Luke 22:1-28
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. – Luke 22:1-2
Over the past several weeks we have seen more and more signs that our year-long journey into the book of Luke is rapidly coming to an end. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the foal, or colt, of a donkey amid shouts of “Hosanna” and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” and He knew that He was entering Jerusalem for the last time, in this life. As He looked down upon Jerusalem, He wept, because He knew it would not be long until it and its people were utterly destroyed. Last week, John taught from Luke 21, where Jesus gave more details about what He correctly foresaw would happen to Jerusalem. Jesus taught about signs of this as well as signs of His eventual return.
And upon entering Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple itself and personally threw out all of the money changers and sellers of sacrificial animals, saying that they had turned the place into a den of thieves. The entire sacrificial system of the Old Covenant made between God and the representative of the Israelites, Moses, had been perverted into something where claims of forgiveness for sin were simply bought and sold for profit. He hated what had happened with the zeal of God His Father because the shadow of a future reality had turned into a game of politics, power, and a system where the powerful took advantage of the weak. They made a mockery of the reality of the effects of sin, and they made a mockery of the high price of sin. They made a mockery of what Jesus had come to Jerusalem to do.
And while in Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus had a last real conversation with the scribes, priests, and teachers of the Law, and the conversation was ugly. They only wanted to try to trap Jesus, not really listen to Him. Indeed, there really was nothing left to say. The sides had been drawn. On one side were the leaders, the priests and teachers, those in power, who simply wanted Jesus dead but were afraid to do something in public because of the massive crowds of people who followed Jesus, who celebrated Him, even worshipped Him. What would happen if they tried something? They worried that there would be full-scale riots, and then the Romans would come in and it would be total “game over” for all of them. But if they didn’t do something soon, who knew what would happen? The people might well riot anyway and try to make Jesus their king. And as far as they knew, this is exactly what Jesus wanted to do. In John 11, you can read one discussion the leaders had where they discussed their quandary. The high priest, Caiaphas, is there, and he makes the amazingly ironic statement that “it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” The statement is ironic because it is actually true, but not in the way Caiaphas meant.
The “other side,” of course, was Jesus and the disciples, and the massive crowds. Or was it? Was it really all of the disciples? Were the crowds really unswervingly on Jesus’ side? We will look at these questions a bit today, but much more will play out in the next few weeks.
Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present. – Luke 22:3-6
Let’s talk about Satan for a few minutes. We know that he is a fallen angel, a former prince of the angels, who led a rebellion against God, drawing many additional angels to his cause. His name is literally accuser, and this is one of his favorite ways to tempt others to join in rebellion against God.
Appearing as the Serpent, Satan led Adam and Eve to rebel against God, and the result for mankind was much like the result that happened to Satan and those angels who joined him: they were cast out of a good place and placed themselves at enmity with God.
But Satan is not exactly a “free agent” – God is sovereign, and He allows Satan to operate because God has an even greater plan that causes all things to work out for the good of those who love God, and amazingly, God even uses someone like Satan to unwittingly advance this plan.
Satan has a prominent role in the book of Job. Recall that Satan needed permission from God to make bad things happen to Job. Also remember that Satan wanted to tempt Job to despair against God and sin, and His belief was that Job would quickly curse God once God took away His many blessings on Job.
One passage you my not have thought about regarding Satan is in the book of Zechariah, where he appears in a vision. In Chapter 3, Satan is seen standing next to the high priest, Joshua, accusing him. Then Satan is rebuked by an angel for doing this. The whole vision, which begins in Chapter 1, is fascinating and clearly messianic – even the name Joshua is a variant of Yeshua, which is the Hebrew name for Jesus. But even more pointedly, verse 8 says that everything is “symbolic of things to come,” and then the angel who is speaking goes on to say that God will send His servant, a Branch, who will remove the sin of the entire land in a single day.
And Satan does of course tempt Jesus in the desert after Jesus goes 40 days without food. His goal is to get even Jesus to rebel against God. And when Peter rebukes Jesus for suggesting that He is going to be killed in Jerusalem, Jesus calls Peter “Satan,” because the effect of Peter’s comments was Satan-like in that they tempted Jesus, once again, to rebel against God’s perfect, but unimaginably difficult, plan for His life.
