Matins Devotion: May 27, 2026
“Projection” is a term that psychologists use for a curious form of human behavior where Person A accuses Person B of doing or thinking the things Person A is actually doing or thinking. For example, if a man has a guilty conscience about having committed adultery or giving himself over to lust in some way, he will often accuse his wife of having adulterous intentions when she’s just friendly with another man. Adulterers project adultery onto everyone else. Addicts see addiction in everyone else. Liars always think everyone else is lying. That’s projection.
And in our reading from Luke today, Jesus calls out the projection of the men who come to arrest Him when He says, “have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? WHen I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” In other words, Jesus is ultimately saying, “You could have taken me into custody in broad daylight, but you’ve come under the cover of night because you’re not really concerned about my supposed blasphemy and false teaching. You just want to strip me of the honor I have in the eyes of the people. And ultimately, you want to rob me of the glory I have as the only begotten Son of God. So the reason you’re armed like you’ve come to capture a violent thief is not because I’m a robber. It’s because you are.” Wretched projection, indeed.
But thanks be to God that He gave His sinless, spotless Son to die for those who treated Him as a robber. And thanks be to God that Jesus Christ freely gave Himself to us, when we tried to steal from Him.
Once, in our sin, we were the robbers, beating Christ viciously with our transgressions in an attempt to take away His authority over us, trying to rob Him of the right to control our lives, trying to rob Him of the right to tell us that we lost sheep in need of His arms. But when we tore Him to pieces with our swords and clubs, when our sins became the very nails pierced into His hands and feet, Jesus Christ used the blood He shed to melt the weapons out of our hands, to heal those who hacked Him apart. There, from the cross, Jesus used the very divine authority we tried to steal from Him to forgive us, to restore us, to clothe us in His love, and to take us in His arms. The Savior who had nothing but love for us in His heart projected His love onto our faces. And because of this, when the Father looks at us, He doesn’t see the faces of robbers and thieves. He sees the faces of His beloved children. Blessed projection, indeed.
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