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Luke 22:47-53
We see now why Jesus was so intent on being in prayer and having His disciples in prayer; the crowd with the authorities is coming to arrest Him. As they arrive, Judas comes near to Jesus and gives Him a greeting in the form of a kiss, which is the sign of the betrayal (Luke 22:47-48). Jesus’ disciples prepared for battle and struck one of the men, cutting off his ear, but Jesus rebuked them and healed the man’s injury as He tells His disciples to allow this event to take place (Luke 22:49-51). Jesus professes His innocence, then makes the announcement of being treated as a criminal during this time of the power of darkness (Luke 22:53).
This is an example of the sinful nature lashing out at Jesus.
This is Jesus seeking God’s will for His life in humble submission to fulfill His purpose for being sent into this world (John 3:16-18).
To seek God’s will for our lives in following Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior is quite often a tough task. There are many times in our lives when others treat us with contempt and we have the power to lash out against them. However, in seeking God’s will for our lives, we should seek to imitate the actions of Jesus and continue to show others the love that Jesus has put into our hearts through salvation in Him (Matthew 5:38-48; 22:37-40; John 13:34-35).
Dear Lord,
It is tough for us to show Your love when others are treating us badly. We want to lash back at them and repay them for the way in which they have treated us. But Jesus said in John 15:18-25 that if they treated Him badly, they would treat us badly also. There are times such as this when arrogance and pride (which is of the sinful nature) try to take over and make us fall away from You, but please give us the strength to overcome the sinful nature by utilizing the whole armor of God and quench the fiery darts of Satan (Ephesians 6:10-20), that we would stand in victory with our Savior Jesus. In Jesus name I pray, amen.