December 11 Sermon

Luke 22:47-53

The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

 While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; but Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?’ When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, ‘Lord, should we strike with the sword?’ Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.But Jesus said, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!’

*****************

I want you to take a moment and think about your favorite movie. What comes to mind? Now take a moment and think about the conflict in that movie—who is it between? Every great movie is filled with conflict. Think about some of the greatest movies of all time—they each have a conflict—sometimes it's a conflict rooted in the love between a man and a woman. Sometimes it’s a conflict between two friends or two enemies. Often, it’s far more complicated than that.

But there’s always conflict. Ever since Adam and Eve were shown the way out of the Garden, good and evil have been in conflict. Sometimes, good appears to have the upper hand, such as when the Israelites were marching through the Sea of Reeds with the Egyptians hot on their tail. Other times, evil seems to be winning—I was writing in Caleb’s baby book about the things that were happening around his birth and it was pretty difficult to come up with a lot of newsworthy great events—but there were plenty of bad events. They battle, back and forth, with rays of hope bursting through the darkness.

Here, in the 22nd chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we find them at war once more. Throughout the last few chapters we’ve been awaiting this clash—we had expected it once we started reading about betrayal, and perhaps we read a bit closer to see how and when they would clash. Jesus has gone to the Mount of Olives to pray, and he urges the disciples to join him in prayer, while the forces of evil gather their friends and make their way to the Mount, that they might strike the first blow in the hopes of gaining the upper hand.

We join the action here today. Remember—Jesus is busy praying, and he’s urging the disciples to pray. He’s encouraging his followers to spend time doing the single most important thing that they can be doing, and he’s trying to model the prayer that is more important than any other prayer—not my will, but yours be done. Perhaps he’s finally awakened the disciples to do their Christian duty and pray. Perhaps they’ve finally awoken to the need to pray—I can picture them rousing themselves from sleep and kneeling to pray when Judas bursts onto the scene, his band of no-so-merry men behind him, wielding clubs and swords, disrupting everything. Judas, acting as though nothing is wrong, ambles up to Jesus, who is not shocked by any of this, and goes to kiss him before Jesus stops this horrid scene.

Judas disrupts this time of intimate prayer with his betrayal. Who knows how long he has been plotting this. He’s had ample opportunities to betray Jesus to the chief priests—but he chooses here and now, in this prayer time in the garden. Why? Because Satan loves to disrupt us when we’re finally getting serious about spending time with God. I’m not sure there’s anything the devil loves more than finding a man or woman about to spend time with God in prayer and distracting them with some menial task so thoroughly that they never get back around to prayer. I can imagine the laughter in the bowels of hell as the demons recount ways they have turned individuals from prayer—perhaps they prompted a mundane phone call just before someone sat down to read the Bible, or interrupted a spiritual conversation with the sound of the trash truck and a reminder that the trash can hadn’t made it to the street yet. Friends, if you’re getting serious about developing your spiritual life, expect some serious opposition—and remember to stay strong in the face of it. There will be ample opportunities to drop out—but don’t let Satan turn you from your work.

So Satan comes to betray Jesus with a kiss, using this sign of love as a sign of betrayal, turning a wonderful thing into a terrible thing, and the disciples finally come to their senses, realizing what is happening, and leap up with a question: Lord, should we strike with the sword? Now, perhaps Luke, in his excitement at recording the scene, simply forgot to record Christ’s answer. I think a far more likely scenario, certainly a far more common one, is that the disciples, having asked the question, rushed into action before bothering to listen for an answer.

Not that anyone you know would ever do that.
Not that you would ever do that.
Not that I would ever do that.

Can you imagine the nerve—asking the Lord a question, for guidance on an issue, and then plowing ahead with your own plans without even bothering to give the Lord time to answer your carefully worded question? How often do you spend time in prayer asking for guidance on an issue, but never bother to spend time in silent reflection listening for an answer? Are you guilty of never bothering to ask a trusted friend what they think about a tough question, forgetting that the Lord often speaks through those who know us best? Do you sometimes doubt whether the Lord answers questions and ask them simply out of duty? As Christians, as people called to spend time in prayer and prefer the Lord’s will to our own, we’re called to discern God’s will for our lives. Often that means we need to spend more time in silent waiting than we do speaking. It’s like that old saying that so many of us heard from our mothers—you were given two ears and one mouth in the hope that you might listen twice as much as you speak. The Lord’s answers are rarely clear, I have found, but they are never clear when I don’t listen, when I don’t open the Bible and search for God’s wisdom, when I don’t bother to discuss the question with anyone I trust.

So the disciples leap into action and aim for the kill. They go for the head of one of the slaves of the high priest, removing his ear and probably giving the man more than he had expected. By this point, however, Jesus leaps into action. No more of this, he cries, and he reaches out his hand to heal the man’s ear. Typical Jesus—healing his enemies when the disciples think they are saving him. Let this text be a lesson to those who think God is always on our side when we go up against our enemies—Jesus loves our enemies just as much as he loves us.

I imagine that this text wasn’t referenced often in the midst of the Crusades, when it was believed that God would give them the power to destroy their enemies. The thought of Jesus running around on the battlefield healing the wounded on each side should be enough to give us pause. Jesus shows his perfect love by healing those who have come to arrest him. So I’d invite you to think about that the next time you’re in conflict with someone—as you’re imagining yourself emerging victorious, think about Jesus reaching out and healing them from the mental or emotional wounds you might have caused them. Perhaps it will lead us to be a bit more careful with our words, and perhaps it might help us put selfless love for enemies into action a bit more earnestly. Christ loved those who would come and arrest him—and he calls us to do the same.

Having healed the slave, he turns to the chief priests and the temple police, mocking their selection of weapons, wondering aloud why they didn’t bother arresting him in the temple, highlighting their fear of him. Evil always prefers the dark to act. It’s why crime often goes down in neighborhoods or parks when public lighting is installed—evil creeps back into shadowy places, hoping that its actions won’t be seen. So, too, has evil chosen the dark and seclusion of the Mount of Olives at night in this text, and they come to arrest Jesus, and Jesus, he who will defeat death and sin, allows it to happen.

Why?

Probably because he knows it has to happen. Probably because he knows the end of the story. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness, Jesus cries. I can picture him saying it with a sad look on his face, knowing that evil reigns in these men’s hearts, but knowing how much greater the power of love is. Satan will have his power, will do his worst, will try and conquer the light by crucifying the one who has come to save. But good will prevail. The light shall shine in the darkness, even when the darkness does not understand it. Jesus shall be resurrected, raised from the dead. Out of the depths of the darkest night, the Son shall rise. Evil will have its hour, but good wins. God wins.

And God calls us to join in—to shine in the darkness, to be filled with the light of Christ. As you go forth into the world, I’d invite you to consider the Christmas lights—each one shining in the night, each one a tiny speck of light that does something powerful when joined with a whole strand and plugged into the source. Each light is unique, and yet so many lights can transform a house, a community, a world. Will you let the light shine in you, in your own unique way, so that God may change the world anew and use you as the light overwhelms the darkness and transforms all of creation? Will you join in with what God is doing? Will your life be a victory song? Will good triumph in you?

Let us pray