In John 18-19, we have come to the crux of Jesus’ mission. These two chapters cover the trial, crucifixion and burial of Jesus. John’s Gospel records for us carefully selected incidences that the synoptic Gospels had excluded. John 18 starts with the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. What John left out here was Jesus’ struggles with the impending death recorded in the other Gospels. The part about Peter, James and John falling asleep while He went deeper into the garden to pray was totally left out. In John’s account, we see a resolute Jesus going forward to meet His betrayal, and the band or cohorts of soldiers that came to arrest Him. John wants us to see that Jesus was in command of His own destiny with dignity. Here we also see two lives contrasted – Judas’ and Peter’s.
The Lord went forward to identify Himself
to the group of soldiers led by Judas Iscariot to arrest Him. There is no record
of the number of people that came to the garden to arrest Him, but we get the
feeling it was a great band of people including soldiers, temple guards and
Pharisees. They all came with lanterns, torches and weapons to a Jesus who was
anticipating them. Jesus did not resist the arrest. In fact, the initiation Jesus
took to identify Himself voluntarily made the kiss of Judas redundant. Although
he did kiss Jesus but it has little significant in this account as Jesus had
already made known clearly who his betrayer would be.
Here we see Jesus asking the band that came, whom they sought and they replied “Jesus of Nazareth.” Notice that they all fell backward immediately when Jesus identified Himself as the messiah, saying “I am He.” There must have been great confusion as they laid there on the ground over each other. The amazing thing is that when they got up and Jesus asked them a second time, they again said they were seeking for Jesus of Nazareth. Here Jesus identified Himself again and asked that His disciples be released. What we see here was intended to portray the ridiculous number of people who came to arrest one person, and his eleven disciples with only two little swords between them. The reason Jesus asked for His disciples to be freed was to fulfill the Scripture that said, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.”
John here pictures for us the contrast between
the band of men that came to arrest Jesus and the dignity and honor with which
the Lord conducted Himself. Notice that the soldiers obediently obeyed the
command of Jesus. While all the disciples left, we see Peter alone sought to protect
Jesus as he had so bravely announced earlier that he would defend Him. Peter
did a foolish thing when he took out a sword and cut off the ear of a servant
of the high priest. Peter probably aimed to cut off his head but the servant ducked
and ended up having his right ear lopped off. John 18:10 tells us that the name
of the servant was Melchus. Jesus rebuked Peter, told him to put his sword away
and then restored the ear to Melchus.
Figuratively speaking, haven’t we lopped off people’s ears in the course
of our ministry seeking to do something good for Jesus? What an encouragement to know that Jesus can heal
and restore the ears of people that we have cut off by our mistaken zeal. One other thing to consider. Imagine Melchus sitting at the breakfast
table the next day. What would he be thinking
and talking about? Would he be complaining about Peter or would
he be praising Jesus? The Lord’s words to Peter show us the heart of Jesus. He said, “…the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I
not drink it?” It certainly was not a pleasant cup. It was one
full of pain, agony, torment, loneliness and grief. Yet it was the route the
Father had chosen for Him. It leaves us with the lesson that God does sometimes
choose for us to take a hard road to fulfil the mission. Let’s be ready to do His
bidding, no matter what.
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