Jesus’ Support Team
August 18, 2011
Dear Friends,
Upon beginning his 3=BD-year ministry, Jesus was explicitly praised and commended by his Father. Given the Holy Spirit without measure, Jesus was led by that Spirit into the wilderness to be successfully tested for 40 days, after which God sent angels to minister to his Son. Throughout the temptations, Jesus rightly applied Scripture to overcome the wiles of the devil, doubtless leveraging his daily instruction from his dad (cf. Is 50:4) and the new level of Spirit power. All of these divine sources made Jesus strong for task ahead of him.
Sometimes, Jesus is seen as the one who was always helping others. We see him as periodically drained by the work of preaching, teaching and healing, but think he simply had to plug into his divine resources and he was good to go for another demanding day. I submit that is not the complete picture. Why? Because Jesus was also made strong by his friends, companions, and the response of believers. Remarkably, human beings were part of his support team.
Ordinary people, made extraordinary by their belief in God and faith in Jesus, were provided by the Father to strengthen and encourage Jesus to keep going and firm to the end. Seeing how this worked out puts us in a position to be part of Jesus’ support team.
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles. (Lk 6:12-13)
And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach. (Mk 3:13-14).
The call, choice and appointment of the twelve were surely the result of the Father’s direction as well as the desire of Jesus. He wanted them to be with him. Of course one goal was to have them close, so that they would learn from Jesus: his training, his method, his character. But another goal was to have companions in the cause and who would stick with him until the end. With the exception of Judas, this aim was accomplished: “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials. (Lk 22:28)
Jesus knew that Simon would be tested in his loyalty (Lk 22:31-32) and proactively prayed for his apostle, who declared with full conviction: “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”(v.33). In addition, Mt 26:35 says: Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.
This to-the-death commitment of these eleven friends (cf. Jn 15:15) surely strengthened Jesus in his purpose to “lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).
Further illustration of the apostle’s faithful support for Jesus is in Gethsemane. Yes, faithful support. We know they fell asleep, but there is more to the story than that. Read the record carefully:
And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying— And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed.(Mt 26:37-42)
Instead of looking at the failure of the three apostles, notice that (a) Jesus picked them for the job – as he had done previously, e.g., Lk 8:51, Mt 17:1 (b) expected they would “watch with him” – which they initially did do, and (c) challenged them to do better on the next round of praying – but sadly, they slept for sorrow. But at least they had begun the effort with Jesus, and that was definitely a comfort to their Lord.
What can we learn from this? How can we be part of Jesus’ support team? Obviously the glorified Lord Jesus Christ does not need direct support any more. However, steadfastly staying with one of Christ’s brethren through difficult circumstances is to satisfy Jesus’ teaching: “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:40). Though we may be weak and feeble, just showing up can demonstrate loyalty and provide encouragement. Taking a stand for/with a fellow believer in troubled times is supporting Christ.
A friend of Jesus will give support in good times and bad. That’s what the women disciples did for the Lord. Their story is next week.
Have a great week,
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