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Sermon preached on Luke 22:24-38 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 12/11/2022 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Jesus is both our savior and example. He saves us from all our sins and shows us how to live. And often he shows us those two things together at the same time. Jesus saved us in how he served us even to the point of death. And he calls us to in turn serve others in following the example he put forth as he saved us. These things we see here in today’s passage in the context of how to be a great leader in Christ’s kingdom. Let us all aspire to be great in Christ’s kingdom as a servant leader.
So then, let us dig into today’s passage. We’ll divide our sermon up into two halves, following the two main sections here. The first section is verses 24-30 where the disciples argue about who is the greatest. The second section is verses 31-34 where Jesus speaks with Peter words of prophecy, prayer, and admonition.
So then we begin in our first section in verses 24-30. Here we find Jesus’ disciples are arguing with each other. They are trying to decide which of them was to be counted as the greatest. This is sad in general, but we should remember the context to especially think of how sad this is that they are arguing about this. There are actually layers of context here, so I will help us think about that. First, remember, this is not the first time they’ve had this argument. Back in Luke 9 they were arguing like this, and Jesus admonished them that to be least is to be the greatest. Second, remember, as we saw last week, at this point in Luke they are having that Passover meal with Jesus where he had instituted the Lord’s Supper. While it is probably too common, it’s not good to argue as a family during the long-anticipated holiday meal. We just had Thanksgiving, and you know you never want an argument then. In fact, some have suggested that it was the meal itself that sparked the argument. At a formal meal like that, it would be common to be seated according to your rank and importance. You could imagine that they came to this holiday meal and they start arguing about who should be seated where, and that would be a conversation around rank and importance.
Then think of the all context of what happened at that Passover meal. It is not entirely clear here from Luke on the timing of their argument with everything else that happened that night at that meal. But just think of how their arguing about who is the greatest disciple seems especially bad in light of what we know went on that night. At that Passover meal, Jesus is just about to sacrifice his life for them. Literally back in verse 15 Jesus spoke of his impending suffering, and that’s when he institutes the Lord’s Supper. Also at this Passover meal is where according to John’s gospel that Jesus washes their feet, which is a job that servants do for their masters, not the other way around. Some have suggested that Jesus even did that because they were arguing like this. Though depending on how one understands the chronology as Luke presents it here, it is possible that they were arguing about after he had earlier washed their feet that evening. Also, that evening is when Jesus spoke both about how one of them would betray him that night and the others would that night fall away in denial of him. And so, in some close proximity to those warnings they are arguing about who is greatest. They probably should be arguing about who is the worst.
So for all these layers of context, this is a bad and untimely argument for them to be having. Jesus then turns to admonish them about it. Notice that he begins by speaking about the kings of the Gentiles and how they are bad examples of leadership and greatness. Remember that language here of Gentiles is actually just the word for the “nations” in the Greek. And so, Jesus draws their attention to the kings of the nations. Jesus explains that the kinds of kings that all the nations have are not a good model for leadership among God’s people. As you hear Jesus’ words here, I think we should recall Deuteronomy 17:14-20. That’s where God through Moses instructed Israel about what kind of a king they could have. Those instructions basically say that Israel could have a king but not a king like the nations have. You may recall that was the problem painted with Israel’s first king, that the people wanted a king “like all the other nations” and so gave them what they asked for with King Saul. But the lesson there was that they needed a different kind of king, one like Deuteronomy 17 spoke of. King David then was God’s replacement for King Saul, one that began to approach the description of a godly King in Deuteronomy 17.
So then, Jesus says they should not want to be like the kings of the nations. Jesus explains that the problem with such kings is how they would exalt themselves above their subjects. Jesus says they would use their position to lord it over their people. In other words, such kings would think themselves inherently better, superior, to the masses. For example, it was not uncommon for kings of the nations back then to literally call themselves divine, like how the Roman Emperors often used the title of Son of God for that purpose. Of course, they weren’t actually gods. They were just humans. So, if you are a king and saying that you are a god, then you are very literally lording yourself over others, and saying that you are a superior person than your subjects. Likewise, Jesus points out how the kings of the nations would have people call them Benefactor. A benefactor is someone helps other people. For a king to hold himself out as the Benefactor of the people is for him to say that it is for the people’s good that he is king. That as a king he graciously bestows his benevolence upon the people. Implied in this, is the people are in debt to the king and are reliant on the king’s supposed goodness toward them.
