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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested Him. With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
Matthew 26:50-53
The men seized Jesus and arrested Him. Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
Mark 14:46-47
When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
But Jesus answered, “No more of this!”
And He touched the man’s ear and healed him.
Luke 22:49-51
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”
John 18:10-11
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
During any military operation, there is usually a signal given to start things. Before a missile is launched or shot fired, some order is usually given either verbally or through some pre-determined sign.
As we continue to journey with Jesus through the events that led up to His death, we saw yesterday how a signal was used to identify the man the armed crowd was to arrest. The forces within the arresting crowd had been sent by the Jewish religious authorities - the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders - who were interested in one thing and one thing only: eradicating Jesus altogether. And so they made a pact with Judas, one of Jesus’ chosen twelve disciples. In exchange for 30 silver coins, Judas had agreed to betray his Master and ensure He was brought before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious high court, for trial.
And so after Jesus had finished praying in Gethsemane’s garden, Judas approached and greeted Him, giving Him a kiss, a kiss that was far from one of love. Rather, the kiss was the signal the armed men were watching for so they could arrest the one that was kissed, and as we see in today’s passages from all four gospels, the arrest started immediately after the kiss was delivered.
Now I’m sure the crowd accompanying Judas, armed with their swords and clubs, felt they would have an easy time taking Jesus into custody but as we see, they quickly experienced resistance, not from Jesus but from Peter who drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, a man named Malchus.
You would have thought this was a noble thing to do, Peter defending Jesus, but as we read, Jesus was less than happy with His disciple, rebuking him by saying:
“Put your sword back in its place for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”
“Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”
“Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
Peter’s brash action could have ended up costing him, Jesus, and James and John their lives. The men sent by the Jewish religious leaders had swords too and could have easily retaliated in response to Peter’s attack. Sensing the potential for things to get out of hand, Jesus quickly picked up the severed ear and miraculously put it back on Malchus’ head, restoring it as if nothing had happened. Imagine the impact this must have had on the high priest’s servant. He couldn’t help but be changed forever through the merciful healing Jesus had performed.
Well, no more had Jesus restored the ear that He asked His faithful disciples, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?” Jesus knew the time had come to allow the will of His Father to be done, even though the road ahead was paved with great suffering. Jesus knew the cup His Father had given had to be drunk from, even if the cup’s contents were bitter. Only a perfect unblemished sacrifice could pardon the sin penalty that all of God’s people were under and God had appointed Jesus, His one and only Son, to be that sacrifice. The arrest, the trial to come, the brutal abuse and beating after that, and then the cross crucifixion were all part of the Father’s plan to redeem His people from their sins and Jesus knew He had to be a willing participant in that plan. Nothing or no one was going to get in the way of that, especially a sword wielding disciple.
So we see Jesus making it clear that there is a wrong way to use the sword but as we look elsewhere in the scriptures, we find there is a proper time to use it as well.
Why the disparity?
Because in the case of Jesus and our scriptures for today, we find the sword is a physical weapon. But when we move to the Apostle Paul’s epistle to the church in Ephesus, we find a spiritual sword we are encouraged to use, a sword we wield to defend ourselves against Satan:
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:10-11, 16-17
Here we find the sword we are supposed to use, “the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God”. It’s a weapon Jesus used Himself in the 4th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, showing us the proper way to use our spiritual weapon.
In that chapter, we find Jesus emerging from 40 days and nights in the wilderness. No doubt hungry from the fasting He had done, Jesus had little time to find food before Satan comes upon Him with an attack of temptation. You remember what that first evil enticement was, right? It went something like this:
Satan comes to Jesus and says, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
It was a challenge based on Jesus proving Himself to the devil. Jesus was hungry. Jesus had power to do anything. And so Satan suggested He use the power, turn the stones to bread, and therefore show that He was really God’s Son.
It sounded simple enough but there was only one problem. Jesus didn’t have to prove Himself to anyone. He didn’t have to validate who He was. God had sent Him from heaven to earth with a specific mission: to save all of mankind from their sinfulness and create a pathway to salvation. Jesus had come to gain victory over Satan not to submit to his bidding.
And so we find Jesus, in the midst of a deviously designed wicked attack, simply says this to Satan:
“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus didn’t make up these words on the spot. No, these words were written in the Book of Deuteronomy, one of the five Old Testament books that comprise the Books of the Law. In other words, Jesus pulled out His sword of the Spirit which was the word of God and used it to perfection on Satan, showing us how to do the same as He did.
This is important because every day we find the devil coming onto people with temptations of every kind. He never stops going on the offensive when it comes to trying to take down the people of God. And since Satan is always on the offensive, we need to consistently and persistently be on the defensive with our weapons, our spiritual swords at the ready.
But listen, you will only be well armed if you know the word of God, right?
How can you use your weapon properly if the weapon isn’t effective?
From a physical standpoint, a dull sword isn’t going to cause much damage. Likewise, a person with very little knowledge of the scriptures isn’t going to do very well in putting their sword of the Spirit to work. The scriptures are critically important to our spiritual health and this is why the words from Deuteronomy that Jesus used bear great meaning for us all.
For indeed, the word of the Lord is not only our weapon, our sword to defend ourselves when Satan attacks, but it is also our sustenance, the spiritual nourishment needed to keep us healthy. Just as a person’s physical self would suffer if no food was consumed, so too will a person’s spiritual health decline without spiritual nutrition from the words found in the Bible. We simply must be in the scriptures each and every day to not only keep ourselves spiritually strong but also spiritually protected.
So, how are you doing in these areas?
Are you using your sword properly to defend yourself? And how spiritually healthy are you today?
The answers to these questions will be found by how frequently and intently you are utilizing the life sustaining, life defending word of God.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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