Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro: “Don’t you see?” - The reason to diligently learn and practice piano now is to reap the benefits in the future.

-You shouldn’t cheat on the exam because the integrity of your character is more important, and longer lasting, than the current grade you receive.

(In fact… the grade < learning the material < growth in maturity.)

-The health of your company (people on the same page, clarity of mission, integrity of message) gives lasting strength and benefit over short-term gain that cuts corners.

When we say “Don’t you see” like that, we mean that what follows is something you really need to grasp in order to live according to such an understanding.

In our passage today in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has such a conversation with his disciples, even though he knows full well that full comprehension to live according to what he explains will come at a later time.

Luke knows that his readers (which now includes us) must also learn the significance of Jesus’ suffering and resurrection to understand the plan and purpose of God for both the Messiah and for the people of his present Kingdom.

Again, as we look more carefully at the text, we want to deepen our understanding of…

The Plan and Purpose of God in the Passion of Christ

When we talk about the passion of Jesus this way in Christianity, what we mean is His loving sacrifice and willing submission to the Father’s plan and purpose to suffer, die, and rise again.

Jesus pulls aside the twelve… and again draws their attention to what he must accomplish at Jerusalem.

- We’ve entered the final phase of the Jerusalem Journey section of Luke (18:31-19:44… the full section began at 9:51).

(Speaking to the twelve, first Jesus says that...)

Prophecy must be fulfilled.

(v.

31)

A suffering Messiah wasn’t on their radar.

The scriptures predicted it, but they didn’t see it.

- Is. 53, Ps. 22

Let’s turn to Isaiah 53 (actually beginning at 52:13) - From a NT perspective, from Christ and the Apostles, we new see this “suffering servant” description as messianic prophecy:

But what precedes his exaltation is suffering.

After stating his humble beginnings in the plan of God versus a regal upbringing (seen in v. 2), we then have lengthy section describing his suffering for the purpose of substitution.

See the descriptions in vv.

3-6.

Then vv.

7&8 describe him in the terminology of a sacrificial lamb, which is the portion of scripture the Ethiopian eunuch needed explained (Acts 8:32-33), which Philip did for him.

v. 10 reminds the reader that all of this was according to the Lord’s will, as an atonement for sin.

It wasn’t that this just happened to him, but that it was according to God’s plan.

This was not accident, but God’s intention.

While there are other details that could be pointed out, the final note I will make for us now is in v. 11:

For the sake of brevity, we’ll note some unique prophetic fulfillments from Psalm 22 without turning there:

“Psalm 22 is especially amazing since it predicted numerous separate elements about Jesus’ crucifixion a thousand years before Jesus was crucified.

Here are some examples.

Messiah will have His hands and His feet “pierced” through (Psalm 22:16; John 20:25).

The Messiah’s bones will not be broken (a person’s legs were usually broken after being crucified to speed up their death) (Psalm 22:17; John 19:33).

Men will cast lots for Messiah’s clothing (Psalm 22:18; Matthew 27:35).”

- GotQuestions.org

(https://www.gotquestions.org/death-resurrection-Messiah.html)

But the point of why the disciples struggled with understanding this was that they didn’t anticipate God sending a Messiah to suffer and be an atoning sacrifice before coming again at a later time to reign as King on earth.

Jesus explains, though, that such prophecy of his suffering must be fulfilled, in order to offer salvation.

So he must face the coming confrontation head on, submitting to the Father’s will.

(Secondly then...)

Jesus predicts his death and resurrection.

(vv.

32-33)

(with the greatest detail yet…) Although a heading in your Bible may say “Jesus predicts his death a third time,” this is actually the 6th or 7th time in Luke he has directly or indirectly referenced the suffering that awaited him.

-Deliverance over to the Gentiles

(The Gentiles are not innocent of his death.

No one is.)

Luke is of course aware that first he is betrayed into the hands of the Jewish authorities (9:22,44).

The parallels in Matt 20:18 and Mark 10:33 state explicitly that it is the chief priests and scribes who will condemn him to death and turn him over to the Gentiles for execution.

