All Authority

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

ALL AUTHORITY

Matt 26:50-54

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. 51 With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52 "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"  

NIV

It is interesting that Matthew leaves some of the details out that John and Luke include. It was Peter, the impetuous one who attached the crowd, thinking he was going to defend Jesus from being arrested. Did Peter, a fisherman, think that he was going to take on and win against the whole crowd, which included professional swordsman in the temple guard?  It is recorded that Peter cut the ear off Marcus, the servant of the high priest. It is also recorded that Jesus reached out and healed this man, showing his divine care even for those who would do him harm. Jesus tells Peter and we would have to believe that the rest of the disciples as well as those in the crowd that came to take hold of Jesus, that if he wanted to, he could call down more the twelve legions of angels. A Roman legion contained between four to six thousand men. So if our math is right, Jesus could have called down more the seventy-two thousand angels to defend him against maybe one hundred men or less. This gives us such assurance that God has more than enough power to come to our aid in our time of need. We can also be assured and at peace because we have been told that he would never leave us nor forsake us and Jesus knew full well that the Father would do just that, never leave His Son, nor forsake Him, as there were thousands upon thousands of angels at the disposal of Jesus. However, Jesus makes it clear that he will not call upon the Father and all the angels to defend him for the scripture needs to be fulfilled, that is his words need to be carried out. All the words of the prophets are words given to them by God, which would have been meant by Jesus. When David wrote the twenty-second Psalm that Jesus quoted from the cross, and when Isaiah spoke these words about not a bone would be broken and by his stripes we would be healed as recorded in Isaiah 53, it was Jesus who would have inspired those words. It was all set in motion before the foundation of the earth and now the time, the moment in the course of human history, has come and all that was said about him must now happen just as he said it would through the prophets. Once again we are shown the absolute authority of Jesus. He is not a victim to the whims of man; he has established all this to happen so that his creation may be redeemed. Jesus has all the authority and power to accomplish his plan, the plan of God. Should we not also give way to the plan of God? We are told that we might make our plans, but our footsteps are ordered by God. That is our path in this life is not our own, it is ordered and directed by God, for he has all the authority and power to accomplish his plan in our lives. We might think we have some authority, but we only deceive ourselves for God’s plan will prevail. Sure, we do have a choice to accept or reject Jesus, but once we have accepted him, we are giving him all authority over our lives. This is implied in the fact we call him Lord.