Restoring Deserting Disciples
Matthew 26:31‑35
Open your bible, if you will, with me to the twenty‑sixth chapter of Matthew. We're going to be looking at verses 30 through 35...Matthew 26:30 through 35.
As much as we would like to think of ourselves as strong Christians, the fact of the matter is that in and of ourselves we are weak. We would like to think that we could never be caught in a situation where we would deny the Lord, where we would deny His Word, where we would be ashamed to name His name or to be associated with Him. But the truth of the matter is from time to time we do just exactly that. We are caught in an environment of unrighteousness and we say nothing. There is a time to speak of Christ and we do not speak. There is a time when someone would identify us as a Christian and we shun such an identification for fear of social pressure or social ostracization. There are times when we should be bold for the cause of Christ and we are anything but bold.
I remember when I was young I used to think about how it would be when in the future I went to serve the Lord and should He call me to a very difficult place, I was faced with death or denial of Christ. I had read missionary stories about those people who affirmed their faith in Christ all the way to death and I wondered whether I would so that. And I wanted so desperately to believe that I would. I really wanted to be able to say I'd do that...I'd name Christ right down the wire and if they were going to burn me at the stake, I'd keep naming the name of Christ. I wanted so much to be able to say that about myself, but I really had a lot of doubts. And what gives me the doubts and did then and still does is that there are times when I don't even say what I ought to say in a situation far less intimidating than death. There are times when we just retreat from the identification with Christ that we should have. There are times when as disciples we desert, we go AWOL, we defect for shame's sake. We rather not be identified with Jesus Christ. We just don't want to step out and stand firm. And so it was with the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so the lesson He teaches them here is a lesson for us as well. They defected in this passage. They deserted Christ. He predicts that. And it came to pass exactly as He had predicted it. But it was a profound and unforgettable lesson to them, a lesson which I believe changed the course of their lives. Of all the things that Jesus could have said to them, of all the things that He could have warned them about, of all of the issues that could have been brought up about the future, He chooses to bring up the fact that they will all desert Him and defect. And Matthew, by the Holy Spirit, chooses to place that story right in the midst of this chapter on preparation for the cross because it is such a monumental lesson to learn. And if, as our Lord has planned, the disciples are to carry the message to the world, they have to be strong. And the first step in strength is to learn how really weak you are, right? So the lesson of weakness is the first thing to be learned. And that is the lesson He teaches them here.
It is, as all the rest of this chapter up to now is, part of the preparation for the cross. We've read about the preparation of God, the preparation of the Jewish leaders, the preparation of Mary, the preparation of Judas, the preparation of our Lord in ending the old economy with the final Passover in initiating the Lord's table. And now there is the preparation by the Lord of the disciples who are going to carry on the message. And they are prepared by learning a very important lesson about their own human weakness, about their own inability to live up to the standard they say they affirm. And it is a lesson that we need to learn as well. We all face the fact that we might stand firm for Christ amidst Christians, we might want to make a testimony as we talk to the Lord...Lord, I'll never deny You, I'll never forsake You, I'll never desert You, I'll stand with You...as Peter said, I'm ready to go to prison with You and to die if need be, I'll do it all...but when it comes right down to meeting the issue, we defect. All of us face that same kind of thing. And we need to learn that we do not have the strength in ourselves to handle that kind of situation, unless we recognize our weakness and depend on the Lord. If we think we can do it in our own strength, we will fail.
A few moments ago we sang a hymn. And I want to just remind you of a couple of the lines in that hymn that I thought were very important for us, "O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end. Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend. I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side, nor wander from the pathway if Thou will be my Guide."
Now there is a promise made but an affirmation that if the promise is to be kept, You have to be by my side. "O let me feel Thee near me, the world is ever near. I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear. My foes are ever near me, around me and within but, Jesus, draw Thou nearer and shield my soul from sin." The promises there of faithful service to the end and so is the sense of inadequacy, the sense of weakness that depends on the Lord.
