“Out of Death Comes Life!

”
(Matthew 20:17-19)

This morning, our Lord again reminds us of the reason why He came into the world, why
being God, He became a man. He came to suffer and to die for us. He came to give His life for
ours, so that we might escape the terrible judgment of God against our sins. Now when Jesus did
this, He wasn’t thinking only of us. He was also thinking about His Father. His Father’s Law
had been broken. We had broken it, in Adam and many times by ourselves. In doing so we had
offended God. Remember, God cannot overlook sin. If He is to forgive anyone, a payment to
His justice must be made. Jesus made that payment, so that His Father might justly and
righteously forgive us. But this wasn’t all. Jesus also had Himself in mind. Yes, Jesus humbled
Himself and became a man, even the lowest of men. He became the servant of all. But the
reason He did was to gain the reward His Father offered to Him: the name which is above every
name, and the people for whom He laid down His life. Humility and service is the way to
greatness in God’s kingdom, and Jesus humbled Himself more than anyone else, that He might
become the greatest in God’s kingdom.
Now this is the third time that Jesus told His disciples about His sufferings which were
shortly to take place. It wasn’t because He was afraid that He repeated it so often, but because
He was looking forward to it: because it was through His death and resurrection that He was
going to enter into His glory, not only for Himself, but also for us. It was through His death that
He would give us life. This is what our Lord Jesus wants to remember this morning, especially
as we prepare to come to His table.
Matthew tells us that Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem. The time was quickly
approaching for His crucifixion and death, and this needed to take place in the holy city. For one
thing, Jerusalem was the place where the Passover was celebrated, and Jesus, as a faithful
member of God’s covenant, needed to be there to observe it, even as every true son of the
covenant did. But unlike the other Passovers He had celebrated at Jerusalem, this time He
needed to be there to fulfill it. As God’s Passover Lamb, He was about to offer Himself up as
the final sacrifice. But there was still one more reason why Jesus needed to be at Jerusalem.
Jesus told some Pharisees, when they came to warn Him that Herod was seeking to kill Him,
“Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a
prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem” (Luke 13:33). Jesus needed to go to Jerusalem to
die, because it was here that the Sanhedrin sat in judgment. It was here that they would judge
and condemn Him to death.
But as they were on their way to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve aside privately and
began to tell them more about this to prepare them for what was about to happen. He didn’t tell
everyone, but only them. Why was this? It was probably because the twelve were better
equipped to hear what Jesus had to say. Remember, He had been preparing them for this
moment. He had already told them two other times what He had come into the world to do.
They needed to know because their lives would also be put in danger by His betrayal and arrest.
He wanted them to be ready. But it’s also possible that He told them in secret because those who
were following Him wouldn’t have been able to handle what He had to say. Some of them were
undoubtedly weak, and might have been tempted to abandon Him, knowing that He was going to
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be arrested, condemned and crucified. Others of them were undoubtedly very zealous, who
wouldn’t take Jesus’arrest lying down, who might want to take up arms to defend Him, even as
Peter did in the garden. The chief priests and elders purposely didn’t have Jesus arrested at the
feast so that they wouldn’t cause an uproar among the people (26:5). Jesus didn’t want to be
charged with inciting a riot, nor did He want anyone to stop Him from doing what He knew He
must do.
Jesus told only those who could handle this information, which means that He was
careful to give His followers only what they were able to bear. Our Lord also knows that we can
only handle so much. He doesn’t lay burdens on us which are more than we can bear. However,
we need to remember that His estimation of what we can do and ours might be two different
things. Sometimes He will help us to understand this by pushing us a bit out of our comfort zone
to stretch us and cause us to grow. And we need to be thankful that He does. He does the same
thing for all His creatures. The sparrow eventually pushes her young out of the nest, so that they
will learn to fly and take care of themselves. If the mother didn’t do this, it might cripple her
young for the rest of their lives. Even so our Lord sometimes pushes us beyond what are
comfortable doing, so that we too will grow. We are not to feed upon the milk of the Word only,
but also on strong meat. What would you think of a full grown man who still needed to be
nursed from a baby bottle? You would think there was something terribly wrong with him.
