Thoughts for the Day

Matt 26:53 “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must be this way?”

These words recorded by Matthew as he relates the details of Jesus’s arrest give us a unique insight into the matter of Jesus “laying aside” his power and authority and submitting to the will of his Father.  Twelve legions of angels would number around 60 – 70 thousand, which would have been an utterly overwhelming sight against whatever size the arresting mob might have been.  And that is without speculating about their relative power – I imagine one battle-ready angel might have been more than a match for the whole lot!  The point, though, is that at this moment, and presumably therefore at any other moment right up to his crying out “it is finished” on the cross, Jesus could have had access to overwhelming power, but chose not to.  He had learnt the Scriptures, he had studied the Scriptures, he had recognised his story (we will return to this) and was determined that through him the Scriptures would be fulfilled.  And what a poignant picture of his oneness with the Father.  What if he had chosen not to follow this path and had called on the Father for angelic support?  Would the Father have withheld it?  The whole sense of the passage is an emphatic no!  So, we must conclude not only that Jesus submitted to and trusted the Father’s will, but that the Father trusted Jesus and placed the implementation of his will fully into his hands.