Jesus' Only Weapon was Love
Daily Scripture
Matthew 26:20-25, John 16:1-4, 32-33
FYI–
The Final Week series has focused on how Matthew’s gospel told the events of the final week. As we turn to Holy (or Maundy) Thursday, however, John and to a lesser extent Luke added such important material to our understanding of that day that we cannot totally omit them from the GPS readings.
Matthew 26
20 That evening he took his place at the table with the twelve disciples. 21 As they were eating he said, “I assure you that one of you will betray me.”
22 Deeply saddened, each one said to him, “I’m not the one, am I, Lord?”
23 He replied, “The one who will betray me is the one who dips his hand with me into this bowl. 24 The Human One [or Son of Man] goes to his death just as it is written about him. But how terrible it is for that person who betrays the Human One! It would have been better for him if he had never been born.”
25 Now Judas, who would betray him, replied, “It’s not me, is it, Rabbi?”
Jesus answered, “You said it.”
John 16
1 I have said these things to you so that you won’t fall away. 2 They will expel you from the synagogue. The time is coming when those who kill you will think that they are doing a service to God. 3 They will do these things because they don’t know the Father or me. 4 But I have said these things to you so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them.
32 Look! A time is coming—and is here!—when each of you will be scattered to your own homes and you will leave me alone. I’m not really alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I’ve said these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have distress. But be encouraged! I have conquered the world.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Jesus led and redefined a Passover meal with his disciples. Passover wasn’t a casual religious ritual with strangers. “Celebrating the Passover feast is a family affair, so it is important that Jesus will celebrate Passover with the twelve disciples. This reflects the redefinition of ‘family’ in Matthew 12:46-50…. Eating together signified close bonds of friendship” * Judas was not a rogue employee—he was family member. That betrayal hurt Jesus, but it could not shake his belief that his mission was victorious.
- Scholar William Barclay wrote that Jesus “could have used his power to blast Judas, to paralyse him, to render him helpless, even to kill him. But the only weapon that Jesus will ever use is the weapon of love’s appeal. One of the great mysteries of life is the respect that God has for [human] free will. God does not coerce; God only appeals.” When do you find yourself tempted to use pressure or force rather than love’s patient appeal?
- Jesus often worshipped in synagogues (John 6:59, 18:20). His words about being expelled from the synagogue looked to his followers’ future, not their present. Yet scholar N. T. Wright said, “The last word isn’t one of warning. It’s one of good cheer…. ‘The world’ that will hate, persecute and ridicule Jesus’ followers has been not sidelined, not downgraded, but defeated…. he was not just proving a point but winning a victory.” ** How can you share Jesus’ trust that his victory is not just future, but already won?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for the hope and courage that come from knowing you have conquered the world. Help me to live in the peace this truth can give me. Amen.
GPS Insights
Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory, who serves as a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection, wrote today's Insights. He helps lead worship at Leawood's modern worship services, as well as at the West and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.
“Blood is thicker than water.” It’s a phrase that’s thrown around everywhere, from family gatherings to crime movies, and it’s become a common truth in modern society. But recently, there’s been another interpretation of the historical quote: “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” This means the exact opposite: the family we find and choose, the people we go through immense struggle with, can be deeper and more meaningful than the family we’re born into, echoing Proverbs 18:24: “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” The phrase has evolved since the 12th Century, so we don’t know which is correct, but that’s kind of the point: family can mean different things.
Jesus’ words in John 16 have the same sentiment: “A time is coming—and is here!—when each of you will be scattered to your own homes, and you will leave me alone.” I don’t think Jesus was trying to conclusively say that friendships mean more than family bonds; the family we choose and find can also be the family we’re born into. I think Jesus was saying that family is wherever we find meaning, purpose, and support. The disciples found family in Jesus and each other. Jesus predicted that when that family is disrupted, they will return to their homes—the families they were born into. We know the rest of the story: after being scattered, Jesus’ found family found each other again and went on to change the world.
Wherever you find your family, you likely know that they can be the people who keep us going, but also the ones who hurt us the deepest. That’s why Jesus’ words in this passage cut so deeply. To the disciples, the family they had built (which, for some of them, included the family they were born into) had become their entire world. When that world fell apart, the disciples felt they had nothing left. It was devastating to all of them.
I wish I had some neat way to tie this up, some pithy little statement that would set us all right before Easter, but there are a lot of thoughts here that can mean different things to different people. I’m going to turn this back on you. Who is your real family? Do you need to reconcile with the family you were born into? Do you need to recognize the family you found and chose? It could be that your world was torn apart by your family, and you need some time to heal and work on yourself. Family can be the most important thing in our lives, but it can also be complicated. Whoever your family is, think about how to make it a family, not just a group of people who exist together.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Eugene Eung-Chun Park and Joel B. Green, study note on Matthew 26:2-4 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 56 NT.
** N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 11-21 (The New Testament for Everyone) (pp. 88-89). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
