John 18:1-11

Hey, everybody. Welcome back.

Thanks for joining us. And sorry.

We've had a couple days off.

The schedule's been, a little bit crazy lately, but glad to be back here.

And glad to have you joining us or listening

in, with us as we continue through the gospel of John.

And I would say, Michael,

we take a pretty significant turn here.

As we've gone through some of the summary stuff

that John has given us in chapter 16, and especially maybe in chapter 17,

the long prayer of Jesus.

I think he now takes a decidedly

fixed view upon these last events and that last part of Jesus life.

So we we jump right into kind of the Passion Week story.

You know, in other gospels, we get a little bit of a build toward that

kind of typical of John.

He just drops us into it in some ways.

And so you might argue that it's all been a passion week.

And John, in some ways, like there's not even necessarily need to be there.

So maybe mentally

he doesn't draw the same distinction as sectioning things out in that that way.

But Jesus says

said this prayer.

He's prayed for the disciples and the church to come after them.

And then right away, John changes

our focus to the betrayal and the arrest of Jesus.

So, let me read, ten verses or so here, and then we'll work our way through them.

After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples

across the Kidron Valley to a place where there was a garden

which he and his disciples entered.

Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place,

because Jesus often met there with his disciples.

So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together

with police and from the chief priests and the Pharisees,

and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them,

whom are you looking for?

They said, Jesus of Nazareth.

He replied, I am he.

Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.

When Jesus said to them, I am he.

They stepped back and fell to the ground.

Again he asked them, whom are you looking for?

And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus answered, I told you that I am he.

So if you're looking for me, let these men go.

This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken.

I did not lose a single one of those that you gave me.

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, and struck

the high priest slave and cut off his right ear.

The slaves name was Malchus.

Jesus said to Peter, put your sword back into the sheath.

Am I not to drink the cup the father has given me?

So we see a couple of things

kind of typical of John's telling of the story in.

I think it interchanges in a really interesting way.

Michael, first of all, Jesus, we've we've,

I hope we haven't beaten this to death.

But in John's gospel,

Jesus is not surprised by this moment that Jesus isn't taken unaware.

They don't trap him.

He knows what's happening.

In fact, John even gives us a sort of

hint that maybe Jesus could have escaped when they first say

we're looking for Jesus and he says, I am he.

And with the force of those words, which we'll talk about in a moment.

They stepped back and fell to the ground.

So it's possible John is even suggesting to us that

Jesus could have left if he wanted to, which seems like the kind of suggestion

John would make, but typical of the telling of the Jesus story

in this gospel, Jesus faces this moment with courage.

Even reprimanding Peter.

I'm not trying to escape.

I'm not trying to fight back.

This is the cup the father has given me, and and I am going to drink it.

And I think

in some ways we see those themes that we've seen consistently

through this book, Michael.

But here they're they're pretty they're on pretty sharp display.

No doubt.

And Clint, I think there's only is added to your point actually,

that when you look at the text here, it's really interesting

that John, in his telling you this story, wants us to know

that the people who came to get Jesus are bringing soldiers

along with, the, the police.

And look who's implicated in this.

The chief priests, the Pharisees.

I mean, there's a really unholy alliance here.

Really, Clint, because the chief priests and the Pharisees,

they're not the kind of people who get along in social conversations.

There's there's a substantial difference between

both their theological positions, but also their power positions at this time.

And so the fact that we've got soldiers, we've got temple

police, we've got chief priests, we've got Pharisees.

John is painting a picture here that when you come to get Jesus,

you come with an army.

And when you when you come to get Jesus, you know that you need to come prepared

and that there's even a level of concern potentially,

that displayed in sort of the the amount of this mob that's coming.

And so I just think it's worth that.

That intensifies your point.

Yeah.

And sorry, sorry to interrupt, Michael, but I also it could be

missed that those aren't groups that work together, as you said.

And and they have access to Roman soldiers because for John,

anyone who stands against Jesus works together, right?

