Denial That We
Did It
My
brother who is a year and a half younger than I am bought an old Camaro when he
was 17 years old. He had it parked out
front of our house on the side of the street.
One evening a kid from town that it’d be a good idea to drive down our
residential street backwards, but he swerved too close to the curb and scraped
the entire side of my brother’s Camaro.
But no one was around and no one immediately came out of their house to
see what was going on, so this kid drove away.
Fortunately, one of our neighbors was looking out the window and saw
what happened so she called the police.
When the police picked this kid up he denied ever doing anything of the
sort. But once they checked his car they
found the tell-tall scrapes and dents where he had run into my brother’s
Camaro. They informed my brother that
they had found the one who had run into his car - a kid that my brother vaguely
knew from around town - he was reimbursed by the insurance comapny, and all was
well.
The very
next week my brother and I were working together at a pizza place. And who should walk in but the kid who hit his
car, accompanied by his girlfriend and grandmother. My brother immediately goes up to the counter
to take their order: “Hey, you didn’t hit my car on the way in, did you?” he
asks. “Uhh, I don’t know what you mean,”
the kid replies. “My blue Camaro, the
one parked right out there on the street, you didn’t run into it, right? Or didn’t you drive down the street backwards
this time.” His girlfriend and his
grandmother both look at him and say, “What is this guy talking about?” “Oh, you haven’t told them, have you?” my
brother replies. “Well, your boyfriend,
your grandson was driving down the street backwards earlier this week, ran into
my car, and then drove off. I just wanted
to make sure that he didn’t hit my car again tonight!” And this kid’s girlfriend and grandmother
start giving it to him on both sides. I
can’t imagine it was a pleasant night for that teenage boy as he rode home in
between those two.
But
that’s what happens when someone denies what they have done: they get caught. This kid fled the scene of a crime -
pretending that he hadn’t done anything wrong, he denied doing it when the cops
stopped at his house, he denied knowing anything about it when my brother
brought it up, and even when he was caught and had to pay for it and was
confronted with it, he still didn’t admit his wrongdoing to the people that
were closest to him! What a prime
example of the way we as human beings think!
We deny that we have done anything wrong. And then if it becomes clear that we actually
did do something wrong, we don’t readily admit it because we don’t want anyone
else to know about it. Rarely are we
going to voluntarily stand up and claim, “I did it! It was me!
I was wrong! I’m to blame! I take full responsibility!” More often than not, our mouths are filled
with excuses and alibis and denials.
Denial That It Was a Sin
Jesus
told quite a few parables to people who denied that they had done anything
wrong. And the parable that we have in
front of us today is no different. Jesus
was loving enough to point out their sin, but they refused to admit that they
were at fault. He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard,
rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the
tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the
tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also
they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He
sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What
shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect
him.’ “But when the tenants saw him,
they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him,
and the inheritance will be ours.’ So
they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of
the vineyard do to them? He will come
and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “May
this never be!” Jesus looked directly at
them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “‘The stone
the builders rejected has become the capstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be
broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” The teachers of the law and the chief priests
looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken
this parable against them.
“You
have killed God’s prophets,” Jesus meant to say to the teachers of the law and
the chief priests. “And you will murder
his Son. And my Father is about to take
the inheritance away from you and give it to somebody else.” But the men to whom Jesus was speaking would
not listen. Instead, they “looked for a
way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable
against them.” They weren’t going to
admit that they were wrong. They certainly
weren’t going to come clean and say, “We did it. We were wrong. We’re to blame. We take full responsibility.” Instead they wanted to get rid of the one who
had pointed out their sins so that they could continue to convince themselves
that they were OK.
People
have always been good at convincing themselves that they are OK. We
are good at doing that, aren’t we? We
are experts at convincing ourselves that what we did wasn’t really that bad
because it didn’t hurt anyone and no one knows about it. We are somehow able to trick ourselves into
thinking that what we said was completely justified because that person
deserved it. We’ve gotten very
proficient over the years at persuading ourselves that what we thought wasn’t
out fault; it was the fault of the person who made us think what we did! We deny and deny and deny and we do
everything that we can from coming clean.
Of
course, no matter how many times you deny what you’ve done and no matter how
deeply you can trick your own mind into thinking something else, your God still
knows. He saw what you did, he heard
what you said, he was aware of what you thought, and he knows that it was
wrong. Your hand is in the cookie jar,
so to speak, as he catches you in the act.
You can deny it all you want; you can try to talk your way out of it
until you’re blue in the face; you can convince yourself that you are not
wrong; but your hand is in the cookie jar and the Lord is right there watching
you! There’s nothing you can do about
it! You’re guilty! But there’s something that Jesus could do
about it.
