Intro
“Even if everyone falls away because of You, I never will” (Matthew 26:33).
“Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you” (Matthew 26:35).
“Lord, I’m ready to go with You, both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33). If
ever words came back to haunt the disciples, it was those words.
Main Body
It had only been a few hours since the disciples had spoken those words, in
that warm, safe upper room in Jerusalem. But now Jesus’ disciples were running
scared, fleeing for their lives, while the man they had promised to stand
beside was bound and led away to judgment and death.
The irony of courage is that we feel it most when we need it the least; and we
feel it the least, when we need it the most. Before the Romans had arrested
Jesus, the disciples knew what they were supposed to do--stand with Jesus! But
in that dark and shadowy garden, where soldiers wielded swords and bared their
weapons, the disciples’ courage melted away.
And why did their courage falter and flee? It was because they had lost their
trust. Their fear was greater than their faith--and it showed! They feared
that if they would stay with Jesus, they would die.
Death doesn’t often threaten us, does it? And yet, like the disciples on that
Thursday night so long ago, we also find ourselves tempted to run away from
wherever it is that Jesus, our Lord, wants us to stand. When the fear
intensifies, we also run away all too easily. And that is when we are to pray,
“Forgive us, Lord, for our weak faith.”
The disciples didn’t see themselves as cowards. They loved Jesus. They wanted
to be His loyal followers. When they had said they would stay with Him through
thick and thin, they had meant every word.
But how soon the disciples’ bravado changed to fear and flight! One of the
most festive nights of the year, the Passover, had turned into a nightmare.
They had seen Jesus’ sorrow, even during the supper. They heard Him once again
speak of rejection, betrayal, and death. They had walked through a darkness
that was deeper than night. And they found themselves in the olive grove,
called Gethsemane.
There, wearied with sorrow and distress, the disciples fell asleep while Jesus
prayed. They were struck senseless as they watched one of their own betray
Jesus to His enemies. Confused and frightened, they ran to hide while their
Lord was bound and led away to trial.
Jesus had foreseen it. Again and again during His time with the disciples, He
reprimanded them for their weak faith. When storms would threaten them at sea
and they would cry out in despair, Jesus would ask them where their trust in
Him had gone. When some insurmountable trouble would come up--a crowd and no
food to feed them, a disease they could not heal even with the authority and
power Jesus had given them--He would ask why they had lost their faith in Him.
At one time, Jesus even sighed, “When the Son of Man comes, will He even find
faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
The disciples still had conflicting images of whom Jesus, the Messiah, was.
When they--some of them, anyway--had first met Jesus, John the Baptizer told
them, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John
1:29). Yet somehow, they still clung to ideas of an earthly king. Even as
they trembled in the chilly night air at Gethsemane, deep down it was still
there, confusing images of different Messiahs.
And when Jesus didn’t lift a finger to stop the guards from arresting Him, the
disciples’ false images of the Messiah had collapsed. What was Jesus doing?
Why didn’t He resist? Why didn’t He call up those 12 legions of angels to
defend Him from His bloodthirsty enemies? The disciples didn’t know. They
were scared. They lost all their hope that Jesus would make everything turn
out right in the end. And with their faith in Him crushed, they ran away in
fear.
It’s the same lack of trust that causes us to abandon our Lord as well. Like
the disciples, courage is easier to come up with when we don’t really need it.
What grand struggles against temptation we can weave in our dreams and
imaginations! Satan may tempt and call us, the sinful world may sing its siren
song, but we know that we will stand fast, firm and unmoved. We won’t give in.
We will stand undaunted and fight the good fight of faith!
And yet, when push comes to shove, all our resolve can fail. It’s easy here,
in church, to make the promises of everlasting loyalty to Christ. It is easy
during our nighttime prayers to pledge undying devotion to our Savior and our
King. But get out from behind these walls, get out of your house, be forced to
deal with that world of sin and temptation, and then see what happens!
And it’s the same, sad story--our lack of trust lets our fear have its way with
us. Instead of trusting that our Good Shepherd knows where He is leading us,
we fear that He has taken a wrong turn. We fear that He is leading us
someplace where we don’t want to be. It looks like it may be dark in there.
It looks scary. It looks as if He doesn’t know what He’s doing.
And so we run, driven by foolish fears that often hardly merit a shiver! Our
trust in Him melts away, and with it dissolves all our resolve to be His true
and faithful followers. We abandon Him, as surely as the disciples did, when
our faith and trust in Him grow weak.
And that is why every Christian, every day, needs to pray these words: “Lord,
have mercy. Lord, I believe; help me in my unbelief.” When our trust in our
Savior is at its lowest point, that is when our prayers must rise to their
highest pitch and fervor. God forbid that we should run away from Him because
our faith has grown weak! For He has done nothing to deserve such lack of
confidence from us.
That is why Christ calls us to remain in His Word and to be where He comes to
us in His Sacraments, by which He continues to save us and increase our faith.
That’s why Christ calls us to fast, give alms, and pray. For these are ways
Jesus has set up for us to help discipline our sinful nature, which will always
try to run the show. Word and Sacraments strengthen our faith; spiritual
discipline helps keep our sinful flesh from riding roughshod over us in our
lives.
The Christian life is not always easy. God is clear: troubles will still
plague us as we follow Him. It’s as one of our hymns puts it: “I walk in
danger all the way.”
But know this: God will never lead us into any place where His Son has not
already been and has not already conquered all that we fear. Jesus assures us:
“Take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
So don’t fear that He doesn’t know what is best for us when He points out the
way for us to follow. Don’t think that we are better suited to figure out the
best path for our lives. If that were so, we wouldn’t need Jesus, would we?
Tonight, remember the final words of Jesus to Peter: “‘When you were young, you
would fasten your belt and go wherever you liked. But when you get old, you
will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten your belt and take
you where you don't want to go.’ Jesus said this to show what kind of death
Peter would have to glorify God” (John 21:18-19).
And Peter followed. The other apostles followed. They followed through danger
and fear, but trusting in the Lord they had once abandoned in doubt and despair.
Conclusion
May we, too, receive God’s grace to follow Him as well. Jesus says, “Without
Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). So this night, don’t make eloquent
promises of unwavering faithfulness. Such pride went before the disciples’
downfall in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Instead, pray that, because of Jesus, our heavenly Father will grant us an
ever-greater measure of His Spirit. May He increase our faith and, with it,
our courage. “Lord God, when we face our fears in our Gethsemane, strengthen
us to follow You. Amen.”
--
Rich Futrell, Pastor
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Kimberling City, MO
Where we are to receive and confess the faith of the Church (in and with the
Augsburg Confession): The faith once delivered to the saints, the faith of
Christ Jesus, His Word of the Gospel, His full forgiveness of sins, His flesh
and blood given and poured out for us, and His gracious gift of life for body,
soul, and spirit.
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