Reproach
Reproach
When? And how is it? How did Christ reproach?
Of course, the meeting of Christ with His disciples after the Resurrection was a meeting of joy. He wiped away every tear from their eyes, strengthened their faith, removed their doubts, and prepared them for their coming mission. Yet, despite all this, there was a kind of gentle reproach for their fear, doubts, and weakness.
So how did the Lord reproach? This is what we want to study together, in order to learn from it and know the spiritual principles of reproach. The first point in reproach is:
* Reproach is not for everyone.
Many people sinned against the Lord Jesus Christ, yet He did not reproach them. He did not reproach the crowd that cried out, saying, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” (Luke 23:21). Nor did He reproach the leaders of the people—the elders, priests, scribes, and Pharisees—nor the rest of the enemies and opponents. Rather, He reproached His beloved ones, or some of His beloved ones.
Alongside reproach, the Lord at times rebuked, admonished, and punished.
Just as He rebuked Peter when he said to Him about the crucifixion, “Far be it from You, Lord!” (Matt. 16:22). And the Lord pronounced many woes upon the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 23), and said to the priests and their leaders, “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing its fruits” (Matt. 21:43, 45). At times the Lord dialogued, and at times He directed, as when He said to Peter at the time of His arrest, “Put your sword in its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt. 26:52).
The subject of the manner of the Lord Jesus Christ in His dealings is a long one and not our concern now. Here we are speaking about reproach.
Sometimes the reproach of the Lord Jesus Christ included a gentle touch of rebuke, for the one who sensed it by himself.
As happened with Peter, who walked a little with the Lord on the water, but when he saw the wind was strong, he became afraid, and as he began to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” The Lord saved him, but said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matt. 14:31).
Sometimes some fathers and mothers pamper their children excessively. They fear wounding their feelings with any word, however gentle, lest they become upset. But such pampering may harm them. In certain circumstances, there must be a word that awakens the one who errs and brings him back to his senses. The weight of this word depends on the extent of the error and the capacity of the one who erred to bear it.
The greatest person whom the Lord Jesus reproached was Peter.
He reproached him for his denial, and reproach here was a mild measure, because the Lord had previously said, “Whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:33). Therefore, merely reproaching him for his denial was a form of tenderness and forgiveness instead of punishment.
Peter was confident in himself more than he should have been, and he even thought himself stronger than the rest of the disciples and more faithful than them. He said, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble… Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matt. 26:33, 35; Mark 14:29, 31). And, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33).
Thus, the first reproach for him was that the Lord allowed the rooster to crow, as He had warned him. Then Peter remembered and “went out and wept bitterly” (Matt. 26:75). The second and stronger reproach came after the Resurrection.
The Lord met him and asked him, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” Then He asked him the same question a second time and received the same answer, and said to him, “Tend My sheep.” Then He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You” (John 21:15–17).
He asked him three times, “Do you love Me?” just as he had denied Him three times. And He asked him, “Do you love Me more than these?” because he had previously said, “If all deny You, I will not deny You.” The reproach carried a hidden direction: that he should not think himself better than others.
One clear point in the reproach is that the Lord called him by his secular name, “Simon son of Jonah,” and did not call him by the name of consecration and blessing that He had given him when he confessed His divinity, saying, “You are Peter” (Matt. 16:18). He did not even say “Simon Peter,” but only “Simon son of Jonah,” the name distant from apostleship. When Simon answered humbly, “You know, Lord, that I love You,” the Lord said to him, “Feed My sheep.”
He repeated the phrase “Simon son of Jonah” three times in place of his three denials, and He also repeated the command “Feed” three times, indicating that He had accepted his repentance, believed his love, and restored him to his apostolic rank, or rather did not take it away from him, because his sin was a sin of weakness—with steadfast love—not a sin of betrayal.
The phrase “Simon son of Jonah” reminds me of a story told to me by the late Bishop Anba Thaophilus. He said that during the days of Pope John XIX (the 113th Patriarch), one of the metropolitan bishops made a mistake, and the Pope called him by his secular name. The bishop immediately hurried, bowed at the Pope’s feet, and begged him to restore his episcopal name, saying with supplication, “When you called me by my secular name, I felt that the power of God departed from me.” The Pope forgave him and called him by his episcopal name.
The Lord Jesus did not rebuke Peter with harsh words, nor did He reproach him by recounting in detail what he had done. Rather, in an indirect manner, He made him feel what he had done, which caused him sorrow, and this sorrow was beneficial for him. Calling him by his secular name was beneficial, and so was repeating the matter three times. Peter the Apostle would later face courageous situations in which he would speak boldly and perform miraculous works that would amaze people. This reproach from the Lord, mixed with indirect admonition, reminded him continually of his weakness and his sin, so that vainglory would not weary him.
Let us learn this indirect reproach that Christ used. He did not mention in His reproach Peter’s fear before a servant girl, nor did He mention the word “denial” at all, nor did He tell Peter that he cursed and swore and said, “I do not know the Man” (Matt. 26:74). Rather, in an indirect way, He made him remember his sin.
Another rule in reproach is:
Do not reproach someone who does not love you, and do not reproach one who does not accept reproach. Remember that the Lord Jesus reproached His beloved ones, not His enemies.
There is a person whose heart is not prepared for reproach, or who insists completely that he has not erred and that the fault is yours, not his, being “righteous in his own eyes.” If you reproach such a person, the result may be much worse; the situation becomes more complicated, the gap between you widens, and you leave the reproach wishing you had never spoken. Remember the Lord’s saying: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 13:9).
Reproach should be private: “Go and tell him his fault between you and him alone” (Matt. 18:15), because some do not accept appearing wrong before others.
Another reproach of the Lord took place in the Garden of Gethsemane. He took with Him three of His closest disciples and said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” Then He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. His word of reproach was, “Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matt. 26:38–41). He showed that watchfulness was necessary for them as well. Yet in His reproach He defended them, saying, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak… Sleep now and take your rest” (Matt. 26:41, 45).
Try to use this method: while reproaching, find an excuse for the one you reproach. This kind of reproach makes him feel that you reproach in love, not in harshness.
There are situations in which the Lord did not reproach at all, even though they deserved reproach: Mary Magdalene who denied the Resurrection, the women who carried spices, and the disciples who returned to fishing after the Resurrection. In all these, the Lord drew them to faith by love, not by reproach.
Take this as training: do not reproach in everything. Excessive reproach causes one to lose friends and loved ones. Mix reproach with praise, as Abigail did with David (1 Sam. 25). Her gentle reproach, filled with praise, turned him away from shedding blood.
When I speak of reproach, I do not mean only words. There is also reproach by a look, by a gesture, or by an attitude. Harsh reproach loses love.
The Lord Jesus aimed at healing, not reproach.
As He did with Thomas the Apostle, He did not intend to reproach him for his doubt, but to save him from it, saying, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands… and do not be unbelieving, but believing” (John 20:27). Thus He gained Thomas’s faith.
Therefore, let your reproach of your loved ones be objective, not personal. Focus on explaining the truth more than reproaching their behavior toward you. Consider the circumstances of others. Be gentle in reproach, or do not reproach at all if circumstances are delicate.
For better translation support, please contact the center.
