TRUST NOT FRET

• DAY 121
• Fear File: THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS
• Scripture: MARK 14:50-52 (NLT)

“Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked.”

Mark 14:15-52

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A couple weeks ago we started studying the the courage of Jesus, that of His disciples and those He encountered. We talked about how Jesus was a man of faith and courage and how He faithfully completed the assignment He was here to do irrespective of the challenges He faced. Even when He was betrayed and deserted, as we see in our text today, He still completed His assignment. That’s mostly because He knew that the things that happened to Him were supposed to happen as a fulfilment of a prophecy that was made in the beginning. When we know what’s to come we tend to respond more courageously.

But the thing is, the disciples were living in this reality too. Except that they didn’t have all the information. They did not know that all that they were going through was part of the strategy to save the world. They didn’t know that betraying Jesus was part of the plan. They didn’t even know that His arrest and brutal death was all in the grand plan. So they naturally had different experiences and responses than Jesus. They had to deal with a whole lot of anxiety, especially towards the end of Jesus’s journey. 

In our text they had just watched their savior get arrested. This Jesus they called Rabbi. The one they knew to be the son of God. They witnessed the defending dove, the transfiguration and all the miracles He performed. They saw Him walk on water,  feed thousands, heal the sick and even raise the dead. They experienced Him at great powerful heights. And then to see a mob with sticks, stones and weapons come to take Him away was unbelievable. But let’s give them a little credit, they defended their Lord, they took up the sword, even cut off somebody’s ear. They were ready to, you know, to go to war. 

Run!

But Jesus knew the plan, so He surrendered without a fight and that confused them.  They didn’t know what to do. But they knew that if they had aligned themselves with Jesus, they would be arrested, too. And so they did what any logical human will do, they ran for their lives.

They had left their jobs, homes, even their families. everything to follow Jesus and now the person they knew to be the most powerful being was arrested. No wonder they ran away. We can act brave all we want, but how many of us would stay if the boss of our company or even our pastor was accused and arrested for the worst crimes in today’s day. Would you stay and be associated with him? Would you want people to even know that you attended that church? No one wants that. I wouldn’t want that. Even if I ate and drank with the man, if it meant not being arrested, I’d walk away, run even. I might follow from a distance later when no one is watching, like Peter did, but chances are I’d also deny him without bating an eye.

Sometimes, we judge too harshly when we read the Bible, because we do not put ourselves in their shoes to see how we would have reacted in that scenario. We don’t make the Bible real to us. We read as a story and not as an account of true events (amongst other things that it is). When you read these accounts, you may not understand how you would react, but it helps to be more compassionate and to understand where they were coming from, so you can learn.

Need To Know

The disciples, didnt know what was going to happen, they didn’t know that Jesus had to go through this challenges and so they ran because they were afraid. What would you have done?

There are some things happening in your life right now that you do not know the full picture. You don’t have the blueprint of the plans and no one has given you the detailed explanation of the progression and occurrence of events. Not knowing can trigger anxiety and fear in the hearts of many. But the difference between the disciples and us is that we have the Holy Spirit and He knows everything. So we don’t need to know everything, we just need to trust him. And when things don’t go as planned, we don’t have to run away from the Lord. We can just pitch our tent and rest assured that even though we don’t know everything, God does. He has programmed everything to work for our good.

Just Trust

Beloved, the picture will not always be clear. You might know every detail, that’s why you need faith. You need courage and confidence in who God is and what He has promised you. Do not be afraid, do not worry. Live courageously, not knowing what is going on, but trusting that all things will work together for your good. Rest in the fullness of the fact that God is always on your side and you don’t have anything to be afraid of.

Shalom.