December 22, 2020 -- John 18:10-11 -- Suffering and Sanctification

10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

John 18:10-11 English Standard Version

Peter’s misguided attempt at helping Jesus provoked an important teaching. Peter was inappropriately trying to alleviate Jesus’ suffering. The Father in heaven had willed that the Son should be crushed for the salvation of sinners. Jesus had prayed for the grace and strength to endure this suffering so that the Father’s glory and Jesus’ own glory would be made known (Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, John 17). All that Jesus would endure was for the salvation of His Own.

When someone near us is suffering it can very well be sanctifying suffering, the suffering that makes one pure. Think of it, during these Covid times, how many of you have lost money, significant sums of money even? Is God teaching you not to treasure things, but that He is your greatest treasure? While confined in prison, Paul wrote many New Testament letters. These are now part of our Bible. Paul’s suffering, the crushing he endured was used for blessing. When a believer grows in confident faith in Jesus, friends and family, perhaps even nominal Christians may storm out of their lives with statements like “You are being too radical”. Perhaps God is purging your circle of friends and family in such a way that those who had inappropriately influenced you against the glory and praise of God are now no longer capable of having such a negative influence.

Today’s prayer is Jonah’s prayer, offered as he was in the belly of the great fish. (Background, Jonah suffered much so that he would be purified as the prophet to Nineveh):

“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
3 For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6 at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
7 When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.

8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!

https://youtu.be/XG347euXoTM