Transcript

This, then, is our text, Matthew 26, verses 47 through 56, while Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived with him a large crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying, the one that I will kiss is the man, arrest him. At once they came up to Jesus and said, greeting Rabbi, and he kissed him. Jesus said to him, friend, do what you're here to do. Then they came in laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. Suddenly one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? How then would the scripture be fulfilled which say it must happen in this way? At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching and you did not arrest me. But all this has taken place so that the scriptures of the prophets must be fulfilled. Then all his disciples deserted him and fled. The word of God. Well it's almost over, as you know, he's in Gethsemane, and it's becoming increasingly obvious that he's not going to fight. There was a skirmish there when he was arrested, but he was not involved in it, and he did not approve of it. In fact, he disapproved of it and healed the one that was wounded, reprimanded his friend, put your sword away. That's not how we do it. He's not going to fight apparently. He could have, well he could have, Matthew has absolutely no doubt he could have. In fact he said, don't you know I could ask God right now for twelve legions of angels and they would be here to fight for me? He could have, says Matthew, but he doesn't. Not much time to decide to do that either. When he's on the cross there was a good time for him to do it, with all the taunting. Just reading the taunting makes me want him to do something. If you're the Messiah why don't you jump down? Everybody will believe on you. If you're the king, come down. If you're the Son of God, God would surely love you and will get you down. That would have been my cue to act. Pull a little whammy, motivate and energize the crowd, and they would take care of it with garden hose and everything else, and we'd be on our way. But it's obvious he's not going to fight, but he could. How does the Appalachian singer talk about Jesus? You know that song, I wonder as I wonder. If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing, a star in the sky, a bird on the wing, all of God's angels in heaven to sing. He could have it because he was the king. Matthew more than anyone else likes to call Jesus the king. He could have done it, but he didn't. And I don't know why I'm always surprised when I read this because I know better. Matthew has told us all along he's not going to. Is he the king? He's the king. Is he going to fight? No. The title for every chapter in Matthew is this. He could have, but he didn't. Even when he was an infant, the Magi came to Jerusalem and said, where is he that's born king of the Jews? There's going to be trouble. You don't ask the king. Where's the real king? It's upsetting to the king. And the soldiers come in large numbers on the little town of Bethlehem and mothers huddled with their children behind cell doors. But where is the king? The king is on his way to Egypt. Joseph takes Mary and the boy to Egypt to get away from Herod. When he learns that Herod is dead, he takes the mother and the boy and goes back to his home, Bethlehem. But he heard that Archelaus was ruling in Herod's stead, and he knew Archelaus was more violent than his father. And so the king is again on the run, retreating up north into Galilee out of the clutches of Archelaus to a little hill town, remote, private, Nazareth. And there he grows up. When he begins his ministry, he's stirring around in all of Galilee, and he's down by the valley of the Jordan, and he hears that John, John the Baptist, has been arrested. And so he goes back into Galilee, goes to Nazareth, collects his belongings, and Matthew says, moves his residence over to Capernaum. The king is still on the run. He hears about a plot. Herodians and Pharisees plotting against him, they plan to assassinate him. He hears about it, and he quickly retreats. He's the king, but he's on the run. He heard later that John the Baptist had been killed, and Matthew says that Jesus got a boat and went out in the boat by himself to a remote place. A delegation of official investigators from the capital came up into the hill country of Galilee to investigate this teacher, Jesus. And Jesus hears about the delegation, and he quickly retreats into Lebanon. The king is still on the run. When is the king going to turn and draw a line in the sand and said, enough is enough? Personally, I don't like for him to retreat so much. When he goes to Jerusalem, he's safe in the daytime because the people come in great crowds and listen to him, and they serve as a kind of buffer zone about him, safety. But at night, when they go home, Jesus goes to spend the night out at Bethany and in particular in a place called Gethsemane. He's safe there. It's remote there. It's private there. Only he and a few others know. But one of those others went to the authorities and said, I know where he spends the night. And so here we are, not alone in prayer in Gethsemane, but being grabbed and pushed and shoved. It's time to fight. He could have. I could ask for twelve legions of angels, and they'd be here, and Matthew has no doubt. If he wanted to fight, he could fight and successfully too. But he doesn't. I have written it across the Gospel of Matthew from first to last. He could have, but he didn't. I think that's something Jesus picked up from God. You know, he was the Son of God, and I get to thinking about God in the scriptures. In Genesis, he said, God said to Adam and Eve, but if you eat of that tree, you're dead. They ate of the tree, and God said, well, you're going to have to leave the garden. And before they got out of the garden, God said, wait a minute, wait a minute, your neck, it is Jaybirds. And God made them some clothes. But things got worse and worse and worse. And by the time you get to Genesis 6, God said, I repent that I ever made anybody. The thought of the human heart is wicked all the time. Day and night, nothing