"O Jesus, Thou hast promised to all who follow Thee that where Thou art in glory, there shall Thy servant be. And, Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end. O give me grace to follow my Master and my Friend," the recognition that a promise like that can only be kept in divine strength and by the presence of Christ.
Now we will make those promises and as disciples we should make them. But we should learn from this lesson that we cannot keep them in our own strength.
Look at verse 30. "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then said Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of Me this night for it is written I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am raised up again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto Him, Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee that this night before the cock crows, thou shalt deny Me thrice. Peter said unto Him, Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee, likewise also said all the disciples."
You see, they all affirmed what we would like to be able to affirm. But they were affirming it based on their own sense of strength, their own sense of commitment. They thought their love for Christ was greater than it was. They thought their spiritual strength was greater than it was. They thought their ability to handle Satan was greater than it was. They were leaning on their own understanding, in the terms of Proverbs 3. And when it came down to the very moment of having to take that stand when Christ was taken captive in the garden, you will notice in chapter 26 at verse 56, the last sentence of the verse, "Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled."
When it came down to the moment of trial, they all fled. So all that they promised verbalized by Peter and then affirmed by all the rest was nothing but empty words because they were endeavoring to stand in their own strength. So Jesus here as part of the preparation for His cross is teaching the disciples a strengthening lesson, warning them about the inadequacy of human strength...the inadequacy of self in spiritual warfare.
Now not any Christian really is exempt from the trials that can cause us to be ashamed of Christ. I remind you of 2 Timothy chapter 1 where Paul says to Timothy, "God has not given us...verse 7...a spirit of fear or timidity but a power of love and a sound mind, be not thou therefore ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ." Imagine Paul having to tell Timothy not to be ashamed of Jesus Christ.
Then in verse 12 he says, "For I was not ashamed of Christ but bore my suffering willingly," is what he says in effect. And in Romans 1:16 he says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." There is no place in the life of a believer for shame regarding Christ. There is no place for defection, or desertion.
In fact, in Romans 9:33 it says, "Whosoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed." And in Mark 8:38 Jesus said, "It is a characteristic of an unbeliever that they are ashamed of Me and whoever is ashamed of Me, I'll be ashamed of him." It is unbelievers who are ashamed of Christ, not believers. And yet sometimes under pressure we desert, we defect, we're disloyal, we're unfaithful. And here is the lesson about restoring the deserting, defecting disciples.
Now there's another thing that I want you to notice in this lesson because it is certainly Matthew's main point. He's not primarily focusing on the disciples, though they are the seeming surface issue here. The primary focus is on Christ, I believe. Matthew's intent here is to preserve the majesty of Jesus Christ. How can you do that in a situation like that? How can Christ come out with any dignity, with any respect, with any glory, with any majesty in any sense the regal royal Son of God, King of Kings, how can He in any sense be that in the midst of the desertion and defection of all of His followers? Someone is bound to say of Him, "What kind of leader is this who has His troops come to the heat of the battle and they all go into desertion when they meet the enemy? What kind of leader is that who has no more control over His own, who has no more loyalty from His own, who has no more love and commitment from His own? Lesser men than these have stood in greater seriousness and they stood their ground. What kind of men are these? Does He not pick right kind of men?"
In other words, it could be a very demeaning kind of thing for Christ. He could lose face here. It could be something that weakens His regal splendor. But it doesn't because Matthew under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit turns it around so that it exalts Jesus Christ in contrast to the defecting disciples. And as I read through this and read it again and again and studied it over this week, I came to see the majestic character of Jesus Christ in this passage as clearly as any in this part of the New Testament. I see it by way of contrast with the disciples. And I assume in my heart that that also was in the mind of the Spirit of God and Matthew as this was penned.
Now remember, this is hours before the crucifixion. This is the conclusion of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the climax of redemptive history. This is the greatest moment. I don't know if you know this, but only four chapters in all four gospels, a total of four chapters are devoted to the first 30 years of Christ's life. Thirteen are devoted to the last day of His life. This is a monumental moment in redemptive history and all part of the preparation of the cross. Christ has ended the old economy, closed out the Jewish dispensation with the final Passover, instituted the new economy in the new covenant of His blood and the cup and the bread. And now He teaches this very profound lesson to men who are very critical men in the ongoing extension of His kingdom and covenant. And so, as we come to verse 30, we just get into the text and read, "When they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives."
