I ask - - - if you were going to write a manual to birth a religion, wouldn't you want to present the followers in the best possible light? Wouldn't it be tempting to massage the facts so as to attract others to your faith? The Bible doesn't do that. From the Garden of Eden through the New Testament letters, people whose hearts belong to God are presented just as they are - - - sometimes heroic, often times deeply flawed. These realities are testimony to the fact that the Bible writers wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Despite claims down through the centuries that the Bible is "full of errors", nothing could be further from the truth. No men would have chosen to write this Book this way.
This morning's texts are John 18:1-27 and Matthew 26:36-46. In them, we see some deeply flawed characters. The John account leaves out Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane. I mention Matthew 26 because, in his account, that is included. Taking both passages together, we learn that, after the last supper and Jesus' prayers in John 15-17, He and the disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas was not with the group, having left during the meal to go betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities.
1. The 11 Apostles
When they arrived in the garden, according to the Matthew account, Jesus asked the 11 to sit and wait while He went a little farther into the garden to pray. Then, he took with him Peter, James and John (the 2 brothers, sons of Zebedee) and went a little further into the garden. After about an hour of praying, He returned to find His disciples sleeping. He woke them up, went off and prayed again. When He returned the second time, they were again sleeping. This was repeated a third time.
2. Judas Iscariot
There is not much more to say here. Judas was a pretender, a false follower. Through his betrayal of Jesus, his true colors were revealed. I am still stunned that God the Father chose as His Son's betrayer one of the "inner circle", one of the Twelve. The lesson here to me is one I learned in my early 30s: it is hard to really know the heart of another person, regarding his or her salvation. The decision is between that one person and God. While you can look at the fruit of the person's life, only he/she and God truly know. In the case of Judas, many believed him to be a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. Obviously, that was not the case. Jesus calls him "the son of perdition", a title which is used only twice in the Bible - - - once in John 17:12, in Jesus' high priestly prayer, and again in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. The title is associated with demonic possession, something that can never happen to a believer because the Holy Spirit is in residence in the believer's soul. The second time it is used is in reference to the man who will be possessed by Satan and will become the antichrist in the last days.
3. Simon Peter
We see in John 18:10 that Peter, in a misguided effort to save the day, draws out his sword and attempts to behead the high priest's servant, Malchus. He misses, and ends up cutting off his outer ear instead. Luke is the only one of the four gospels that records Jesus healing Malchus' ear (Luke 22:51). Jesus, in his reprimand of Peter, affirms that He is willingly submitting to "capture" and the "cup" He has been given by His Father to drink. As the evening proceeds, we see recorded in John 18 Peter's denial of His association with Jesus, three times, as Jesus predicted would happen (Mark 14:27-31 and John 13:38)
"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Matthew 26:41
I'm glad that the Bible presents people exactly as they are. As flawed as the apostles were, they went on to be used of the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel all over the world. And, the follower of Jesus who wrote most of the New Testament also wrote these words:
"Oh what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?"
Romans 7:24
Yes, the spirit is willing to follow hard after God, but the flesh is like a prison that holds the believer back. Paul's next words give the believer hope, however and lead us into the Thanksgiving season tomorrow:
"Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Romans 7:25
Dear Father, in and of ourselves we are flawed characters, hopeless and helpless to rescue ourselves from the mire and muck of our sin. But, I am so thankful that, because of Jesus, my Savior, my sins are forgiven, past, present and future. Holy Father, Your restoration is abundant and always available. Your Spirit lives in me, daily convicting me of sin, leading me to confession, praying before the Your throne on my behalf.
I am so thankful that when You, God the Father, look at me, You view me through the shed blood of Your only begotten Son, and because of His blood, which has washed away all of my sins, You see me, not deeply flawed, but the way I will be when I am fully in Your presence, complete and spiritually whole. Hallelujah! In Jesus' name, amen.
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