From the archives of Evelyn Roberts – Part One of Two Parts
Sometimes we can get ahead of God and His will for our lives. And don’t we usually get into trouble when we do? That’s what happened to Simon Peter. Matthew 26 NKJV says that Jesus took His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray on the night before His crucifixion. When the crowd came to arrest Jesus, “Suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear” (v. 51). It was Simon Peter who cut off the man’s ear.
Jesus didn’t need any protection from Peter. He told the disciple, “Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” (v. 53) Peter wasn’t commissioned to throw his sword around and cut off people’s ears. When he saw the servant’s ear lying on the ground, he must have thought, “What have I done now? I’ve done a lot of stupid things, but this is the worst!”
Have you ever said that to yourself? Sometimes we do something, and after we do it, we’re so sorry! But Jesus is loving and forgiving. He could have said, “Peter, you have blown it. All these months I have talked to you about doing things without thinking, but you wouldn’t listen. Now look at what you’ve done!” Instead, He turned around, healed the servant’s ear, and told Peter, “Put up your sword. If you live by the sword, you’re going to die by the sword” (v. 52). And Peter put it up.
This was Jesus’ last miracle on His way to the Cross. It reveals how much He loves us. He is never too wounded in His spirit because of something we have done to give us His grace and forgiveness when we ask for it.
