Luke 22:47-53 The Kiss, The Cut, and the Cup
Good morning! Just for fun, let’s go back to the Gospel of Luke, just to shake things up! This morning we are going to be looking at chapter 22, verse 47-53, and that’s on page 882 in the pew Bibles.
As you may recall from our last time together Jesus and the eleven remaining disciples were in the Garden of Gethsemane late at night.
Jesus had prayed His famous prayer of submission to the Father’s will back in verse 42, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Jesus had warned the disciples that Satan demanded to have them and sift them like wheat but He had prayed for them, He instructed them to prepare for times of difficulty ahead, and He had reminded them that the Scriptures must be and were being fulfilled in Him at that very moment and in the hours to come.
So of course it stands to reason that the disciples would be ready for the will of the Father to be done in Jesus and that they had nothing to fear… Well, let’s just see about that.
47 While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49 And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. 52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
Let’s pray.
As much as I hate three point sermons, I can’t help but notice three distinct themes surrounding three distinct questions. A question asked of Judas, a question asked of the Lord, and a question asked of the crowd. And we’ll look at them one at a time.
Remember that Jesus had been instructing His sleepy disciples to rise and pray that they may not enter into temptation. And 47 While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Now by way of refresher, turn back to verse one of this same chapter.
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. 2 And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. 3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.
Now Judas had his chance. He knew where the Lord would be, and he knew that there would not be a crowd, just Jesus and the eleven remaining disciples. So he led this crowd of chief priests, officers of the Temple, and elders to the garden of Gethsemane to get Jesus.
Now, we know from Matthew’s account in chapter 26 and verse 48 that Judas had given the crowd a sign, that the one that he would kiss is the man and to seize Him.
And when they got there and Judas went up to kiss Jesus on the cheek, a customary greeting for Rabbis, Jesus stopped Him with a question: “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”
This first question was a display of His grace.
In His grace Jesus reminded Judas who He was and what His mission was. He called Himself once again, the Son of Man, a title for the Messiah, the Anointed One who would take away the sin of the world.
And in that awful treachery, the traitor Judas, completed his betrayal by giving the crowd their signal and kissing Jesus on the cheek.
Psalm 55:12-14 written by King David six hundred or so years earlier…
12 For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him. 13 But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. 14 We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng. 15 Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.
Judas, Jesus’ friend, betrayed Him with a kiss for thirty pieces of silver just as Scripture had predicted.
49 And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him.
So here we have our second question and two more acts of grace by the Lord Jesus.
The question from the disciples, once they figured out what was happening, was: Lord, remember those two swords, is now the time to use them?
John’s Gospel tells us that Peter had one of those two swords, and I can just see him before this question was even finished lashing out and whacking that guy’s ear off.
What does this question and this action tell us about the disciples? They still have no clue and they panicked. They forgot what Jesus had said over and over, that He would be given over to the Gentiles and killed and on the third day rise again.
What the disciples were doing is exercising inconsiderate and carnal zeal. This wound to the servant of the high priest would be the first of many inflicted by this same foolish and sinful attitude.
This is what Paul calls in Romans 10:4, “a zeal for God but not according to knowledge.”
It is the flesh that says, “We have to do something!” But the Spirit says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…
Our weapons are not like those two pathetic swords, our weapon is the Word of God, the truth! This was a sad attempt at armed resistance.
And if the disciples had realized that in that moment their reaction would have been quite different. What should they have done? Like Jesus, they should have submitted to the Father’s will and stood by Jesus when He was arrested, stood by Him when He was tried, they should have done exactly what Peter foolishly claimed that he was willing to do, to go with Him to prison and to death.
But instead they wanted to fight, and in His grace again, Jesus responds and rebukes the disciples and says in verse 51, “No more of this!”
If He had not stopped them there is no telling how much more blood would have been shed needlessly that night.
Alistair Begg said, “If we fail to understand correctly we will fail to act properly and we will eventually run off hopelessly.” And isn’t that exactly what happened to them? Let’s take a lesson from that.
And in the last act with unbound hands Jesus extends more grace by healing the servant’s ear.
51 …Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him.
JJ VanOosterzee wrote, “With this last friendly beam of light, the sun of His majestic works of wonder goes down in the mists of Gethsemane.”
Strength and dignity, compassion and grace clothed Him as He entrusted Himself to the will of the Father and extended a healing hand to that man’s ear even as the disciples stood naked in their own misunderstanding and fear.
John Calvin wrote, “As He has been appointed by the eternal purpose of God to be a sacrifice, and as this has been declared by the predictions of Scripture, He must not fight against it.”
Three questions, about the kiss, about the cut, and now about the cup.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
They chose to come out to that solitary place at night, away from the crowds, to capture Jesus with swords and clubs because they were cowards. But even more so, they were tools of the enemy, of darkness.
And darkness is like gravity, it’s constant, and it’s predictable. Jesus knew what they would do and in His grace He submitted to it.
What the disciples didn’t understand, at that moment and in the hours and days to come, was that Jesus’ humiliation and crucifixion was always plan A.
Jesus had accepted the cup filled with God’s wrath against sin. Jesus wasn’t a victim, He was a volunteer, and in just a few days He would prove that He is the victor – over sin, and death, and the grave.
Faith in Jesus is not just believing that He is real but trusting that He is who He said He is and that He would do as He said He would do and living a life of obedience in response.
Jesus extended His grace in His response to Judas, in His response to the disciples, in His response to the servant, and in His response to the crowd. He submitted to that crowd and then the cross, so that He could extend that same grace to us.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
“While all things are mingled in confusion and while the devil, by spreading darkness abroad appears to overturn the whole order of the world, let us know that the providence of God shines above us in heaven, to bring at length to order what is confused; and let us, therefore, learn to raise the eyes of faith to that calm sky.” –Calvin
Amen.