but wickedness. I'm sorry that I made anybody. I'm going to wash it all away, and the heavens open, and the floods and the deep opened up. And it rained, and it swelled from the ground. I'm going to destroy all of it, except those in the boat. And there's Noah and his wife and three boys and their wives. I don't know why God just can't do it. God said to Jonah, I want you to go up there and preach and tell them in 40 days, this place is coming down around your ears. I am sick of the wickedness of Nineveh. It stinks in my nostrils. This is the end of it. In 40 days, gone. And in 40 days, God said, you know, I'm sorry I said that. And not a stroke, not a stroke. Like Jesus going through some area, the doors were closed, the windows were closed. Nobody spoke to him. The backs were turned. No hospitality. Would you like to spend the night here? No, no, no, no. Would you share a meal with us some bread please? No, no, no, no. Nothing. And the twelfth came to Jesus and said, do you want us to call down a bolt of lightning from heaven and burn this whole town? And Jesus said, let's go to another town. When is he going to turn and draw a line and say, enough is enough already? He could have. But he didn't. Because he has in him the character of God. And the character of God is not just power, but the restraint of power. The most marvelous picture of God in the Bible, as far as I'm concerned, is in the book of Revelation, chapters four and five, when the seer, the prophet, the sage, John on the Isle of Patmos has given this vision, and he's told to come up and enter into this house of terrible splendor, and he can hardly stand it and holding his hand over his eyes. He goes into this place, brilliant with the light of God and angels, wingtip to wingtip, singing. Nothing is impossible with God. God almighty, holy, holy, holy, almighty God. Everything is possible with God. That's the creed behind all creeds. God can do it. And John says, I went inside and I saw this throne, this terrible, beautiful throne, the very symbol of power upon power. And I looked more closely and I saw in the midst of the throne a lamb bleeding. This, too, is God. Not just power, but the restraint of power. That's why I think those two fellows who write those or have written those less behind books, Lahae and Jenkins, their last one is called The Glorious Return, and you know what they say. They say that so far it's been the power and the restraint. It's been the throne and the lamb, but the lamb part is going away and it's going to be only the unleashed power of God. I would like to say to them, if you see them, they're wrong. It's like saying there will be a time when God says this to be God. Because God isn't just power. God is restraint of power. 25 years ago or something like that, what's a year? I think it's 25 years ago. I was asked to hold or to speak, lead at a president's prayer breakfast. We're held in this country and around the world where we had troops and consulates. And I got a letter from Washington, asked me if I would hold one of these. I said yes, and they said the place we want you to go is Seoul, Korea. Well, sure, I'll just stop by on the way to Candler. I'll just drop. But I was glad to go and I went and the general in charge and my host was general still well, four stars. He gathered officers and enlisted people in this large room and we had the president's prayer breakfast. We had a nice breakfast. Then we had prayers and it was not just prayers in name only. The general's assistant, a colonel, had the soldiers there enter into a period of sentence prayers. I really was surprised. I associate sentence prayers with an old Wednesday night service somewhere in the country. They had sentence prayers for mothers and for fathers and sisters and babies and for my wife back home and for peace in the world. And then moving prayers. And I spoke and there was a young man brought in from Formosa, a private who played the bagpipe and he played Amazing Grace on the bagpipe just before I spoke. The general sat there, tears. He said, I love that song. I spoke. He and I talked a while. There was a benediction. The room began to empty. I shook hands with the general. I thanked him for his gracious hospitality. He said, I want you to remember us in prayer. And I said, I will, you know, I will. And he said, not for more power. We have the power. We could just one afternoon destroy this whole place. Pray that we have the restraint appropriate. It was such an unusual request. Pray that we have the restraint. He knew his history. He knew he was American and restraint is built into our history. Why do we have executive judicial legislative branches except to build in restraint? Why is it said that we shall allow a person only two terms as president restraint? Why do we say that the commander in chief of all armed forces of this country will always be a civilian restraint? The general knew it's not the power. It's the restraint of power. The mark of a civilized society is restraint of power. The mark of a civilized human being is restraint of power. Every time I read or hear of a man or a woman shaking a baby to death, you're bigger than the baby. What are you doing? We know you can. Of course you can. When I left the room, everybody was gone except the general. And his aide, a colonel, said, general, shall I bring the car around? He said, not now. I want to sit here a while. And he asked the private from Formosa to stay. And the young man did, of course. And when I looked back before I went outside, there was the general seated alone in this big room. There was a private out in front of him playing on the bagpipe. Amazing grace. Now, isn't that a picture? Four stars shining, listening to the voice of restraint. God didn't send the sun into the world to destroy the world. If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing, but he didn't, but that the world through him might be saved. For God so loved the world. The refrain for the prayers that follow is thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Let us pray for the breaking in of God's kingdom in our world today.