There’s an old saying that “seeing is believing.” We need to remember another saying: Things are not always as they seem!

Scripture:

Nehemiah, chapters 1-2; Psalms 133 and 134; Luke, chapter 22

Luke 22:47-53 (NLT):

But even as Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss. But Jesus said, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

When the other disciples saw what was about to happen, they exclaimed, “Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords!” And one of them struck at the high priest’s slave, slashing off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this.” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

Then Jesus spoke to the leading priests, the captains of the Temple guard, and the elders who had come for him. “Am I some dangerous revolutionary,” he asked, “that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns.”

Things Are not Always as They Seem

Earlier in this chapter, Jesus tells the disciples, “If you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one” (Luke 22:36). Why would he say this? His message had always been that the Kingdom of God is not about earthly power and violence. Has his message changed?

Well, as the old saying goes, things are not always as they seem. Right after Jesus tells them to buy swords, he explains why. “For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the rebels.’” (22:37). Then, when the crowd shows up to arrest him, the disciples say, “Lord, should we fight?  We brought the swords!” Obviously, they thought that he told them to get swords because he wanted them to fight.

But Jesus’ response tells us that things were not as they seemed. “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.  If he didn’t want them to fight, why did he tell them to bring the swords?

“This Is Your Moment”

At the end of this passage, Jesus said, “This is your moment.” But he wasn’t talking to the disciples, and the “moment” wasn’t about fighting. He was talking to the leading priests, the captains of the Temple guard, and the elders who had come for him. They had been trying to figure out a way to arrest Jesus when the crowds weren’t around (Luke 22:6). Their ultimate goal was to kill him (Luke 22:2). When Judas agreed to betray Jesus – by taking the leaders to him when he was away from the crowds – they had their plan.  “This is your moment.”

When we hear the phrase, “this is your moment,” we think of some achieving some big goal, or accomplishing something important. No doubt that’s what the religious leaders were thinking as they arrested Jesus. But Jesus’ last statement brings it all into focus: “This is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns.”  They might have thought they were achieving some great purpose, but the reality was that they only had a moment. The power of darkness will not reign forever. Jesus would defeat sin and Satan and death on the cross later that very day!

Application:

Things Are not Always as They Seem

Several details in this passage show reveal that God is always at work. Even if it seems that evil is having its “moment,” God is at work. First, Jesus was aware that having swords would enable the religious leaders to claim that he was leading a rebellion against Rome. He knew the prophecy – from the song of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52-53 – that he would be “counted among the rebels.” But he also understood that God’s kingdom is not about violence; we do not stoop to the enemy’s methods to defeat him.  God does not need to do that! So the presence of swords may have made it seem like Jesus was leading a rebellion, but things are not always as they seem.

Next, the religious leaders might have thought that they had the upper hand. They had arranged to arrest Jesus away from the crowds, and they had their “kangaroo court” all ready to convict him and hand him over to Rome. They had no power to execute him, so they had to convince the Roman governor that Jesus was a rebel. And when Pilate sentenced him to death, they thought they had won. But things are not always as they seem!

This is your moment, he told them, the time when the power of darkness reigns. In our eyes, that moment has gone on way too long. We look around and see evidence that the power of darkness still reigns – and it seems that the darkness grows darker every day. But things are not always as they seem! Christ has already defeated Satan; what looks like growing darkness is just the last-ditch desperation of an enemy who knows he has lost.  His defeat was assured when Jesus declared, “It is finished!” And Jesus calls us to join in the work of proclaiming that things are not always as they seem!

Prayer:

Father, we thank you that when we look around and see sin and evil and darkness, we can take heart in the fact that things are not always as they seem. Satan’s defeat is assured, and we await the day when your Kingdom is established in its fullness forever! As Jesus taught us, we pray, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Help us not to trust in the “swords” of this world, to try to fight the enemy with his weapons; you do not need us to do that. Instead, help us to walk in your way each day, to show the world that there is another way – a better way.  Amen.