Lent + Midweek 2 Gethsemane

+INJ+

At the beginning of our reading tonight, we heard, “When they had sung a hymn, [Jesus] went out, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.”

Sometimes, we must remember that Jesus sang hymns or, in this case, the Psalms. It’s widely believed as a manner of giving thanks; it was customary to sing something from Psalm 113-118 after the Passover meal. These Psalms are known as the Hallel Psalms because they give thanks and praise to God. By using the Psalms in this way, they formed a prayer of thanksgiving, similar to the way some of you might return thanks at the end of a meal.

But I revel in the reality that Jesus sang hymns and the Psalms because this serves as a reminder that we, too, are to sing with Him. But also that through the Church’s song, we are directing and making our prayers known to God.

You see, the Psalms are the prayerbook of the Christian. They give focus to what we ought to pray for but also reveal to us the object of our faith, our Savior, Jesus Christ so that we might never lose sight of Him.

But this is the warning Jesus was giving to His disciples at the beginning of this evening’s reading when He said to them,

“You will all be offended because of me this night; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.”

With these words, Jesus is telling His disciples, by the end of the night, I will no longer be the object of your faith. And when Jesus is no longer the object or focus of their faith, the disciples will fall away and scatter.

Why will they scatter? The reading tonight said the disciples would be “Offended because of [Jesus],” but the Greek here is σκανδαλίζω, and you can hear in the shadows the word scandalize.

So, what will be their reason for being scandalized or falling away?

Their Shepherd will be struck, He will be killed, and that will leave these followers hiding, denying, and lying about their relationship with their Rabbi and teacher. After all, Jesus was to save them; how can He do this from the grave?

Are we not also scandalized by Jesus today? Do we not find ourselves also falling away from Him when the valleys of life arise?

Or are you like Peter, who speaks without understanding,

Peter answered Jesus’ words by saying, “Even if all the others deny you, I will never deny you.”
     Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you this night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
     But Peter said more vehemently, “If I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And all the others said likewise.

One theologian remarked, “Peter was disillusioned, believing he could never fall. While He should have prayed and asked God never to withdraw His hand from Him, Peter relied on his own strength, falling away.” (Gerhard)

And is this not our struggle also? We put up a brave face when darkness and danger approach; we speak words without understanding, and yet they are often just words – words that frequently confess not faith in Christ but, as Peter confesses, faith and trust in our own physical, mental, and spiritual maturity (or immaturity). Yet, the cock and rooster crowed and revealed not only Peter’s lack of trust and faith but ours as well.

Another interesting aspect this evening is that as Jesus and His disciples went to the Mount of Olives, they had to first journey over the brook of the Kidron Valley, also known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat, because this is where Jehoshaphat was buried. But also, there was a time when the idolatrous god Moloch stood in this valley, made in the form and image of bronze. For these reasons alone, this was a valley of death in many ways.

Still, another aspect of this valley is that the brook Kidron now flowed through its narrow way, carrying the filth of Jerusalem as the blood of sacrifices filled its waters as it ran through this valley.

For this reason, as Jesus journeys through this darkness, one might recall from the 23rd Psalm, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

This valley was one full of darkness and death.

And yet, even in the darkness of this night, Jesus did not fear the shadow of death, but as the very essence and source of life, journeyed through this valley, proceeding to the mount of Calvary.

Do you have the same confidence and faith to journey through the valleys and shadows of death? Or are you as the disciples? Are you Peter, who speaks without understanding?

When darkness arrives, do we not place trust in ourselves to lead us out of danger and despair, eventually being scattered from faith as we simultaneously deny our Jesus? Our true Savior?

But why?

Because, like the disciples, we forget that Jesus journeyed this road for us, and He will lead us out of the valleys and shadows of death. We forget His words as He said, “But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.”

Ah, that second sentence of the paragraph that follows Jesus’ words regarding the scattering of the sheep, “But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.”

How often do we fail to listen to every word that comes from the mouth of Christ? How often do we faithfully take all the words of Jesus to heart?

When we fail to take the words of Jesus to heart and do not confess with our hearts and lips what Christ has done for us, we become like the disciples, scandalized, scattered, and fallen from His presence.

But this valley of sin and death we know transgress is not the end, is it, because through the confession of our sin, we hear again that promise of Jesus, “But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.”

And this is what occurs in Galilee: the risen Christ restores His disciples who have fallen away, granting them His forgiveness and peace.

Your Savior does this same thing for you; by His death on the cross, He now restores and forgives you in His Word and Sacrament.

For this reason alone, let us sing hymns with Christ, pray to Him, and then follow Him as His disciples learned to do – directing our faith and trust in Him to bring us through the valleys and the very present shadows of death to be with Him eternally. +INJ+