The Arrest
John 18:1-11
18 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. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, ‘For whom are you looking?’ 5 They answered, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus replied, ‘I am he.’ Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he’, they stepped back and fell to the ground. 7 Again he asked them, ‘For whom are you looking?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ 8 Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.’ 9 This was to fulfil the word that he had spoken, ‘I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.’ 10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. 11 Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?’
And now the hour has come, the showdown was beginning.
Jesus and the 11 disciples west to the garden of Gethsemane – which was the usual place for them to hang out when they came to Jerusalem, and that is why Judas can find Jesus in the dark in a world with no electricity.
An armed force came to arrest Jesus. In a moment of comic relief, the overwhelming numbers and the power of the weapons do not prevent the soldiers and police stepping back from Jesus and the power that emanates from him when he speaks to them. It is almost farce when Jesus says, “I am the one, arrest me.” And no one can move. The armed power needs to be told twice to do what they came for. When Peter decides to defend Jesus, Jesus says, “Stop that, this is what has to happen.”
Jesus is in control. Even as it looks like the power is with the soldiers and those who have weapons, Jesus is the one with real power. The forces of evil try to convince us that weapons and fists – that the ability to destroy – that that is real power, but Jesus here makes clear that real power is something else. A colleague recently used this line to describe Jesus, “our sacrificial warrior of peace.” Here and through the next week of readings, Jesus clearly shows us a different way to function in the face of evil as we trust and what Jesus our sacrificial warrior of peace has done and calls us to.
PRAYER:
God of grace, you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to win a victory over sin and death and hell. He won the victory not with the power of sword or gun, but with a power of humble obedience to your word. By the power of the Holy Spirit shape us to be people who humbly follow his example. In Jesus’ name. Amen.