John 18:1–11 – “The Arrest of Jesus: Who’s in control?”
(Josiah Hall)
John 18:1–11 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
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John’s account of Jesus’s arrest is at once both deeply tragic and comically insightful. On the one hand, the scene depicts the tragic betrayal of Jesus by one of his closest followers and friends. While none of the Gospels reveals Judas’s internal motivations, that someone so close to Jesus could reject his claims and betray him to his death provides a warning to examine our own hearts and an apologetic challenge. If Jesus wasn’t persuasive to someone so close to him, why should we trust him? This question is an ancient one, given voice by the 3rd century critic of Christianity, Celsus, when he states, “and if he was God he could not run away nor be led away under arrest, and least of all could he, who was regarded as Saviour, and Son of the greatest God, and an angel, be deserted and betrayed by his associates who had privately shared everything with him and had been under him as their teacher” (quoted in Origen, Contra Celsum, 2.9).
John’s reply to this objection has been to repeatedly stress that Jesus was fully aware of Judas’s betrayal, even before Judas himself had made up his mind to do so (see John 6:64 and 13:10–11, 18, 21). In our passage today, John amplifies this response, by demonstrating that not just Judas’s betrayal, but Jesus’s death itself was not something that took Jesus by surprise. Rather, Jesus himself was in control even in the moments of his betrayal and arrest, so that even events that may otherwise hint of powerlessness instead function to reveal and confirm Jesus’s divine identity.
The details of John’s account should stand out to us, for they highlight the almost comic ridiculousness of the scene. John distinguishes between a “band of soldiers” and “officers from the chief priests and Pharisees.” The “band” was most likely Roman troops, indicating Roman collaboration and interest in preventing Jesus from destabilizing Jerusalem at Passover. While the word “band” may cause us to think of a small group of people, the word is a technical term for tenth of a Roman legion. John, therefore, describes several hundred soldiers and officers from the priests, all armed coming out against Jesus and his twelve disciples! These soldiers are not only armed but carry lanterns and torches as they stumble in the dark, arraying themselves against the Light of the World.
Yet Jesus does not cower before these forces, nor do they take him by surprise. Rather, he must twice ask them their purpose. John highlights for us that Jesus remains in total control of the situation so that he can ensure that his disciples preserve their lives. Peter’s rash act of violence jeopardizes Jesus’s efforts to keep his disciples safe, and so Jesus rebukes Peter and heals the man Peter has maimed.
On the one hand Jesus’s death is a tragedy: the Son of God was rejected, betrayed, subjected to torture, and hung on a piece of wood to experience an excruciatingly painful and exquisitely shameful death. On the other hand, John wants us to recognize that Jesus’s death represents the climax of God’s plan of redemption. No one compelled Jesus to go to the cross; he had authority to lay his life down (10:17–18) and chose to do so on our behalf. Jesus did not die because of Roman military might, or because the religious leaders managed to turn one of his disciples against him. Instead, even in a scene when all the world’s forces are arrayed against him, Jesus remains firmly in control of the situation, choosing to drink the cup that he and the Father had planned from eternity past in order to save his disciples (including us) not merely from the Roman sword, but from death and eternal judgment.
Weekly Prayer Focus: Spiritual Renewal in Our Congregation
Daily Prayer Request: “Kingship of Jesus Central in Our Lives.” Let’s pray that the members of our congregation would be more deeply devoted to the reign of Lord Jesus in our lives.