Hearing With Deaf Ears

Luke 22:66-71
Once Jesus' threat has grown too potent, the chief priests and elders decide, as has been determined by God ironically, that the time has come to do something about it.  They arrest Jesus and call him to account, to testify before them so they can condemn him.  They expose themselves instead in vs. 71, by evidencing that they have heard his message and "understood" it.  This excites them because now they can accuse him and hand him over to secular authorities, but the very thing that excites them actually condemns them.  They are testifying and acknowledging that they have heard the true gospel from Jesus himself, and that they have understood and heard what he has said correctly.  How scary to think that such a situation can occur.  We can hear his words and properly understand them and yet turn from him in disgust and anger, which is all too common (Luke 13:25-27).  When we accuse these "radical" Christians of being too legalistic because of their call to give up everything for Jesus, and abandon the treasures and attachments to this world, we are condemning ourselves, not them, because we admit that we have heard their message of the true gospel and yet we reject it openly.  Their accusation was that Jesus was contradicting their religious ways, their man-made and religious laws, and their loyalty to governing authorities (vs. 67-70; 23:2-3).  And this is exactly what Jesus was doing, because this is truth, not the religion they had.  This further shows that they understood his message and the implications, which is the very reason they did not like it.  It meant too much of a loss and hardship for them, which their present religion did not, so if they could eliminate one then they could selfishly enjoy the other.  Is this not eye-opening and sobering?  We too, like the chief priests and elders, hear and comprehend the accurate gospel message.  And we too have disliked it and what it means for our lives, the suffering and hardship and loss of the "American" way of life.  It is uncomfortable and hard and we don't have to stand for this, so we dismiss it and those teaching and living it, accusing them of going against "real" Christianity in our churches and the American way, the same that the religious did then.  They took these accusations before their own councils, within the church first (vs. 66), then seeking to further quell this threat, they take him before secular authority (23:1).  We are currently proceeding with the first step here, condemning these "radicals" within our churches, how much longer do we think it will be before taking them before secular authority?  They thought they were bringing down justification on their way of doing things, just like we think so today (much to our relief since we don't want this radical way of life), but in actuality we are piling up judgement against ourselves for the end times.  How desperate are we to hold on to our comfortable, secure, American way of religion and church, to the dismissal of the true gospel message of earthly hardship and loss in light of eternal glory?  How much longer will we abuse truth as a means to condemn those living out the gospel?  Our own accusations are proof we understand the gospel and our dismissal of it is proof we don't want Jesus.  But he is merciful and gracious if we would but turn and repent.