Maundy Thursday: By the Sword
A Reflection by Jesse Steven Wheeler*
From Jesus's last supper with his disciples and the cleansing of their feet to the arrest and twin trials of Jesus, Maundy Thursday is a day of solemn remembrance. Today, we reflect upon the following incident from the Garden of Gethsemane:
While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.”
Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”
Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus's companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”
Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
—Matthew 26:47–56 (NIV)
A few years ago, I was watching a Star Wars movie with my eldest son. Midway through the film he turned to me to express just how distressed he was by the high prevalence of storm trooper deaths. I couldn’t help but smile and pray that he never outgrows such open-hearted empathy for all of God’s children. As the foot soldiers of an evil empire (quite literally dehumanized, homogenized, and demonized behind a sterile white uniform) we generally think nothing of their deaths. Unfortunately, we too often divide the world in such a way between good guy and bad that it becomes the paradigm through which we interpret our interactions with others. We observe this time and again with regard to partisan polarization, sectarian tribalism, and nationalist chauvinism.
Our “good violence” is always justified, while the “bad guys” are forever deserving of their fate. Our dead, our “patriots and martyrs,” are always reported upon and memorialized, whilst the victims of our aggression are conveniently undercounted or ignored. Meanwhile, it is forgotten that the ones with the guns are often just kids, victims themselves of the violent machinery and mythology of both empire and resistance alike. It's a tragic symptom of this sinful world that those who live by the sword die by it. Jesus's kingdom vision, however, is much greater. For “the line separating good from evil,” as Solzhenitsyn reminds us (still in his dissident, younger days), “passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart.” Because, as the apostle writes, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Reflect
Imagine yourself in the garden with Jesus and the disciples. How do you imagine you would have reacted to the arrest of Jesus? Why does Jesus allow himself to be arrested?
Reflect on Jesus's declaration that “all who draw the sword will die by the sword?” What does he mean by such a statement? What are the implications for your context today?
Pray
Our Father, we look back on the years that are gone and shame and sorrow come upon us, for the harm we have done to others rises up in our memory to accuse us. Some we have seared with the fire of our lust, and some we have scorched by the heart of our anger. In some we helped to quench the glow of young ideals by our selfish pride and craft, and in some we have nipped the opening bloom of faith by the frost of our unbelief. We might have followed your blessed footsteps, O Christ, binding up the bruised hearts of our brothers and sisters and guiding the wayward passions of the young to firmer adulthood. Instead, there are poor hearts now broken and darkened because they encountered us on the way, and some perhaps remember us only as the beginning of their misery or sin.
O God, we know that all our prayers can never bring back the past, and no tears can wash out the red marks with which we have scarred some life that stands before our memory with accusing eyes. Grant that at least a humble and pure life may grow out of our late contrition, that in the brief days still left to us we may comfort and heal where we have scorned and crushed. Change us by the power of your saving grace from sources of evil into forces for good, that with all our strength we may fight the wrongs we have aided, and aid the right we have clogged. Grant us this, for every soul that has stumbled or fallen through us, we may bring to you some other weak or despairing one, whose strength has been renewed by our love, that so the face of your Christ may smile upon us and the light within us may shine undimmed.
—Walter Rauschenbusch (1910)
A Message from Rev. Naim Stifan Ateek
“The Easter season is the time in which we remember that God in Christ conquered the powers of evil and death. As followers of the living Christ, we continue to challenge the powers of domination and oppression that humiliate and suppress our people and replace them with justice, peace, and reconciliation.
Through this Easter Appeal, I would like to appeal to you, our friends, to give to FOSNA’s ministry so that its voice for advocacy and its action for justice and liberation would be strengthened and multiplied.”
*excerpt from Jesse Steven Wheeler, Serving a Crucified King: Meditations on Faith, Politics, and the Unyielding Pursuit of God’s Reign (Eugene: Resource Publications, 2021)