DAY #135: Luke 22:39-62

The disciples and Jesus finished the Passover meal. They left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. Apparently, this was a favorite place for Jesus and the disciples. Up to this point, Jesus and the disciples had been returning each night to Bethany; but this time, Jesus only went as far as the Mount of Olives, located just to the east of Jerusalem. Jesus went up the southwestern slope to an olive grove called Gethsemane.

Jesus asked the disciples to pray that they would not be overcome by temptation because he knew that he would soon be leaving them. Jesus also knew that they would need extra strength to face the temptations ahead—temptations to run away or to deny their relationship with him. They were about to see Jesus arrested and then crucified. The disciples’ strongest temptation would undoubtedly be to think that they had been deceived.

Jesus walked away, knelt down, and prayed. Jesus exposed his dread of the coming trials, but he also reaffirmed his commitment to do what God wanted. In deep anguish, he asked the Father to let the mission be accomplished some other way not requiring the agony of crucifixion, when he would become sin and be separated from the Father. The cup of suffering meant the terrible agony he knew he would endure—not only the horror of the crucifixion but, even worse, the total separation from God that he would have to experience in order to die for the world’s sins.

Jesus was not trying to get out of his mission, however. He reaffirmed his desire to do what God wanted by saying, “Yet I want your will, not mine.” Jesus’ human will was distinct from God’s will, but it did not oppose God’s will. His prayer reveals his terrible suffering, but he willingly placed himself in his Father’s hands.

Jesus got up at last from praying—how long he struggled in prayer is not revealed, but the hour was late. Matthew wrote that Jesus went back and forth three times between praying and checking on the disciples, each time finding them asleep. Jesus needed his friends to support him with their prayers, but they were asleep, exhausted from grief. It had been a long day and the reality of Jesus’ impending death left them emotionally exhausted.

Jesus told the disciples that this was the time to get up and pray, for very soon they would face the temptation to run away or to deny their relationship with him. They would need extra strength so that these temptations would not overpower them. The word “temptation” is translated to mean testing or trial. Jesus wanted his disciples to pray for strength to go through the coming ordeal.

Even as Jesus spoke the words about not being overcome by temptation, a mob approached. The leader was Judas, who had gone to the Jewish religious leaders in order to betray Jesus He was at the Last Supper with Jesus and the other disciples and then had abruptly left, apparently to let the leaders know where to find Jesus. Judas came up to Jesus and greeted him with a kiss. Judas had told the crowd to arrest the man whom he would kiss.

Apparently the arrival of the mob had awakened the sleeping disciples, and they came fully awake and ready to fight. Peter slashed at the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. Peter may have thought that this was the time to fight, the time to defend themselves, but Jesus told Peter, “Don’t resist anymore.” Peter should put away his sword and allow God’s plan to unfold. Jesus’ time of prayer had made him serene in God’s will. He would comply with God’s plan. So he healed the man’s ear.

Jesus did not resist arrest, his disciples had turned and run, so Jesus was led away to the high priest’s residence, even though it was not yet daylight. The Jewish leaders were in a hurry because they wanted to complete the execution before the Sabbath and get on with the Passover celebration.

In the courtyard outside of where Jesus had been taken, the guards lit a fire, around which the servants and soldiers were warming themselves against the early morning chill. Peter joined the others around the fire. John wrote that this servant girl was acting as a guard at the gate to the inner courtyard. She apparently noticed Peter in the firelight, staring at him. Then the girl realized where she had seen Peter before—he was one of Jesus’ followers.

This put Peter in a difficult position. Standing among the soldiers and servants right there in enemy territory, Peter did not necessarily want to be identified with the man held in an upstairs room, on trial for his life. So Peter made a natural and impulsive response—he lied. “Woman . . .

I don’t even know the man!” Temptation came when Peter least expected it. This serves as a warning to all believers to be prepared. Peter had been ready to fight with a sword, but not to face the accusations of a servant girl.

Peter could run, but he couldn’t hide. He got away from the questioning servant girl only to run into someone else who also recognized him as one of them (one of Jesus’ followers). But Peter again denied it. This time, another bystander heard Peter’s Galilean accent which was closer to Syrian speech than to that of the Judean servants in the Jerusalem courtyard. Thus the group concluded that Peter must have been with the Galilean on trial inside the palace. Peter again replied in the negative, claiming to not even know what they were talking about. These three denials did not occur quickly, one immediately after another. Time elapsed in between, yet Peter could not control himself. As he spoke these words of his third denial, the rooster crowed, signaling the early morning hour.

Peter’s denials fulfilled Jesus’ words to him. When Peter heard the rooster crowing and then saw Jesus turn and look at him (either from the upper story where the trial was being held or as he passed through the courtyard between visits with Annas and Caiaphas), Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him earlier. Peter had indeed denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed. Peter left the courtyard, crying bitterly. Fortunately, the story does not end there. Peter’s tears were of true sorrow and repentance. Later, Peter would reaffirm his love for Jesus, and Jesus would forgive him.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

Lord, I am so very humbled by Your sacrifice. I am so very sorry for the loneliness you wen through in Your greatest hour of need. I understand the weakness of the disciples. I am weak. I understand their lack of disciple. I lack discipline. Lord, in spite of failures and faults I want to remain standing - regardless of who else falls away. Build into me a the disciplines I need. Build into me a humility, so that I never think that I would not/could not fall away. Remind me daily that I am always one poor choice, one wrong action from being just like Peter.

Lord, build these same qualities in to my family and in to the people of COV. Build strong, enduring, faithful persistent and mature people at COV. People who will stay the course and remain faithful to the end.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

2 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)