Desertion
In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, ‘Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
Matthew 26:55-56 NIVUK
I had a lot of respect for Daniel. He was called up for mandatory military service as a student. He was assigned as a guard at Mihail Kogalniceanu airport, not far outside Constanta, Romania. Rations were not great. Sleeping conditions were basic. His duties involved being on guard duty for eight hours at a time, rotated with a four hour rest, every day, outside, in an airport where the temperatures on the tarmac can exceed fifty degrees Celsius in summer, and without a chair.
He told me that he learned pretty quickly how to sleep standing up.
Somehow he finished his military service without issue.
That deserves deep respect.
I also have a deep respect for Christians who do not renounce their faith in the face of violent threats and persecution.
I've had a slight taste of it. I lived in a rough neighbourhood for seventeen years, where the threat of violence was very real. I've twice been involved in aborted attempts at knife attacks. I've twice been threatened with violence while ministering on the streets. I've worked in risky, combustible situations in Roma villages and neighbourhoods.
But that is nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to those who live with a permanent threat against them every day and refuse to abandon their faith. All three hundred and forty million Christians who face daily threats of violence, arrest or discrimination are worthy of our utmost and profound respect.
Which brings us to what happened next on our journey to the cross.
The Bible is unique among Middle Eastern literature from the period in that it is brutally honest about the failings of its heroes. David sleeps with Bathsheba. Solomon sleeps with far too many women. Kings come and go and are freely criticised for their failings. Priests also make a mess. Leaders let the people down.
And then we come to the Gospels. After three years of puzzlement and bewilderment on how Jesus could be the Messiah and yet show not the slightest interest in overthrowing the Romans, we now arrive in the Garden of Gethsemane. And what follows is as negative an example of the disciples' character as we will find anywhere in Scripture.
The thing is, though: it's real. It happened. And it keeps happening. People still flee from Christ's side for the same reasons even now.
So what exactly is going on here?
Firstly, we see that this deeply shameful event was prophesied four hundred years previously:
‘Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
Zechariah 13:7 NIVUK
It wasn't a surprise. God knew it would happen and told His prophet Zechariah.
What is prophesied here is a common military tactic. If you want to kill a snake, cut off its head. If you want to defeat an army, kill its general. If you want to end a movement, kill its leader.
Of course, when the US killed Osama Bin Laden on 2nd May 2011, they, rather optimistically, thought they had killed off Al Qaeda and all its offshoots. That didn't really work. Nowadays terror movements are decentralised and frequently use 'lone wolf' attacks. They can exist without a leader.
But not so the disciples. Their movement had a clear leader. The Jewish leaders knew that if they eliminated Jesus, the movement would die out. At least, that was their thinking (Acts 5:33-39).
It didn't work.
God was in control the whole time. And He used their tactics to work out His purposes.
Although the disciples didn't have the benefit of that perspective. Which is why they ran. Their movement seemed to be over.
Secondly, it was preached. Jesus Himself provided two situations when people would desert Him and His Kingdom, in one of His most famous parables:
The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Matthew 13:20-22 NIVUK
Do you see the two main causes of deserting the Gospel and Jesus? Health - because of trouble and persecution; and Wealth - because of the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth.
So all those crackpots and nutjobs preaching a health and wealth non-Gospel on so-called Christian TV, what are they doing?
They are preaching a false Gospel that encourages you to abandon the real one.
They don't want you to follow Jesus. They want you to follow them.
Ignore them. Turn them off.
Judas had abandoned Jesus in his heart long before betraying Him. His abandonment, if he ever truly followed Jesus, was due to wealth.
The disciples here, however, were abandoning Jesus due to health. You see, every version of the events in Gethsemane has one thing at its core: Jesus' complete and unconditional surrender to His arrest (Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:1-13).
As far as the disciples were concerned, that put them at risk.
So they fled.
This event was also predicted by Jesus Himself:
Then Jesus told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘ “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.’
Matthew 26:31-32 NIVUK
Jesus wasn't surprised or disappointed by it. He knew it was going to happen and prepared His disciples to cope with it.
What a profound act of grace!
It's a sad fact that, the older we get, the more numerous are the opportunities for us to abandon Jesus.
We abandon Him by not speaking out when people mock our beliefs or our Saviour in front of us.
We abandon Him in our willingness to drop key, critical Biblical teachings because some of our people don't like them.
We abandon Him when we sacrifice Biblical ethics and morality to 'fit in' and get ahead in life.
This is wrong. Of course it's wrong. It's as wrong now as it was then. This is a sin. It is the sin of idolatry. We have given something else in our life priority over Jesus. That is as clear a violation of the First Commandment as any (Exodus 20:3). There can be no justification or rationalisation for it. Only repentance. Nothing less.
I can't guarantee that it won't happen to you. In fact, it might have already happened. Several times.
Let me give you some encouragement from what we can learn from this.
Firstly, God knows. He knows you better than you know yourself. God knew centuries before that the disciples would flee in fear from Jesus. Nothing you could ever do would surprise Him. He knows.
Secondly, God plans. Jesus seems to tell the disciples quite calmly that they are about to abandon and neglect Him, and quite amazingly tells them what to do after they've done it!
They were to return to Galilee - the place from where He had called them. He is sending them back to where it all began.
He is telling them - quite literally - to repent.
And this is His plan for us to. Like someone who is lost and doesn't know which way to turn, He wants us to return to Him and to the place where He blessed us. He wants us to recognise that we have gone wrong, we have sinned against Him, we have crossed the line. And then He wants us to reject the sin we have committed and return to Him, just like the disciples.
Lastly, God restores. Do you know the amazing thing? After Pentecost, these cowardly, fleeing disciples, who had put their health and wealth before their Lord, became a brave force that took the world by storm. Their panicked hearts became the hearts of lions. Their stammering tongues became fluent. They went from fugitives to leaders of a movement that outlived the Romans, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, the Nazis, the Communists and will outlive many, many more. They went from fleeing to preaching to leading. From these cowardly men, ten were martyred and one died in exile.
They did not desert Jesus again. Not even in death.
You might have deserted Him once, twice, a thousand times, but today can be the day you repent and turn back to Him. Today can be the day the coward becomes brave, the fugutive becomes a fighter, the scardy-cat becomes formidable.
If God can do it with them, why not you?
Questions
1) Why did the disciples run away from Jesus? What can you learn from this that's useful for you?
2) Have you ever deserted and abandoned Jesus? How did it feel?
3) Why do you think Jesus told His disciples they would desert Him, and then sent them back to Galilee? Is this something you need to do?
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