I mean, we've seen that already.

Yeah, yeah.

And that's the, I think point that we need to get to here,

is this power that you're talking about that is displayed when Jesus says, I'm

here, they step back and fall to the ground

when Jesus

says, it is my hour or it is my time.

When Jesus says that I give up my spirit.

That is John portraying

for us what John means to be a literal account of what is actually true,

that the Son of God is allowing these things to happen.

And, you know, we need to talk a little bit about the I am he part

here in the second, but I just think it's worth noting here

that when the powers of the world

come to put an end to the creator of the world,

as John has told the story from the very beginning,

the thing that those people intend to be

are a show of force against Jesus will never,

in this gospel, actually be a show of force that subjects

the Son of God and John through this storytelling.

And it's interesting how this part of the story is going to come

to an end with Peter using the sword is that ultimately,

Jesus is really unmoved by the power plays of the people around him.

Jesus is not interested in what Peter's going to try to do to protect him,

and he's also not afraid of the people that come with pitchforks and torches.

And that's all happening in this story.

You know, to that point, Michael, I think it's very interesting to to some extent,

you know, the

gospel accounts each have their own flavor

in terms of the passion narrative or the the arrest narrative here.

But notice what isn't here, right?

If you ask people what happens in the garden,

yeah, they're going to say something

probably from one of the other gospels, most notably.

Well, Judas betrays him with a kiss, right?

That they trap Jesus, that they have to identify him here.

John.

John wants us to get a different a different feel.

Jesus stepped forward.

Jesus came.

For there's no Judas has to point him out.

There's no we we got him trapped.

Jesus offers himself.

Who are you looking for?

He says the first words he.

He puts the attention on himself.

I just think that

that's such an interesting way

that John tells the story, and it's related

to how John imagines,

oh, not.

I should be very careful with the word.

Imagine how how John wants us to imagine the scene

and how John understands the work of Jesus.

And so

Jesus, nobody needs to identify Jesus.

He will do it himself.

And and I think that

that is a characteristic of John that's

very evident here in the way he tells his story.

Remember that up to this point in the story, at these pivotal moments,

Jesus has been leading his disciples

all along the path, revealing who he is.

And every one of those junctures he has said, I am the fill in the blank.

You're right. Seven times. Yeah.

And within that story arc, Jesus

is revealing more and more and more of who he is with these things.

Whether it is, you know, I am the gate or right or I'm

the light or whatever it is, Jesus is revealing the truth

of another part of his nature, of his character, of his mission

that he's come to do in the world.

And here we should not miss the very intentional

response, which, by the way, John has given us two times.

Right?

I am he.

And Jesus says, actually three times,

because in verse eight he says, you know, I told you that I am he.

So when Jesus says, I am he, that that's our Bible translators

way of summarizing that the I am that we get in Moses

and the Ten Commandments and the burning bush.

You know, that's a that's a really broad and really quick take on it.

But it is safe to say

that this is a pinnacle moment, that Jesus is saying this thing

which has the kind of power of dropping people to their knees.

And it is a kind of powerful, I am revelation statement

happening at the exact time that these worldly powers

think that they're now going to take possession of Jesus.

I don't want to I don't want to repeat

what you've just said, Michael, but I think this is a really crucial thing.

So seven different times, as you mentioned, we've had I am the gate,

I am the good Shepherd.

I am the light.

I am living water. Right.

John has used those moments

to tell us something about Jesus seven times in this gospel.

And and this is lost a little bit in English because we add the word he,

which is implied in Greek, but in the Greek

this simply says, I am so here at the end, in the garden,

Jesus drops the I am something, something,

something and simply says I am,

which is the words that God gave Moses at the burning bush.

Who are you?

I am, I am who I am, I am who I was.

All of that is in there.

I am.

And at the moment of that proclamation, it carries such force,

such truth, such power, that those who have come to do

harm, those who have come to work against God, step back and fall down.