But you see, Jesus says this is not what leadership and greatness should look like among his disciples in his kingdom. In verse 26, Jesus says that what the kings of the nations do should not be their model to follow. Again, I think back to Deuteronomy 17’s instructions for how a king should be among God’s people. The instructions list several examples of how he is not to exalt himself over the people, and concludes in Deuteronomy 17:20 that, “His heart is not to be lifted up above his brothers.” That reference to brothers is the point. A king among God’s people is as a brother among brothers. Their office as king sets them as a sort of “first among equals,” but they should never think of themselves better or superior to their brothers. That’s behind Jesus’ explanation, but he even takes it further. In verse 26, Jesus says that greatness among his people should be pursued by looking to become the youngest and the servant. He uses the examples of age and rank. Become like the youngest of age and in the position of a servant. The kings of the nations tried to exalt themselves over others. Jesus says to go the other way, to lower yourself before others.
Jesus then uses himself as an example. Verse 27 he asks a rhetorical question about who is the greatest, paralleling their argument. He compares the servant who serves at a table versus the people sitting down and enjoying the meal and being served by the server. In this rhetorical question the answer is supposed to be that the server is not as great as the people at the table feasting. But Jesus said, “But I am among you as the one who serves.” Jesus had been serving them at the meal. And as we mentioned that Jesus that night also served them in washing their feet. And ultimately, we’ve said how Jesus was about to serve them in sacrificing his life for their salvation. Realize what this is acknowledging. Everyone knew that Jesus there was the master. They were his disciples, and he was the teacher. Not only that, they had already recognized that Jesus was more than just their teacher. They had already recognized Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah and even the Son of God. That means they recognized Jesus as a king. But he indeed was not a king like those of the nations. He was the Deuteronomy 17 king and even more. Indeed, he is the king who had come to usher in the everlasting kingdom of God. And this King of Kings declares that he is a Servant-King and commends that to his disciples for them to follow. That is true greatness, says King Jesus.
So then Jesus as a Servant-King admonishes the disciples for their arguing about who is greatest among them. He tells them to seek to lower themselves. But that does not mean they will be low. By the grace of God in Christ Jesus, look at what he goes on to tell them in verse 28. He exalts them. He acknowledges there that he is a king, because he says his father has assigned him a kingdom. And then he speaks to his disciples and acknowledges how they suffered with him in his trials, and he says that he has thus assigned them a kingdom too. In context, this is amazing. They were arguing about who was greatest, and he admonished them to humility in contrast to the kings of the nations. But then he says that he is making them kings in his kingdom and is giving them the honored seat in his banquet table in the kingdom to come. Jesus speaks how ultimately he will lift them up to positions of greatness and kingship. They are to humble themselves and look to be servants, but it will be Jesus’ great pleasure to exalt them and bestow upon them a kingdom.
Let me apply this to us for a moment. Surely there is a sense in which what Jesus promises them here that is especially directed to them as the twelve disciples and we can imagine in glory that they, minus Judas Iscariot, will occupy places of special position. But there is surely also an application to all God’s people. I say this because of an interesting cross-reference in 1 Corinthians 6. There, Paul speaking to Christians in general, says that in the age to come we will judge both the world and angels. This is similar language to what Jesus says of the disciples here in Luke. So then, we are reminded today of the universal kingship of believers. Jesus is the prophet, priest, and king par excellence. So too, believers have all become in Christ prophets, priests, and kings. For us, then, he bestows upon us a kingdom, and calls us kings too. What great grace!
Let us now turn to the second half of our passage, to verses 31-34. There we find Jesus giving a prophecy, prayer, and admonition to Peter. As we see this, we’ll see how it complements what we’ve talked about today in terms of greatness and leadership in Christ’s kingdom. We see how endearingly Jesus turns to speak to Peter. He starts in verse 31 calling him by his original name twice in a row, Simon, Simon. So, he’s talking specifically to Peter here. Jesus then tells them about a request by Satan. The translation says Satan “demanded” to have you, though the sense is a form of a request. Like how we see in Job that Satan had to get permission from God to test Job. Something like that has happened here. But here is what I want you to recognize. Satan’s request is not specific to just Peter. When it says that Satan demanded to have “you” that he might sift you like wheat, the “you” is in the plural, the “ya’ll” form that Greek has. You can see in the pew Bible that it has a footnote that tells you that the “you” in verse 31 is in the plural. In other words, Satan’s request was to be able to sift all the twelve disciples. By the way, the sifting them like wheat is what you do to separate the chaff from the wheat. So essentially this will be Satan to test them to see if they are truly disciples of Jesus. Surely, Satan hopes that they won’t pass the test and that he can get them all to fall away permanently from Jesus. But my point for now is that Jesus is specifically addressing this information to the one disciple Peter, about how Satan is going to be sifting all of them. To be clear, surely Jesus told Peter this in the presence of all the disciples for them to hear, but it is important to understand that here in verse 31, Jesus is talking directly to Peter specifically about all of the disciples.
