Walking With Christ

Matthew 26:36-37 (36)Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” (37)And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.(ESV)

Peter, James, and John. These three became the inner circle for Jesus. The bible never explicitly says why Jesus chose these three to be in the inner circle. Jesus didn’t need disciples to perform miracles, irritate the Sanhedrin, or accomplish many other aspects of His ministry. Yet, He was very intentional about who He chose and the lessons He wanted them to learn. He lived with most of them for three years and taught them almost daily. It’s clear that He had built up a close relationship with each of them.

I had an interesting thought with these three, Peter, James, and John, that I wanted to share.

1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.(ESV)

Peter, John, and James, respectively. Jesus took these three with Him further into the garden. James was the first martyr among the disciples. Peter died about twenty years later. John was the only disciple to die of old age and natural causes.

In many relationships, love is the first thing to disappear when the relationship fails. The rest of 1 Corinthians 13 does a spectacular job of explaining what love is and looks like. Without love, faith and hope can carry on for quite a while despite the growing toxicity. Once the toxicity in the relationship builds up enough, then faith, too, dies. After that, all that is left is hope. Hope can sustain a person for many years without any logical explanation. Look up the drowning rat experiment for a perfect example.

Faith comes by hearing. The people of Israel had been promised salvation. The disciples lived under the hope of seeing that salvation. It sustained them. Jesus spoke to their hope and built their faith to show them His love for the world through the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind.

Jesus built the relationship with the disciples in much the same way that a failing relationship is healed. So long as there is hope then faith can be restored. Through faith love can be found.