Here, we see that Satan gets Judas, one of the Twelve, to rebel against Jesus, and therefore, ultimately against God. Satan must have seen Judas as quite a prize. Now did Satan have a “master plan”? Didn’t He know that it was God’s will for Jesus to die on the cross? If so, why would he lead Judas to make things move in that direction? Here are my personal thoughts on this, for what it is worth. I think Satan just plain hated God, and wanted everyone to rebel against Him. By using Judas, he made Judas rebel, and he also enabled the Jewish leaders to rebel. Once Jesus actually got on a cross, Satan, I believe, thought he would be able to make Jesus despair and then Satan would have Him, the ultimate prize, rebel against God, and in so doing, would destroy God’s great, if mysterious (to Satan), plan.
From parallel passages we know that Judas agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Some say that this was a really small amount of money, but others say and I think it was equal to 120 denarii, that is, 120 days worth of wages, four months. Perhaps about $7000 in today’s money in our culture. By the way, Exodus 21:32 says that if a bull gores and kills your slave, the owner of the bull needs to pay you 30 pieces of silver. In other words, 30 pieces of silver is the worth of a slave. How appropriate! Jesus, in denying Satan, and remaining faithful to God on the cross, was the ultimate servant, or slave, and in the world’s eyes that is what He was worth.
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked. He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there." They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. – Luke 22:7-13a
I don’t know about you, but I find all this cloak and dagger stuff kind of weird. It almost reminds me of a scene from a 007 movie or the old TV series, Get Smart. But perhaps that isn’t such a bad way to view this! It really is a pre-arranged secret meeting with a secret agent. And it is much more than this: it is a miracle, much like the miraculous way in which the colt was provided for Jesus to ride on. Presumably, the man carrying a jar of water is a servant of the owner of the house, and, presumably, the owner of the house has been told to expect these exact things to happen, either through a vision or from a visiting angel. This actually reminds me of the various visions and angelic messages that happened around the time of Jesus’ birth.
Now why did Jesus do this? I can think a few reasons. 1) He knew about Judas, and didn’t want to give Judas a chance to betray Him until the proper time, the time that God the Father had intended. If it had happened too early, Jesus would not have been able to give the disciples His final and most important teachings before His crucifixion. 2) Jesus wanted to keep building the disciples’ faith, because He knew that very shortly their faith would be severely tested. 3) Jesus wanted to bless a faith-filled God-worshiper (the owner of the house) with the opportunity to see God’s miraculous power at work, not to mention being the host of the most important dinner meeting in the history of the universe.
Now I should mention that some have suggested a non-supernatural explanation for all this that it was simply the house of a follower, perhaps a relative of a disciple that Jesus had pre-arranged to meet. This is certainly possible. But to my ears, the way Luke writes this, that Jesus said to do such-and-such, and then it happened exactly like this, makes it sound like it was noteworthy that it did happen like He said. If it were a routine pre-arrangement of a meeting, I would expect Luke to simply write that they met in this way and to skip the part about them asking.
So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." – Luke 22:13b-16
I don’t have time to go into the details of what the Passover service would look like, but if you have come to one of the Passover services I have led in the past, you have heard a lot of this. The key elements were wine sufficient for four cups, flat cakes of unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and a lamb sacrificed at the temple. Because of this latter condition, people from all over Israel would come to Jerusalem for the Passover. Passover meals were therefore a lot like our Thanksgivings, in that extended families would often be staying together. The difference of course, is that for Thanksgiving, one family goes from point A to point B while another goes from point B to point C and another goes from point C to point A, so no one place gets particularly crowded. But for the Passover, people were coming from everywhere to Jerusalem.
Jesus’ words are interesting. He gets right to the point, to remind them that He is about to suffer. And He tells them that He has eagerly desired to have this meal? Why? Because it is a time for last words. It is a time for the most important teachings. It is a time to explain what it all means, as it is about to “find fulfillment.” And although it is fulfilled with the death and resurrection of Christ, it is not completely fulfilled until Jesus returns. Today, here we are, about 2000 years later, and Jesus has not yet eaten it again.
After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." – Luke 22:17-19
In terms of the traditional Passover service, this may have been the second of the four cups. And Jesus repeats His message, that He will not drink it again until “the kingdom of God comes.” And in one sense the kingdom of God has come – in a sense we are that kingdom – but in another sense we again need to wait until Jesus returns. And again, 2000 years later, Jesus has not yet taken up the second Passover cup again.
And then Jesus took the bread, broke it with a snap, and said something dramatically revolutionary – He said that the former thing was a shadow of a much more important thing, that His own body would be a sacrifice broken for you.
