Retreat and Regroup
Mark 14:27-32
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED.’ 28 “But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 29 But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.” 31 But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also.
Yeshua told his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane what would happen at His death. They were going to scatter. When Yeshua was arrested, they scattered. Yeshua makes it sound like a bad thing. However, when one contemplates the situation, is it not evident that they too would have been arrested and killed. If that happened, who would have brought us the Gospel message today? Perhaps it was necessary to scatter. The disciples did regroup after Yeshua’s crucifixion. They gathered together in Jerusalem and pondered what was next. Then they saw the risen Christ, and they reformed. The general feeling of the church today is that the disciples were cowards and should never have left Yeshua’s side.
There are times when an army fighting in a war has to retreat and regroup rather than be annihilated on the battlefield. How about I talk about something that does not entail death. There are times when a chess player knows that they must retreat their pieces to be placed on better squares or repel an attack from their opponent. It is better to retreat and keep the piece on the board than sacrifice unnecessarily. Defensive play is essential to learn as much as offensive play. This narrative talks about defensive play. The plan of the Messiah had been disrupted. Perhaps the disciples knew that it would happen, and perhaps they did not. In either case, they retreated and regrouped.
There are opportunities where Christians can get involved and attempt to spread the love of Christ in the world. Missionaries go into areas where the government declares them criminals and will arrest and kill them. Sounds like Passion week to me. However, if all missionaries under this threat continued the mission work without concern, fewer missionaries would be in the world. If you know that you will be killed for saying or doing something, even for Jesus, is there a time when it is better to back off?
Retreat means that one lives to see another day. The missionary has not lost the war but instead has lost the battle. It is not a sign of cowardness but rather a sign of intelligence. This happens in the church today. It is not just the missionaries who suffer and have to learn to retreat.
This is a personal example. Being in the United Methodist church system, I was appointed to a church that was 99% white. The church building resided in a small city that was maybe 20% white. The District Superintendent wanted me there because I proved that I could relate to people outside the church since I was an outsider for the first 35 years of my life. He told me that the church leaders wanted to reach into the community and bring a balance to the congregation that somewhat matched the city the church was in.
The challenge began. I always ask the church leaders if what I was told to accomplish is really what the congregation wanted. I was assured that it was at this church. So, off to missionary work. A year later, the reputation of the church was changed. When I arrived, the church’s reputation with the community was that it was an upper-middle-class-only church. Indeed it was.
Nevertheless, that changed as I added activities and a worship service that was geared toward the people living around the church. I never changed or deleted anything that the upper-middle-class people wanted and did. Let me repeat that; nothing changed; I only added.
The older folks broke out in revolt. It became dangerous for me to be in the church building. I did not know when or where the attack was coming from. The church voted on the plan I presented to work together with another UM church and get community people into the church. The plan was working even with the pressure to stop.
The church leaders scattered when the salvos started. I felt like Jesus in the Garden being arrested and seeing all his supporters leave as fast as possible. Where were the church leaders who instructed me to do this? They were at the same place the disciples were at. The saddest part of my story is that these church leaders never came to my side. I stood alone. Oh wait, Jesus stood alone when in front of Pilate, being flogged and crucified.
At the end of Jesus’ life, one of the men crucified with Him asked to be with Him. Sadly no one stood with me, and after three years of success with the community, I was removed. The Bishop received letters and phone calls where church people made up stories that were not true. The Bishop never spoke to me about the situation. He acted like Pilate in that he gave the noisy people what they wanted without any regard to the community that we were touching for Christ. I was crucified at that church.
When I left, the fleeing leaders came back together. Jesus’ disciples came back together, and after the first Pentecost went on to bring the Gospel to the world. The pastor who followed me continued the community outreach program that I created. The leaders of the church backed him. The old folks did not through a fit. They did not complain to the Bishop. They allowed my missionary program to continue.
This story is real, and it follows the same path as Jesus’ disciples followed. Perhaps I should have retreated and regrouped? Maybe I should have stopped the missionary program then, waited several months, and secretly restarted. This story I shared is interesting because the retreat and regroup ended up being my removal. My replacement had a six-month waiting period, self-imposed, before starting the missionary program back up. This move is the same as retreating and regrouping. Unfortunately, it was not by me.
I learned some valuable lessons from that experience. Honestly, I must say that I understand what the disciples did. Their retreating and regrouping are what saved the Gospel message. Without it, Christianity would have died with Jesus. I will never speak poorly of what they did that night because I experienced something similar and witnessed the results.
