The disciples of Jesus who surrounded Him in His stay here reflect our own desire to hang on as long as we can to this old life. Consider the episode that concluded Jesus' stay here. It begins with the arrest in the garden. The disciples fled. But look at when they fled. They really already had left Him before the soldiers arrived, as they insisted on sleeping during prayer time.

When the crisis point arrived, they hung on for awhile. They must have hoped for a miracle. They had been in tight places before. They remembered thousands of hungry people with no way of being fed. But they had been fed after all. They remembered hopelessly sick bodies with no way of being healed. Healed after all. Demoniacs, written off by their neighbors and friends and families, with no hope of deliverance. Delivered. Surely Jesus would work a miracle here too, and from here ride to glory and power.

When the miracle did not come, Peter did what we all do when "thinking things out". He engaged the flesh. The sword. Self-preservation. Jesus rebuked him for it, and in so doing, He rebukes all of us who still lean on the flesh to get the Spirit's work done, who still try to live when He says die.

Then Jesus addressed the growing mob in such a way as to signal to the disciples that He believed this horrible scene was all part of the will of God. (Matt 26:54-56.) If we resist, He suggested, how will the Scriptures be fulfilled? That was the disciples' last blow. Oh no! Jesus was really not going to resist arrest. Sure, He had taught them, "resist not evil," "turn the other cheek." It all sounded so fine out in a field with the sun shining and Jesus working miracles. But this was the "real" world, Jesus. Surely not here... No, He was really going to do this. They were all dead men.

Even the swords Jesus had just told them to gather (Luke 22:36) were not to be used. Sorry Jesus, it's time for us to be gone. We love you, but this is too much. We must preserve our lives so this Kingdom will have a chance! All your ideals, dreams, plans, how will they go on if we are dead?

Have you felt the arresting power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Has He used a friend or a job or a situation to bring you to the end of your life? Yes, you can resist arrest. The disciples did. Or you can go ahead and be crucified. If the Holy Spirit is in us, eventually Jesus brings us to a cross, the end. Then of course we realize it is nothing more than a new beginning. The ultimate crucifixion, our death for the cause of Jesus Christ, will lead to the ultimate newness of paradise itself.

I'm not big on dreams and visions, and I don't know exactly what to call this, but I dozed off the other day and in a matter of seconds saw myself standing by a huge rock. Jesus was on the other side of that rock actually trying to rise from the dead. But I remained standing there, blocking His departure.

I woke up, dozed off again, and I saw my back yard, where we have a garden enclosed by a small fence to keep out rabbits. It is held up by a series of stakes. In my very quick dream I saw all the sticks holding up the fence going down one at a time.