CCA Matins Homily 2

And here's the Matins meditation for Friday, June 19, based on John 18:1-14 (from the LSB Daily Lectionary).

-------------------------

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

The devil had come to Adam in the garden full of deceit to bring upon him the curse of death. Now Judas, into whom the devil had entered, comes full of deceit to Jesus in the garden, betraying Him to death. But Jesus is not like the old Adam, who hid among the trees in fear. He is the new Adam who has come to undo the curse by His cross. Jesus goes forth boldly to meet His captors, fully prepared to drink the cup of judgment given Him by His Father.

Jesus is the great I AM, the eternal Son of God revealed in the burning bush to Moses. His name causes His enemies to draw back and fall to the ground. For all who do not call on His name in faith will fall to their own destruction. Yet He submits to their capture, saying “Let these go their way,” so that none of the disciples given to Him would be lost. Jesus came that they and all of us who bear His saving name would be released from the powers of darkness. This victory is won not by the sword but by sacrifice.

Simon Peter, however, doesn’t understand this. He acts as if he were Jesus’ personal bodyguard, flailing around with His weapon and cutting off a man’s ear. We also act like Peter when we don’t trust that Jesus has the situation in hand, when we think we need to take over with our powers and personality and maneuvering and manipulating to advance the church’s agenda. Our flailing can also cut off the ear that would hear the plain Word of Christ. For it is rather precisely in the midst of weakness and the cross that the victory is won. Jesus is dragged off in chains to Annas and Caiaphas. The unblemished Lamb is in the hands of the high priest. One man dies for the people, and the world is redeemed.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