6July2009 Luke 22:52

^52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? ^

Jesus points out a startling contradiction in the actions of these leaders as they come to arrest him. They are using means that don't fit the person of Jesus. They are acting as though he was leading a group of militant, armed insurgents. Instead, Jesus is leading a group of students, trained only in listening. This mismatch is common when injustice is taking place. Recent events have illustrated this. The arrest and conviction of journalists is an example. How can jail be the proper punishment for writing stories? Or whipping the tar out of your kids because they keep asking for something off the shelves as you walk through the store? Or smashing the cell phone because they refuse to stop talking to a certain someone? The punishment must fit the crime. The proverbial hands of justice must be sized for the crime. Coming to Jesus armed with swords and clubs does not make sense. Jesus never advocated violent overthrow of the government. And yet they show up to arrest him with the full complement of weapons. So what made the religious leaders so afraid of Jesus? Simple! Jesus said all the old ways of relating to God are gone. They were just shadows of the reality. Political means never accomplish God's purposes. God's prime work is the changing of the individual's heart. When the individual heart is changed, then groups of changed individuals can join together and the society will change. Jesus' revolution is much more radical than an outward revolution. When the heart is changed, truly changed, there is no stopping it. That change crosses all physical boundaries. It happens without much initial physical sign. Often it happens with a decision made in the silence of the heart. You don't need to walk down the aisle at church, although walking down the aisle can help embolden and seal you commitment. You can do it sitting in the stillness of your home reading a convicting book. It can happen anywhere because God is not bound by a single method. He invented creativity.