What Would God Say About Handling Injustice?
1 Peter 3:21-25
INTRODUCTION:
Don’t you just hate it when you suffer unjustly? Maybe it’s something small like being shortchanged at a drive-through window, or told one price but then upon installation given another. Or may it’s more significant than that.. Maybe somebody cheated you out of a large portion of money.. Maybe you play by the rules and you sit the bench while somebody that is unsubmissive plays all the time. Maybe your boss is treating you unfairly due to their own jealousy or incompetence. Maybe you’re going through a divorce and it’s not your fault.. But you’re still losing your mate & the visitation rights with your children seem so inequitable. Maybe some drunk slammed into your child’s car and the drunk walked away but your son or daughter will never walk again. Maybe you have some disease or can’t have children or have made sound financial decisions but you still face bankruptcy.. There’s a million things that just make us want to scream, “It’s all so unfair!
The last hours of Jesus Christ may depict history’s greatest unjust treatment. Jesus was treated unjustly by many on his final night before the crucifixion. He was a victim of lies, deceit, physical abuse, cowardice, desertion, betrayal, manipulation.. Yet He never once lost his composure or sense of purpose. So, let’s see how Jesus was mistreated, then how he responded and finally apply some lessons on how we can confront injustice in our lives.
I. THE INJUSTICE THAT JESUS ENDURED:
First, let’s look at how Jesus’ friends treated him this night. The disciples, Jesus’ hand picked leaders, had been with him for three years. He had poured his life into them during this time loving, teaching and supporting them. He had also told them that this night, Thursday night, was the night that he would be betrayed, tried and killed. So, you would think that their thoughts would be solely fixed on this man who had been their master and teacher for three years. And yet we find it wasn’t so. His disciples disappointed him deeply.
It was the custom in Jesus’ day for someone to perform the routine of washing feet. It was such a normal cultural custom that someone should of fulfilled the task without even being asked. You see, when they ate back in that day, they reclined at the table and the person next to you had his feet at your elbow, just about in your face. So your neighbors feet would be very visible and very smellable. Naturally, that made it very important that they were clean. They paid as much attention to washing feet as we do to washing hands before a meal.
Why did that happen? Why, didn’t someone, other than Jesus, grab the basin and the towel? Well, it happened because the disciples had an attitude problem: they were more concerned about rights and superiority than they were about Jesus. Before this night on a couple of occasions, the disciples’ ugly head of pride had surfaced. They repeatedly got into arguments over who was the greatest. Luke 22:24 tells us that even AFTER the institution of the Lord’s Supper they continued to argue about who is the greatest among them. Is it any wonder then that no one volunteers to wash feet? Please remember this principle: You will never serve Jesus properly when you are worried about your position of importance. (repeat)
But there was an even more evil attitude than pride on the part of one of the 12- their was betrayal. John 13:2- “The evening meal was being served and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.” Judas has already decided to turn Jesus in. Now, if you were Jesus, knowing all of this: the pride, the treachery, would you have been quick to wash their feet? I mean here is Jesus, facing His greatest night of trial. He is going from this room to the Garden of Gethsemane. There He will be arrested, accused falsely, and in less than 24 hrs nailed to a tree. He is the victim of gross neglect. When Jesus needed the greatest comfort, He got none. When Jesus needed love, understanding and service, He got arrogant pride & treason.
Now only did his closest friends disappoint him but the religious leaders mistreated him. These were the leaders of God’s chosen people. Surely Jesus, God’s Son could depend on them? No. Not only did they not support him but they lied about him. The man who was the ring leader of this group was a man by the name of Caiaphas. Historians reveal Caiaphas to be a malicious, insecure, politically power-hungry man. One who cared nothing about the people but everything about his position and standing. And this man took his evil, malicious nature out on Jesus.
I want you to see his terrible treatment by looking at the fact that he tried the Son of God illegally. In fact, according to Jewish law the entire trial of Jesus was a farce. Here are five proofs of that. (1) They met at night. The rule was that no one was to be arrested, tried and sentenced during the night because it might look like a “rush to judgement.” Good rule, but totally ignored in this case.
(2) They also hired false witnesses to lie about Jesus. Interestingly, they apparently didn’t have time to coach the ones they had hired to lie. Matt. 26:59-60 tell us: “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so they could put him to death. But they did not find any though many false witnesses came forward.” Mk 14:56 gives the reason for that. He writes: “..their testimony did not agree.” They paid these men to tell lies but un-coached they came in individually and contradicted each other. No honorable judicial system would ever condone the prosecutor hiring false witnesses.
