Thursday, June 07,
2012, 6:44 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with the song “Broken and Contrite” playing in my
mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 26:47-75 (quoting vv. 69-75 NIV 1984): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2026&version=NIV1984
Now Peter was sitting
out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus
of Galilee,” she said.
But he denied it
before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
Then he went out to
the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow
was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
He denied it again,
with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
After a little while,
those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them,
for your accent gives you away.”
Then he began to call
down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster
crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster
crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
My Understanding: Jesus
had just spent time with his disciples celebrating the Passover together, at
which time he reminded them that he would be handed over to be crucified. He
told them that one of them would betray him, that they would fall away (desert
him) because of him, and he told Peter that he would deny him three times. Yet,
all the disciples, with one accord, said they would never deny (or desert)
their Lord.
Then Jesus spent time with them at Gethsemane where he went
to pray. He asked some to stay at a certain spot while he took three of them
with him to another place. He asked them to keep watch with him. Then he prayed
in anguish to his Father, asking if it would be possible that what he was about
to suffer for our sins could be accomplished another way. Yet, he prayed, “Not
as I will, but as you will.”
His disciples to whom he had given the assignment to “watch
and pray” did not do what the Lord asked them, or at least not for long,
because they fell asleep on the job. So, they were not prepared mentally,
spiritually or emotionally for what was about to happen next.
The Betrayal
Everything happened just like Jesus had said it would. Judas
betrayed him. He led a large crowd armed with swords and clubs to where Jesus
had been praying to the Father, and where he was addressing his disciples
concerning the need to watch and pray so we don’t fall into temptation, “because
the spirit is willing, but the body” (flesh) “is weak.” In their emotions, all
but one of the disciples believed they would never desert their Lord, yet when
push came to shove, they did just what Jesus said they would do. Jesus was
betrayed and arrested in fulfillment of scripture, and all the disciples
deserted. He could have called on his Father to rescue him, but he willingly
humbled himself and submitted to the cross. Even the manner in which he was
arrested was a fulfillment of what the prophets said would take place, even
though it made no sense from a human standpoint. Everyday Jesus sat in the
temple courts teaching, and yet they never arrested him. So, all this was to
fulfill scripture.
Jesus was taken to the high priest, Caiaphas, “where the
teachers of the law and the elders had assembled.” Peter followed at a
distance. “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false
evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not
find any, though many false witnesses came forward” (vv. 59-60). Two witnesses
finally stated that Jesus had declared that he was going to destroy God’s
temple and rebuild it in three days. They thought he was speaking of the
physical building, but Jesus was talking about his own body, the temple of God,
I believe. Jesus remained silent. Then, the high priest demanded that he
answer: “Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” And, Jesus responded
in the affirmative. Not only did he say he was the Christ, but he also said: “In
the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty
One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” This infuriated the high priest who
charged Jesus with speaking blasphemy. So, the Sanhedrin decided Jesus was
worthy of death. They spit in his face and struck him with their fists and they
mocked him cruelly.
Oh, to be Like Thee
During Jesus’ earthly ministry he often warned his disciples
of what awaited them. Yet, they didn’t really get it until after Jesus was
crucified and had risen from the dead. Jesus told them often that they would be
treated just like he was treated, and he tells us the same thing, so it should
come as no surprise to us when we face similar treatment, and even at the hands
of church leaders and church people. He was betrayed by a close companion. He
said we would be hated and betrayed even by our own family members, as well as by
our friends and those who claim to know Christ; even by pastors and elders. We
may even have approval from men for a period of time and then all of a sudden
have them turn on us in a manner that might not make sense at all. And, we
could be brought before an assembly of church leaders and questioned as to why
we do what we do or say what we say, too. And, we need the wisdom of Christ to
know when to speak and when to remain silent, and we must trust the Holy Spirit
to give us the words and to not take matters into our own hands.
Isaiah 53 says that Jesus had “no outward beauty or majesty
to attract us to him; nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” So,
why does today’s church focus so much time, money and attention on appearance
and trying to attract large crowds of people to their public gatherings via
human marketing tools, big performances, and having the best band or the super
talented on stage? Jesus “was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows
and familiar with suffering,” Isaiah prophesied. Men hid their faces from him.
So, why do we tend to value and honor those with “stage presence” and “charisma”
and devalue and dishonor those who are the rejected and the despised? Should our
main goal not be to reflect Jesus Christ and to be a light of the true gospel?
Isn’t this how Christ’s church is supposed to be built, on the word of God and
the testimony of Christ?
