Text: Luke 22:24-46
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
As Jesus draws near to His cross, we see just how unprepared the disciples were. In spite of their three years of study with our Lord, witnessing His miracles, hearing His preaching, and even being hand-selected to take over the Church – they are acting like impertinent children who have never heard anything that He has said.
At this late stage, they get into a fight about which one of them is the greatest. Our Lord has to remind them of what they just witnessed: their Lord serving them at the table of the Last Supper, wiping their feet like a common slave. Then St. Peter, when the Lord prays for him, essentially tells Jesus that he doesn’t need his prayers. Full of braggadocio, he asserts his willingness to go down in a blaze of glory with Jesus, even as our Lord prophesies about Peter’s cowardice to come when the rooster crows.
And then, Jesus tells them to be prepared to draw the sword. For perhaps they are still deluded into thinking that Jesus is going to use His miraculous power to kill Romans and establish an independent Jewish state. And so they bring two swords. Jesus says, “It is enough.” For indeed, the sword of Peter will be used at Jesus’ arrest to demonstrate that those who live by the sword will die by the sword.
But in spite of their ignorance, they will be filled with knowledge when the Lord is crucified, dies, rises again, and continues to instruct them. In spite of their folly, they will be made wise when the Holy Spirit comes and empowers them to preach the Gospel. In spite of their silly notions of what they are called to be, these men will have the vocation to become the first bishops of the Church. They will transform the world, and even in time, overthrow the emperor with only the sword of the Word of God. These men will die heroically in the service of their Lord, and they will rise again on the last day.
We confess that the Church is “apostolic.” It bears the mark of these holy apostles whom Jesus called, taught, ordained, and sent to preach and to administer the holy sacraments. And their successors are often just as brash, silly, foolish, and cowardly – but also transformed by the same Word that they preach and sacraments that they administer. Lay Christians are likewise not the best examples of discipleship. And this is why we need a Savior, why we need preachers, and why we need the Word of God to continue to do Jesus’ miraculous work the world over. We need our Lord’s continuing instruction and presence with us.
And it is our Lord’s prayer for all of us that we remain faithful, that we not “enter into temptation.” And when He finds us in a state of slumber, He continues to intercede for us, and urges us as His disciples to “rise and pray.”
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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