In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray Me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays Him." They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. – Luke 22:20-23
And then they shared a meal, in the Passover tradition. And the meal was followed with the third cup, and Jesus again says something revolutionary, that this former thing was also a shadow, that from now on it’s real meaning is known – that it represents Jesus’ blood, poured out for you. But then Jesus goes on to talk about betrayal and the fact that there is a betrayer at that very table.
Let’s talk a bit more about Judas. Did he have a choice in his sin to betray Jesus, or was he simply overpowered, controlled, possessed, by Satan? This makes it pretty clear that Judas absolutely had a choice. He had always had a choice. He had a choice when he chose, as it says in John 12:6, to be a thief. He was in charge of the moneybag, and he helped himself to what was put into it. John shows the depths of Judas’ hypocrisy when he points out that being a thief was the real reason Judas was so upset about Mary wasting money on anointing Jesus.
Have you ever heard an unbeliever say, “If only Jesus did a miracle I could personally see, I would become a believer.” I confess that I used to say this. But this is bad thinking. The truth is that if you were opposed to believing in Jesus, then if Jesus did a hundred miracles you could personally see, it wouldn’t change a thing. Look at Judas! He was with Jesus for the whole three years! He saw everything! He saw the miraculous healings, the feeding the thousands, Jesus’ authority over demons, over the weather, over events, His miraculous knowledge, and most of all he saw Jesus. How could anyone be with Jesus day in and day out, hearing His divine wisdom, seeing His compassion, His love, His confidence, His encouragement, His inner strength, His heart, for all that time and not be won over? How could he observe Zacchaeus giving up His money-centered ways and beginning to live a totally different life, one devoted to Jesus, and not confess his own sins and join him? The answer is that he had hardened his heart; he had given Satan a foothold, and despite having a 3-year front row seat to observe the truly greatest man who ever lived, he chose the path of darkness and destruction.
In the midst of this extremely important meal, as Jesus is telling them His last words, it is hard for me to see how Jesus does not become discouraged. On the one hand, Judas is there, which is bad enough, but then the other 11 disciples appear to begin to argue about who the betrayer would be. Honestly this reminds me of situations where you want your children to be on their best behavior and then they do something that just embarrasses you to pieces. I mean, come on guys! Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to talk about other people in their presence? If they are accusing each other directly – “I think it is you, John!” – that is almost worse!
Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. – Luke 22:24-27
Speaking of “worse,” it becomes worse, much worse, when they switch from arguing about who is the most horrible to arguing about who is the most wonderful. Jesus’ patient response is a lesson for parents. Jesus doesn’t lose His cool one bit, but captures back their attention and explains that greatness is measured by humility and willingness to serve.
Was this the first time they had heard this lesson? No. In Luke 14:11, Jesus said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.” In Luke 18:14, Jesus said the exact same thing! And it came up again and again in other parables and situations. But hearing it over and over wasn’t enough.
The way Jesus explains it here is interesting. He forces you to realize that you think like the world. “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table?” Yes, Jesus, it’s the one at the table, of course! “No, it’s not,” Jesus replies. “You are wrong. You think like the world.”
And then Jesus gives the ultimate answer to this by using Himself, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as an example. “I am,” He says, “among you as one who serves.” And although not described here, when Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, He makes the message even more plain with His own example.
By the way, we had some really great people here yesterday. Specifically, I am thinking of some of our younger people – Daniel, Sarah, Taryn, Isaac, Grace, and Rita took on the role of servant and worked super hard during our church work day yesterday, and the front of the church looks much better because of it. Based on yesterday, you guys are the greatest among us. Now after church, don’t go off arguing about which one of you was the greatest!
You are those who have stood by Me in My trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as My Father conferred one on Me, so that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. – Luke 22:28-30
Jesus is saying some incredibly encouraging things here. Stop worrying about who is the greatest, guys! It is kind of two billionaires arguing about who is richest. Who cares? You are both ridiculously rich! You could both buy entire countries if you wanted to! So it is with Jesus’ disciples, and so it is with us. As Paul writes in Ephesians 1:
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. – Eph. 1:18-19a
Continuing on in Luke:
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know Me." – Luke 22:31-34
How interesting that Jesus calls Peter by his former name, Simon, here. What happened to being called the “Rock”? It doesn’t seem appropriate, given the subject matter. And once again, we are back to discussing Satan.
