Luke 22:31-38
31 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded[a] to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may fail, and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33 And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” 34 Jesus[b] said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day until you have denied three times that you know me.”
35 He said to them, “When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “No, not a thing.” 36 He said to them, “But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likeewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. 37 For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted among the lawless,’ and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.” 38 They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” He replied, “It is enough.”
The season of Advent is also the time of anticipation in the secular world. The holiday preparations swirl around us as we try to focus our thoughts and preparations on the second coming of our Lord. Students around the United States are filled with dreams of the upcoming break from their studies but there is one obstacle: semester exams. Students and teachers alike are pushing to make sure that final bits of information and instruction happen so that they are ready and successful in those semi-annual tests of their knowledge. Teachers worry that there hasn’t been enough time to get it all in. Students are not always listening to their teachers and will pay for it later.
Jesus was a teacher in our passage today and once again he is trying to get his disciples, his students, to understand how the coming tests, his arrest and crucifixion, will affect them in the days and years to come. But Passover is coming. They don t seem to be payng attention. Jesus even tries to get the attention of one of his leaders by calling to Simon, using Peter’s birth name. Peter should have recognized how serious his teacher was: after all, our full names come out when our elders are trying to warn us. Peter assures Jesus that he understands his teacher, and even though Satan has asked permission to distract the Lord’s followers from their studies, Peter says he’s got it, that he understands his purpose and will follow Jesus to Peter’s death. The teacher shakes his head and tells Peter that he will deny knowing Jesus not once, but three times in the day to come.
The teacher tries another track. He asks them to remember the lesson he gave them about going out to minister to others and taking nothing with them. He asks if that went well. They nodded their assent. Jesus tries to warn them again; this test will be harder than the last one and they must be prepared, taking everything possible to help them on the test, even selling possessions to purchase a sword. Were they listening? When they offer two Jesus says one is enough.
Did they fail the test? Did they pay for it? Possibly, and yet just as teachers around this world try to give every opportunity to their students to succeed, Jesus continues to give us hope when we fail. We stumble, we make mistakes, we forget what we have been taught. We sing carols before December 24. Yet, we have a teacher that gives us every chance to take the tests again and again, so that we will succeed in this life and in the life to come. What a gift, and we have that gift with every breath we take.
The Rev. Kay Boman Harvey