Now do you remember that in the Passover there were four cups? After the main meal of the lamb, the bitter herbs and the sauce, the unleavened bread, they would take a cup, then they would sing the hallel which would be the latter part of the hallel, Psalm 115 to 118. Then they would take the fourth and final cup and then they would sing the final song which was Psalm 136 which was called the great hallel. And every verse in Psalm 136 ends with the same line, "For His mercy endureth forever...for His mercy endureth forever...for His mercy endureth forever," every one of them. So they would have sung that.
But Matthew leaves something out. In fact, before they sung that last hymn, or literally the Greek says, "Before they hymned and then went out," Jesus taught them. And that whole teaching is recorded in John 14 through 16. So somewhere after He instituted His supper and before they left, you have to insert John 14, 15, 16 and 17. Fourteen, 15 and 16 are teaching, 17 is a prayer to the Father. In those three chapters of teaching, He promises them all the legacy that He has to give...peace, joy, contentment, comfort, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, hope for the future. He even promises them persecution but deliverance from it. He gives them all the information they need, the final culmination of teaching before the cross. Then in John 17, He prays to the Father on their behalf in that marvelous high priestly prayer. So all of that comes before the final hymn and the departure from that place.
We know that because in John 18:1, after 14, 15, 16, and 17, we read this, "When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out." So we know the Lord didn't leave that upper room until He had taught through 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 of John. So all of that is covered. John records it. Matthew does not.
So, all that great teaching has been given, that great prayer to the Father praying for the oneness and the unity of His own who would come to believe in Him in the days ahead, as well as those who were there that night. All of that, and then the final hallel, Psalm 136 and then they leave. And the leaving was very significant. It was nearly midnight. They go out of this upper room, down the stairs, out into the street and the city is alive as if it was midday. It is alive because it is Passover time. It is the time of the feast of unleaven bread. And there's activity everywhere. And people are hurrying around. Some are in the midst of eating their Passover meal. You remember, the Galilians and the Pharisees ate it late Thursday night, some are still eating it so the lamps are burning in the houses. Some are getting ready to have it the next day, the Judeans and the Sadducees. And so, they're getting the preparations ready.
The temple gates will be thrown open at midnight for the special festival. And so people are surging toward the temple wanting to get in that place. Visitors are everywhere. People negotiating for a place to have the Passover the next day who had come from out of town. Animals being collected and carried all around to be sacrificed the next day. It's alive, even though it's night. And so they're pushing their way, no doubt, through this kind of crowd at night, down the eastern slope of the temple mount. They've crossed the Kedron valley where the little brook is running as full as it ever runs because of winter rain. And it's even more full because of the blood of all the thousands of animals that have been slain and the blood runs out the back of the temple, down the slope, into the stream to be carried away. And so the disciples, eleven of them now, and Jesus cross that in the dark and they ascend the Mount of Olives, headed for a very familiar place that they have gone to many times called the Garden of Gethsemane which means "olive press," Mount of Olives, many olive trees and a place called olive press.
People in the city didn't have gardens in the city. There was no place for that. They had gardens out on the slopes around the city and they would cultivate those and those would be the gardens that belonged to the people that lived in the city. And Jesus went to a familiar place and they were headed for that place. But it must have been up the slope a ways and as they went up they needed to stop and rest...maybe in a similar place that they had stopped the night before when He gave them the great Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24 and 25 on His Second Coming. So they stop again on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane. And there are just 12 of them now, including the Lord and they're gathered together in these final hours and Jesus has something to say to them, verse 31 says. And He launches in to this confrontation of their weakness.
