I remember reading about a little snippet of a little boy that was to recite some scriptures for Sunday Morning. His verse to remember was Joh_8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." He got up before the congregation to recite this verse and drew a blank, he could not remember it for anything. Looking down at his mother sitting on the front row, she mouthed out the verse. Still, he couldn’t make out what she was mouthing, so he leaned in to read her lips and he finally got it, he finally understood. He looked up and said, “My mom is the light of the world.” No, No, but thank the Lord for mom’s who teach their children God’s word.
As you might have figured, today’s message is not a traditional Mother’s Day sermon. Unless there are verses from the Gethsemane arrest scene that can be applied to mothers, today will be a travel through more verses from the garden scene. In reality, I do not have to spend 30 minutes trying to tie these verses into Mother’s Day when I can talk about Jesus and how He affects all of our lives.
Last week, I most of our time considering what transpired at the opening of the garden scene. We spoke about the thick irony that is through the narrative, how this episode reflects upon a time when man and women walked with God in the coolness of the day. I am of course speaking about what transpired in the Garden of Eden. How humankind sinned against God and if you fast forward a few thousand years, you see the same level of rebellion and deceit seen through those in the garden with Jesus. Here are people coming up the hill side to arrest Jesus, who is the light of the world. These people carrying torches and lights, and weaponry. Those light bearers were coming to arrest the Light that came into the world to lift the darkening and blinding effects of sin. Jesus asks the arresting party of people who they seek, they replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” When Jesus answered the men here is what happened, Joh 18:6 When Jesus said to them, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground. Jesus’ response was very similar what they know about the “I AM.” Could it be that Jesus was using the language that can only be used when referring about the self-existing one?
We spent much time talking about betray. If anyone in that garden had the right to pick up a sword it would have been Jesus. So, Peter slices off the ear of Malchus then Jesus heals Him. Instead of rightfully standing over Him and saying, “see, that’s what you get,” Jesus healed him. To compliment last week’s sermon, here is the verses that demonstrate Jesus healing the ear. Luk 22:50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
Luk 22:51 But Jesus said, "No more of this!" And he touched his ear and healed him.
Today we pick up in the narrative with a sermon I have entitled, “will you deny Him?”
Joh 18:12 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
Joh 18:13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Joh 18:14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.
Joh 18:15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, Joh 18:16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in.
Joh 18:17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, "You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not."
Joh 18:18 Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.
How do we reject the Lord today? For the church, it is not living out your faith. For the person that doesn’t know Jesus yet, rejection and denial is already there. We reject the Lord today by living in willful disobedience and try to have things our way and catered to our preference. We reject the Lord by not reconciling with each other, by being stingy with the gospel, by not looking at adversity in the body of Christ and using it for the glory of God.
I would like to share a dream with you…
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free