Jesus Didn’t
Deny Sin, He Accepted It
In just
over a week and a half we’ll meet here at night for what is called “Maundy
Thursday.” It is the night when we
commemorate what Jesus did for us before he was crucified. And on that night, when Jesus was arrested in
the Garden and taken before the high priest, he was put on trial. The
chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against
Jesus so that they could put him to death.
But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able
to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” Then the high
priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this
testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent (Matt 26:59-62).
I think
I would have stood up for myself in that situation! If false witnesses were coming forward and
accusing me of things I never did, if other people stood up and misquoted me,
trying to imply that I meant something that I did not, I think I would have
said something in my defense! “I didn’t
do it! I didn’t say those things! Those are false accusations! There’s nothing to support those claims! I didn’t do anything wrong!” But instead of saying any of those things
“Jesus remained silent.”
Later on
Jesus was in front of Pontius Pilate on trial in a higher court of law. When
he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then 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 (Matt. 27:12-14).
Again Jesus doesn’t say a word!
Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you stand
up for yourself? Wouldn’t you deny that
you had done anything wrong if you were the perfect, holy, Son of God
himself? “But Jesus made no reply, not
even to a single charge.” In fact, about
the only moments he ever did say anything while he was on trial in front of
either Pilate or the high priest was when they asked him if he was the Son of
God or the King of the Jews. “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus said
(Matt. 26:64; 27:11).
Why did
Jesus act the way he did? Why did Jesus
remain silent when he was being falsely accused and only give a brief answer in
the affirmative when he was asked about who he was? It seems unusual for an innocent man to not
say anything when being falsely accused.
In fact, silence in those situations oftentimes indicates guilt. So why didn’t Jesus defend himself? Jesus acted that way because what he was really
saying was, “I did it! It was me! I was wrong!
I’m to blame! I take full
responsibility!” Now Jesus hadn’t done
anything wrong, of course. Jesus didn’t
deserve what he went through. But he
loved us enough to stand up and say “I did it” anyway so that we wouldn’t be
caught. So when Pilate brought out that
murderer Barabbas and asked the people who they wanted to be released to them,
Jesus didn’t say anything in his own defense.
And when they forced him to carry his own cross up the hill to Calvary,
Jesus didn’t complain. And when they
were nailing him to that beam of wood he didn’t try to run away, but instead
said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” “I did it.
It was me! I was wrong! I’m to blame!
I take full responsibility!”
Jesus was not about to let you suffer.
Jesus was not about to let you undergo the agonies of hell. And so he willingly took the fall for you
even though he did nothing wrong.
I Did It But He
Paid For It
And his
Father agreed with his Son’s decision.
God the Father actually sent his Son to do exactly that: to take the
blame. And so when Jesus was up there
suffering on the cross, his own Father basically said, “It was you, Jesus. You did it.
You’re to blame. You are
guilty. And I will punish you
accordingly.” I can’t even imagine what
the full wrath of God is like without restraint. But that is what Jesus experienced there that
Friday afternoon: the unharnessed, unchecked, righteous anger of an almighty
God. And I can’t help thinking that it
should have been me. Because I did
it! It was me! I was wrong!
I’m to blame! I should have taken
full responsibility! But Jesus wasn’t
going to let that happen. He loved me
too much. He loved you too much.
And so
there is no use denying your sins now, is there? There will be times when you are ashamed
about what you have done and there will be times when you don’t want anyone
else to know, but what good is it to deny those sins now? The Father knows what you have done and the
Son has already paid for what you have done.
So even if you are honest enough and bold enough to say, “I did
it!” Jesus has already said, “No, I have
done it! I have paid for it! I have taken full responsibility and you
don’t ever have to worry about it again!”
And so what is there left for us to say?
We did it but Jesus paid for it. We
sinned but Jesus suffered. We were wrong
but Jesus received the wrath that was meant for us. What are we supposed to say, other than, “Yeah,
he did it! He did it! Jesus did it all! He took the blame, he took the pain, and he
will one day take me home. Jesus did
it! Don’t look at me! Look at him!
Don’t come to me! Go to him! Don’t ask me!
Ask him! Jesus is the one! Jesus did it!” And that’s exactly what Jesus wants you to
say. He wants you to know that he did it
all. And I’m glad he did.
Amen.
“You turned our
wailing into dancing; you removed our sackcloth and clothed us with joy, that
our hearts may sing to you and not be silent.
O Lord our God, we will give you thanks for ever.” - Psalm 30:11-12
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