And again, John is preaching a visual

sermon here as we imagine that happening,

that just with a word,

I am just with the proclamation of who Jesus is.

Evil falls down before him.

And yet he will go on to submit himself to it.

This is Yeah.

I don't want to get overzealous here, Michael, but this is

this is really, incredibly well-written.

It's it's profound.

And it's a beautiful illustration of a place John has been taking us

for a long time that we may not have known we were going in terms of the language.

That being said, though, Clint, if we are willing to step back, pull up

for just a little bit, what a weird place to put that in the narrative.

I mean, I think really let's let's take a moment here

to really name what's happening.

Jesus is revealing the extent of his mission and his identity

in the display of his chosen weakness, and that that's essential

both theologically in terms of the larger Christian story.

But I think it's important in this book, as John tells this story,

incredibly important.

And to add to that, in also protecting the disciples.

Yeah.

Standing in to say that I'm they're going to be the first people I deliver.

Leave them alone. Let them go.

You take me instead.

That is, I think, one of the things, too, that we need

to make sure that we catch is that ultimately,

we don't get a lot of prophecy fulfilled kind of stuff in John.

That's not really John's tack, but here it is fascinating, this idea that

Jesus is now giving credit in verse nine for fulfilling the word he had spoken.

I did not lose a single one of those you gave me, which, by the way, just came

in the prayer that we just made it through together.

It's fascinating that the very thing that Jesus is displaying in his weakness,

which is the strength to save his disciples, is the same good news that

the earliest church would have received when they read this story, Clint?

Because in their case,

the early church might not have needed to use their imagination

to come up with the idea of people with weapons and lanterns coming for them.

I mean, that was a lived reality in the earliest church.

And so I think for disciples and for believers in Jesus Christ,

hearing that Jesus himself was strong in the moment and that in fact,

Jesus had words to offer Peter about his turning to violence, right?

This idea?

Well, maybe we just need to carry a sword to defend ourselves.

It's built into the story that Jesus doesn't need

a guard for him to exercise his power.

No, no, Jesus's power is fully contained and and given by God the Father.

He can do what he will.

And I think that this has real implications for real people

in their faith that this isn't just a story about what happened.

John is has something to say.

The people who are experiencing

the difficulties and tumults of faith in their real lives.

I want to just make one more note.

And it comes from the last verse or the last sentence here.

Jesus says, am I not to drink the cup that the father has given me?

Again, the other three gospels.

If someone would know this story from the other three gospels,

all three of them have a reference to a cup.

But what is Jesus asking, father, if this cup could pass from me?

Yeah, nevertheless, I will drink it, right?

That doesn't work for John.

That Jesus says I'm going to drink the cup.

There's no could I have another cup or a different cup, or can I not take this cup?

John has a different

approach to telling the story, and in it,

the only thing that Jesus has to say

about the cup that is going to be his is I.

I'm ready to take it.

And I think again, that that helps you see the unique nuances of John,

as opposed to maybe the other stories which which

with which we're probably more familiar in some cases.

Yeah.

Because just like how John will include these stories

in different orders than what we have in the other three gospels.

John, here, we've said this in many ways and many times.

And like you said at the start of this conversation,

we want to be careful we don't over repeat things,

but there's a kind of pastoral sentiment to the way that this gospel

is written in that each story has in it not just an account of what happened,

but a a sermon, a lesson, a teaching,

an invitation even, I think would be fair.

And as we look here to the start of a pivotal week

in the life of Jesus, not not even a week,

the the last days here in Jesus's story,

we're already seeing the theological richness of the cup

being combined with the power being combined with the self revelation.

Jesus is not, in other words, waiting for the cross

to have all of this come together

every single moment along the journey, including the weakest moment

from an outsider's perspective, is in the hands of John,

a sign of the strength of the person at the center of that week.

And and a, I would add, a chosen moment.

Yeah. Absolutely. All right.

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