"You Have Said So"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Three times in St. Matthew's account of the Passion, Jesus utters the words, “You have said so.” Tonight you have heard one, and tomorrow night you will hear the other two. All three are replies to something said by one of His opponents, to turn the tables on them with their own words.

In tonight's lesson, Jesus predicts the things about to come, saying, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples all in turn express dismay at this revelation, and each responds, “Is it I, Lord?” Finally, the focus comes to Judas, who had already contracted with the priests and scribes for such a thing. To save face, he also says, “Is it I, Rabbi?” And Jesus said, “You have said so.” That is to say, Judas, you are guilty in your own conscience, and you know it. I will not comdemn you, for your own actions do that. You speak rightly.

The next time Jesus speaks the words is before Caiaphas, the high priest. Attempting to trap Jesus in blasphemy, Caiaphas commands Jesus, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” There the high priest speaks the truth of who Jesus is, and he binds himself under oath before God. Upon this confession, Jesus answers, “You have said so.” That is, Yes, I am the Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of Hosts, and all the other things your Scriptures declare Me to be, and you yourself have confessed it to be so.

The third instance is when Jesus is before Pontius Pilate for questioning. Pilate, seeking to understand the charges against Jesus, asks, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And again Jesus says, “You have said so.” After this, Jesus would not answer to a single charge, but was silent before Pilate. Pilate had made a correct confession, and Jesus acknowledged his words to be true.

In each instance, a confession was made before Jesus, and our Lord answered the confession with an affirmation. Judas, Caiaphas, and Pilate all spoke correctly; they all uttered the truth. However, in each case, the one facing off against Jesus did not comprehend what he was saying, or what the significance of his confession was.

Judas knew that it was him who would betray Jesus. After all, he had already contracted with the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver for just that task. So when Jesus made His prediction, Judas simply had to keep up form so that the other disciples would not suspect him of treachery. He did not understand the pronouncement of the woe that was to come upon him on account of his sin. Nor did he understand the crucial role he would play in our Lord's Passion.

Caiaphas confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God. Precisely the same confession Peter had made in Matthew 16. Instead of falling into the high priest's trap, Jesus turned it back on him and stuck him with his own words. Caiaphas had no choice but to confess what was manifest by the evidence. Furthermore, his tongue was bound by the will of God to confess the truth about Jesus. St. John records the incident, when, after the raising of Lazarus, Caiaphas made the prediction that Jesus would die for the people. St. John writes:

Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad (John 11:49-52).

God spoke through the mouth of His enemy to show forth the nature and meaning of His Son's death. And He brought forth from the lips of Caiaphas a confession of Jesus, even though the high priest had no idea what he was saying, nor the faith to believe his own words.

In the case of Pontius Pilate, he was simply repeating the things said about Jesus by the crowds. Our Lord was charged with asserting Himself as the king of the Jews, a capital offense of treason against the Emperor. So Pilate asked Jesus whether the accusations were true: “Are you the King of the Jews?” Again, Jesus did not answer, but let Pilate's own confession stand. This Roman governor could confess Jesus to be the King of the Jews according to his words, but Pilate had no idea at the time what it was he uttered. And yet his words are inscribed in Holy Writ, just as they were affixed to Jesus' cross for all the world to read: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” This inscription still stands before the eyes of the world, even shining forth from our own altar here.

Just as Judas, Caiaphas, and Pilate were compelled to confess truths they did not understand, and to which they were actively opposed, so also you regularly repeat words given to you that you do not fully understand. You confess the creeds of the Church, but do you fully understand what you are confessing? These words are given to the Church to confess the catholic faith handed down by the saints, and yet you fail to comprehend them.

So also with our Lord's words regarding His Supper, which we hear tonight. How many times in your life have you heard these words? You probably memorized them in confirmation class long ago. But do you understand them? You cannot grasp what a momentous thing our Lord Christ is saying here. All you can do is repeat the Words He has given His Church to say.

These great mysteries are placed into your mouth, onto your lips, by the Holy Spirit, but you can only comprehend them dimly. The fog of sin clouds your mind and obscures your faculties, so that you cannot fully understand the great and wondrous truths revealed to you. By faith, and by faith alone, you can confess these things, but you can never understand them. To even try is to stray into blasphemy. How did the Word of God become incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary? We do not know, and do not try to figure it out. How do bread and wine become the Body and Blood of our Lord? We do not know, and do not try to figure it out. In both cases, it happens by the Word of God active in the elements He chooses. The Word works when, where, and how He wills, and yours is simply to say, “Amen. Let it be to me according to Your Word.”

Your sinful nature wars against that, however. You want to know. You want to understand. You want to be able to figure it all out, to reduce it to facts and figures, to put it into some nice, neat, logical box. But you cannot, so stop trying. Give up on the idolatrous quest to peer into the unknown mind of God. Be satisfied with taking Him at His Word when He says that things are as He says they are. Pray with the man in Mark chapter 9: “I believe; help my unbelief!”

And God has done just that! He has provided for you all that is needful to strengthen and perfect your faith. In the Holy Supper of which you will partake this evening, our Lord speaks to you as He spoke to the disciples:

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Herein Jesus perfects your faith. He truly does confirm your belief and help your unbelief by taking it away. He fulfills your confession by proving to you that what you believe is true. He removes all doubt by placing Himself into your mouth, by pouring His lifeblood down your throat. He clears away the fog that clouds your mind and pierces the darkness, that you may know who He is and what He has done for you.

You can confess that our Lord Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and buried; He descended into hell; and the third day He rose again from the dead. You can say all that along with the whole Church who stand with you, who have gone before you, and who will come after you. You know it to be true. You know what you confess, because you eat and drink it. The catholic faith is not some vague abstraction stored away in some old council's decree, but the Living God who feeds you with His own Body and Blood.

On this evening, as Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples, He knew that He would shortly be taken away from them. Their faith would be tested severely. But He did not leave them un-provided-for. Neither does He leave you without provision in the vagaries of your daily life. He has given you the gift of His Holy Supper, the banquet feast of the Most High God, the foretaste of the heavenly feast to come. Here is your daily bread; here is all things needful for your salvation; here is the forgiveness of your sins.

May God bestow on us His grace and favor

That we follow Christ our Savior

And live together here in love and union

Nor despise this blest Communion!

O Lord, have mercy! (LSB 617.3)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.