“All those who take up the sword will perish by the sword.”

Matthew 26:47-68 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people. ⁴⁸ Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign previously, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; arrest Him.” ⁴⁹ And immediately Judas went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. ⁵⁰ But Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you have come for.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested Him.

⁵¹ And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. ⁵² Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword. ⁵³ Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴ How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”

⁵⁵ At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a man inciting a revolt? Every day I used to sit within the temple grounds teaching, and you did not arrest Me. ⁵⁶ But all this has taken place so that the Scriptures of the prophets will be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left Him and fled.

⁵⁷ Those who had arrested Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. ⁵⁸ But Peter was following Him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and he came inside and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.

⁵⁹ Now the chief priests and the entire Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. ⁶⁰ They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, ⁶¹ and said, “This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.’” ⁶² The high priest stood up and said to Him, “Do You offer no answer for what these men are testifying against You?” ⁶³ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I place You under oath by the living God, to tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? See, you have now heard the blasphemy; ⁶⁶ what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!”

⁶⁷ Then they spit in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, ⁶⁸ and said, “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?”

In today’s text it says: Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested Him.  And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a man inciting a revolt? Every day I used to sit within the temple grounds teaching, and you did not arrest Me. But all this has taken place so that the Scriptures of the prophets will be fulfilled.”   Only one week earlier the crowds greeted Jesus with words of praise and adoration as He entered the city, now they came out to arrest Him. Similarly, we have seen how easily crowds can be influenced and become lawless mobs in our own time. A small group of hateful and divisive people can dictate the actions and attitudes of a larger group.

Romans 12:21 says: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. We need to guard against responded to evil with evil. We need to resist the temptation to engage violence with violence, and lawlessness with lawlessness. Jesus says: “all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword.” Jesus could have called on thousands of angels to engage in the battle, but he knew that what was about to happen had to take place. We need to recognize the truth of Ephesians 6:12, that: Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, and 2 Corinthians 10:4-5: The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Our real battle, our struggle is not against the people who are divisive, hateful and lawless, but against the spiritual forces and powers that influence and empower them. In Matthew 5:43-45 Jesus says: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”   How should we pray for those who are against us? Jesus modeled that perfectly in Luke 23:34, when He was on the cross, He said: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

How can we possibly allow injustice to continue and not fight back? We do it because like Jesus, we know the Father knows best. We need to align ourselves with His will. Like Jesus, we need to pray, not my will but Yours be done. The reality is, we fight a defeated enemy. While the battles still rage, the outcome is fully determined. On the cross, Jesus said: “It is finished!” On the day that Jesus rose from the grave He sealed, for all eternity, the victory over sin and death. Jesus says of the things that we see, of the evil and lawlessness that exists in our society, those things must take place. (Matthew 24:6)  We cannot change or defeat evil. Those things must take place. Perhaps though we can overcome evil with good. If we bless and pray for our enemies in the natural realm, saying: Father forgive them they do not know what they are doing, they may come to know the love of God and the God of love. We need to choose our battles. We should pray:

God grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference.  Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.