Transcript:
Greetings, beloved in Christ. I hope that you are well on this day. One of my personal disciplines, spiritual disciplines, is that every liturgical year, I do a slow reading of the gospel assigned for that year. And I do that slow reading three times. At the beginning of the liturgical year, in the season of Advent, I do the first slow reading. During the season of Lent and Easter, I do the second. And finally, at the end of the liturgical year, before we move into the new year, I do one last slow reading of the gospel.
The spiritual work helps ground me in the gospel, and I feel as though I open myself to the ways in which the Holy Spirit might be speaking to me. As I am working my way again through the Book of Matthew, which is this year's gospel, this passage has been one that I have been reflecting on since I read it a few days ago. I want to share it with you.
"While Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the 12, arrived. With him was a large crowd wielding swords and clubs sent from the chief priests and the elders. Now, the betrayer had arranged a signal. 'The one I kiss is the man. Seize him.' Going at once to Jesus, Judas kissed him and said, 'Greetings, Rabbi.' Jesus replied, 'Do what you came to do, friend.' The men stepped forward, seized Jesus, and arrested him.
"With that, one of Jesus's companion reached for his sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Jesus said, 'Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you not think I can call on my Father and he will not at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?'"
I have pondered those words. As we listen to the rhetoric around war and just war, one thing that I am clear on is that Jesus never asked his disciples to defend him. He asked his disciples to listen to him. He asked his disciples to follow him. He asked his disciples to do what he commanded. He asked his disciples. No, he demanded that his disciples love one another as he had loved them.
Jesus does not need our defense. Jesus does not need us drawing our swords, wielding our weapons to defend his name. Jesus instead demands our obedience, demands our faith, demands our sincere, sincere, desire to follow him, not as passive followers, but as active learners, as disciples, as apprentices, so that we might live the way Jesus lived in the world, spread his gospel of love to the world, and glorify not ourselves, but our God and creator.
I commend the passage to you. Read it, meditate on it, pray over it, and discern how God is calling you to be in this world. Blessings.