Notice that, just like in Job, Satan has asked to sift Peter. Satan has to ask. He is not some all-powerful “anti-God” figure, although he probably wishes he was. Even in his rebellion, Satan is not really a free agent. God works things out for the good of those who love Him.
What does Satan want to do to Peter? He wants to “sift him as wheat.” This is an idiom, a highly visual one. When you sift wheat, you shake it violently over a sieve, trying to tear apart the wheat from the chaff. Allow me to make it even more vivid. Picture Peter in a giant sieve with crisscrossing bars, and picture a giant picking up this cage and beginning to violently shake the cage so that Peter will fall out. As the cage begins to shake, Peter desperately looks for something to hold on to. In the cage are two bars attached together that Peter realizes can be held on to. By holding onto the bars, Peter realizes that he and the bars together are too large to fall through the sieve. The bars are in the shape of a cross. Written on the bars is the word “faith.” Three times, Peter is very nearly separated from the bars, and, battered and bruised, three times he comes very close to falling through the cage, to the point that even most of his entire body has passed out of the cage, but each time he manages to scramble back and hold again to the cross.
What does Satan desire to do to Peter? He desires to separate him from his faith, to get him to despair, so that he will permanently turn away from God, rebelling against Him. Do you think Satan desired to do this to Peter only? Of course not! He desired this for all the disciples, and he desires this for you and me. Separating people from their faith and getting them to rebel against God is Satan’s grand desire. He tried this with Job. He tried this with Adam and Eve. He tried this in the vision with the high priest Joshua. He tried this with Jesus. He tried this with Peter and the other disciples. And he tries this with you and me.
But Jesus does not just stand idly by. He prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail. And I am certain that He prays for us that our faith may not fail. When Jesus prays for something, is it even possible that His desire will not be granted? Except perhaps for His prayer at Gethsemane, and as we will see next week, not really even there, Jesus always receive a “Yes” to His prayers, because His prayers are always in the center of God the Father’s will. And so our faith, if we ever really had faith in Jesus, is sure to carry us through Satan’s sifting.
Listen to what Peter wrote about faith in Jesus years later:
In His great mercy He (God the Father) has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. – I Peter 1:3-7
We will save verses 35-38 until next week. But I want to say two more things about the related topics of Satan, sifting, and faith. First, notice that in this passage from I Peter, Peter uses the word grief. Grief is the right word for the Greek here. This word implies all the things that go along with grief: shock, denial, mourning, weeping, anger, and so on. You don’t grieve when you just have a challenging day. You grieve when the really major stuff happens. We are going to go through fire.
Why does God allow Satan to pick us up, throw us on that giant sifter, and let him shake us as violently as he can? I’m not sure even Satan really understands this, so maybe I should talk more quietly. Satan thinks he is sifting us to remove our faith from us, but what he is really doing is removing all the junk, all that is keeping us from knowing and loving God better, from us. The result of Satan’s work will be more praise, more glory to God, more honoring and worshiping His Name! Satan’s evil work is being continually turned into good, into glory! Even Satan’s work in getting Judas to betray Jesus, in getting Jesus crucified, was for God’s glory. I might even argue that out of all of God’s creation, the one created being who will ultimately do the most to expand God’s glory and praise is Satan! Like I said, I don’t think Satan really understands this, so keep it quiet.
My final point goes back to Jesus’ words to Peter in verses 31-34. In the middle of these words, Jesus gives Peter an instruction, something to do. What is it? Strengthen your brothers. This may well be the first message Jesus ever gave to the church, because Peter and the disciples were the church. The nature of Satan’s sifting is that we don’t all go through it to the same degrees at the same times. Those who can should strengthen the faith of their brothers (and sisters). As essential as the Great Commission is to our purpose here on earth, the command to “strengthen your brothers” (and it is a command) came first. When you are encouraged, encourage others – go out of your way to do this! When you are encouraged, seek other people out. Call them or visit them, and pass along your encouragement. And when you are discouraged, when you are being sifted (and by the way, some sifting is entirely internal – it doesn’t have to always have an external trial as a cause), when you are discouraged, seek other people out. (That’s the same thing I said to do when you are encouraged!) Allow the church to function as the church. Allow people to get into your life and strengthen you. This is not my prescription; this is God’s prescription for what ails you. Peter, fallen Peter, took Jesus’ command to heart, and when you look at the Peter in Acts and in his letters, there is almost no resemblance to the Peter we read about in the Gospels. Jesus desires the same of each of us. Strengthen your brothers. Strengthen your sisters.
