Daily Scripture Reading Luke 22:54 - 23:5
People do not like being mocked. We tend to shy away from taking a stand on issues when we know we will be ridiculed. The dominant belief in society today is that there is no God, Jesus was not God, and there are many ways to heaven. Going against the majority on those issues invites derision and contempt.
Despite the risk, we need to proclaim the truth that Jesus is God and He is the only way to heaven. Fortunately, Jesus is not asking us to do something He was not willing to do. Luke 22 informs us that Jesus was mocked. He knows the risk we take when we proclaim the truth because He experienced it. Just as Jesus endured abuse and persecution, we need to be willing to endure the same for the sake of Jesus.
The religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus, but since He was popular with the crowd, they could not seize Him while He was in the temple teaching. Then Satan entered Judas, and Judas offered to betray Jesus to the leaders at a time and place when Jesus was not surrounded by a crowd. After eating the Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, as was His custom. Judas arrived with the chief priests, elders, and officers of the temple, and identified Jesus by kissing Him.
Luke 22:54 ¶ Now having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest, but Peter was following at a distance.
The last phrase tells us Peter followed at a distance. The fact that he was distant shows fear. However, at least he followed. Some of the disciples did not even do that.
Pay attention to where they took Jesus. They took Him to the house of the high priest. At this point it was the Jews who were detaining Jesus.
Luke 22:55 And after they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.
Luke 22:56 And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.”
Luke 22:57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.”
We know from Luke 22:33 that the prior evening Peter had stated he was ready to follow Jesus to prison and even to death. However, when given the chance, Peter did not even acknowledge knowing Jesus.
Luke 22:58 A little later, another saw him and said, “You are one of them too!” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!”
Luke 22:59 And after about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man was with Him too, for he also is a Galilean.”
Luke 22:60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.
Luke 22:61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”
Jesus did not have to say anything. All He had to do was look at Peter.
Luke 22:62 And he went out and cried bitterly.
Think about the word bitterly. Peter was broken. That was perhaps the lowest moment of his life. Fortunately, Peter did not stay broken. His failure made him stronger. Eventually, he became a fearless apostle and spoke the truth boldly.
When we fail or hit a low point in life, it is very tempting to give up. It is normal to resolve to never make ourselves vulnerable again, so that we never again face the risk of failing.
However, failure makes us stronger. Rather than shrink away when we come up short, we should pick ourselves up and try again. When we fail, we should learn from our shortcomings and use them to make ourselves a better person.
Luke 22:63 ¶ Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him while they beat Him,
Luke 22:64 and they blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, “Prophesy, who is the one who hit You?”
Verse 63 tells us they mocked Jesus. We know from verse 64 they hit Jesus.
If a man today would claim to be god, he would be mocked. He would deserve to be mocked because he is making a false claim.
Jesus claimed to be God, but He appeared to be a man, so He was mocked. However, Jesus is actually God.
Luke 22:65 And they were saying many other things against Him, blaspheming.
We see in verse 65 that they blasphemed Jesus.
The normal response when being mocked is to respond, defend, and perhaps attack. Jesus did not do that. He simply endured it.
There are many people today who reject the existence of God and the deity of Jesus. They mock people who believe in those things.
No one likes being mocked. We Christians do not like being belittled for our beliefs. Since we know we may be ridiculed, it is tempting for us Christians to hide, or shy away from, some of the clear teachings in the Bible that society deems absurd.
Instead of being secretive about our beliefs, we need to be bold just like Jesus. We need to be willing to endure contempt, derision, and even persecution. We should proclaim the truth, regardless of the consequences.
Luke 22:66 ¶ And as the day came, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their Sanhedrin, saying,
At this point Jesus was detained by the Jews. The Council of the elders, priests, and scribes were all Jews. The Sanhedrin was a Jewish body.
Luke 22:67 “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe,
Luke 22:68 and if I ask a question, you will not answer.
Luke 22:69 But from now on THE SON OF MAN WILL BE SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND of the power OF GOD.”
Luke 22:70 And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “You yourselves say that I am.”
Luke 22:71 Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”
The Jewish leaders condemned Jesus because He claimed to be the Son of God.
Luke 23:1 ¶ Then their whole assembly rose up and brought Him before Pilate.
Pilate was not a Jew. He was a Roman. Once the Jewish authorities decided they had reason to put Jesus to death, they took Him to the Roman authority.
Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”
We saw in verses 67-71 that the Jewish leaders condemned Jesus because He claimed to be God. However, now that they had Him in front of a Roman official, they changed the charges to tax evasion and treason.
Luke 23:3 So Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He answered him and said, “You yourself say it.”
Luke 23:4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.”
Luke 23:5 But they kept on insisting, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place.”
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent and did not want to condemn Him. However, we will see tomorrow that Pilate was persuaded to pervert justice.
The dominant religious beliefs in our world today are that Jesus was not God and Jesus is not the only way to heaven. People who hold to those ideas are mocked and shamed. No one likes to be made fun of; therefore, we Christians tend to shy away from boldly proclaiming these truths.
However, just as Jesus endured scorn when He correctly identified Himself as God, so too we need to be willing to endure derision. Jesus is God. Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus is the only way to heaven. We will be mocked for holding to those ideas, but those tenets are the truth. The eternal destiny of each human depends on what they do with those truths. Therefore, we need to speak them clearly and boldly, just as Jesus did, even if it means enduring shame and derision.
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. If you have already joined my email list, thank you and please tell others about Bible Mountain. If you have not joined my email list yet, please do so now. In order to join, go to Bible Mountain dotcom, click on subscribe, and that will take you to a page where you can sign up. Your email address will not be sold nor given away. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.
“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”