SHARING BREAD
55 At that time Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords
and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat
in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. 56 But this has all taken place that the
writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
Matt
26:55-56 (NIV)
We discover in the Gospel of Luke the validity of our Lord’s
Words here in our verses for today. He
daily went to the temple to teach and the crowds were constantly being
awestruck in amazement, overwhelmed at His teaching – as One Who had authority
(go figure!). He taught as a Spokesman from God (go figure – again!). His teaching was not like the Pharisees or the
teachers of the law who lacked life in their words. The contrast between the two was most
pronounced. Jesus had quite the
following and the religious elite knew it and were jealous of it. Indeed, they greatly resented His
popularity. When the turncoat afforded
them the opportunity to turn Him over into their grasp, where no crowd would be
present, they jumped at the chance. They
dared not take Him in front of the throngs as they feared their acknowledgement
of Him.
“There’s
no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.” Tom Peters
Jesus was inching in on the terrain of the religious elite
and they did not like it one little bit.
Luke writes of our Lord’s daily habit:
37 Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each
evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, 38 and all the people came early in the morning to hear
him at the temple. Luke 21:37-38 (NIV)
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew we find
similar words:
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the
crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because
he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. Matt 7:28-29 (NIV)
In our verses for today, Jesus did not resist His enemies
rather sought to patiently reason with them. They appeared with rage and enmity
against Him – weapons in hand – as if He were an enemy to public safety and
deservedly suffered this sort of treatment.
They approached Him as if He were the worst of thieves though purely
innocent. Our Lord then reminds His
adversaries of His prior behavior toward them.
He had given them no occasion to look upon Him as a thief as He had taught
in the temple day after day. Such
gracious and kind words did not sound like a thief or one that was demonically
possessed.
“They might find him
every day in the temple, and there they might do as they pleased with him; for
the chief priests had the custody of the temple. To come upon him this clandestinely, in the
place of his retirement, was wicked and
cowardly. Thus the greatest hero may be villainously assassinated in a corner, by
one who in open field would tremble to look him in the face.” Matthew
Henry
8 “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the
murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters
and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is
the second death.” Rev 21:8 (NIV)
Who could not find something in the above verse that stings
their heart? Apart from the redemptive
blood of Jesus go us all. In our walks
with the Lord, daily repentance is invaluable - keeping our accounts short - turning
from the sin that so easily entangles – cleanses us when we fall and keeps us from
a broken relationship with the Master because what has Light to do with
darkness? That’s the difference here
between the Pharisees and the disciples.
The Pharisees had not repentance over their cowardly, dishonest actions
yet the disciples – who all fled by the way – humbly turned back after their
disgrace of shamefully deserting the Master in His time of greatest need. Their actions were both unkind and unfaithful
as they had solemnly promised to follow Him and never to forsake Him. Indeed, this had to have been part of Jesus’
suffering, adding affliction to His bonds.
He stood abandoned.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows,
and familiar with suffering. Like one
from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our
sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was
crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and
by his wounds we are healed. 6 We
all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and
the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6 (NIV)
“The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their
natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane they slept as a
result of their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest and most
intimate relationship of their lives they ‘all….forsook Him and fled’ (Matthew
26:56).” Oswald Chambers
“Follow Jesus into the wilderness: bear the cross with Him when the heat of
persecution grows hot. He owned thee, O
my soul, in thy poverty and shame – never be so treacherous as to be ashamed of
Him.” Charles H. Spurgeon
What I glean from this:
· There is
no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.
· Jesus
amazed and continues to amaze at His teaching.
· When I
stumble or fall the VERY first thing necessary is repentance – a turning from
the sin to the Lord.