Over the past several weeks we have seen more and more signs that our year-long journey into the book of Luke is rapidly coming to an end. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the foal, or colt, of a donkey amid shouts of “Hosanna” and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” and He knew that He was entering Jerusalem for the last time, in this life. As He looked down upon Jerusalem, He wept, because He knew it would not be long until it and its people were utterly destroyed. Last week, John taught from Luke 21, where Jesus gave more details about what He correctly foresaw would happen to Jerusalem. Jesus taught about signs of this as well as signs of His eventual return.
And upon entering Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple itself and personally threw out all of the money changers and sellers of sacrificial animals, saying that they had turned the place into a den of thieves. The entire sacrificial system of the Old Covenant made between God and the representative of the Israelites, Moses, had been perverted into something where claims of forgiveness for sin were simply bought and sold for profit. He hated what had happened with the zeal of God His Father because the shadow of a future reality had turned into a game of politics, power, and a system where the powerful took advantage of the weak. They made a mockery of the reality of the effects of sin, and they made a mockery of the high price of sin. They made a mockery of what Jesus had come to Jerusalem to do.
And while in Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus had a last real conversation with the scribes, priests, and teachers of the Law, and the conversation was ugly. They only wanted to try to trap Jesus, not really listen to Him. Indeed, there really was nothing left to say. The sides had been drawn. On one side were the leaders, the priests and teachers, those in power, who simply wanted Jesus dead but were afraid to do something in public because of the massive crowds of people who followed Jesus, who celebrated Him, even worshipped Him. What would happen if they tried something? They worried that there would be full-scale riots, and then the Romans would come in and it would be total “game over” for all of them. But if they didn’t do something soon, who knew what would happen? The people might well riot anyway and try to make Jesus their king. And as far as they knew, this is exactly what Jesus wanted to do. In John 11, you can read one discussion the leaders had where they discussed their quandary. The high priest, Caiaphas, is there, and he makes the amazingly ironic statement that “it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” The statement is ironic because it is actually true, but not in the way Caiaphas meant.
The “other side,” of course, was Jesus and the disciples, and the massive crowds. Or was it? Was it really all of the disciples? Were the crowds really unswervingly on Jesus’ side? We will look at these questions a bit today, but much more will play out in the next few weeks.
Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present. – Luke 22:3-6
Let’s talk about Satan for a few minutes. We know that he is a fallen angel, a former prince of the angels, who led a rebellion against God, drawing many additional angels to his cause. His name is literally accuser, and this is one of his favorite ways to tempt others to join in rebellion against God.
Appearing as the Serpent, Satan led Adam and Eve to rebel against God, and the result for mankind was much like the result that happened to Satan and those angels who joined him: they were cast out of a good place and placed themselves at enmity with God.
But Satan is not exactly a “free agent” – God is sovereign, and He allows Satan to operate because God has an even greater plan that causes all things to work out for the good of those who love God, and amazingly, God even uses someone like Satan to unwittingly advance this plan.
Satan has a prominent role in the book of Job. Recall that Satan needed permission from God to make bad things happen to Job. Also remember that Satan wanted to tempt Job to despair against God and sin, and His belief was that Job would quickly curse God once God took away His many blessings on Job.
One passage you my not have thought about regarding Satan is in the book of Zechariah, where he appears in a vision. In Chapter 3, Satan is seen standing next to the high priest, Joshua, accusing him. Then Satan is rebuked by an angel for doing this. The whole vision, which begins in Chapter 1, is fascinating and clearly messianic – even the name Joshua is a variant of Yeshua, which is the Hebrew name for Jesus. But even more pointedly, verse 8 says that everything is “symbolic of things to come,” and then the angel who is speaking goes on to say that God will send His servant, a Branch, who will remove the sin of the entire land in a single day.
And Satan does of course tempt Jesus in the desert after Jesus goes 40 days without food. His goal is to get even Jesus to rebel against God. And when Peter rebukes Jesus for suggesting that He is going to be killed in Jerusalem, Jesus calls Peter “Satan,” because the effect of Peter’s comments was Satan-like in that they tempted Jesus, once again, to rebel against God’s perfect, but unimaginably difficult, plan for His life.
