This is part of a series of meditations on what Scripture teaches about each day of Holy Week, which goes from Palm Sunday until Easter, in which Christians everywhere mark the culmination of Jesus Christ’s ministry, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead.

Previous posts:

• Prelude
• Palm Sunday
• Holy Monday
• Holy Tuesday Part 1
• Holy Tuesday Part 2
• Holy Wednesday

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land, declares the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

-Zechariah 13:7-9, ESV

Maundy Thursday was quite busy.  The synoptic Gospels focus on the Last Supper, Jesus’ arrest, and the trial before the Sanhedrin.  John writes more about this day than any other, spending more than five chapters on it, including Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, His last two I AM statements, His teaching about the Holy Spirit, and His High Priestly Prayer before recounting many of the same events that the synoptic Gospels do.  All of this shows that Jesus made the most of His last evening before death.  He focused His teaching on preparing His disciples for His absence.  This teaching focused on their need to rely on Him, the promise of both the Holy Spirit to help them in this life, and their future joy with Him in eternity, culminating with what might be the greatest prayer ever prayed.  Then, the ministry of Jesus was abruptly ended as He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He was then taken to the Sanhedrin, who subjected Him to an overnight trial that was illegal in its conduct and replete with false witnesses so that they would have an excuse to ask Pilate to kill Him the following day.  Volumes could be written on the Last Supper and what Jesus taught in the Upper Room that night, but I will focus on the disciples. 

The Sheep are Scattered

When Jesus was arrested, all of the disciples fled.  Only John seemed to follow relatively closely while Peter followed at a distance.  Of the myriads of people who had followed Him, none were there for His defense.  The disciples’ bold declarations of loyalty in the Upper Room proved false at the first sign of adversity.  His closest disciple denied Him when confronted when the most minimal opposition—a servant girl.  Indeed, the shepherd (Jesus) was struck and the sheep (disciples) were scattered (Zechariah 13:7b).  In an instant, all of Jesus’ earthly companions left him to face the rage of the Jewish authorities alone.  His trial can only be described as a kangaroo court, complete with all manner of false witnesses and accusations.  It is no exaggeration to call it the worst perversion of justice ever.  The Jewish leaders ultimately declared Him guilty based solely on His declaration that He was the Christ.  This indeed would be blasphemy if it were not true, but the authorities were not interested in examining the claim to see if it was true.  They were only interested in establishing an excuse to kill Him.  There was no trace of justice in this trial, so the resulting condemnation of Jesus was invalid.  Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, so a just court would have no choice but to declare Him innocent.  The fact that this court delivered a guilty verdict indicts the court and not the Christ.  Regardless, by dawn on Friday morning the Jews were well on their way to killing Jesus.

Consumed or Refined?

Zechariah goes on to describe a grisly scene in which two thirds of the people die and the rest are put in the fire and refined.  Thus Zechariah describes the people we encounter in the Gospels that night as facing two possible fates.  All will face the fire of intense affliction, but while most will be consumed and die by it, some will be refined by it.  For the former, we have been discussing all week how Jesus was repeatedly speaking throughout Holy Week of the downfall of the Jews and their replacement by the Church as the people of God.  Thus in condemning Jesus, the Jews were identifying themselves as part of the group to be consumed.  This would ultimately occur in 70 A.D. with the destruction of Jerusalem in general and the Temple in particular.  Thus the fire of affliction consumed them, proving that they were not the true people of God.  Throughout Scripture, fire is used to reveal the true nature of a substance.  That which is false is consumed, but that which is true is purified.

Zechariah said that while the larger group would perish in affliction, the smaller group would actually be refined (improved) by it.  The imagery of God testing and refining His people in this manner is seen throughout the Old Testament (Proverbs 17:3, 27:21, Isaiah 48:10, Jeremiah 9:7, Daniel 11:35, Malachi 3:2-3).  Gold and silver are refined by heating them to the point of melting so the impurities can float to the top and be scraped off.  God similarly refines us: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10).  This is echoed in the New Testament as well (Romans 5:3-5, James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6-7, 4:12-14).  The furnace also plays an important role in various stages of metal forming, particularly forging.  This is the longest and most involved of the metal forming methods.  Throughout this process, the temperature, times, heating and cooling rates, and “percussive shaping” must be strictly controlled, requiring considerable skill.  When done right, this process produces the strongest possible parts because at a microscopic level their strength is aligned with the loads they must carry.  I can think of no better analogy for how God uses afflictions to shape us in the Christian life.  For the disciples, the night of Maundy Thursday brought just such affliction—and they would face much more affliction throughout their lives. 

They were all tested and found wanting—especially Peter.  On the evening of Maundy Thursday, they were all self-reliant men who were confident in their own abilities.  By the time the rooster crowed before dawn on Good Friday, they had discovered the limits of themselves and were nearly ready to humbly rely on God and be mightily used for His purposes.  They all fell away, but ultimately they would all return—never to fall away again.  The same Peter who denied Jesus to a weak servant girl ultimately faced the entire Sanhedrin and confidently told then that he would obey God and not them (Acts 4:19 and 5:29).  He would later ask to be crucified upside down since he did not consider himself worthy to die as Jesus did.  The rest of the disciples likewise boldly maintained their faith, unwavering even unto brutal death.  Since God is the master smith, Jesus was confident enough to say that though Satan was heavily involved in this test, God would cause the disciples—specifically Peter—to endure the trial and be ready to strengthen the other believers (Luke 22:31-32).  They therefore proved to be part of the smaller group refined by affliction and not the larger group destroyed by it.  That night proved to be the undoing of the Jewish leaders but a crucial step in refinement for the disciples.

Trust the Refiner

If we consider our suffering is like this, it means that God is perfectly orchestrating our suffering with incredible care and skill for His greater purpose, precisely controlling the process to form us into the image of Christ.  Looking back now, we can see that this is exactly what God was doing to the disciples that night.  God’s refining and forging work in their lives would turn them from cowardly sheep who were scattered to bold lions who would face the same Sanhedrin that Jesus did and proclaim, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), and He similarly refines His people today.  So hope in God and His perfect plan, knowing that He is sovereign over our trials and is using them to shape us for His use and glory as the perfect Father (Hebrews 12:5-11)—and He always knows what He is doing!