"Jesus, paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin has left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow"
As I'm beginning this post, I have that old yet true hymn playing through my head. My church has been studying the book of Luke the past two years and we are getting to the end this weekend with Easter. A few weeks ago, we were looking at the night Jesus was betrayed. I have heard "The Passion" story time and time again throughout my life, but something dawned on me during this sermon.
In this sermon, there were three scenes that took place. The first being the upper room. In the upper room is where the Last Supper took place. Christ is reminding His disciples that they were lacking nothing and they were provided for when He first called them. He is telling them that the times are changing (while talking about the swords in Luke 22). Now Christ is telling them to take some things with them. You need to trust God to do His part, but you also have to do your part. He is teaching the disciples about armed resistance here, but it doesn't literally mean a fight. It may mean things are changing and are going to get hard, or He is meaning a spiritual battle is coming. Christ then tells the disciples that He is going to be "numbered with the transgressors" which references back to Isaiah 53:12. Jesus tells the disciples that two-swords are more than enough, which could be pointing to a spiritual battle, as physical swords are not needed. The disciples may be confused, but Jesus is preparing them for what is to come
The second scene takes place in the Garden of Gethsemene, more commonly known as the Mound of Olives. Gethsemene literally means oil/olive press. When preparing olives they are pressed three times, and three times on the Mount of Olives Jesus was pressed as well. On the Mount of Olives, you see how real Jesus is. Yes, He is the Son of God but He is still tempted and human at the same time. He is asking God if there is any other way this could be done. You see His humanity as He struggles with His human desires and the desire of His Father. While Jesus, is praying on the Mount of Olives, it is nighttime. Remember, these are the days long before electricity, and the people coming to arrest Jesus were coming with torches. That means, Jesus could see them off in the distance, He knew what was going to happen and could have ran for it, as those arresting Him wouldn't know where He was...but if He did that we wouldn't be saved. To even give more emphasis to how his soul was in agony with the situation of everything, He was praying so hard that He was sweating, but He wasn't just sweating, He was sweating drops of blood. Luke is the only Gospel that mentions Jesus sweating drops of blood, which makes perfect sense, because Luke was a doctor. Jesus sweating can also symbolize His humanity and the fall of man. If you go back to Genesis 3:19, you can go back and look at Adam's punishment which includes the working with the sweat of your brow. Sweat is a picture of sin and the pain for sin. Jesus is about to pay for our sins.
The third scene is the scene of the arrest. Here Judas, being a follower of Christ knew where Christ would be. If you go back to the Last Supper section of the story, Jesus didn't explicitly tell them where to meet, He gave them signs which would lead them to the place. By doing that, Judas wouldn't be able to betray Him at dinner, and He could speak to His disciples one last time. Judas knew Jesus and the disciples were in the garden so he walked up to Jesus and betrayed Him with a kiss. He betrayed Jesus with a kiss, which is a way friends may greet and say goodbye to one another, so to be betrayed by a kiss is another punch in the stomach. Peter wanted to defend Jesus and drew his sword on a mans ear. Jesus told Peter to stop and Jesus healed that mans ear. If you look at the Gospels, Matthew is the only writer to include that part, because he wrote his Gospel later, which gave Peter protection. If it was written like that, right after the fact, Peter could have gotten arrested for that act. Jesus saved Peter by healing the mans ear, little did the world know all their sins would be forgiven in a matter of hours, if they just believe. Jesus did point out the chief priests and officers cowardice for coming in the darkness of the night, making it secret, because they were really afraid to do it in public and cause a "big ruckus." We have all had our moments when we betray Jesus with the words we say or things we do, and also we have our times of doubt. Each and every one of us has sinned and fallen short of His glory, and He died to pay our price.
The sermon had three application: cowardice is attainable to all, Christ understands darkness, and your greatest peace will come when you resolve to do God's will. What Ione I want to focus on, and which was the "A ha!" moment for me is that, Christ understands darkness. I've always known Christ became a man, and Satan tempted Him, but it didn't really hit me until this Easter season, how He struggled with what He was about to do. Also, no matter what is going on in our lives Jesus has been through the darkness, He understands us and is there for us. No matter what you are going through, Jesus is here for you. He is the Savior, He died for you. He could've escaped, but then He wouldn't have done this indescribable act of love for us. He overcame death, the grave, and evil for us. He wants to walk beside us, no matter what we're going through. Christ will be our guide if we truly ask Him. Repent, turn from your sinful ways and be free. We are not going to be perfect, but we can strive to be more like Christ daily and thank Him for all He's done.