Here, we see that Satan gets Judas, one of the Twelve, to rebel against Jesus, and therefore, ultimately against God. Satan must have seen Judas as quite a prize. Now did Satan have a “master plan”? Didn’t He know that it was God’s will for Jesus to die on the cross? If so, why would he lead Judas to make things move in that direction? Here are my personal thoughts on this, for what it is worth. I think Satan just plain hated God, and wanted everyone to rebel against Him. By using Judas, he made Judas rebel, and he also enabled the Jewish leaders to rebel. Once Jesus actually got on a cross, Satan, I believe, thought he would be able to make Jesus despair and then Satan would have Him, the ultimate prize, rebel against God, and in so doing, would destroy God’s great, if mysterious (to Satan), plan.
From parallel passages we know that Judas agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Some say that this was a really small amount of money, but others say and I think it was equal to 120 denarii, that is, 120 days worth of wages, four months. Perhaps about $7000 in today’s money in our culture. By the way, Exodus 21:32 says that if a bull gores and kills your slave, the owner of the bull needs to pay you 30 pieces of silver. In other words, 30 pieces of silver is the worth of a slave. How appropriate! Jesus, in denying Satan, and remaining faithful to God on the cross, was the ultimate servant, or slave, and in the world’s eyes that is what He was worth.
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked. He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there." They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. – Luke 22:7-13a
I don’t know about you, but I find all this cloak and dagger stuff kind of weird. It almost reminds me of a scene from a 007 movie or the old TV series, Get Smart. But perhaps that isn’t such a bad way to view this! It really is a pre-arranged secret meeting with a secret agent. And it is much more than this: it is a miracle, much like the miraculous way in which the colt was provided for Jesus to ride on. Presumably, the man carrying a jar of water is a servant of the owner of the house, and, presumably, the owner of the house has been told to expect these exact things to happen, either through a vision or from a visiting angel. This actually reminds me of the various visions and angelic messages that happened around the time of Jesus’ birth.
Now why did Jesus do this? I can think a few reasons. 1) He knew about Judas, and didn’t want to give Judas a chance to betray Him until the proper time, the time that God the Father had intended. If it had happened too early, Jesus would not have been able to give the disciples His final and most important teachings before His crucifixion. 2) Jesus wanted to keep building the disciples’ faith, because He knew that very shortly their faith would be severely tested. 3) Jesus wanted to bless a faith-filled God-worshiper (the owner of the house) with the opportunity to see God’s miraculous power at work, not to mention being the host of the most important dinner meeting in the history of the universe.
Now I should mention that some have suggested a non-supernatural explanation for all this that it was simply the house of a follower, perhaps a relative of a disciple that Jesus had pre-arranged to meet. This is certainly possible. But to my ears, the way Luke writes this, that Jesus said to do such-and-such, and then it happened exactly like this, makes it sound like it was noteworthy that it did happen like He said. If it were a routine pre-arrangement of a meeting, I would expect Luke to simply write that they met in this way and to skip the part about them asking.
So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." – Luke 22:13b-16
I don’t have time to go into the details of what the Passover service would look like, but if you have come to one of the Passover services I have led in the past, you have heard a lot of this. The key elements were wine sufficient for four cups, flat cakes of unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and a lamb sacrificed at the temple. Because of this latter condition, people from all over Israel would come to Jerusalem for the Passover. Passover meals were therefore a lot like our Thanksgivings, in that extended families would often be staying together. The difference of course, is that for Thanksgiving, one family goes from point A to point B while another goes from point B to point C and another goes from point C to point A, so no one place gets particularly crowded. But for the Passover, people were coming from everywhere to Jerusalem.
Jesus’ words are interesting. He gets right to the point, to remind them that He is about to suffer. And He tells them that He has eagerly desired to have this meal? Why? Because it is a time for last words. It is a time for the most important teachings. It is a time to explain what it all means, as it is about to “find fulfillment.” And although it is fulfilled with the death and resurrection of Christ, it is not completely fulfilled until Jesus returns. Today, here we are, about 2000 years later, and Jesus has not yet eaten it again.
After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." – Luke 22:17-19
In terms of the traditional Passover service, this may have been the second of the four cups. And Jesus repeats His message, that He will not drink it again until “the kingdom of God comes.” And in one sense the kingdom of God has come – in a sense we are that kingdom – but in another sense we again need to wait until Jesus returns. And again, 2000 years later, Jesus has not yet taken up the second Passover cup again.
And then Jesus took the bread, broke it with a snap, and said something dramatically revolutionary – He said that the former thing was a shadow of a much more important thing, that His own body would be a sacrifice broken for you.
