Matthew 26:53
In our last study, we addressed the
providential warning to all fishermen: “Use your swords properly.” Our purpose
last time was to remind ourselves that it is very easy to act now and ask
later. It is very easy for us to keep ENERGY in the upper case while relegating
prayerful dependence to smaller
type in our priority system. Sometimes in our life, blood can run from the
servant’s ear quicker than the heart can wait upon the Lord.
The lonely Prayer Warrior instantly turns
into the Healer as He gently holds the ear to the servant’s head and repairs
the damage done. How characteristic is the picture of the Savior being betrayed
while He remains faithful to the one in need. How quickly He forgets His own
pain, which is rending His heart, while He reaches out to heal the victim’s
pain.
Jesus turns to Peter in the torch-lit
night and asks, “Do you not think…?” We
do not need the rest of the question to get the answer. The question is
addressed to Simon. For him, like for many of us, thinking is a process that
always follows action. For these kinds of people, the brain is always slower
than the hand and foot. It is not as though Peter could not think; it is simply
that he did not think in time. Peter stands at the opposite end of the
personality spectrum from Gideon. Gideon and his camp never move until all
questions have been asked and the fleece has been turned … at least twice.
Peter’s life follows the sword, Gideon’s life waits for the angels, but our
lives should lean upon the Lord.
Jesus asks Peter about the availability
of angels. Jesus reminds the frustrated, confused and panic-driven disciple
that they are not in this battle alone. The question here is one of potential.
After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, angels came to minister to Him.
Here, however, there would be no angels. It was not because they could not come
or would not come, but rather because they were not called. As we shall see
next week, the reason they were not called was because Jesus was reading His
life from the pages of His Father’s prophetic and providential plan.
There is not a contrast here only in
quality (angels beat knives … every time) but in quantity as well. The
disciples had only two knives; Jesus had in excess of 72,000 angels. Jesus was
not in need at this point. He was giving Himself; He was not in need of taking
anything. He borrowed bread and fish to feed the thousands, but He would save
the world by Himself.
The question for us today is: Where are
the angels? Are they still available to us? Can we, like Jesus, call for the
angels to come help us in time of need? Is the subject of angels only for
primitive and unlearned minds? What do
the Scriptures say? Are we so far from the garden in which Jesus was betrayed
that the angels cannot hear us?