Luke here emphasizes to his Gentile readership that the Gentiles are not faultless in the killing of Jesus.

-Mocked, shamefully treated, and spit upon

(All closely intertwined to picture the kind of treatment Jesus would receive… unjustly, we might add.)

Ridiculed, mocked, made fun of - prediction fulfilled in…

On the cross…

The only additional thing to note about Luke’s use of the term hybrizo is that it means insulted and mistreated by the unrighteous working proudly against the righteous.

(When you suffer injustice as a Christian, remember Christ... and abide in Christ.)

Spitting - onomatopoetic Gk word emptyo - demonstrating the level of disdain, lack of respect

While Luke himself does not refer to the fulfillment this prediction (a mark of authenticity, showing that Luke hasn’t tried to tailor Jesus words here to match Luke’s own passion account), this spitting prophecy is shown to be precisely accurate not once but twice (recorded in both Mark and Matthew - Mark 14:65 = Matt 26:67 and Mark 15:19 = Matt 27:30).

Here’s one example, when the soldiers mocked Jesus and put a crown of thorns on him, clothing him with a purple robe:

[transition]

-Flogging, following by killing

Flog - often part of the crucifixion process

This fulfills Messianic prophesy from Is. 50:6…

And was fulfilled according to Jesus’ prediction:

And of course all the gospels detail in depth the unjust trial and the killing of Jesus by crucifixion.

In Luke’s context here, the Gentiles are the ones Jesus states who literally do the killing.

In Peter’s sermon in Acts 3:15, he looks back at the crucifixion and also assigns blame to the Jews.

All groups participated in killing Jesus.

Theologically we come to see that all our sin is to blame for the necessity of Christ’s atoning death.

[transition]

… On the third day HE WILL RISE

This too was prophesied in the scriptures.

Here’s an example:

Ps. 16:10

We know this is a prophetic text because Peter interprets it in Acts 2:24-32 (as does Paul in Acts 13:34-35) with reference to Jesus the Christ fulfilling this prophecy.

After quoting the text, Peter says:

At the time that Peter says this they are now on the other side of Christ’s sacrificial death, resurrection, and ascension; and they have received the Holy Spirit.

Luke himself demonstrates the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy that he would rise.

In Luke 24, some of the women return to the tomb with spices and ointments for the Lord’s body (it is now the third day).

What they find instead of a body is an empty tomb, and an angel reminding them of what Jesus had said.

vv.

6-7

Then to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who don’t recognize him because God keeps them from recognizing him (v.

16), and it is likely his appearance was changed with his resurrection body.

As they explain what the women had told them, Jesus answers: vv.

25-26.

(There eyes are opened to recognize him a little later when he eats with them and breaks bread.)

They go and tell the rest what had happened, and when they are together, Jesus appears to them all and explains again: vv.

44-49.

But before all of this fulfillment has taken place, we see in v. 34, that they don’t really know what to make of what Jesus is saying bc their understanding is incomplete.

Incomplete Understanding (v.

34)

This lack of comprehension for the disciples seems important to Luke, because he is careful to point it out three times.

It’s unlikely that to them what Jesus was literally saying was unintelligible.

(In fact, Matthew records an earlier time where Peter rebuked Jesus for saying such a thing, and received a scathing rebuke himself.)

But they would have had difficulty understanding how Jesus’ death fit within the divine plan for the Messiah, because all they could picture in their minds was the politically triumphant Messianic King.

The disciples don’t get it.

-They couldn’t understand - put the pieces together

-The saying was hidden from them - hidden, covered, cloaked, buried, concealed; to be unknown by virtue of concealment, secrecy, or complexity

-They did not grasp - know, discern the meaning

Again, it wasn’t that they couldn’t understand the meaning of the words, but that God had not yet granted to them (was hidden) a full picture of his messianic plan.

How much more challenging is it to piece together a puzzle without knowing what the picture is supposed to look like?

And without having all the pieces?

And without having good eyesight to see the pieces?

So why predict what they don’t comprehend?