Responding in Anger
“We carry our swords in our mouths.”
John 18:10-11 (NLT)
Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”
Reflection
Peter reminds me of Barney Fife, who regularly rockets from fear to tough man, defending Andy on the Andy Griffith Show.
The way Jesus tells Peter to put away his sword… transports me to Mayberry where Andy continually tells Barney to put away his gun.
Barney’s fear-based life leads to a heavy-handed approach in his responses.
Fear charged up Peter, too. It made him think he could take things into his own hands and solve God’s problem with force.
Oh Peter. Oh us.
What Jesus needed from Peter was not a defense but synchronicity.
He needed Peter to be in step with Him, to understand the assignment.
Have you seen the sidewalk preachers in a city carrying a big sign listing all the things God hates and shouting doom through a megaphone?
They think they are defending God.
I think it’s more likely they are cutting off ears.
No one listens to that.
Yesterday, Skip and I were walking in the Short North, where we witnessed an alcoholic retrieve a used bottle of booze from a garbage can and swig it. We walked past panhandlers, addicts nodding off on the sidewalks, noticed a line at the AIDS testing site, and walked amongst the cosplay adults attending a convention.
Mentally I could hear Charity Gayle singing,
“I just want to speak the name of Jesus
To every soul held captive…”
Then out of nowhere a wheelchair whizzed by us and made an abrupt u-turn in front of us. A 29-year-old man manually pushing his own wheelchair looked up at us with a twinkle in his eyes and an ear-to-ear grin on his face, and told us that Jesus loved us and wondered if we had any questions.
Do you know how much power a man with no usable legs, sitting in an old manual wheelchair, has when he looks up at you and smiles with joy?
Every word he spoke had power because they were served to us with love. I was mesmerized by his insight. He knew things I didn't know about the ways of our Lord because he had a different vantage point.
Our reactions will either be fear-based or love-based.
Fear makes us lash out, spark hot and deflect. It makes us nuclear and abolishes our synchronicity with Jesus.
Fear makes us so loud we can’t be heard.
We move through life cutting off ears.
But love? It renders us…..hearable.
Action Step
We carry our swords in our mouths.
They are quite versatile. They lie, distort, smear, yell, insult, accuse, whisper, text, type, and tattle. Sometimes we lash off ears, sometimes the whole head. On a good day, we just nick people a little. Like Peter…it’s about how WE are feeling in the moment…not what Jesus needs from us. We forget synchronicity and lacerate others because we are filled with fear.
But fear surrendered grows into wisdom.
What are your fears?
Identify them.
Know them.
Bring them out of the dark, into His light.
There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 12:18 (ESV)
Prayer
Jesus…melt the fears hiding in secret places in my heart. Scope them out, give me eyes to see them and the courage to let You take them. Amen.
Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”
Reflection
Peter reminds me of Barney Fife, who regularly rockets from fear to tough man, defending Andy on the Andy Griffith Show.
The way Jesus tells Peter to put away his sword… transports me to Mayberry where Andy continually tells Barney to put away his gun.
Barney’s fear-based life leads to a heavy-handed approach in his responses.
Fear charged up Peter, too. It made him think he could take things into his own hands and solve God’s problem with force.
Oh Peter. Oh us.
What Jesus needed from Peter was not a defense but synchronicity.
He needed Peter to be in step with Him, to understand the assignment.
Have you seen the sidewalk preachers in a city carrying a big sign listing all the things God hates and shouting doom through a megaphone?
They think they are defending God.
I think it’s more likely they are cutting off ears.
No one listens to that.
Yesterday, Skip and I were walking in the Short North, where we witnessed an alcoholic retrieve a used bottle of booze from a garbage can and swig it. We walked past panhandlers, addicts nodding off on the sidewalks, noticed a line at the AIDS testing site, and walked amongst the cosplay adults attending a convention.
Mentally I could hear Charity Gayle singing,
“I just want to speak the name of Jesus
To every soul held captive…”
Then out of nowhere a wheelchair whizzed by us and made an abrupt u-turn in front of us. A 29-year-old man manually pushing his own wheelchair looked up at us with a twinkle in his eyes and an ear-to-ear grin on his face, and told us that Jesus loved us and wondered if we had any questions.
Do you know how much power a man with no usable legs, sitting in an old manual wheelchair, has when he looks up at you and smiles with joy?
Every word he spoke had power because they were served to us with love. I was mesmerized by his insight. He knew things I didn't know about the ways of our Lord because he had a different vantage point.
Our reactions will either be fear-based or love-based.
Fear makes us lash out, spark hot and deflect. It makes us nuclear and abolishes our synchronicity with Jesus.
Fear makes us so loud we can’t be heard.
We move through life cutting off ears.
But love? It renders us…..hearable.
Action Step
We carry our swords in our mouths.
They are quite versatile. They lie, distort, smear, yell, insult, accuse, whisper, text, type, and tattle. Sometimes we lash off ears, sometimes the whole head. On a good day, we just nick people a little. Like Peter…it’s about how WE are feeling in the moment…not what Jesus needs from us. We forget synchronicity and lacerate others because we are filled with fear.
But fear surrendered grows into wisdom.
What are your fears?
Identify them.
Know them.
Bring them out of the dark, into His light.
There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 12:18 (ESV)
Prayer
Jesus…melt the fears hiding in secret places in my heart. Scope them out, give me eyes to see them and the courage to let You take them. Amen.
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