Scripture Daily

Context No. 3794 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 22:47-53: in context

47While he was still speaking, a crowd appeared. He who was called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He came near to Jesus to kiss him. 48But Jesus said to him, “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49When those who were around him saw what was about to happen, they said to him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” 50A certain one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. 51But Jesus answered, “Let me at least do this”—and he touched his ear and healed him. 52Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and elders, who had come against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53When I was with you in the temple daily, you didn’t stretch out your hands against me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

In the garden, Judas approaches to betray Jesus with a kiss, a sign of friendship turned into the mark of treachery, and Jesus meets it with a piercing question: Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? Then, when a follower draws a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant, Jesus stops the violence and heals the man, restoring the ear of one who had come to arrest him.

Even in the moment of his betrayal and arrest, Jesus responds not with retaliation but with a last act of healing mercy toward an enemy. He will not be defended by the sword; his kingdom does not advance that way. And he names the hour for what it is: this is your hour, and the power of darkness. He knows he is entering the appointed hour of suffering, and he goes into it willingly, without striking back. There is much to learn from how Jesus met betrayal and violence: without retaliation, with mercy even for those who came against him, entrusting himself to the Father's purpose even as darkness had its hour.

When I am wronged or betrayed, do I follow Jesus, who met even his betrayers without retaliation and with mercy, entrusting himself to the Father rather than striking back?

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