Why do we give so much honor to those who make us “feel good”
inside but we often dishonor those who speak the truth in love to us? Jesus
took up our infirmities (griefs) and he carried our sorrows. He was “pierced
for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities.” “By his wounds
we are healed.” Jesus didn’t entertain us to try to make us happy. He spoke the
truth in love and he lay down his life for us because he loved us enough to
have us hate, despise and kill him so that we could go free. And, we, as his
followers, need to follow suit. And, we must be willing to be hated, rejected,
spat upon, mocked and persecuted because of how deeply we love God’s people and
the people of the world enough to give ourselves for them by telling them the
truth of God’s word.
Weeping Bitterly
Jesus was crushed for our iniquities. Sometimes we will be
crushed in spirit because of the sins of others, and because of how others sin
against us, i.e. because we are following Christ Jesus in faithful obedience
and so we face the same kind of treatment as he experienced. Yet, sometimes we
are crushed in spirit because of our own sins. Peter really thought he would
never deny Christ. He thought his devotion to Jesus Christ was so strong that
he would die before he would ever desert or deny his Lord. The spirit was willing
to obey, yet his flesh was weak. He didn’t watch and pray with Jesus when Jesus
asked him to, so that left him vulnerable and easy prey for Satan’s attacks. He
had been warned, but he was in denial. He thought he was standing firm, but he
fell hard. He denied Jesus strongly three times, just as Jesus had said he
would. When the rooster crowed, Peter remembered Jesus’ words to him. He was
broken and contrite, and he went and wept bitterly.
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus told Peter: “Simon, Simon, Satan has
asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith
may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (vv.
31-32). It was following this that Peter declared that he was ready to go with
Jesus to prison and to death, to which Jesus responded by telling Peter he was
going to deny Christ three times. And, Peter denied Christ three times. Yet,
Jesus was praying for him that his faith would not fail. Peter’s faith
definitely took a big hit, and it suffered a temporary setback, but Peter did
turn back to his Lord, and he did strengthen his brothers, just as Jesus had
said to him. When Peter was faced with the reality of what he had just done in
denying Christ three times, he wept bitterly in humility and in repentance,
because he did turn, and he did follow Christ in obedience, and Christ Jesus
used him greatly to preach the gospel and to be Christ’s human instrument in
being the catalyst by which the church began via Peter’s preaching of the
gospel.
So, whether you are following Christ in full obedience and
surrender to his will and are thus being faced with unjust and unkind
treatment, and you are being humbled and are falling down before the Lord
crying out for mercy and/or for the hearts of others to be right with the Lord,
or you have fallen into sin yourself and have come to the deep realization of
how much you have failed your Lord, and thus you are humbled and contrite in
spirit, and you are in need of Christ’s mercy, forgiveness and spiritual
healing, the Lord Jesus is there to meet you (to meet us) in our deepest needs,
our sorrows and times of suffering. He died, not just for our sins, but he took
up our griefs and he carried our sorrows. He suffered the same things we suffer
and he was tempted in all the ways we are tempted, yet without sin. He
sympathizes with us in our weaknesses, and he is full of love, compassion and
mercy. We just have to come to him humbly in prayer, presenting our requests to
him, crying out our pain, confessing and repenting of our sins, and he is there
to forgive and to bring much healing and comfort to our hearts. He is our
faithful and merciful high priest, so we can go confidently before the throne
of grace and find mercy in our time of need (see Heb. 4:14-16). And, he will
heal our broken hearts.
Broken and Contrite
/ An Original Work / May 13, 2012
I come before You,
Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and
crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I
implore You,
Heal my broken heart,
I pray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord,
my master,
You are the King of my
heart.
Lord, purify my heart
within me;
Sanctify me, whole
within.
I come before You,
Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and
crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I
implore You,
Heal my broken heart,
I pray.
Oh, Lord, I long to
obey fully
The words You’ve spoken
through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me
grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to
obey.
Father God, my heart’s
desire,
Won’t You set my heart
on fire?
Lord, cleanse my heart
of all that hinders
My walk with You, now
I pray.
Oh, Lord, I long to
obey fully
The words You’ve
spoken through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me
grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to
obey.
Oh, Jesus, Savior,
full of mercy,
My heart cries out for
understanding.
I want to follow You
in all ways,
Never straying from
Your truth.
Holy Spirit, come in
power,
Fill me with Your love
today.
Lord, mold and make
me;
Your hands formed me;
Live Your life through
me, I pray.
Oh, Jesus, Savior,
full of mercy,
My heart cries out for
understanding.
I want to follow You
in all ways,
Never straying from
Your truth.
