66 When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, 67 “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, 68 and if I ask you, you will not answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” 70 So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” 71 Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.” 1 Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate (Luke 22:66–23:1).

I can vividly remember the first time I saw the great actor Charles Laughton play his unforgettable role of Quasimodo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame. As a young child, this movie made a great impression on me, as this poor soul who was relegated to living in the bell tower of that great cathedral rescues the beautiful Esmeralda from the gallows. She was there because of a grave miscarriage of justice. Using a rope tied to a scaffolding, Quasimodo swings onto the hangman’s platform, grabs Esmeralda, and brings her within the hallowed walls of Notre Dame, all the while crying out, “Sanctuary! Sanctuary!” To realize that within the walls of the church a person could find sanctuary from whatever crime they were accused of amazed me. Even if a person was guilty, they were, in some way, under the protection of the grace of the gospel. This holy house of God was a house of sanctuary and salvation for sinners. I believe there was a great lesson in this for me as a child.

The setting of our verses from Luke’s gospel is also at the holy house of God, the temple in Jerusalem, and yet we see a very different story. It was the final week of Jesus’ life, and instead of finding sanctuary at the temple, Jesus finds His unjust condemnation. Jesus finds Himself in the hands of the Elders of Israel, those who should be the most responsible for carrying out justice, and for protecting the innocent and the helpless. For, as the prophet Micah tells us, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and love mercy” . . .  (Micah 6:8). But in their hands, there was no protection for the Christ. There was only a grave miscarriage of justice. The verses prior to Luke 22:66 tells us that the Elders had turned Jesus over to the mob, and all the previous night was spent in mockery and torture of the innocent Son of God instead of protection in the sanctuary. And then day comes, and the wheels of this grave miscarriage of justice begin to turn. Luke tells us, “The assembly of the elders . . . led him away to their council.” After the night of ridicule and torture, the shepherds of Israel put Jesus through the pretense of a trial with a guilty outcome already determined. Their purpose for the trial was only to find a way to get Jesus to incriminate Himself.

And so, they press Him—hard. “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But Jesus makes no defense for Himself. He barely responds. He silently absorbs the injustice that is hurled at Him. It wasn’t simply that their false charges did not dignify a response. Rather, Jesus willingly placed Himself beyond the boundaries of acquittal. For He knew that this hour of injustice was the very hour He had come into this world for, and that through the injustice of His cross He would bring to pass the restoration of all things. And so, He is silent. As the prophet Isaiah tells us:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth (Isaiah 53:7).

For Jesus’ part, the road to the cross was a silent journey. Just as Isaiah prophesized seven hundred years earlier, Jesus says very little to His accusers. But what He does say can lead to no other conclusion but that He is the Christ.

“If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

If the leaders of Israel were unbiased in their evaluation, they knew Jesus was the long-awaited Redeemer of Israel. But their evaluation was struck with the blindness of their fall and with the searing providence of God. For had it not been, as the Apostle Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (I Corinthians 2:8).

We also see this truth in the third chapter of Acts, as Peter speaks to the crowd on the day of Pentecost. He says: “now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled” (Acts 3:17–18).

God fulfilled His purpose in redemption through the blindness we see in these leaders of Israel. And this road of humiliation is the path to Jesus’ exaltation. For Peter again tells us in his first letter to the church, that, “through the resurrection, Christ has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him (I Peter 3:21–22).

These unrighteous shepherds of Israel knew what Jesus was saying when He spoke of being seated at the Father’s right hand. And so, they retort with the accusation, “Are you the Son of God, then?” But this statement, which was meant to be an accusation, was at the same time, the affirmation of the truth they couldn’t grasp. And so, Jesus simply replies, “You say that I am.” In this affirmation, Jesus gave the Jewish leaders what they were looking for. So, they felt justified in their evil actions. They say to one another: “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.” And so, thy drag Jesus to Pilate to get their evil intentions accomplished.

The truth that Christ endured the ultimate miscarriage of justice is for more than just our minds to contemplate. Christ allowed Himself to take the injustice of the punishment that justly belonged to us. He substituted His innocent self in our guilty place to take our death. And in His silent journey to the cross, He gave up His right to sanctuary in order to become our sanctuary. He forfeited His refuge, so that we may find refuge—in Him, refuge from death, refuge from sin and refuge from the injustice of our own hearts and our own self-righteousness. As a result of Quasimodo bringing Esmeralda within the walls of the great cathedral of Notre Dame, she found sanctuary. The greater truth which this symbolizes is that within the walls of the spiritual cathedral of Christ Himself we find true sanctuary. Within the walls of the spiritual cathedral of Christ we find His justice and His mercy.

How loudly does Christ’s silent journey to the cross speak to us? Do we truly look only to Him for sanctuary? Do we find the means within Him to live a new life in this world, a life of love and justice and mercy? For such a life is only found in Him.

How loudly does Christ’s silent journey to the cross speak to the church? Are we His body in this world? Do we see our calling as a place where Christ is set forth as the only sanctuary for sinners? For the whole world is guilty before God. And in Christ, like within the walls of the great cathedral in Paris, we, the guilty, find ourselves under the protection and saving power of the grace of His gospel.

Postscript
I’m sure most of you know that great cathedral Notre Dame recently burned. And I am saddened. For going to see that great cathedral was one of those bucket-list things for me, for I have never seen it. Now, I never will see it, as it was. But there is a great lesson for me in this too.

Christ’s church is so much more than stone and mortar. It is His living presence in this world, changing this world, bringing grace to this world, bringing God’s justice and mercy to this world, no matter what building it is found in. And so, His church is really untouchable by any of the natural powers of this world, whether fire or flood or anything else. And even if they fail to rebuild Notre Dame, Christ assures us that He is ever building His church, as He spreads the glory of His forgiveness over the world.