow me, the symbol of the way is
going to be the symbol of the cross for I will be delivered
over into the hands of wicked men. And so Jesus pulls them
aside to get this point straight. And he says to them, listen up
and listen good. The second thing Jesus. does
for them is he gives them a second death notice. Look at verse. 44, if you will, this is Jesus
second death notice. He says, the son of man is about
to be delivered into the hands of men. And if you back up in
your Bibles to verse 21 of chapter nine, it reminds us that a few
weeks ago, we studied Jesus giving his first death notice. The son
of man will be delivered. He will suffer. He will die.
And on the third day, rise again. Both of these death’s notices,
the first and the second one. There will be a third one around
chapter 18 or so. They’re in all the gospels. Jesus
is very clear. Listen up and listen good. Here’s
my death notice. Sometimes maybe some of you,
you visit with your parents, you visit with your grandparents,
you get with a loved one or a close friend, and they start talking
to you about the day when, and then they start speaking euphemistically,
the day when I passed, the day when I’m gone, the day when I’ve
kicked the bucket or whatever. And they start telling you what’s
yours. They start telling you their
wishes. And, Maybe it may come to you as a surprise and you
say to them, what are you trying to tell me? Have you got your
death date planned? Are you going somewhere about
which I know nothing of? What are you trying to tell us?
That’s what the disciples should have said when Jesus gave the
second death notice. All right, Jesus, what are you
trying to tell us? You’re telling us that you must die, that you
must suffer, that you must be rejected, that you must be killed,
you must rise again. Yes, that’s exactly what Jesus
is telling them. This wonderful tour of healing
people, of casting out demons and proclaiming salvation in
the name of Jesus, telling of the kingdom of God. This will
come to an end. I’m going to be delivered over into the hands
of wicked men. Death on the cross is the only
way. And this is something that we
should know. This is something they should know. We should know
our Isaiah 52 and 53. As people, this side of the Reformation
and this side of George Frederick Handel’s Messiah, we should know
redemptive history either by reading our Bibles or listening
to an entire rendering of Handel’s Messiah. We should know it from
our Sunday school classes. We should know it from our Jesus
storybook Bibles. We should know it from Table
talk, we should know it from all the places where we hear
the word of God. But even the disciples did not get this second
death notice. Yet all through the scriptures,
all through the Psalms, it is told to us, Jesus must suffer
and die. All the sacrifices of the old
covenant, all the prophecies of the suffering servant pointed
to Jesus. And so he tells his disciples,
listen up and listen good. He gives them a second death
notice. The third thing he does is he
speaks of his deliverance into the hands of wicked men. In verse 44, he says, the son
of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. We have a colloquial expression.
that comes from Jesus being delivered into the hands of men. When someone
betrays us, when someone snitches on us, when someone turns us
in, we say, you Judas, right? The name of Judas is one biblical
name we don’t hear running around. There’s lots of Joshuas. There’s
lots of Caleb’s. There’s a Moses or two, I think,
around. But where’s the Judas in the
Sunday school class? Where’s the family who welcomes
a little boy into the world and they say, we’re going to name
him Judas? It’s not there. It’s not a term
of endearment. Judas was a snitch. He was a
betrayer. He sold Jesus for 30 pieces of
silver. He greeted him in the garden
with a band of soldiers with a kiss and called him by the
word rabbi, teacher. And Jesus, as he was handed over
into the hands of wicked men, he was delivered to the Jews
who accused him of blasphemy. The Romans accused him of sedition
or creating a riot in what was to be a peaceful empire. The
chief priests, the officers of the temple, the elders, the scribes,
the Sanhedrin, the rulers of Rome, Pilate and Herod, the crowds,
they all did one thing. They delivered him over to death. for our sins. You see, what the
disciples did not understand is Jesus could not continue preaching
a kingdom that was to come. No, he had to do something. to
make the kingdom viable, to make the kingdom have something effective. He could not spend the rest of
his life, and even if he had lived forever on Earth doing
miracles, he could not go around and just Galilee. No, he was
going to die a death that would be universally preached and proclaimed
and given to the world for the salvation of sinners. He would
give us a gospel that would be the only way for people to come
from sin and darkness into the way of eternal life. And so Jesus
was born of Mary. He obeyed God perfectly. He was
tempted and tried. He was baptized. He was affirmed
at that baptism, but also in his transfiguration. And at that
transfiguration, he discussed with Moses, the lawgiver, and
Elijah, the great prophet, about his exodus. which he was about
to accomplish at Jerusalem. No longer would his people be
enslaved in sin and trespasses, but they would be delivered up
out of the house of bondage and delivered into a great promised
land where they might live and serve the king of kings. And
so Jesus says, listen up and listen good. Jesus gives them
his second death notice. Jesus tells them that he will
be delivered into the hands of men. But there’s a fourth thing
about the disciples in this encounter with Jesus, they’re dumbstruck.
Notice verse 45. They did not understand this
saying. This saying was concealed from them so that they might
not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask Jesus
about this saying. Dear friends, they have just
received news that is too bad to be true. And they do not know
what to do with it. They do not understand this news. It’s concealed from them by the
power of the Holy Spirit. They did not understand their
their Christmas hymn was not Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.
It was Come Thou Wrong Expected Jesus. They wanted someone to
sit on the throne of David. They wanted Israel to be great
again. They understood the Messiah from
a worldly viewpoint. They understood Jesus on their
terms. They understood Jesus in political
terms. They had their eyes on the throne
of David and not on the throne of glory in heaven. And they
wanted everything to stay just like it was, but that Jesus would
make it a little better. This news was too bad to be true. They did not understand it. But
the Holy Spirit kept them from perceiving it. And one of the
reasons we might understand that he kept them from perceiving
it is if they prematurely announced Jesus was the suffering servant,
his death, his suffering may have come before the appointed
time. And God was not ready, for we know Jesus says over and
over, my