(3) The jury, which was the Sanhedrin, had already decided Jesus’ guilt before the trial. As a police officer for over a dozen years, I was involved in many trials and as a lead investigator on some cases I was able to see the selection of the jury. Both the prosecutor and defense attorneys try to pick a jury that will be sympathetic to their side. However, both sides also have a certain number of “challenges” where by they can remove a candidate from the jury if they feel they are more sympathetic to the other side. It’s a tedious system sometimes, but it’s done to try and ensure impartiality on the part of those who will render a verdict. Here the jury had the defendant arrested, and has already decided Jesus was guilty! He, of course, has no chance under that situation, to receive anything close to impartial treatment.
(4) The judge, who was Caiphas, became the prosecutor. Caiphas said in vs:63- “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” In our day if the answer is self-incriminating you don’t have to answer, but here, Jesus is being forced to incriminate himself by the judge! Can you imagine that happening in a courtroom today? The judge all of sudden leaps up and say, “Hey! Tell me whether you are guilty or not!”
(5) Improper determination of Jesus’ blasphemy. Now, blasphemy in those days was pretending that you were God and calling yourself such. In answer go Caiaphas question, Jesus says in vs:64 - “Yes, it is as you say.” Now, if you were presiding at an impartial court of law, wouldn’t the next proper step be to determine whether what the accused said was true? Let’s say somebody said, “I am the son of the late Howard Hughes and am entitled to all his assets.” You night think he was a liar and an opportunist, but legally you’d have to say, “Okay, what evidence do you have to prove that claim?” Jesus answered the judges question about being the Son of God by saying, “Yes, that’s true.” Legally, Caiaphas should of said, “Okay, what proof do you have.. And be careful, because if you can’t prove it, you will be guilty of blasphemy.” And Jesus then could of used the prophecies and called witnesses to his miracles. Lazarus, for example, who He had raised from the dead to prove his claim. But there was no such opportunity on this dark night. Vs:65-..the high priest tore his clothes and said, `He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look now, you heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ `He is worthy of death,’ they answered.”
Five steps that demonstrated how hateful and unjust Caiaphas and this “kangaroo court” really was. But they didn’t stop there. Not only did they try him illegally, they treated him inhumanely. Vs:67- “They spit in his face..” These sophisticated elders, and trusted religious leaders spit on Jesus! Ever been spit on? I have.. As a police officer making an arrest and once when interrogating a suspect.. It is by far, one of the most defiant and repulsive acts that can be done to you. You know what my reaction was? I had two.. My first reaction was to wipe it off. My second.. Well, I’ll leave that to your imagination by telling you I’m not real proud of my second reaction. And my hands weren’t tied like Jesus’ probably were. He couldn’t even wipe it off! One author wrote when that happened he thinks 10,000 angels turned to the Father just hoping He would give the order to attack. But God didn’t, and the angels remained silent and Jesus did not respond. And these ungodly men did not stop there. In the true response of a mob.. Vs:67- they “..struck him with their fists. Others slapped Him and said, `Prophecy to us Christ, who hit you?’” He must have been blindfolded at that time. We are all outraged when we see a senseless beating by police in an arrest or by citizens in a riot. But here is judge, jury, bailiffs, all abusing the accused in court! And Jesus never did anything wrong even to be arrested, let alone treated like this!
Then finally, not only did his disciples disappoint him and the leaders rule against him but the Romans, the governing authorities, ruled against him. He was lead before the Roman governor, He impressed Pilate. Caiaphas had Jesus led to Pilate so that Jesus could suffer the death penalty. Now, blasphemy wouldn’t bother Rome so they changed their charge and said that Jesus was leading an insurrection claiming that He was King in place of Caesar. In Matthew 27:11-ff we are told that once again Jesus did not answer or even speak out against the charges that were brought against Him. Mt. 27:13-“Pilate asked Him, ‘Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?’ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge- to the great amazement of the governor.” And that word “amazement” carries with it the meaning of “awe.” In fact, Pilate was impressed with Jesus̓ composure, His calmness in light of what he knew to be trumped up charges because Matt. 27:18- “...he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.”
So, Pilate made an attempt to appease Caiaphas and the mob by doing a couple of things. Releasing a notorious criminal and offered them Barnabas.. There was no comparison between his crimes and Jesus so Pilate figured that they would free Jesus. But no. And Pilate has Jesus beaten to within an inch of his life thinking it would satisfy the blood thirsty mob. This was all done because Pilate was convinced that Jesus was innocent and so impressed with His composure. But.. finally, the religious leaders threaten Pilate’s political standing by telling him they will tell Caesar if he doesn’t acquiesce to their demands and crucify Jesus. So, finally Pilate rules against Jesus and the suffering of Jesus exceeded anything that we ever have undergone.. He is mocked, beaten, whipped, a crown of thorns slammed into His head. And finally His suffering included having nails driven into His hands and feet.
