Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Lk 22:31–32.
"The disciples did not understand their Lord's meaning. They put a stupid, prosaic interpretation upon this part, as upon so many other parts, of His farewell discourse. So with ridiculous seriousness, they said: 'Lord, behold, here are two swords...'The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, pp. 466.
When the sifting process begins, the disciples again come to the point of trying to control the situation as if they could. Their faith was again tested and again they failed. Jesus would have replied to them, "What are two swords for twelve men, and against a hundred weapons coming against us?" How can you expect to win? This was an absurd answer!
You see as Bruce puts it; "He gave himself up to death, that there might be a gospel to preach; He desired the safety of the disciples, that there might be men to preach it." pp. 467.
So where did the fault lie in the disciples lives at this point? It was in their faith. They didn't believe that all would go well without their direct involvement in the process. Furthermore, they didn't believe that God would provide for them and Jesus; for their safety and for God's plan in Jesus Christ. This would be accomplished whether they had any involvement in the process or not. And remember, in the end, they still deserted Jesus in His time of need support from them. They all scattered like sheep without a shepherd.
How many times have we tried to further our own expectations of what Christ is to us in our own lives as well? How many times have we tried to make the gospel fit our own agenda? How many times in America do we try to Americanise Jesus as if His narrative can be explained in our culture's norms?
Even though these men fled from his presence physically, they had long fled from him in their state of mind. Their minds were flooded by unbelief and despair in which all they had believed and invested in their lives had now all been blasted away as if the entire cause of Christ had been lost, and whom God had abandoned His plan for mankind.
These men, who had been walking with Jesus were now on the road to the battle ahead and they didn't even know it. They knew He was the Messiah, but misunderstood the finality of the mission He set out on. They misunderstood His mission and career which led Him to the cross. They heard the teachings of Jesus taking on a cross in their minds but missed the actual event when it began to unfold.
Still the ringing in their ears caused them to ask the question, "How could we have been so wrong about the One who claimed He would redeem this nation?" "Why is He marching off to death, rather than the crown?"
Many people still today miss the big picture of Jesus Christ. It's not about what we want the gospel narrative to say in our lives, it is about what God deemed necessary for the cause of humanity. How is your faith affected by what you expect from Jesus Christ today? Do you also sometimes misunderstand Jesus and His mission?
I would sadly say this is true for most Christians today. If it were not, then I expect we would be about His business more today in at least one area; sharing our faith!
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