What does Jesus see when He looks at us? What’s on our plate? What are we eating? Are we
growing stronger and better able to digest the meatier parts of God’s truth? Jesus wants us to,
because He knows that strong meat will produce strong Christians, and strong Christians will be
able to handle the more difficult truths and the more difficult parts of His service. Husbands,
how can you nurture your wives, and parents, how can you nurture your children in the things of
the Lord, unless you are able to read and understand God’s Word? If we remain children, we
won’t be able to help our children grow. The Lord exhorts us this morning to grow. Let’s first
examine our hearts in this area, as we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table.
But now what exactly did Jesus tell them? He told them again about His betrayal and
coming death. He said, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be
delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death” (v. 18). The
chief priests and scribes were the rulers of Israel. They were the spiritual leaders and teachers of
God’s flock. These men, out of all Israel, should have been Jesus’ friends and strongest
supporters, but they were His greatest enemies. John writes in His Gospel, “He came to His
own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (1:11). Not only would these leaders
condemn Him, but one of His closest friends, one of the twelve, would be the man who would
betray Him into their hands. David foretold this in Psalm 55, where he wrote, “For it is not an
enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it; nor is it one who hates me who has exalted
himself against me, then I could hide myself from him. But it is you, a man my equal, my
companion and my familiar friend. We who had sweet fellowship together, walked in the house
of God in the throng (vv. 13-14). Sometimes those who seem to love you the most, are the ones
who end up turning on you. But this isn’t all Jesus was faced with. Not only would the Jews
turn on Him, but the Gentiles as well. Jesus continues, “And [they, i. e., the Jews] will deliver
Him to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him” (v. 19). Notice that both groups that
Jesus came to save would hate Him and want to kill Him. The Jews would hand Him over to the
Gentiles -- because they didn’t have the authority to put anyone to death --, and the Gentiles
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would carry out the sentence. They would mock Him -- they would dress Him in a scarlet robe,
plant a crown of thorns on His head for a crown, place a reed in His hand for His scepter, and
then kneel down before Him, saying “Hail, King of the Jews!”, and spit on Him and hit Him on
the head with the reed (27:28-31) --, they would scourge Him -- beating Him thirty-nine times
with the whip --, and then they would crucify Him.
Now all these things Jesus was about to face could have been devastating to Him. After
all, how do we feel during those times in our lives when everyone seems to turn away from us,
even those who should be our strongest supporters and seemed to be our closest friends? But I
want you to notice something. Even though Jesus had every reason in the world, humanly
speaking, to fold under this pressure, He didn’t. He didn’t become discouraged or downcast.
This is exactly what Isaiah said would happen. He writes, “He will not be disheartened or
crushed, until He has established justice in the earth” (42:4). During the time when everyone
forsook Him, including His disciples who deserted Him at the time of His greatest need, He
didn’t loose heart. Why? What supported Him during that time? Why was He able to continue
to make His way to Jerusalem knowing all that would happen to Him there? It was because of
what His sufferings and death were going to bring. This was the way He would repair His
Father’s honor and glorify His mercy and justice. This was the way He would save His people
from their sins and be united with them forever. It was out of His death, that He was going to
bring us life. Jesus willingly suffered rejection, scourging, mocking, crucifixion and death,
because of His love for the Father, and because of His love for us. We have a Savior who loves
us.
But there was one last encouragement. Jesus also knew that He was not going to remain
dead. He ends by saying, “On the third day He will be raised up” (v. 19). Jesus knew that by
doing this work for His Father, that His Father would not leave Him in the grave. The author to
the Hebrews tells us that Jesus, “For the joy set before Him, endured the cross” (12:2). This is
the way He would enter into His own glory, and receive the name which is above every name.
It’s true that when He was faced with the fiery furnace of God’s wrath, He sweat blood while He
prayed. This wasn’t an easy thing for Jesus to do. But it’s also true that His love for His Father,
His love for His people, and the promise that His Father would give Him those He was dying for
was enough to make Him face God’s wrath willingly. Jesus set His eyes on us this morning, as
one of the means to strengthen Himself to face His sufferings, because -- inconceivable though it
may be -- He loved us that much.
The Lord’s Supper reminds us of this very thing, of Christ’s love, and what that love
motivated Him to do for us. He lived for us, He died for us, and He was raised that we might
finally enter into heaven to live with Him forever. If you have trusted in Him for your salvation,
then this is what He has done for you. He wants you to remember this as you come to His table.
But if you haven’t trusted in Christ, this Table is a reminder to you that you must first come to
Him in faith, before you can come to His Table. If you haven’t trusted in the Lord, do so now.
There is salvation in no one else. Amen.