But then in the next verse, Jesus changes to the singular “you” to speak directly about Peter to Peter. He tells Peter that he has prayed for him, that his faith would not fail when Satan sifts him. Jesus then goes on to describe how Peter will ultimately turn back again to Jesus. Read between the lines there. Jesus is saying that when Satan sifts Peter that Peter will at first falter and fall away. In fact, Jesus goes on to say how Peter will deny Jesus three times that very day. But Jesus is saying that not only has he prayed for Peter but that his prayer will be answered. Jesus says that Peter will ultimately return to Christ and thus showing his faith to be genuine.
We see that Peter recognizes how Jesus is talking not just about him but about all the disciples by how he responds in verse 33. He vows that he himself is ready to follow Jesus to prison and even death. In the parallel accounts, Peter is recorded as saying that even if all the other disciples fall away, that he won’t (Matt 26:33). In other words, you might say that he is saying that he is a greater disciple than all the rest. In fact, Jesus corrects him with the prophecy of Peter’s three-fold denial. In fact, we’ll see in this chapter that Peter does deny Jesus three times. You might wonder how Peter could have faltered so quickly. But one thought is that Peter was still learning that for Jesus to be the Messiah King meant that Jesus first had to suffer and die. Sure, Peter says here he was willing to die with Jesus, but remember, Peter is the one who earlier had tried to rebuke Jesus for talking about his death. And later in this chapter we’ll see Peter try to use the sword to defend Jesus when they come to arrest him. At that point, we might think Peter is showing his words here to be true, that he’s willing to die with Jesus. But Jesus told Peter and his disciples to put their swords away. It was after that when Peter would go on to deny Jesus three times. Clearly, that shows that Peter himself was still learning what it meant for Jesus to be the Servant-King.
And surely this is the lesson that Peter himself would need to learn in order to be the leader and prince that Jesus intended for him. Before this chapter ends, Peter would be brought to bitter weeping when he realized how he did in fact deny Jesus three times. He would get to see first hand how to be greatest in the kingdom by seeing Jesus lay down his life to save him and others from their sins. And yet, while Peter had yet more humility to learn, look at the admonition that Jesus gives Peter here at the end of verse 32. “When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” So, while Jesus knows they will all fall away, Jesus has prayed that Peter would ultimately fall away, but return, so that he could then be used to minister to the rest of the disciples. Jesus is telling Peter that after Peter regains himself, he needs to go after the other disciples and look to restore them. Elsewhere, Jesus described how all his disciples would fall away by quoting Zechariah 13:7, “Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.” Jesus is thus empowering Peter here to be a leader to gather back the scattered disciples.
You know, go back to that bad argument they were having. When you think of the question of the greatest disciple among the twelve, I think many would be inclined to name Peter as an option. Jesus himself singles him out right after they were having this argument. But the beauty is how Jesus calls Peter into servant leadership out of Peter’s own sin and failings. I mean think about it, Jesus earlier had said that whoever denies me before men, that he will deny him before his heavenly father. Peter would deny Jesus three times, and Jesus would acknowledge him before the father in praying for his restoration. Jesus then exalts the humbled Peter into a position of great leadership in his kingdom. And so, I think these verses where Jesus is speaking here to Peter are a wonderful complement to the principles of servant leadership that Jesus commended in the first section.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, today Jesus has called his people to servant leadership. He called his initial disciples to this. And he calls us today to it. The reason us sinful failing people can do this, is because our Servant-King Jesus served us by giving up his life on the cross for. And our Servant-King Jesus has been exalted to the highest place and now lifts us up too to both service and leadership. So then, Jesus is both our savior and example. He saves us and then calls us to servant leadership modeled after his own.
As Christians, we undoubtedly will have ways in which we are in positions of authority and in positions under authority. Christ has shown us how to be a leader. As you find yourself in a position of authority, may you exercise your leadership as if you were Christ – Christ the servant leader. And if you find yourself under an authority, may you submit to that leader as if they were Christ.
Right now, our service especially is one to be done in humility amidst various trials for Christ. But one day his kingdom will come in the full, and we know he has promised to exalt us to thrones in that day. Come quickly Lord Jesus and be with us until that day.
Amen.
Copyright © 2022 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
