Psalm 107:33-43, 108; 1 Samuel 9:15-10:1; Acts 7:30-43; Luke 22:39-51
Could there have been a man in all Israel more surprised than Saul at these events? Saul was simply looking for his father’s lost donkeys and suddenly is greeted by the man of God with great favor and then anointed as “prince” over the people of God. At this point Saul was a humble man, not believing for a second that Samuel knew what he was talking about. He doubted the seer’s ability to see properly. Samuel was acting based on the Lord’s revelation to him of one who would come and was looking for this Benjamite who was head and shoulders above the rest. Saul was the movie-star king, the Gary Cooper character whose superiority was clear to everyone but himself at this stage in his life. This should be a story with a happy ending, it was made for greatness.
If the first lesson prepares us for one kind of drama, this Gospel prepares us for tragedy. Jesus, in the garden praying because He knows what is next, the disciples sleeping “for sorrow” over what they believe is coming. Jesus is praying that they be spared from entering into temptation and praying to avoid what He knows is going to happen while at the same time submitting Himself to the Father’s will. I don’t believe He is praying to avoid the physical pain but the spiritual temptation that will come in this time when the flesh is incredibly weak. The temptations will be thrown at Him to save Himself, to come down from the cross, to prove that He is truly the King of the Jews, to give them full and final proof, but if He succumbs to these temptations He will have failed in the mission of saving us. Finally, the drama begins to unfold as Judas comes and betrays Jesus with a kiss, great intimacy and friendship is the way Judas chose to betray Him. It could never have been otherwise. But, could things go differently, Jesus, even here does a miraculous healing from kindness for one of His captors. No, swords will not be the order of even this day.
Stephen continues his history lesson to the council, a history of which they are well aware and in which they would have no quarrel. Where is this man going with this story? We asked him if he was said “that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us” so what does all this have to do with our question? Stephen is linking Jesus with Moses. Moses was God’s choice as ruler and redeemer and he was rejected by the people. Stephen points to the promise given through Moses of a prophet like him. The linkages are easy for us to see, but did the council see what Stephen was setting up with this historical narrative? Did they see where the curve in the plot of the story was coming? The history of the people will culminate in Jesus and the rejection of even Messiah in His crucifixion but that isn’t the end of the story is it? Hollywood can never top God’s Word for great stories and they’re all true.
Lead on, O King eternal,
We follow, not with fears,
For gladness breaks like morning
Where’er Thy face appears.
Thy cross is lifted over us,
We journey in its light;
The crown awaits the conquest;
Lead on, O God of might.
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