We should be shocked about the way that the Son of God was manhandled in His arrest, as though He would escape their puny clutches.  But He did not resist - this was completely in line with God's plan (Matthew 20:18-19).  He went willingly 'as a lamb to the slaughter' (Isaiah 53:7).  The bravado of the chief priests and their hired mob was really cowardice.  They did not dare to arrest Jesus in daylight lest He should be supported by a rioting crowd (Mark 14:1-2).  In darkness they needed to know exactly where He was and how to identify Him from so many in face-shrouded Eastern dress: the help of Judas was invaluable (Mark 14:44).

By contrast, the self-sufficient Peter, who had boasted of his loyalty probably swung his sword at the High Priest, missed, and instead just cut off his servant's ear.  He had said he would stand by Jesus and, if necessary, die with Him (Luke 22:33).  Whatever Peter's motivation, he had not understood that Jesus had to die for the sins of everybody, including Peter.  But why did any of them have a weapon?  Jesus had told them to take a sword; two were enough for Jesus' purpose (Luke 22:36-38).  That was a sufficient reason for Jesus to be arrested as the leader of a gang of criminals and Peter's action helped to seal Jesus’ fate.  Jesus had planned it all and knew how Peter would react in the situation to achieve the divine objective.

Had Peter been alert in Gethsemane, and had he prepared himself in prayer (Mark 14:37-38), such a stupid act would have been out of the question.  Apart from anything else, attempted murder of an official was a hanging offence ... there might have been four crosses instead of three.  Central in Peter's mind, was Peter.  The big error of understanding was that Peter could never be Jesus' saviour: Jesus was to be Peter's Saviour.  Perhaps these events came back to Peter's mind when He wrote, "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours …" (2 Peter 1:1).  Eventually he understood the lesson that He was a dependent servant of the righteous Saviour Jesus Christ.

Although we usually err in being too passive and non-confrontational, there are times when it is our responsibility to protect the business, the family, our colleagues or even the church.  Yes, we may have a responsibility to defend, guard and nurture: it may be our job to make wise decisions to ensure the stability of the business.  But we must never think that we are anybody else's saviour.  To believe that is blasphemous - saviourhood is a responsibility which we cannot and must not take.  Even though the Lord might still work through or despite our wrong motives, if we think like that we must repent, because Jesus alone is the Saviour.  We are simply His servants and messengers.