Not the Time For the Sword

I find it almost unbelievable that the disciples were not able to figure out that Judas was the one who was going to betray Jesus. I’m not sure when they figured it out. It might have been when they saw the large mob that came to arrest Jesus. Jesus had finished praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he came and spoke to the disciples, “Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

Note the situation if you will.  There was Jesus with his disciple going straight to those who were going to kill him. There was one disciple missing, and then they saw him, Judas, with the crowd that had come to bring Jesus to justice. This was a large crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. Jesus had no sword, no club. The disciples had no weapons except for Peter. Remember, Jesus had just said, “Here comes the betrayer.” Judas shows up. Now who might the betrayer be? Peter has the only sword among the eleven. What was he thinking? One man against maybe fifty, seventy armed men. Yet, Peter takes his sword and swings it at the Malacus, the servant of the high priest. Why Malacus? Why not go after Judas? He would have been my choice.

As we know, Peter missed his target cutting off an ear instead of a head. Immediately Jesus, according to John 18, said, “Peter, put away the sword! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” Another gospel says that Jesus healed the wound of Malacus by reattaching his ear. Jesus had had his eyes on that cross for many years. Day by day he drew closer to that for which he had been born. His time had come, and he bravely began that night to offer himself as the sacrificial lamb that John the Baptist had mentioned. “Peter, I am the one who must drink the cup of death. Put away your sword! This is not your fight. This is not the time to draw your sword.”

We, like Peter, often run to a fight, draw our weapons in anger trying to put someone in their place. Claiming to know the Lord, some use their tongues like sharp swords to  cut another to the heart because of that person’s faithfulness and dedication to worship and serve the Lord. They are quick to applaud the failures or the sins of those who have done so much for the cause of Christ. When a church or a great denomination comes under scrutiny for some social faux pas, some misappropriation or an unfortunate, misguided act that leaves a black eye, many are quick to spread the word gleefully condemning those who were at fault. Let them draw their swords of persecution. but as for us we must heed Jesus' command to Peter, “Put your little weak, useless sword away.” We who are truly God’s Children need to keep our swords in our sheaths. Now is not our time to fight. But one day soon when Jesus appears in the clouds, and the church is called home, swords will be drawn. We will stand with The Lord, The Lion, the One who comes to judge Satan, his demons and all who have made fun of the church and who have tried to destroy her. The fight will be swift, and final. The enemy of God will be the ones destroyed, and they will forever reside with Satan in the fires of hell.