24
hours that changed the world
Accused
and denied
RUMC
2/28/16
When
have you been most afraid?
• Do you have Lupo-slip-a-pho-bia- It
involves the fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table
while wearing socks on a newly waxed floor.
• Do you have an innie or an outie? If
you suffer from om-phal-o-pho-bia you probably don’t know and you don’t care
because belly buttons terrify you.
• How about No-mo-pho-bia? Short for
no-mobile-phone phobia, this is the constant fear of not having service and
according to researchers in the UK a whopping 50% of people have it.
• A-rach-i-buty-ro-pho-bia the fear of
peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth .
• Ai-boh-pho-bia- is the fear of
palindromes- Palindromesare words that are spelled the same forwards and
backwards. Of course Aibohphobia is intentionally a palindrome itself.
Of course some of these are purely made up as
jokes, but fear is no laughing matter… especially if you have phobophobia.
Which is the fear of having a phobia.
It
occurred to me this week, that this 4-6 hour episode in the last 24 hours of
Jesus life is a study in fear.
Let’s start with Judas. We don’t know for sure
what Judas was thinking… what his motivation might have been for betraying
Christ.
• Some say he was afraid that Jesus
wouldn’t take action soon enough…that he would not accomplish what he came to
accomplish before he died. So he tried to force him into a situation that he
would have to act in a radical and decisive way.
• Others say that Judas was a zealot
who thought Jesus would lead a revolt against Rome. Maybe he became afraid that
he was wrong. Maybe this was one last-ditch effort to get Jesus to accept
Judas’ agenda of freedom for this nation.
• Other say Judas may have been arrested
the day Jesus overturned the moneychangers tables in the temple, and as part of
a plea deal he turned state’s evidence against Jesus.
We
will never know with certainty what fear if any was a motivating factor for
Judas, but I do know with certainty that he must have been afraid that night he
met Jesus in the garden. Imagine the butterflies as he walked up to betray the
man who had calmed the storm, raised the dead, and withered a fig tree. What
would Jesus do to him?
Imagine
his fear as he approached the group of his closest friends. How would they
respond to his betrayal of their friendship? Would they defend the master? I
am, frankly, a little surprised that when Peter drew his sword, he struck at
the high priest’s slave. I think it would be pretty tempting to whack off the
betrayers head.
I
have always believed that Judas did what he did in order to move his agenda
forward, and that may be true. But maybe was just desperately afraid. So afraid
that he ended up destroying the one who counseled them: “Do not let your hearts
be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
Judas is not the only one who was afraid that
night. How many guards do you picture coming to arrest Jesus? I always figured
a half dozen or so. I never really thought about it. I learned this week that
some scholars point out that there were two law enforcement groups that night:
Jewish temple police and the Roman soldiers. There is no way to tell how many
temple police were there, but the title used to describe the captain of the roman
guards and the word used to describe the detachment of soldiers refers to a
contingent of 100 soldiers. Is it possible that the men charged with capturing
Jesus were afraid of what he would do, or afraid of resistance among his
disciples, or afraid of a riot among the people that ,even in the dark of
night, they sent in a super sized swat team of over 100 men in order to capture
one unarmed, peace preaching rabbi? Really?
There
is another mystery here. In John’s version of the story, Jesus asks, “For whom are
you looking?” They say they are looking or Jesus. Jesus replied, “I am he.” And
they stepped back and fell to the ground.” Why? Is it possible that they were
so afraid of him that, when they realized that this was Jesus, they retreated
and took up defensive positions?
Is
it possible that some of them had heard his teaching and believed that he might
indeed be the messiah? Could it be that they were afraid that he might not be
crazy after all? I can’t think of any other reason to bring out over 100 professional
soldiers to arrest one preacher. I can’t explain why else they fell to the
ground except that they were afraid that he might wither them like the fig
tree, or call down fire from heaven, or be defended by an army of angels.
Ironically,
the one they captured once said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both
soul and body in hell.”
Then there are the Jewish authorities.
First
let’s talk about Annas. Annas was the former high priest. He was deposed by the
Roman authorities, but continued to be one of the most powerful men in Israel.
He was so powerful that for 57 years, between the years 6 and 63 AD, only
Annas, his sons, or his son in law-- Caiaphas ruled over Jewish religious
practice. Where does Annas come into the picture? After Jesus was arrested, he
was taken first to Annas' house.
I
think they stopped there to assure Annas that he had indeed been captured. Was
Annas, the most powerful Jew in Israel, afraid of Jesus? Absolutely! You see
Annas was kind of the Godfather of the temple. He was the one who took a big
cut from the moneychangers and the sale of sacrificial animals. When Jesus
turned over the tables, he threatened Annas’ flow of income. Annas wanted to make
sure that did not want that to happen again. He was afraid of Jesus and his
teachings. John says he “questioned Jesus about his disciples and bout his
teaching.” He wanted to make sure the disciples weren’t going to continue to
teach that the moneychangers were evil. He didn’t want them to disrupt his kick
back money again. He questioned Jesus, but had no authority to do anything.
