One of the saddest sentences in the Bible is this one: “Then all the disciples left Him and fled.” (Matthew 26:56b, NASB) Wow. Just as Jesus was being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, His closest friends and followers abandoned Him.
Jesus had faithfully kept His word for three earthly years, serving alongside His disciples. Now, at this time of deepest despair – right when Jesus was about to begin this period of unimaginable suffering – His followers walk away. Shame on them! Should not they have realized what was happening? Should not they have understood that Jesus had predicted this event and its outcome? Should not they have stood by Him because of their love for Him? Should not their own fear and selfishness have been set aside for the sake of the Savior?
No, I cannot say, “Shame on them.” For each one of them is me. I walk away at times. I am faithless more often than I like to count. I abandon my Lord at various times of difficulty. I forget His promises. I am much like each disciple; I often fail my Jesus, though I hate the thought.
Thank God that “He Himself knows our frame; he is mindful that we are but dust” (Psalm 103:14). For though the disciples fled right before His crucifixion, Jesus still died for them.
Jesus did not choose to go back on His promise of redemption even though His closest friends abandoned Him right as He was about to embark on the darkest moments of His earthly life. We can barely understand that kind of love. However, finite understanding does not negate this love’s reality.
Forty days after His Resurrection, Jesus looked at the same disciples who had forsaken Him and boldly proclaimed, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
A second “wow” is fitting here. The ones who had been faithless were now entrusted with the greatest task imaginable: being a witness to the world by the power of the living God inside of them.
God, may we, too – though we have failed you at times – be entrusted with Your calling. May we grasp the depths of your magnanimous mercy.
Those disciples went out more invigorated than ever because they experienced the profound forgiveness of Jesus. The ones who had fled the scene in fear now gave their own lives away for Jesus’ sake.
His mercy changes things – for the better.