To Encourage You

John 18:10-11 “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)So Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?’”

John 18:26-27 “One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with him?’ Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.”

What should be our response when someone opposes us because we are a Christian – or for that matter, attacks Christ and His teachings in our presence?  Well, the verses above give us two examples of what we are not to do.  You’ve probably heard the term “fight or flight response.”  It’s a natural animal instinct that occurs when an animal is cornered or threatened. They will go into one of two modes. They will bear their teeth and threaten to fight back, or they will roll over and play dead. I’ve seen opossums do both.  But interestingly, people will do the same thing, as Peter demonstrated so well in the verses above.

In the first example, as the officials came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter fought back by cutting off a person’s ear. His name was Malchus.  For this he was rebuked by Jesus, who said “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”  That must have unnerved Peter greatly as he considered how serious his and Jesus’ situation had now become.  Great harm was likely now – even death, to both Jesus and His followers. 

So then we have the second example. When one of Malchus’ relatives recognized Peter a little later in the court of the high priest, he calls him out and says “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” So now, Peter has the “flight” response, as he forcefully denied that he ever knew Jesus, a denial that he would immediately regret. 

So, what about us?  What’s the proper response to a threat or attack against our Lord and Savior or against us personally because He is our Lord and Savior. The “fight” response would be to fight back, to argue, or to attack or ridicule the person who is attacking or ridiculing us. To this, Jesus would say – put your sword back – including when that sword is our own tongue.  But the other response, to quake in fear and hide the fact that we are believers, is no better a response than Peter’s denials were.  Jesus has told us that “whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels (Luke 9:26).” 

Obviously the “flight” response is a no-no!  So, what should we do? What’s the God honoring response?  As with everything else, we should simply ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?”  We have an answer to that question in the examples above.  In both cases Jesus showed incredible courage by trusting His Father in heaven, come what may.  He didn’t shrink back from His identity and didn’t deny His own teaching, but neither did He attack those who were attacking Him. This in spite of the fact that He could have “called twelve legions of angels” to defend Him (Matthew 26:53).

Jesus has plainly told us to let our light shine, not to hide who we are or keep what He has told us to ourselves (Matthew 5:14-16). However, if and when we are opposed for this, Jesus has told us this, in just a few verses later in His Sermon on the Mount: “Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39).  It is such reactions that God uses to soften the hearts of unbelievers.  It is the attitude that says “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).  It is only a heart that cares more for another person’s salvation than for one’s own welfare that will do this, and it is the kind of heart that Jesus wants His followers to have. 

May God help us to not react with the “fight or flight response” that comes so naturally to each of us, but rather to demonstrate the supernatural love that is shown even to its enemies, which is the supernatural attitude of the Christ we serve.