December 20 - Model Sufferer

December 20 - Model Sufferer (John 18:1-11)

I have to tell you that moving through the passion story while in the middle of Christmas season is a little difficult for me.  I have enough trouble facing Christ’s death at most other times of the year.  But the fact is, that this process was the greatest gift ever given to humanity and though we will never face what Jesus faced, we can learn a few things from Him.

The passage today is about His arrest in the olive grove.  There are a few essential things in this story that we should note. 

The first is Jesus response to Judas.  Consider your response to a traitor.  Or how about your response to someone who has harmed you or someone you love.  Maybe it is gossip or blatant attack on your personality, your job performance, your children, your lifestyle.  Our first reaction is to respond in kind.  We get defensive, we go back on the attack, we do our best to decimate the other person so that their attack is minimized or eliminated.

Whether or not Jesus knew from the moment He chose Judas to be a part of the twelve that he was going to be betrayed by the man, we can’t know.  But, we can know that Jesus extended love and teaching to him all through the years they were together.  Even at the end, Jesus extended love and respect.  He didn’t talk about Judas to the other disciples, processing on what possibly could have made Judas act the way he did, or do the things he did.  Jesus loved him, knowing what was coming.

In this story, Jesus protected the rest of his disciples.  Once he finally got them to tell the group exactly who it was they were looking for – Jesus of Nazareth – he identified himself and asked that the others be allowed to go free.

Finally, when Peter responded with violence by cutting off the right ear of the high priest’s servant, Jesus again responded by refusing to accept the violence as a part of his life.  It is in Luke’s gospel (Luke 22:51) that we see Jesus healing the man’s ear. 

I remember being harassed in high school by a friend of the guy I was dating.  Rick was not a violent person – he was one of the gentlest people I’d ever known.  But, he got so angry at the boy who was harassing me; he punched his friend and knocked him down.  I’m really not sure which of the three of us was more surprised.  It really upset Rick to know that he had that response in him.

The three of us kids were raised with a strict admonition to never strike another person.  We didn’t hit or slap each other while we were growing up, Mom simply insisted on treating each other with more respect than that.  Trying to exercise power and strength through violence never makes another recognize your power or your strength, it only incites fear.

When Jesus taught … He taught about love.  The Jews wanted a Messiah who would be able to incite fear so that they could rule.  Jesus brought something quite different and it was that difference that transformed the entire world.  Fear may change things for a short time, but love will change things forever.