ニューイングランドの母校からアドベントの便り、その20
2016 Gordon-Conwell
Advent Devotional | Day 21 |
Luke 22:1-13
Dr. Luke, the physician-turned-historian-theologian, was not an eyewitness like the Twelve. But he was a very careful researcher and a reliable Gospel writer (see Luke 1:1-4). Here he begins the closing section of the Gospel. The sequence of events is well known: the last supper, the arrest and trial of Jesus, crucifixion, the discovery of the empty tomb and the appearances of the risen Lord.
In this passage, we meet the disciple who is identified as traitor because he cooperates with Satan, and an anonymous disciple who cooperates with Jesus. Judas is an opportunist to whom money is more important than the price of following Jesus to the end. Most importantly, we meet Jesus, a careful planner whose purposes will be accomplished even amidst an antagonistic environment. He undertakes several measures of precaution and makes secret arrangements to avoid a premature arrest and have privacy for the last and most significant meal with his disciples. The city is jammed with possibly as many as 100,000 people who have come for the Passover celebration, and trouble is brewing. Those who want to have Jesus killed must do it in such a way as to avoid a popular uprising. So they are plotting with Judas, the insider, to help them do it. Jesus knows all of this, so he makes secret arrangements and gives directions to two of his most trusted disciples on how to complete his plans in order to take the whole group to the right place with needed provisions at the right time. His guidance and provision are a combination of supernatural insight, careful planning and obedient cooperation.
The lesson for us: Amidst turmoil and threat, betrayal and uncertainty about the future, Jesus does not panic for he is in full control of the situation. He is a true and reliable guide who deserves our complete trust and full cooperation. The disciples who followed his instructions “found things just as Jesus had told them” (v. 13). Although the context is hostile and pressures are enormous, he is in charge and will make provision to spend a time of intimate fellowship with those he loves.
Dr. Peter Kuzmic
Paul E. and Eva B. Toms Professor of World Missions and European Studies
