Wednesday, March 7, 2012
John 18:10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
JESUS SUFFERS INTENTIONALLY
You can understand the soldiers and even the priests thinking that they could overpower Jesus with numbers, since they didn't believe that Jesus was the Son of God. But Peter? Did Peter really think that Jesus needed to be saved by him? Peter did know and believe that Jesus was the Son of God. He had seen Jesus' power countless times before. He had experienced His power first hand. What did he really think he could accomplish with his little sword? All he ended up doing was fighting against Jesus' and His Father's will, and ultimately against his own salvation.
Jesus had no need or desire to be saved by Peter or anyone else. Jesus came to save us. Jesus had to go to the cross to save us. He knew there was no other way, otherwise His Father would have taken that cup away from Him. Peter didn't help at all. He only got in the way.
Thankfully Jesus was persistent and He did accomplish our salvation. Now may we never get in Jesus' way by trying to save Jesus and His Church. Some people think that we can do more to build Christ's Church if we don’t talk about the cross so much. The cross is offensive to people they say. So they think we need to improve the image of Jesus and His Church by focusing on more upbeat, positive teachings and not emphasize the Savior crucified for our sin.
Such an attempt to "save" the Church would only end up robbing the Church of its power and work against the salvation Jesus has won for us. There is good reason that the Apostle Paul says, "I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). May we glory in the cross of Christ and be eager to proclaim it to all. On the cross Jesus has saved us. Glory be to Jesus!
