Jesus has become a fashion accessory to many people, a gold cross or a T-shirt that matches their shoes. He is put in the same category as other revolutionary figures from the past, like Che Guevera and Bob Marley. If only Jesus lived longer, he might have changed the world, but the system repressed him and had him killed. Is that the real Jesus?
The Jesus we see in John 18:1-27
is not like that at all. We see a Jesus who is calm and in control, who wants to be arrested, who stops a violent fightback. This Jesus is headed for an unjust death, which is exactly where he planned to be heading. There was no grand plan for changing the world now but there was a bigger plan to make people OK with God.
The apostle Peter didn’t understand this at all. He was willing to defend Jesus to the death, see a better tomorrow, but instead finds himself unable to even be identified with Jesus. There is something Jesus does for people that we cannot do – he can fix our sin problem, and however much we might want to follow Jesus we are followers and Jesus ourselves.
Christians make big promises in their songs, like ‘forever I’ll love you, forever I’ll stand’. But we cannot do it any more than Peter did. Our main task in the world is not to do great things for God, to change the world through caring for people. Our main task is to worship Jesus for what he has done that we cannot do.
(Based on Sunday teaching at All Nations, 21 March 2010 
).