Matthew 26:31-32
Then Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written,
‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
As will often be the case on this night, there is mixed together in this moment equal measures of anguish and hope.
After they leave their Passover meal together, Jesus and his disciples go to the Mount of Olives. And on that familiar hill he tells them news that must have saddened and shocked them to the core. Earlier, keep in mind, he had announced that one of their company would betray them. And hearing that it was one of them, each – including Judas – had the opportunity to protest his innocence: “Surely not I Lord.”
Now Jesus’ prediction moves from the solitary to the corporate, and all of them are indicted: “You will all become deserters….” There is no escape, no looking the other way, no assuming it’s one of the others. “You will all become deserters.”
This is the way it must go. Perhaps that is, in part – as it appears Matthew reads it – because this desertion fulfills scriptural prophecy. And perhaps it’s simply because God’s plan for redemption is so utterly surprising it turns their expectations so completely upside down that Jesus’ so that the disciples not only could not anticipate it but couldn’t even accept it. And so they desert him, every one, and he tells them this upfront.
Yet amid this difficult word of anticipated desertion is Jesus’ promise: he will be raised again, and after he is raised he will go ahead to meet his disciples in Galilee.
I don’t know if the disciples could hear this word of hope amid their shock at Jesus’ accusation. I don’t know, that is, if they noticed that Jesus didn’t stop with the announcement of their desertion but continued on with a promise of his faithfulness. But these words will become a core part of the message of the angel that greets the women at the empty tomb. He will send these women to bear word to the disciples that despite all their failings – the betrayal, denial, and desertion – yet Jesus has kept his promise.
Which is, of course, our source of hope. We are commanded to be faithful and try to be so. Yet when we fail we have God’s promise to draw us back, forgive and renew us, and send us forth once again as ambassadors of God’s grace and love. Because God, from the beginning of Scripture to the end, always keeps God’s promises.
Prayer: Encourage us to strive to be the people you have called us to be, and when we fall short remind us that even when we falter you are faithful. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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