Now basically all of the teaching prior to this has been positive. Promises, promises, promises, all through John 13 to 16, a hopeful prayer in John 17, but now as He comes to this moment on the side of the hill, it is time for a negative message, it is time for a warning. They must learn this great lesson that strength is born out of a recognition of weakness, not of a recognition of strength. That illusion has to be eliminated.
And as He teaches this lesson, and this is really what I want you to see among other things, this is the primary thing, as He teaches this lesson to His defecting disciples, we see a marvelous contrast between Christ and the disciples which preserves His majesty. And I think you'll see that as we move through it.
First of all, there is a contrast between knowledge and ignorance...between knowledge and ignorance. The disciples, frankly, are woefully ignorant. We find Peter saying, "Though all men," verse 33, "will be offended because of You, yet will I never be offended." Such ignorance. I mean, it was only a matter of a few hours before he would be offended. In verse 35, "Though I should die with You, yet will I not deny You." He didn't know that. He couldn't affirm that. And as it turned out, that was ignorant. And then all the disciples said the same thing in verse 35. They were ignorant. They were ignorant of their own weaknesses. They were ignorant of the strength of Satan. They were ignorant of the test and its great power that they were going to be facing in a matter of a few hours. They were ignorant of so very many things...to say nothing of their ignorance of the Old Testament, of their ignorance of the prophecy mentioned in verse 31 about the shepherd having to be smitten and the sheep of the flock being scattered. They were ignorant about many things. And their ignorance is obvious.
But over against their ignorance is the marvelous knowledge of Jesus Christ. Notice verse 31, "Then...and the `then' is indefinite, some way up the Mount of Olives that night...Jesus said to them..." It's another time for teaching, another time for instruction. And this is a lesson about the stupidity of self‑sufficiency. He says, "All you shall be offended because of Me this night, for it is written I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad, but after I am raised up again, I'll go before you into Galilee." And then in verse 34 He says to Peter, "Verily I say unto you, this night before the cock crows you'll deny Me on three occasions." Now that's knowledge.
Listen, He knew they would be offended. He knew that. He knew it would happen this night. He knew it would be because of Him. He knew He would be raised from the dead. He knew He would meet them again in Galilee. He knew they would be offended to the point where that very night before the cock crowed, Peter himself, the leader, would deny Jesus Christ. He knew they would never pass that trial that night in their own strength. He knew everything.
It was as if He was in a control booth and everything was being televised and all of the screens of all the events were in front of Him and He could see the panorama of everything that was happening. He could see Judas doing exactly what Judas was doing at this very moment. He could see the rulers of the Jews doing what they were doing. He knew exactly what was going to happen. And there was one screen that would show to Him the denial of Peter, another the fleeing of the disciples. He could see everything. He could see already the movement of the soldiers, the Roman soldiers along with the Jewish leaders coming in with the clubs and the swords and the torches into the garden to take Him captive. He could feel on His cheek and He could see with His mind eye the kiss of Judas Iscariot. It all was right there in front of Him, He could see the whole thing. And He could see there vividly in His own eyes, the eyes of His supernatural knowledge, the prophecies of the Old Testament coming to pass. He could hear the echo of Old Testament prophecy. He could see the plan of God unfolding. It was all in front of Him, every bit of it.
He didn't strain to find such knowledge, it was imminently in His awareness. He knew the kiss. He knew the betrayal. He knew every step in the mock trials. He knew it all, the descent, the desertion of the disciples, the denial of Peter, the whole thing, every bit of it was in front of His eyes.
And so, you lose nothing in looking at Jesus in this passage. He loses none of His regal majesty here. His royal personage is clear because He has a knowledge of all these things that will come to pass. And all you need do is keep reading to find out they came to pass just as He said they would. He knew it all. He knew the moment, this night. He knew the past, it is written, it is the plan of God. He knew the future, you're going to be offended. It was all very clear to Him. He knew it all, the majestic knowledge of Christ.
