1.
In the name
of Jesus. Amen. Misunderstanding is dangerous. You can fail a
test in school, lose a friend, or generate hard feelings in your family because
of a misunderstanding. But, the greatest danger of all is that misunderstanding
can destroy you spiritually. Doubt and
misunderstanding go back to the beginning. Satan planted doubt in the mind of
Eve by questioning her understanding. “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not
eat of any tree of the garden’?” (Gen 3:1). “Are you sure you understood
him correctly?” We’re aware of the tragic results. Ever since, Satan has used
doubt and misunderstanding to destroy people.
2. Tonight we confess, “It’s Jesus, Peter, and me; and
it’s all about misunderstanding—for Peter, for the other disciples, and for
us.” But, we’ll go beyond misunderstanding to the true meaning of our Lord’s
mission. Jesus’ mission is misunderstood
as earthly, but it is spiritual: the redemption of mankind.
3.
The mission is
under way. We find Jesus and his disciples in Gethsemane. Look, a crowd led by
Judas approaches, armed with a varied assortment of weapons. There’s an
exchange of words: Jesus walks forward and asks, “Whom do you seek?”
They answer, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied, “I am he” (vv
4–5). They draw back and fall to the ground. They’re not struck down by mere
words. Armed men are struck down before an unarmed man by divine power. Jesus’
surrender is willing. Of his own free will, he goes forth to lay down his life
for the world.
4.
But now
Peter’s confidence begins to crack. Imagine what’s going through his mind.
What’s happened is incredible to him. Everything the disciples had hoped for—an
earthly kingdom, places of honor and power in that kingdom—it’s all collapsing.
The master is taken captive. So Peter gathers up his courage. He feels he must
rise to the situation. Impulsively, he draws his sword and cuts off the ear of
the high priest’s servant.
5.
Peter has
badly misunderstood Jesus’ mission on earth. Had he recalled how Jesus fled
when crowds wanted to make him an earthly king (6:15), how Jesus had told the
disciples he must suffer and die, Peter would have seen that the course of
events was now fitting neatly into Jesus’ prophecies. He would have seen that
Jesus must be taken, tried, condemned, and crucified.
6.
What form
does misunderstanding Jesus’ mission take today? We misunderstand Jesus, for
example, if we look to him only as a source of material blessings for this life.
That’s wanting God on our side, as a kind of Santa Claus, to fill life
with all good things. So we’re sorry that our sins may deprive us of some
earthly blessings. But we’re not always sorry that our sins grieve God or hurt
other people. We repent for fear that God will take away the things of this
world. But we’re slow to repent for fear that sin will separate us from God.
7.
We
misunderstand Jesus if we look to him only for the hour of death and for
eternity. That’s thinking of him as a kind of insurance policy, whose value
kicks in only at death. We’re not always interested in Jesus and his will for
our lives today and tomorrow. We want a Savior, but not a Lord. We want
forgiveness of sin, but are slow to seek strength to overcome sin now, in
Christlike living.
8.
We
misunderstand Jesus if we see him and the Church as a status symbol. Then faith
is seen as calling ourselves Christian in name only. We want to say we’re
members of a church. We want a place to be married and a place to be buried,
and not much more. As they used to say,
a place to be hatched, matched, and dispatched, that is to be baptized,
married, and buried. How sad is that if
that’s the way you see what it means to be called a disciple of Jesus?
9.
None of this
will do. Jesus wants to be Savior and Lord of every moment of every day of
every year of our lives and into all eternity. Why? Because anything less than
this is death. He wants to forgive us now, to help us live new lives now, to
learn to love as he loves now, and to serve as he serves now. Why? Because this
is life instead of death. If we don’t look to him for all of this, we
misunderstand him. This satanic deception stands between us and Christ, and we’re
in danger of being lost now and forever.
10. But Jesus does not give up on the lost. Remember? Jesus’
mission was to seek and to save the lost. Jesus understood his mission. Jesus
himself defined his mission in those words: “The Son of Man came to seek and
to save the lost” (Lk 19:10). Follow the action of our text. Jesus didn’t
let anything, not even Peter’s sword, prevent him from going to the cross: “Put
your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given
me?” (v 11). As you look upon that garden scene, see his willing surrender.
“I am he,” Jesus replies when the crowd asks for Jesus of Nazareth. And
then he adds, “If you seek me, let these men go” (v 8). He willingly
delivers himself into their hands as the Lamb of God to be sacrificed for the
sins of the world. But to the last Jesus held his protecting hand over his
disciples, reminding his captors they were to arrest only him.
11. “Let these men go” (v 8). Realize these words are also for you. Jesus is
speaking of you. This is his message: “Your sin is mine. Your death is mine.
Your hell is mine. It all has to let you go. I will be wounded for your transgressions.
I will be bruised for your iniquities. By my suffering and death, you will be
healed. So, go your way. I have your sin, your guilt, your death, and your
hell. You don’t have them anymore. Go! You are forgiven. You have peace with
God. You are free.” This is Jesus’ mission. It has been fulfilled for you.
Your redemption is accomplished. Its fruits keep flowing into your life,
empowering you day by day to repent, believe, and live as a forgiven child of
God with new life in his name. This is the
story of Jesus, Peter, and each of us.
Amen.
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