While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
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 22:47- 51
Luke 22:47- 51
Such confusion! Such pain! Such anger! The disciples, who’d walked with, and been taught by Jesus for the past three years, still didn’t understand. Their eyes couldn’t see, “The Great Rescue Plan,” yet. So, out of their humanness they wanted to take matters into their own hands and fight for Jesus! In fact, one of them did just that and cut off the servant’s ear.
Our natural response is to sit back and judge the disciples for their natural response in this situation. We know the whole story after it was played out. But remember, the disciples were right in the middle of their story. So before we judge, let’s consider our response when we’re right in the middle of our story and things are not going as we had planned, when the hard times hit us, when we’re left in confusion, anger, and pain. If we’re not careful we’ll let our humanness take over and respond in a similar way as the disciples did, taking matters into our own hands.
Over and over in the Bible we’re encouraged to, “keep our eyes on Jesus,” not the circumstances that surround us. God’s plan for Jesus was for Him to walk through the pain, suffering, and death He was about to go through because it was the only way for us to be fully restored to Him. It was for our good, even though looking through human eyes, it was something horrendous that must be stopped no matter the cost.
Keeping our eyes on Jesus in the middle of the disciple’s story, what do we see? We see gentle correction after the disciple cut off the servant’s ear when Jesus spoke, “No more of this.” We also see mercy and grace being poured out in the midst of suffering. Jesus touched the man’s ear and healed him.As we keep our eyes on Jesus in the middle of our story, we will experience the same gentle correction, mercy and grace poured out into our lives through whatever circumstances come into our story. God will use the positive and the bad situations for our good, if we keep our eyes on Jesus and keep our hearts open to God.
Today’s Verse
While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
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 22:47- 51
Luke 22:47- 51
Scripture Inspired Prayer
Jesus, it’s so encouraging to see Your gentle correction given to Your imperfect disciples, and Your grace and mercy poured out in healing one of Your enemies in today’s verses. You are trustworthy, good and kind! Help me learn to keep my eyes on You, Jesus as I walk through the variety of circumstances that come into my story. Please come and teach me Your way so I can rely on Your faithfulness always and not on my own human understanding of things. As I go through hardships fill me up with Your courage and strength, and come close with the comfort of Your love.