In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray Me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays Him." They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. – Luke 22:20-23
And then they shared a meal, in the Passover tradition. And the meal was followed with the third cup, and Jesus again says something revolutionary, that this former thing was also a shadow, that from now on it’s real meaning is known – that it represents Jesus’ blood, poured out for you. But then Jesus goes on to talk about betrayal and the fact that there is a betrayer at that very table.
Let’s talk a bit more about Judas. Did he have a choice in his sin to betray Jesus, or was he simply overpowered, controlled, possessed, by Satan? This makes it pretty clear that Judas absolutely had a choice. He had always had a choice. He had a choice when he chose, as it says in John 12:6, to be a thief. He was in charge of the moneybag, and he helped himself to what was put into it. John shows the depths of Judas’ hypocrisy when he points out that being a thief was the real reason Judas was so upset about Mary wasting money on anointing Jesus.
Have you ever heard an unbeliever say, “If only Jesus did a miracle I could personally see, I would become a believer.” I confess that I used to say this. But this is bad thinking. The truth is that if you were opposed to believing in Jesus, then if Jesus did a hundred miracles you could personally see, it wouldn’t change a thing. Look at Judas! He was with Jesus for the whole three years! He saw everything! He saw the miraculous healings, the feeding the thousands, Jesus’ authority over demons, over the weather, over events, His miraculous knowledge, and most of all he saw Jesus. How could anyone be with Jesus day in and day out, hearing His divine wisdom, seeing His compassion, His love, His confidence, His encouragement, His inner strength, His heart, for all that time and not be won over? How could he observe Zacchaeus giving up His money-centered ways and beginning to live a totally different life, one devoted to Jesus, and not confess his own sins and join him? The answer is that he had hardened his heart; he had given Satan a foothold, and despite having a 3-year front row seat to observe the truly greatest man who ever lived, he chose the path of darkness and destruction.
In the midst of this extremely important meal, as Jesus is telling them His last words, it is hard for me to see how Jesus does not become discouraged. On the one hand, Judas is there, which is bad enough, but then the other 11 disciples appear to begin to argue about who the betrayer would be. Honestly this reminds me of situations where you want your children to be on their best behavior and then they do something that just embarrasses you to pieces. I mean, come on guys! Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to talk about other people in their presence? If they are accusing each other directly – “I think it is you, John!” – that is almost worse!
Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. – Luke 22:24-27
Speaking of “worse,” it becomes worse, much worse, when they switch from arguing about who is the most horrible to arguing about who is the most wonderful. Jesus’ patient response is a lesson for parents. Jesus doesn’t lose His cool one bit, but captures back their attention and explains that greatness is measured by humility and willingness to serve.
Was this the first time they had heard this lesson? No. In Luke 14:11, Jesus said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.” In Luke 18:14, Jesus said the exact same thing! And it came up again and again in other parables and situations. But hearing it over and over wasn’t enough.
The way Jesus explains it here is interesting. He forces you to realize that you think like the world. “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table?” Yes, Jesus, it’s the one at the table, of course! “No, it’s not,” Jesus replies. “You are wrong. You think like the world.”
And then Jesus gives the ultimate answer to this by using Himself, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as an example. “I am,” He says, “among you as one who serves.” And although not described here, when Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, He makes the message even more plain with His own example.
By the way, we had some really great people here yesterday. Specifically, I am thinking of some of our younger people – Daniel, Sarah, Taryn, Isaac, Grace, and Rita took on the role of servant and worked super hard during our church work day yesterday, and the front of the church looks much better because of it. Based on yesterday, you guys are the greatest among us. Now after church, don’t go off arguing about which one of you was the greatest!
You are those who have stood by Me in My trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as My Father conferred one on Me, so that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. – Luke 22:28-30
Jesus is saying some incredibly encouraging things here. Stop worrying about who is the greatest, guys! It is kind of two billionaires arguing about who is richest. Who cares? You are both ridiculously rich! You could both buy entire countries if you wanted to! So it is with Jesus’ disciples, and so it is with us. As Paul writes in Ephesians 1:
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. – Eph. 1:18-19a
Continuing on in Luke:
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know Me." – Luke 22:31-34
How interesting that Jesus calls Peter by his former name, Simon, here. What happened to being called the “Rock”? It doesn’t seem appropriate, given the subject matter. And once again, we are back to discussing Satan.
