Who’s In Charge Here, Jesus?
And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus responded and said, “ Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.
And Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a man inciting a revolt? While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.”
Now they arrested Him and led Him away, and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance.”
Luke 22:50-54 NASB2020 Read More
Wait wait wait, what? I thought “This is the day the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad!” But Jesus just told these guys “this hour and the power of darkness are yours.” ???
And if God is a god of justice and fairness and retribution, shouldn’t this guard who is illegally arresting Jesus *get* his ear cut off? He deserves it!
Jesus doesn’t operate the way we do, does He? If you haven’t been confronted with that enough in the last 22 chapters of the Gospel of Luke, get ready. It’s only going to intensify here in the next week.
Even as He is being arrested, Jesus is serving those sinful unbelievers that are coming against Him. You can draw a line from most of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-8 to another point in Jesus’ life where He lived it out in His actions. A lot of those lines come to this 24 hour period of His passion.
Here He is turning the other cheek, walking the second mile, and not taking vengeance into His own control. He is submitting Himself to the will of His Father in Heaven.
Even in that, He is talking to them calmly and confidently, reassuring them that He notices their cowardice. “Why didn’t you arrest me in daylight?” This is pointing out their failure to follow the Law. The Law says that no man can be tried by a court during the night. You have to wait until daytime.
The power and the darkness are theirs *because Jesus let them have it.* They are like the kid bragging that he got the biggest piece and then realizing that Dad cut the pie that way on purpose. Boast all you want, Rabbi Pansy, because I’m the one letting you have the power right now.
Was Jesus more powerful when He was teaching, healing the blind and lame, or when He had a zillion angels standing by to answer the call that never came? The Father didn’t want Him to call in a legion of angels, so He didn’t.
When do we show off God’s power in us? Is it when we get a good rant going on Facebook or put some sinner in their guilty place? Of course not. It’s when we submit ourself to the Father. It’s when we show, by our actions and our peace, that the sins of the culture are not the best way.
Watch of the next few readings. Jesus is never ever a victim out of control.