31Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:
| "I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' |
32But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."
33Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble."
34Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."
35Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"
And so said all the disciples.
This is more the reaction I would have expected earlier when Jesus said that one of them would betray Him. They all reacted now that they would never do such a thing. Peter seemed to be the most vocal about it, but so said all the disciples.
How weak is man’s convictions! How many times have we claimed we would definitely do something or definitely not do something and we haven’t been able to keep those promises? For example, times we have been so sure that we would never do anything to hurt the one we love (spouse, child, parent), and still we fail when we lash out in our frustrations. Why is it so difficult to keep those promises?
We are all imperfect. Jesus is the only one who is perfect. Without His help, we are unable to stick to our best intentions.
An interesting wording here is that Jesus didn’t just say they would all stumble, but that they would all be made to stumble. It would happen. They couldn’t stop it because they were going to be made to stumble. Another interesting point here is that Jesus said it would be because of Him. That must have hurt Jesus to know that His friends were going to be made to stumble because of Him.
Why would it be because of Him? Jesus quoted scripture from Zechariah 13:7-9
| The Shepherd Savior 7"Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion," Says the LORD of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones. 8And it shall come to pass in all the land," Says the LORD, "That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: 9I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, "This is My people'; And each one will say, "The LORD is my God."' |
The sword would be struck against the Shepherd. With the shepherd struck the sheep would scatter. It is our natural tendency to scatter if we have no shepherd. Jesus is our Shepherd. Without Jesus we can’t help but scatter. Jesus knows He must leave his disciples, and without Him they would scatter, so He knows they would stumble because of what He must do.
But Zechariah goes a little further into why the Shepherd would be struck. Yes they will scatter, and it sounds like the trials while scattered would be difficult and only a third would make it through. But their trials serve to refine them and test them. And how do they make it through their trials? They call on the name of the Lord. They will be scattered because the Shepherd had left them, but if they call on the name of the Lord, He will be with them again. He will give them the strength they need.
Everyone goes through trials. If you feel like you have been given too many trials in your life, it does not mean you did something wrong to deserve those trials. We will be taken through fire. We will be refined and tested. We do not have the ability to hold to our convictions ourselves. We cannot do it on our own. But we can do it if we call on the name of the Lord. He is our strength.
The disciples were certain they would never be caused to stumble. Yet Jesus knew it would happen that day, and that it would happen because of Him. He didn’t berate them, but He said He would go before them to Galilee. He wanted to gather them together again. But they would need to make it through their stumbling, and meet Him there.
Jesus knows we will stumble, but He does not berate us for it. He wants to gather us together again. We must call on Him to help us through it.