Notice that, just like in Job, Satan has asked to sift Peter. Satan has to ask. He is not some all-powerful “anti-God” figure, although he probably wishes he was. Even in his rebellion, Satan is not really a free agent. God works things out for the good of those who love Him.
What does Satan want to do to Peter? He wants to “sift him as wheat.” This is an idiom, a highly visual one. When you sift wheat, you shake it violently over a sieve, trying to tear apart the wheat from the chaff. Allow me to make it even more vivid. Picture Peter in a giant sieve with crisscrossing bars, and picture a giant picking up this cage and beginning to violently shake the cage so that Peter will fall out. As the cage begins to shake, Peter desperately looks for something to hold on to. In the cage are two bars attached together that Peter realizes can be held on to. By holding onto the bars, Peter realizes that he and the bars together are too large to fall through the sieve. The bars are in the shape of a cross. Written on the bars is the word “faith.” Three times, Peter is very nearly separated from the bars, and, battered and bruised, three times he comes very close to falling through the cage, to the point that even most of his entire body has passed out of the cage, but each time he manages to scramble back and hold again to the cross.
What does Satan desire to do to Peter? He desires to separate him from his faith, to get him to despair, so that he will permanently turn away from God, rebelling against Him. Do you think Satan desired to do this to Peter only? Of course not! He desired this for all the disciples, and he desires this for you and me. Separating people from their faith and getting them to rebel against God is Satan’s grand desire. He tried this with Job. He tried this with Adam and Eve. He tried this in the vision with the high priest Joshua. He tried this with Jesus. He tried this with Peter and the other disciples. And he tries this with you and me.
But Jesus does not just stand idly by. He prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail. And I am certain that He prays for us that our faith may not fail. When Jesus prays for something, is it even possible that His desire will not be granted? Except perhaps for His prayer at Gethsemane, and as we will see next week, not really even there, Jesus always receive a “Yes” to His prayers, because His prayers are always in the center of God the Father’s will. And so our faith, if we ever really had faith in Jesus, is sure to carry us through Satan’s sifting.
Listen to what Peter wrote about faith in Jesus years later:
In His great mercy He (God the Father) has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. – I Peter 1:3-7
We will save verses 35-38 until next week. But I want to say two more things about the related topics of Satan, sifting, and faith. First, notice that in this passage from I Peter, Peter uses the word grief. Grief is the right word for the Greek here. This word implies all the things that go along with grief: shock, denial, mourning, weeping, anger, and so on. You don’t grieve when you just have a challenging day. You grieve when the really major stuff happens. We are going to go through fire.
Why does God allow Satan to pick us up, throw us on that giant sifter, and let him shake us as violently as he can? I’m not sure even Satan really understands this, so maybe I should talk more quietly. Satan thinks he is sifting us to remove our faith from us, but what he is really doing is removing all the junk, all that is keeping us from knowing and loving God better, from us. The result of Satan’s work will be more praise, more glory to God, more honoring and worshiping His Name! Satan’s evil work is being continually turned into good, into glory! Even Satan’s work in getting Judas to betray Jesus, in getting Jesus crucified, was for God’s glory. I might even argue that out of all of God’s creation, the one created being who will ultimately do the most to expand God’s glory and praise is Satan! Like I said, I don’t think Satan really understands this, so keep it quiet.
My final point goes back to Jesus’ words to Peter in verses 31-34. In the middle of these words, Jesus gives Peter an instruction, something to do. What is it? Strengthen your brothers. This may well be the first message Jesus ever gave to the church, because Peter and the disciples were the church. The nature of Satan’s sifting is that we don’t all go through it to the same degrees at the same times. Those who can should strengthen the faith of their brothers (and sisters). As essential as the Great Commission is to our purpose here on earth, the command to “strengthen your brothers” (and it is a command) came first. When you are encouraged, encourage others – go out of your way to do this! When you are encouraged, seek other people out. Call them or visit them, and pass along your encouragement. And when you are discouraged, when you are being sifted (and by the way, some sifting is entirely internal – it doesn’t have to always have an external trial as a cause), when you are discouraged, seek other people out. (That’s the same thing I said to do when you are encouraged!) Allow the church to function as the church. Allow people to get into your life and strengthen you. This is not my prescription; this is God’s prescription for what ails you. Peter, fallen Peter, took Jesus’ command to heart, and when you look at the Peter in Acts and in his letters, there is almost no resemblance to the Peter we read about in the Gospels. Jesus desires the same of each of us. Strengthen your brothers. Strengthen your sisters.
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