Skip to main content

Telling It Like It Is


          “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’  I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.  Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me….”
                …Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”          Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times! (John 13:18-21 & 36-37)

         In other passages detailing this evening, we’re told that the disciples started arguing among themselves as to which of them was the greatest. I believe these statements provoked that dispute. Imagine sitting at a table with a bunch of your closest friends, listening to the man you believe is the Messiah, and He says, “one of you is going to betray me.” What’s your automatic response?
          I suspect I would look around the room, to try to figure who could do such a thing. I suspect you would be looking around the room with the same goal. Our eyes meet, each with the same question, “Is it you?”
         And your immediate reaction would be just like mine, “No, not me. Can’t be me, after all, I’m one of the twelve. I’m one of the special ones. I would never betray Him…” I even wonder, given my own tendency to think the worst of myself, whether I would be more vigorous in my denials because I fear my own weakness. Would I? Could I? “No, I’m one of His greatest disciples.” Of course, you would know me. We’ve been friends for at least three years. You know what I wreck I am.
          Then Jesus tells them He’s leaving. Again, the natural response, either He can’t go, or I have to go with Him. No matter what. Even if it means dying. And Jesus tells us the truth. It might not be before the cock crows, but we will all deny Him, fail Him, fall short of His standards over and over.
         How freeing! I’m not saying any of us should ever want to either betray or deny Him. But notice what Jesus did not do. He did not sick the other disciples on either man. He didn’t reject either man.
          This passage disturbs me, because I am sure that I would have failed Jesus somehow, just like Judas and Peter. I am sure that I will still do so. Some people think we should keep quiet when others are promoting behaviors we believe are wrong. How dare we judge? To me, those people are telling me to deny or to betray Jesus by rejecting His teaching on the subject. They are also telling me to not love the person I’m telling because it’s more important that the other person is comfortable and happy than that they know that they are betraying or denying Jesus, and that such has a cost that is more than they should be asked to bear. But Jesus didn’t hesitate to tell the disciples about the worst that they would do. It didn’t stop Him from loving them either.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more