As Jesus hung on the cross, He saw the soldiers who had dismissed Him, the Romans who had tortured Him, and His own people who had rejected Him. But perhaps the response most troubling was that of His closest followers. With the exception of John, His disciples deserted Him. In His greatest hour of need, they were nowhere to be seen. When things got hard the disciples deserted Him.
It was one thing for the crowd to turn against Jesus, but where were the disciples? Nowhere to be found. Their response to Jesus changed when life got hard. When life gets hard what do you do with Jesus? Let’s see what we can learn from the disciples’ stories.
1. The Disciples’ Story - Matthew 26:36-46
A. Fatigue - Jesus asked His disciples to pray. But after a big meal and a long day they began to zone out. He asked them to pray, and they tried, but they just couldn’t do it. When Jesus requested their prayers, they wanted to comply, but they were too tired.
Have you ever felt so tired that you couldn’t stay awake? Maybe during an interview with someone, or perhaps with a date during a movie. Maybe you had a class where you just couldn’t keep your eyes open. Maybe it was a more recent time . . . like right now.
“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” - Matthew 26:41 (NIV)
Often, our intentions are good, but we’re too tired to do what we know we should. Instead of thirty minutes in prayer; we spend thirty minutes watching TV. We intend to wake up early to read the Bible, but we hit the snooze button. Sometimes we desert Christ because of fatigue. And often, it is fatigue brought on by priorities that are out of whack.
Just like the disciples failed to recognize the seriousness of the situation, we fail to recognize the seriousness of trying to live our lives without factoring our relationship with Christ into the equation. So we wear ourselves out, maybe even doing good things, all the while
ignoring the best thing - our relationship with Christ.
B. Fear - Verses 45-46 says the disciples were awakened by a crowd who came to arrest Jesus. Torches, soldiers, and weapons surrounded them. When they had the chance, they ran out of fear to save their hide. They had been close to Jesus. But when it appeared the future meant bleeding with Jesus instead of leading with Jesus, they faltered.
“Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.” - Matthew 26:55
Like the disciples, maybe you desert Jesus when you are afraid He’s demanding more than you want to give. You want a relationship with Jesus, but you don’t want it to cost you anything. If it’s convenient, comfortable, and to your advantage, you’re in. But if following Him starts to take you down an unpredictable path of sacrifice, you bail.
2. Peter’s Story - Matthew 26:33-35
Do you hear the number of times Peter uses the word “I”? It’s as if he looks at the rest of the crew and says, “These guys might disown you but not me. I am above that.” And he truly meant it. But there were no soldiers and there was no mob. There was just a group of people who loved Jesus. It’s fairly easy to talk boldly about your commitment to Chris while sitting in your Sunday school class.
Pride makes us overestimate ourselves and underestimate our need to depend on God. Dealing with pride is difficult because few people
recognize it in their own lives. We have no trouble spotting this in others - but rarely see it in ourselves.
“The pride of your heart has deceived you.” - Obadiah 1:3
In other words, what’s keeping you from seeing the pride in your life is the pride in your life. If you say, “I don’t have a problem with pride,” understand that it’s pride that’s making you say that. Pride kept Peter from recognizing his vulnerability.
The Bible says pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). God will often allow us to fall in order to reveal our pride and call us to humility. When challenges come, the source of our confidence is exposed. This is what happened with Peter. (Matthew 26:69-75)
Luke 22:61 says when Peter denied Christ the third time, Jesus turned and looked at him. Evidently, Jesus was being led from Caiaphas’s house and it was God’s timing that at that moment their eyes met. What do you think Peter saw in the eyes of Jesus? Could it have been an “I told you so,” look? Was it a look of surprise? Was it a look of disappointment. I don’t think it was any of these, because Jesus knew full well what Peter was going to do. No, I think Peter saw a look of love in Jesus’ eyes, which is why he went out and wept bitterly, but later repented and was restored to a place of usefulness in God’s work.
Understand today that if you have deserted Christ because of a failure associated with your pride, that our Lord’s eyes are on you, as well. And in His eyes is a look of love. Respond to that love and be restored.
3. Judas’s Story - John 13:18-30
A. Greed - A case can be made that Judas was one of Jesus’ closest friends. For example, at the Last Supper, John was on Jesus’ right hand and Judas was on His left hand, which, according to Jewish culture, was the place for the honored guest, the place of the intimate friend.
“Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.” - Psalm 41:9 (NIV)
Often you see a painting of Judas and they have him look as if he is up to something. That’s not accurate. If you think about it, isn’t the most trusted individual of a group the one put in charge of the money? But what was ultimately revealed about Judas is that he had a love for money that exceeded his love for all else, even Jesus. He ended up deserting Jesus for money. Have you been guilty of deserting Jesus for something else or someone else you have loved more than Him?
B. Disillusionment - We often associate greed with money or wealth or power. But it can also refer to any selfish desire. One of the Smurfs was named, “Greedy,” and his desire was for food. The point is that Judas’ love for money was a manifestation of his greed, and his selfish greed set him up for disillusionment.
Judas had selfish expectations of the king he thought Jesus should be. He was disillusioned when Jesus didn’t use his power to overthrow the Romans - like an earthy king might have. Some have suggested that in betraying Jesus, Judas sought to force Christ’s hand, and put Him in a position where He had to lead such an uprising; and that didn't happen, Judas ended up committing suicide. The fact is, Christ knew better how to be the Messiah than Judas did.
Some desert Christ because they don’t think He’s doing His job. “If I’m a Christian, I shouldn’t have money issues; or I shouldn’t have health problems; or I shouldn’t have to bury my own child.” The fact is that if your relationship with Christ is all about what He can do for you, you will be disillusioned. And just like with Judas, Jesus knows better how to be your Savior than you do.
Conclusion: Has one of these factors impacted how you’ve responded to Jesus? Fatigue, fear, pride, greed, disillusionment - these can be part of our story, too - and can often result in our deserting Jesus in hard times. Ultimately, for both the disciples and for us, it comes down to a choice. Will we choose Jesus over comfort and security? Will we choose Jesus over ourselves? Will we choose Jesus over money? Will we, like 30 of our Ethiopian brothers recently did, choose Jesus over life? When testing comes, how will you respond to Jesus?
There was one disciple, however, who remained true to Jesus when the hard times came. That was John. John was with peter when Peter chose to deny Christ. In fact, it was because of John, that Peter gained entrance into the high priest’s courtyard (John 18:15-16). John was also the only disciple who was at the cross (John 19:25-27).
Why didn’t John desert Jesus? How was his love for Christ so strong that it stood the test? His love for Christ stood the test because he
constantly reminded himself of Christ’s love for him. Through-out his Gospel, John refers to himself, not as the disciple who loved Jesus, but as the disciple who Jesus loved (John 13:23; 19:26; 21:7).
“So you see, our love for him comes as a result of his loving us first.” - 1 John 4:19 (LB)
We grow in love for Christ as we remind ourselves of how much He loves us. Then, we will possess a love for Christ that can overcome weariness, fear, pride, greed, or disillusionment. A love that will say:
“I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold; I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands; I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand. I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause; I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause; I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame; I’d rather be true to His holy name. Than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin’s dread sway; I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.”
