Looking Through Jesus' Eyes

Here they come.  The crowds.  In a rage, stirred up by the high priest, Judas at the head.  They are ready to fight, to grab Jesus and to attack who they must.  Jesus knew it was coming, and he accepted it.  It is the most stressful night of his life.  He anticipated the suffering, the pain, the shame, but it means something different when it is thrust upon you.  Panic rises up in the throat, but you have to swallow it.

Judas kisses Jesus.  Peter swings a sword.  These erring disciples back off with a word.

But then Jesus sees.

For everyone in the Roman world, slaves are simply ignored.  They are there when they are commanded, when business must be done, but the rest of the time, they just live in the background, unimportant until they are needed.

But Jesus sees him.

He is a slave who is coached to harm Jesus and his disciples.  He is a slave ready to harm and to attack.  He is a soldier, a pawn, but still an enemy of Jesus.  In an action movie, he would be dispatched without notice.  A single shot to the chest and never seen again.

But Jesus notices him.

Jesus notices that he is in pain.  He sees that the man has lost an ear.  He sees his enemy, but he doesn't see him as an enemy.  He sees the slave, but he doesn't see him as a slave.  Rather, he sees a human being in suffering.

Despite his own stress, his own anxieties, the fact that he is in the middle of being arrested, he heals the suffering.  He sees the mercy he can do in the middle of a chaotic scene.

That is the love of God's people.