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Power in Weakness
Mark 14:43-52
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
One of the most important things God reveals to us about Himself comes from Isaiah 55: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” Look at how God interacts with His people throughout Scripture, and you know this to be true. We think God should do something in a certain way, but He does it in another way. In our own lives, we think God should be at work the way we want Him to work; what He actually does is something completely different.
As we look the Passion account in Mark, we see how God is at work; how strange it looks in our sight. We see people who are powerful in the eyes of the world, and we see people whom the world views as weak and helpless. This text shows this in striking contrast. You see Judas Iscariot, the money man for the disciples, leading a crowd of soldiers wielding weapons. He has a plan to hand Jesus over to the religious authorities, and that plan works to perfection. Judas betrays his Rabbi with a kiss, and the soldiers move in and arrest Jesus.
In sharp contrast, we see the supposedly stouthearted, loyal disciples. Peter tries to play the power game. The best he can do is mutilate the ear of the servant of the high priest—a servant named Malchus, the Apostle John tells us. How feeble must his blow have been: Peter is trying to save Jesus with the sword, and the most he can do is slice off Malchus’s ear—hardly the critical blow he must have meant to strike. And with Peter’s failure, the disciples run off in fear. So much for their insistence that they would stand with Jesus no matter what would come. The power play has ended; it seems Judas has won. It seems Satan has won.
And in the middle of all this, there stands Jesus. It seems He’s doing nothing. He knew exactly what was coming. He told the disciples what was about to happen: “The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. …See, My betrayer is at hand.” Judas does the dirty deed, and Jesus lets it happen. Mark portrays Jesus as silent and passive. Again, in the power game, it seems as if Jesus has lost.
But the ways of God are not out ways; He carries out His work in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. Jesus does speak in our text; He explains to His seemingly powerful enemies exactly what is happening. They think they are in control, that their weapons and superior numbers give them the advantage over Him. “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? …But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” Scripture promised that the day would come when God would come to deliver His people Israel from their sins and bring them back to Himself. Scripture promised that God would come as King.
And now, right before their very eyes, in the seeming weakness of Jesus, the promises of Scripture were being fulfilled. God will save Israel—not as the leader of a mighty army, but as the Sacrifice, the blood Price for sin. God will use the seeming weakness despised by the world to save His people. God will bring His kingdom—but, again, not a mighty kingdom to conquer. This was the King whose first throne was a manger in Bethlehem; this King rode into His holy city on a donkey and was hailed with the waving of palm branches; this King was soon to be crowned with thorns, worshipped with snap of the scourge, enthroned and victorious on the cross at Golgotha. The King is crucified. But as we’ve heard before, God’s ways are not our ways.
So what truly is power? What is strength as God views it? What are God’s ways? And what does it mean for our lives today? Hear what God said to St. Paul about the way God works: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” In answer, St. Paul wrote, “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” What is it that makes you strong? It begins in weakness. It begins in repentance and faith. It begins by confessing that you are “a poor, miserable sinner” in need or forgiveness. It begins in placing your trust in the One who became helpless in the eyes of the world, becoming sin for you. In Christ, God sees your weakness, and He forgives your sins. He lifts you up when you are burdened under the heavy load of guilt. He restores you, filling you up with life and salvation in the body and blood of Jesus. It is not flashy. It is not strong, not as the world measures strength. But it is God’s way.
God’s plan comes to fruition in the seeming weakness of Jesus. We fix our eyes on Him as the seemingly powerful betrayer and powerful soldiers take Him away. But when we look upon Him as the Father sees Him, we see that the weakness of Christ is the power of God for the salvation of the world. We learn to trust that our lives as children of God grow and mature as we confess our weakness. For God’s ways are higher than our ways; His power is “made perfect in weakness.” In the name of the Father and of the (†) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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