Therefore, he sent him on to Caiaphas.
Annas
was afraid of the one who said, ““Therefore do not be afraid about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
The
other Jewish authorities, Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, were afraid too. Of what
were they afraid? They were afraid of losing power. You see if Jesus was the
messiah (Or if he convinced enough people that he was the messiah) there would
be no longer be a need for the system of priests and high priests. They were
afraid either that Jesus was right, or a lot of people might believe he was
right.
That
is why they:
• captured him at night,
• interrogated him in secret,
• illegally charged him,
• met at night in illegal secret
session on a holy day no less,
• they sought out false witnesses,
• they waived the required overnight
thinking period required in capital cases,
• the unanimous agreement of the
Sanhedrin, itself, invalidated the conviction. If none of the judges tried to
defend the man, there could be no judgment made.
• they convicted him based only upon
his own confession without any witnesses,
• they changed the charge in the middle
of the trial,
• they announced the verdict outside of
the hall of hewn stone the only official meeting place for the Sanhedrin,
• the Sanhedrin was disqualified
because the judges were not impartial and included his enemies,
• And they did not allow Jesus to prove
his claim that he was the messiah.
In
other words, this kangaroo court stunk from the head to the tail. There was
nothing legal about what they did that night. Why would they do that?
Desperate
times call for desperate action, and these leaders were desperately afraid that
Jesus might be right, and they might lose their power and prestige. They forgot
their own scripture that said, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or
terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never
leave you nor forsake you.”
Finally, we come to the disciples and Peter.
We see that 10 or 11 of the 12 disciples scatter like cockroaches upon Jesus’
arrest. They were obviously afraid of being next on the arrest warrant.
Peter,
and perhaps John, were the only two who might have stayed around; but only at a
distance, in the shadows, hiding in the alleys, the bushes, and behind every
lamppost.
One
might pat them on the back for their faithfulness to Jesus, such as it was,
until Peter (the one who led the chorus “Even though I must die with you, I
will not deny you.” ) is given the opportunity to witness to who Jesus was and
he chicken’s out.
He
was given the opportunity to prove himself as he sat by the fire… and he
failed. He was too afraid to admit his discipleship. Each denial might as well
have been a nailing Jesus to the cross. “No I am not one of his disciples.” And
“I tell you I do not know the man. Believe me I have never before seen him in
my life… Cock-a-doodle-do. Cock-a-doodle-do. I can’t say I blame him, he had
good reason to be afraid…has he forgotten just before Jesus raised the daughter
of the synagogue leader, Jesus took him aside and said, “Don’t be afraid; just
believe.’”
• Fear... One of the great motivators.
You want a student to study, tell them that if they don’t study they will be
held back a grade… They’ll buckle down because of … fear.
• Why do the speed cameras in Cedar
Rapids on the big “S” curve work?… People are afraid of being caught.
• Want to get someone to run, sick an
animal with big teeth to chase them.
• Want a company to change their ways,
threaten a lawsuit, the only thing of which they are afraid,
Are you a little afraid? I am not saying that
all fear is bad.
When
I stop having butterflies hen I step into the pulpit on Sunday morning, it will
be time for me to retire.
When
we come into the presence of the living God, we call the fear, “AWE”
When
Jesus leads us out of our boat and out of our comfort zone, we call that fear
we have lost our senses.
I
am not saying that all fear is bad
I
know we all have fears
• But I ask you …Like Judas are you
afraid to give up your own, personal agenda and will?
• I ask you …Like the Soldiers, are you
afraid Jesus will come too close, so you keep your defenses up?
• I ask you …Like the religious leaders
are you afraid to fully give yourself to Jesus because you want to keep the
power?
• I ask you… like the disciples are you
afraid of what others will think or do if they connect you to Jesus?
o I ask you …are afraid to get any
closer to Jesus because you might have to change.
o I ask you …Are you afraid to pray too
seriously because you might not like the answers.
o I ask you …Are you afraid to love as
he loved because that makes you vulnerable to hurt.
o I ask you … Are you afraid to serve as
he served because it bruises our ego?
o I ask you … Are you afraid? … Of
what?… Of whom?
• Do you remember what the angels said
at Jesus birth? “Fear not for I bring you good news of great joy, for to you is
born a savior.”
• Do you remember what the angel said
to the women on Ester morning? “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking
for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he
said. Come; see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples,
‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you
• Do you remember what Jesus told the
disciples just before he ascended into heaven? “And remember, I am with you
always, to the end of the age.”
• Do you remember God’s promise in
Revelation We do not need to be afraid because
“See,
the home of God is among mortals.
He
will dwell with them;
they
will be his peoples,
and
God himself will be with them;
he
will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death
will be no more;
mourning
and crying and pain will be no more,
for
the first things have passed away.”
FEAR
has two meanings:
•
Forget everything and run
• Or have Faith in Everything And Rise
The
Choice is yours.
AMEN
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