Mary from the Prairie

The Garden

A while back, I read a work by Max Lucado called "Come Home, God Is Calling". In Chapter 3 of the piece (starting on page 9) is a reflection of Christ's arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion (John 18:1-9)

As I read it, I placed myself in the story. I was there, with the disciples. I witnessed the soldiers - speira - no fewer than 200 men, all of them armed, all of them surrounding us.

"Who are you looking for?" Jesus asked.
They answered, "Jesus from Nazareth."
"I am he," Jesus said.

When Jesus said, "I am he," they moved back and fell to the ground. All of them.

I moved back and fell to the ground (in this scene as it played in my mind). When Jesus speaks, Satan falls. Why then, if I were with the disicples and with Jesus, did I fall back? Why didn't I remain standing?

Because I am a sinner. Yes, I've been saved through faith in Jesus, saved by grace. But I am also human, tainted by sin. That sinful nature in me, that weakness that Satan knows so well, is why I fell back when Jesus spoke.

Jesus spoke again. "If you are looking for me, let the others go."

The soldiers let us go. They let me go. Rather than stay with Jesus, stay with my Savior, I ran. Fast and hard. I was awed by this display of divine power, yet at the same time, I was afraid.

When Jesus speaks, Satan falls.

"If you are looking for me, let the others go."

Satan thought he ahd captured and defeated his enemy. Through what Jesus did on the cross, he defeaten Satan (not that Satan had a chance in the first place).

When Satan knocks on the door, ask, "Jesus, can you get that for me?" After all, it is Jesus that Satan is looking for. It is Jesus that Satan still , to this very day, is trying to stop. Satan torments you and me because he knows that it's in our hearts that Jesus dwells.

And when Jesus speaks, Satan falls. Every time.