PUT UP THY SWORD INTO THE SHEATH

No sooner had the Lord Jesus commanded the soldiers who were sent to arrest Him to let the eleven go free, than Peter lunged forward with a drawn sword in his hand. He cut off the right ear of Malchus, one of the high priest’s servants. No doubt he aimed at his victim’s head or neck, intending to kill him. Peter’s thrust failed in its aim. Whether, at the human level, this was due to inexperience or excitement, it was ultimately due to God’s providence that Malchus was not killed. Luke tells us that the Lord Jesus healed the wound and restored the ear, Luke 22. 51.

The Master then ordered Peter to sheath his sword. Jesus used ‘the language of firm and decided rebuke’, Ryle. He was really telling Peter that He did not need the protection of physical force, however well intentioned; Peter’s zeal was wholly misplaced. The gospel of Christ was not to be spread at the point of the sword. His cause was not to be maintained by worldly power. How much happier the history of the church would have been if that lesson had been taken to heart.

A deeper reason for this command is given in the rhetorical question which follows: ‘the cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?’ v. 11. These are ‘great and momentous words’, Krummacher. They show that Peter’s impulsive action closely paralleled His impetuous words at Caesarea-Philippi, where he attempted to rebuke the Lord Jesus, Matt. 16. 22-23. On both occasions, he was trying to thwart the purpose of God that His Son should suffer and die. In doing so he was unknowingly acting as an agent of Satan. The Lord could easily have asked His Father to send more than twelve legions of angels to His aid. He did not do so. He had fully submitted Himself to drink the cup of suffering to its dregs. ‘The awesome submission of Jesus’, Milne, shines out in this saying.

John does not record the agony of Gethsemane. uniquely he does narrate this tremendous statement of its final result. The Lord Jesus was utterly committed to go all the way to the cross. There He would empty the awful cup of God’s wrath against our sins. Not a drop remains for us!