Happy Wednesday,
Today I had some thoughts about that time Peter cut off someone’s ear and it made me think about battles and problems and the things I spend my time and energy swinging my sword at.
Have a good day, friends.
Glenn || PATREON / BUY ME A COFFEE
We assume it's Peter because in John 18 we're told that Peter took out his sword and cut off a guy's ear just as Judas led the mob to Jesus, but in Mark's Gospel it says that "one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear."
Was it Peter?
Was it someone else?
Who knows.
For the sake of the idea I'm exploring this morning, we'll just say it was Peter - Peter took out his sword and cut off a guy's ear just as they were about to grab Jesus and drag him to his death.
Why?
Why did he cut off the guy's ear?
AND.
Why did he have a sword?
We'll explore the sword another day, but this morning I was thinking about WHY Peter would have felt the need to pull out a sword and cut off a guy's ear.
Why?
Peter was always about fighting external battles, wasn't he? All the of the disciples were, actually. It's sort of unfair to pin all the blame on Peter when (in reality) all of the disciples had their moments. But Peter and company always seemed to focus their attention on the outside, external battles - the problems, the issues, the storms that were around them.
Exhibit A: remember when they were in a storm and Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat? They were scared out of their minds and so they yelled to Jesus, "don't you care if we drown?!"
In other words ...
Calm the storm!
Make it better!
Make the wind stop!
Make the waves stop!
Get us back to safety!
Jesus was sleeping soundly in the middle of the raging storm, and I love that story because I think it captures the heart of Jesus' whole mysterious mission - to show people how to live with internal peace amidst external chaos.
Right?
For Jesus, the battle to fight wasn't the external ones, but the internal ones. We said this a while back in another Coffee Thought. In other words, (for Jesus) the most important battle to fight and to win is the one raging inside, not necessarily the ones raging on the outside.
Storms will come.
Seas will rise.
Winds will blow.
Sickness will happen.
Death will happen.
Crises will pop up out of nowhere.
... There is often VERY LITTLE we can do to prevent the tragedies of life.
BUT.
There is very much we can do to calm the internal storms that erupt as a result of those external storms. Right? There is much we can do in life to foster peace, to pursue calmness, to extinguish worry and anxiety and anger and rage and fear and ... all the things. It takes work, it takes dedication, and it is ANYTHING BUT easy ... but, it can be done.
For Jesus THIS was the battle to fight, this was the battle to win - to live at inner peace amidst the external chaos.
When Peter cut off the guy's ear ... I don't know. But I wonder if he had the battles confused just as the disciples had the battles confused all the way back in the middle of the raging storm on the Sea of Galilee? In other words, if Jesus was aiming to live at internal peace amidst external chaos, I wonder if Peter cut off the guy's ear because he was trying to eliminate the external chaos altogether?
Right?
Jesus accepted his fate - he accepted that his death was coming, he came to grips with the reality. And now he was in a place where he was doing the very same thing that he did in the boat during the storm - he was sleeping soundly, he was walking in peace and stillness amidst the chaos that was erupting all around him ... he was letting the storm do what the storm had to do, he was letting the chaos play out around him all the while he turned his attention inward.
Peter, though?
It was as if he was still saying, "Jesus, why are you sleeping? There's a storm raging! Don't you care if we drown? Don't you care if you die? Get out your sword and fight! Let's cut off some limbs, shed some blood, and put an end to this insanity!"
And all of this made me wonder this morning ... what chaotic life circumstances am I swinging my sword at today all the while The Christ is whispering to me to just rest? What outward circumstances are consuming my attention all the while The Christ is inviting me to turn my attention inward? What raging fires am I trying to put out around me all the while The Christ is more focused on the raging fire within me?
Hm.
There are external battles we need to fight, obviously. Big things like Racism and Homophobia ... right? We need to go swing our swords at these things. Even battles in our family like when family members disrespect boundaries or are abusive in some way, shape, or form. We can't turn a blind eye to these things - we must go on the offensive, and we must fight, we must not give up.
Hearts are at stake.
Wellbeing is at stake.
In some cases, lives are at stake.
And so this is NOT a license to shrink back and turn a blind eye to injustices that you and I must address in order to protect our wellbeing and the wellbeing of those around us.
The point here, though, is that we have to be careful not to focus so much on the external battles that we lose the reigns on the internal battles. In other words, when we find ourselves in the mist of a battle or a storm or whatever, we have to be careful to keep tabs on our inner condition and remember that we can only safely sail through the chaos around us to the extent that we've addressed the chaos within us.
Your heart is important.
Your inner condition is important.
Storms will happen.
Problems will come.
And once they come there is very often very little you can do to stop them. And so one of the big and mysterious lessons we learn from Jesus is the need to turn our attention inward and develop a sense of peace in the midst of the storm.
"Put your sword away, (ENTER YOUR NAME HERE)", Jesus says. "You're focused on the wrong battle today. Let the storm rage. You can't stop it. Accept it. Let's focus on what's going on inside of you so that you can have some peace, some clarity, and the resolve to keep moving forward."