And if focuses basically in verse 31 on an Old Testament prophecy found in Zechariah 13:7. He says you're going to be offended, you're going to be offended because of Me and you're going to be offended because of Me this night, right tonight, "For it is written." This is the plan of God. This is not some event that has come to pass by the whim and the will of Judas, or the religious leaders or anybody else on earth, this is God's divine plan, it is written. And He quotes Zechariah 13:7, "I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." Jesus not only knew what Judas was doing, what the religious leaders were doing, what the disciples were thinking, He knew what Satan was planning, He knew how the whole trial would come out. He knew everything that was going to happen that night when the soldiers and the leaders came to take Him. He knew the kiss was going to come, He knew the disciples were going to flee. He not only knew all the present and all the future, but He also understood the plan of God in the past and He also understood the meaning of the prophet Zechariah when he said what he said.
And by the way, that is not an easy passage to interpret. If it had been very easy, the disciples might have understood it. That passage in Zechariah 13:7 is somewhat difficult, I'll tell you why. In Zechariah 13, Zechariah is talking about some false prophets who will be wounded in their idol houses. He's talking about false prophets that God is going to come and wound in their idol houses.
In other words, God is going to judge false prophets. And the prophet is speaking against those false prophets who are worthy only of the judgment of God. And then he comes right behind that in verse 7 and says, "I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." And it might seem at first that he's referring here to a false shepherd, that God is going to come down and smite a false shepherd...makes sense...and scatter all of the followers of that false shepherd. And we might think that except for the clear interpretation of Christ who says the smitting is Me and the flock is you. And so the smitten shepherd of Zechariah 13:7 has to be the Messiah and the scattered flock has to be His people. And if you understand that, you understand the meaning of Zechariah 13:7 and it makes sense out of that passage, especially as you look a little closer to it.
Now look at Zechariah 13:7 for just a moment and I'll show you some interesting things. It says, "Awake, o sword," and this is God, Jehovah God speaking, "Awake, O sword, against My shepherd," now that tells you right away that it's not a false prophet. God is not slaying a false prophet whom He calls My shepherd, God's personal representative. God says My sword will slay My shepherd. "Awake, O sword, against My shepherd." And then this most interesting phrase, "And against the man," and he uses a Hebrew word here that is not the normal word, not the generic word but means "mighty man" or "man of great strength."
So, first of all, the shepherd to be slain is called "the shepherd of God, My shepherd, a mighty shepherd." And then it says, "Who is My fellow." Literally, "the mighty man of My union," or "the mighty man equal to Me." Marvelous statement, isn't it? Who is equal to God? Christ. Who was God's shepherd? Christ. Who is the mighty shepherd? Christ.
So, clearly Zechariah is turning a corner from the false saying, "Yes, God will wound the false shepherd in the house of his idol, but God will also wound the true shepherd and His sheep will be scattered as well." And the end of the verse, "And I'll turn My hand on the little ones," there will be a remnant...there will be a remnant.
What Zechariah was saying is the day is coming when God is going to smite His own shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the sheep are going to be scattered. Now the sheep I believe Zechariah has in mind is the nation Israel. Israel went into chaos after the death of their Messiah. Seventy A.D., the city was destroyed, the temple and everything else and they're still in the same chaos resulting from the rejection of Messiah. But the disciples being scattered were sort of the first phase of the chaos that hit the nation Israel. So Zechariah sees God smitting the shepherd, the nation disintegrating and the first phase of it the Lord applies to this group of His own disciples who will be scattered.
But, may I also add, and He doesn't quote this in Matthew, but it is in Zechariah. Zechariah says, "But I will gather again My little ones." And while the whole nation ultimately went into chaos, God went back out and gathered back His scattered disciples, didn't He? And He has continued to do that in the remnant.
The prophecy of Zechariah is critical. And so we see the supernatural knowledge of the Lord. He knew the meaning of the plan of God, "It is written." He knew how to interpret a difficult passage in Zechariah perfectly clearly. He understood the disciples and where they were going and what they were going to do. He knew what Satan was going to bring to bear on them and He knew they couldn't handle it. He knew what Peter would do even though he said he wouldn't do it. He knew every detail of what was going on and He knew when it was goi