Vespers, Wednesday of Reminiscere

The Passion According to St. Luke, Part Two

Luke 22:39-71

March 4, 2026

“Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” That is our aim this night. That is our aim this Lent. That is the work of our life, to pray. It is the goal of our life, to resist temptation, and instead be faithful in the work to which God has called us.

Jesus calls the disciples to do what He Himself then does. He prays. And why does He pray? Is He not God? Yes, but He has taken on our human nature, He has taken the nature of Adam into His person. Setting aside the glory and power of His divinity, He faces the fate of all mankind. He faces death, accusation, mockery, fear, anxiety. With a terrible expectation of what is to come, the Lord Jesus bows to the Father and asks:

“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

St. Ambrose put it this way: “He who had no reason to grieve for himself … grieved for me.” “He took my sadness in order to bestow on me his joy.”

What He did not assume, He did not redeem. This was said about the necessity of Christ taking on our human nature. But perhaps we could even suggest it about the experience of sorrow, fear, dread. “He must thus also undertake the grief in order to overcome the sorrow and not exclude it” [Ambrose]. The Lord Jesus experiences all of our difficulties and troubles. And in all of it, He teaches us also how to bear up in the hour of trial: “Not My will, but Yours, be done.”

At this time, such a notion is incomprehensible to the disciples. So when the soldiers come, they think this is the long-awaited moment when the war for liberation begins.

“Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, “Permit even this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.

Last week we heard the terrible misunderstanding of the disciples. The taking up of swords revealed that the disciples too were transgressors of the Law. And so it was fulfilled the prophecy, that the Messiah would be numbered among the transgressors.

When a disciple draws his sword, and aims to fight the officers arresting Jesus, He remonstrates with them. “Permit even this.” He even heals the one who comes in malice.

So it is with us. We have come in malice, we were born with wicked inclinations. Our nature desires only evil all the time. Yet He heals us by His sacraments, He reattaches our ear, as it were, in Holy Baptism. This is why it is the custom to say at the Baptism, Ephphatha, “Be opened!”, and to speak the Our Father into the ear of the person about to be baptized.

By His stripes we are healed, and even now He is healing us, turning our souls away from their greed and grudges.

All this, as we said before, pertains to our life as disciples of Jesus. It pertains to the church. It does not pertain to the government. For it is their duty, their office to protect its citizens, and to punish evildoers. Islam is one of the great evils in the world. The government is righteous and just to use force to protect us from those whose stated aim is our destruction. And you men have the duty to protect your families.

But the church as church does not take up arms; our only sword is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Church forgives sins, the government punishes and protects. When those things are distorted, great confusion follows.

And in the great confusion, Peter forgets His bold promises of fidelity.

He denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.”

How often we say the same! “I do not know Him,” for I would rather know the pleasures of this world. “I do not know Him,” for we do not want others to think us crazy, a fanatic, overly religious. So we compromise. We equivocate. We do what will not cost too much, ask too much, risk too much.

And for what? We are afraid of losing what is not ours to begin with. We will not risk what we cannot keep.

The Lord Jesus calls us to confess. To say to the world, “I do know Him. I follow Him. I am a great sinner, yes, but I am seeking more and more to conform my words and deeds, my desires and dollars, to what Jesus would have me do.”

For we know the end. We know what is coming.

”Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.”

The Son of Man is a reference to Daniel 7:13-14:

“I was watching in the night visions,

And behold, One like the Son of Man,

Coming with the clouds of heaven!

He came to the Ancient of Days,

And they brought Him near before Him.

Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,

That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

Which shall not pass away,

And His kingdom the one

Which shall not be destroyed.

The Lord Jesus is this Son of Man, who will execute judgment on the Last Day of this age. This is the reason they choose to go forth with their plot.

That is where we will pick up next week. But take home with you this:

Pray that you not enter temptation. Do not take up the sword for yourself. But you should take it up to defend your family and your nation against evil.

Confess Jesus, and do not be afraid.

He is coming, in judgment, and on that Day He will set all things aright.