II. THE COMPOSURE OF JESUS: 1 Peter 2:21-25
And through it all Jesus, somehow, kept His composure. 1 Peter 2:23 says it best. Let’s read vs:23 together. Through all this disappointment Jesus kept His composure. Three things I see him doing here that we should emulate:
(1) He refused to lower himself to their level. He did not return insult of insult. Never once did he say anything derogatory. Never once did he become like one of them and spew hatred.
(2) He resisted the temptation to retaliate. There’s a song that says, “He could of called 10, 000 angels..” but he didn’t. Nor did he say, “You wait until the day you meet me again.. Oh, you are going to be so sorry!” No, he just let them have their day.
(3) He relied completely on God’s judgement. So simple, but so profound: “He left his case in the hands of God, who always (circle that word) judges fairly.”
III. THE LESSONS TO APPLY WHEN WE CONFRONT INIUSTICE:
Now, before we close tonight I want us to look at three lessons to apply from this incident to our lives when we confront injustice.
(1) When you are mistreated take the time to evaluate the circumstances objectively. It is not without significance that Jesus spent the night before the illegal trials and horrible mistreatment in prayer in the Garden. Before we protest about how badly we are being mistreated it might prove beneficial to objectively evaluate the circumstances, that may mean we need to spend some time alone with God and get away from the circumstances. It may include a discussion with Christian friends who are not emotionally involved. Let’s admit that unlike Jesus we may not, by ourselves, be able to perfectly evaluate the circumstances adequately. We can make quick assessments and later find out that we weren’t mistreated at all. 1 Peter 4:15- “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal or even as a meddler.. Ifyou suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed...” I know this is a tough thing to do but when you’re going through adversity try to just take a moment to make sure that you̓re suffering and not imagining you’re suffering.
(2) When you are mistreated don’t be surprised by the depravity of man. Jesus was perfect man yet no one was mistreated by people more than He. The people of this world can be exceedingly corrupt! Did you see in the newspaper some time ago that con men were calling families of soldiers who had been sent to Iraq region and they would impersonate a telephone operator. The con-man would say, “We have your son on the line from the Mideast or Gulf would you give us your credit card number so we can complete the call?” And wanting to talk to their sons they would give their credit card numbers and then the con-men would hangup, there would be no caller and they would use the number to purchase items over the phone. People can sink to unbelievable depths. Jeremiah 17:9- “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure, who can understand it.” Now, that’s not to say there aren̓t people who are “good” people, certainly better than others. But people are selfish and if they have to step on you to get another rung up the ladder for their own personal advantage they will. As one preacher said, “ When you̓re dealing with the devil don̓t be surprised when you get the sharp end of the pitchfork!”
Our goal needs to be that we face the depravity of man with the composure of Jesus. When Jesus was illegally, unjustly and inhumanly mistreated He still kept His composure in the way He displayed His attitude.. Remember what Peter says in our text.. “He didn’t retaliate... He made no threats..” Bobby Knight the Indiana basketball coach thought he’d been treated unfairly.. He thought a referee had given his team a bad call.. And he lost his composure. (Those of you who know Bobby Knight probably find that hard to believe.) But he stormed around the gym, he cussed out this referee in public and was finally kicked out of the game. In the press conference afterwards he ranted and raved.. Now, maybe the referee’s calls were bad.. But did Bobby Knight gain anybody’s respect for the way he responded? No, in fact, he had to pay a $10,000 fine. I could not help but compare that to Coach John Wooden’s attitude. He used to coach U.C.L.A. and U.C.L.A.’s long win streak was ended by U of Houston on national TV.. And at the end of the game there was a controversial call that went against UCLA and they lost in the final seconds. Afterwards, moments after that upsetting loss John Wooden had a microphone thrust into his face and he was asked, “Coach do you think that call lost the game for you and ended your winning streak?” Coach Wooden just smiled that smile that would kind of crinkle up his whole face and he said, “Well, you never know about those things.. There probably was a call or two that went our way.. I just want to congratulate Houston’s coach and the Houston players for an excellent game.” My opinion and respect of John Wooden was increased that day. See, as followers of Jesus, when mistreatment comes, make sure your attitude is as right as your principles.. keeping your composure.
(3)When people mistreat you trust God even when you don’t understand. When circumstances are adverse and you don’t think God understands would you look at the last few hours of Jesus’ life? He got abuse and mistreatment beyond anything we will ever endure and God did not intervene. It wasn’t that He was being unfair but it was that He was moving according to His plan. If you had been there you would never of thought that Jesus’ mistreatment made sense, but it ends up not only making sense but being our salvation! God never lost control, God never was ringing His hands, saying, “Oh, my what am I going to do?” No, He allowed the mistreatment for a purpose and His purpose makes sense for eternity!
“When they hurled their insults at him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats.. Instead.. He entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly.” Let’s make a commitment to this One who carried unjustly our sins.
