As we follow this surging blood-thirsty mob from the Garden of Gethsemane, we come to the official quarters of the Jewish high priest.  The hour is late – approaching midnight or shortly thereafter.  The night is dark.  We have move from the quiet and solitude of an olive garden to a crowded bustling court yard.  The scene has radically shifted from one of tranquility to one of tension.  The atmosphere has changed from one of prayer to one of provocation.  Like ominous storm clouds rolling in – the darkness of the night is engulfing.  And the tenseness in the air is palpable!  The Passion of the Christ intensifies.

We also turn our attention from the friends of Christ to the foes of Christ.  At this point in the passion narrative, Jesus has now been betrayed by a false friend, and abandoned by His true friends. All have fled in fear to “save their own necks.”

Let’s follow Jesus then, as He is forcefully “…led away…to the house of the high priest” by this mixed mob of Romans and Jews (Luke 22:54).  John specifically tells us that this vigilante action was carried out by a “…detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials.”  Together they had “…arrested Jesus…bound Him and brought him first to Annas…” (John 18:12).

How ironical it is that the first place Jesus was taken to was the official residence of the high priest – who that year was Annas.  We will look more at him in a future chapter – along with his father-in-law and cohort in religious intrigue, Caiaphas.  But for now we need to pause and ponder how often it is that the religious establishment turns out to be the greatest enemy and antagonist of the Lord Jesus. 

For three years much of popular opinion was supportive of Jesus.  But during that same period of time the authorities and power brokers of the Jewish religious establishment were increasingly hostile to Him.  He was upsetting their theological apple cart!  He was threatening their religious control over the people.  His popularity was eroding theirs.  The “new wine” of His teaching just could not be contained in the old rigid wineskins of their Jewish theology and “tradition of the elders.”

Not much has changed in Judaism to this day.  Nor in liberal leftist Christianity.  Both are increasingly hostile to the authentic Christ of the Bible.  They too have arrested the historical Jesus and replaced Him with one of their own making.  Just like Jesus was stripped of His robes at His trial, this “politically correct Jesus” has also been stripped of His deity.  In trial after trial through the “research and scholarship” of liberal theologians, this Jesus has been “de-mythologized.”  Both His perfect deity and perfect humanity have been crucified on the cross of rationalism.  As a result, He has been stripped of His virgin birth…His miracles…His healings…His resurrection…His Ascension…His Second Coming.  All that is left is the empty shell of a vague Jesus who cannot save and empower because His body is still lying in some unknown grave in Palestine!

And yet this Lenten Season, many of the very denominations who have stripped and denuded Jesus of His deity and uniqueness – will still go through the charade of Lenten Services.  Just like the Jewish leaders in the First Century, they will continue the “pomp and circumstance” of their religious traditions – replete with all of the “hails, smells and bells” of religiosity! 

Just as surely as the Jewish leaders went through the motions of Passover before they arrested Jesus, many of the religious leaders in our day will observe Lent, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  Dressed in the proper robes and vestments they will pompously lead congregations in liturgies, hymns, prayers and creedal confessions.  Some will even fast as a manifestation of their piety.  But because the Christ they believe in is no longer worthy of belief, their worship will be little more than a hollow religious shell – devoid of the power of salvation, healing, deliverance and transformation! 

Sadly, God would once again say of them what He said of this “vain worship” by many in the Jewish establishment during the days of Isaiah – that Jesus quoted of those in His own day: 

“These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.  Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men” (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8). 

As sincere and well-intentioned as it might be, this is not the kind of authentic worship that the true and living God seeks.  Virtually all people in every culture “worship.”  But the vast majority is “vain worship” because it is not based upon the inspiration of God’s Word and God’s Spirit (Matthew 6:5-6). 

When Jesus was talking to a woman of Samaria – who were zealous worshipers of God, He made it clear that their worship was in vain.  They were focused on the place of worship rather than the Person of worship.  Just like the ancient Samaritans, many churches and denominations today are still more focused on the place of worship…the procedure of worship…the pomp of worship – than they are the Person of worship. 

Because of all of our propensity to “vain worship,” we need to ponder afresh this Lenten Season the words of Jesus to the confused Samaritan woman about the only kind of worship that is acceptable to God:

“A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  For God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).

So whether corporately or privately, I pray that your Lenten worship will be that total dedication of your life to the Lord Jesus as a “living sacrifice” which is the “spiritual act of worship” that is pleasing to God (Romans 12:1-2)!

Now, before we completely let Gethsemane fade from our minds, we must pause to consider one final act of mercy performed by Jesus. It was directed toward one of His enemies. Even though no mercy was extended to Him, Jesus extended it to others. At first we only know this person as “…the servant of the high priest.”  Let’s briefly look at this last healing miracle of Jesus before He is led off of the stage of Gethsemane.  That will be the focus of our Lenten meditation tomorrow.  And I assure you that every one of you will be able to identify with this “servant of the high priest.”  His story is your story.  And his story can forever change the outcome of your story!

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