Exposed by Mercy

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family. 

I want you to start by thinking of a moment when you’ve been caught doing something you shouldn’t have been doing. Remember what it feels like to be caught in the act—exposed, vulnerable, unable to hide, unable to undo what’s just been done.

Most of us have a memory like that. A moment of failure that still stings. And if we’re honest, it’s not usually in moments of exposure that we rise to the occasion. Instead, it is in those moments that we find out just how weak we are.

Jesus predicted such a moment for Peter. Self-confident and impetuous, Peter is about to fail. Luke wants us to see Peter failing at the very same moment Jesus proves His faithfulness. And we are meant to see ourselves in Peter.

54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance.

Jesus has been arrested by the temple authorities. He has been betrayed by Judas. We get the impression that the other disciples have scattered, but Peter is now following behind.

55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them.

56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.”

57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”

Let’s give Peter the benefit of the doubt. This is obviously a lie, but perhaps Peter justifies the lie by thinking of himself as a spy. He’s warming himself by the enemy’s fire, staying close enough to the action to see what happens. But he doesn’t want to blow his cover.

58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.”

59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.”

60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

Whatever Peter’s motives may have been, he has now lied three times. Instead of taking the heat with Jesus, he chose to protect himself.

And we should have some sympathy for Peter. We know what it feels like to believe we are doing our best only to have our efforts exposed. Self-confidence can only carry us so far. At the end of the day, we are still more concerned with ourselves than we should be.

Luke wants us to see Peter exposed in this moment, but he also wants us to see Jesus.

61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”

62 And he went out and wept bitterly.

Caught in his weakness, Peter feels shame and regret. He leaves, because he can’t bear the weight of it. He can’t face the One he has sinned against.

But switch your attention to Jesus. Jesus turns to look at Peter, and I seriously doubt it was one of those “I told you so” looks. Much more likely, it was a look of compassion and concern.

Jesus could have been pre-occupied in this moment with His own situation… the betrayal of Judas… the arrest perpetrated by His own people… the injustice of the trial and the abuse He is about to experience…

But instead, Jesus is concerned for Peter. In a few hours, Jesus will be crucified. But He’s concerned for Peter. And yes, His gaze exposes Peter at Peter’s greatest moment of weakness.

But it is not the look of a disappointed teacher or a condemning judge. It’s the look of a Savior already carrying Peter’s sin. It’s a look that says, ‘I see it all. And I’m still going to the cross—for you.’”

63 Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him.

These men are bullying the Son of God… with a single word, Jesus could have called a legion of angels to His side. He could have stopped their hearts from beating. But Jesus remained silent.

64 They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?”

This is a particularly shameful detail that Luke adds. If you can see the blows coming, you can flinch or protect yourself to lessen the impact. But this is a cruel game, where the victim is unable to see the direction of the attacks.

65 And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.

66 When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said,

67 “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe,

68 and if I ask you, you will not answer.

This is the Sanhedrin and Jesus knows that this is a spectacle. These men have already made up their minds. This is a false trial. There will be no justice.

69 But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

Remember, authority has been the theme of the past several chapters in Luke. The religious leaders believe that they have the authority. And this is a climactic moment. Jesus declares His own authority. They think Jesus is the one on trial, but Jesus claims divine authority.

Son of Man is the title Jesus most often claims for Himself. It comes from Daniel 7. Jesus is claiming to be the One who comes to establish God’s never-ending kingdom on earth.

And He knows exactly how the Sanhedrin will respond to this claim. No human would ever make this claim for Himself.

70 So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.”

In English, this sounds like Jesus is being evasive. It doesn’t sound like an affirmation or a denial. But in Greek, it is a qualified affirmation.

Jesus basically says, “Yes – but you don’t understand what that means.” And that’s exactly how they take it. They are looking for blasphemy and this statement is good enough.

71 Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.”

As far as the religious leaders are concerned, the case is now closed. They have rendered their judgment.

But what if the person on trial isn’t the one in chains—but the ones asking the questions?
The irony of this situation is that Jesus was not really the One on trial. They were.

In the 17th century, there was a political activist named John Lilburne. John was an advocate for individual rights and limiting government power during the English Civil War.

In 1649, John was charged with high treason, which is punishable by death. But during the trial, John decided not to defend himself. Instead, he used his testimony as a public platform to expose the government’s hypocrisy.

He spoke so well that the crowds outside the courtroom began cheering for him. And despite enormous pressure from the court, the jury acquitted him.

Jesus is doing something similar here. He is refusing to defend Himself. Instead, He makes a claim about His identity and flips the trial.

The Sanhedrin believes they are defending truth and righteousness by condemning a false Messiah. Instead, they are the ones committing blasphemy by rejecting the real Son of God, Truth and Righteousness Incarnate.

And Jesus is the only one in the room who sees what is really happening. He’s the only one who sees Peter. He’s the only one who sees the folly of this trial. And as Jesus walked the earth for those 33 years, He was the only one who saw everyone for who they really were.

And He sees you this morning. He sees me too. Because we are the ones on trial this morning. His testimony has not changed. Today, Jesus sits at the right hand of the power of God and He is looking at us. He sees you for who you really are.

He sees the ways you have misjudged Him. He sees the way you have neglected Him. He sees the ways you have compromised. He sees the ways you have accepted the things about the Bible you like and rejected the things you don’t. He sees the way you follow at a distance, afraid to commit.

But He’s not looking at you in disappointment. He’s looking at you with mercy. He’s inviting you to repent and believe. He’s inviting you to answer the question, “Who do you say that I am?”

Is Jesus the Son of God? Does He have the right to condemn you? Does He have the right to demand something from you? Does He have the right to decide your fate?

And does His judgment matter more to you than the world’s judgment? Do you care more about what other people think about you than the God who created you? Do you think you have the right to decide for yourself what you deserve?

Peter’s sin is not so different from the sins of the Sanhedrin. Both deny the true identity of Jesus – Peter out of fear, the Sanhedrin out of pride.

Both suppress the truth for their own reasons. Peter lies to save his own life. The Sanhedrin does it to preserve their own power.

Both sins fulfill prophecy. But only Peter weeps bitterly, broken by his sin. The Sanhedrin doubles down and follows through, unwilling to consider their guilt.

All of this sin, and all of our sin, put Jesus on the cross. But Luke 22 forces us to recognize that the Cross is going to be something more than just a theological transaction.

This is real sin against a real Person. We need to feel caught red-handed in our sin. We need to feel the weight of guilt and shame. We need to feel exposed and unable to hide, just like Peter… just like Adam and Eve did in the garden.

Because at the heart of the Gospel is a real, broken relationship with a real Creator. Everything inside us wants to run and hide. But what we need to do this morning is meet the gaze of our Savior and feel it.

And as we walk the path of the cross this week in preparation for Easter, as we walk the path of the cross in the coming weeks as we finish the Gospel of Luke, we need Jesus to look us in the eyes.

He already sees us. He sees it all. He knows our guilt better than we do. But that’s why He endured the cross.

“He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities… the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”

You may come to church with the notion that you are here to ask questions of God, but you and I are in the courtroom this morning—and the Son of God is looking at us. He sees us and He is not turning away.

What will you do with Him? Will you let Jesus expose you this morning, not to shame you… but to save you?