Reflection on John 18:1-27

It was Passover, so the moon was full. The air would have been fragrant with the freshness of Spring, but the air near the brook Kidron must smell bloody, because on that day, all the Passover lambs were killed in the Temple and the blood was poured on the altar. From the altar there was a channel down to the brook Kidron and the blood of the Passover lambs drained away. When our Lord and His disciples finished the Last Supper meal and after He had prayed for all believers, He "left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley."  They went out of the city gate on the east side, went down the steep valley and crossed the channel of the brook Kidron which was still red with the blood of the sacrificial lambs. Would the thought of Himself being the true Passover Lamb be vivid on Jesus' mind?

Having crossed the Kidron Valley, they went up the Mount of Olives. On its slopes lay "an olive grove" which was called the little garden of Gethsemane. Only the wealthy people had their private garden on the Mount of Olives. So it must be some wealthy friend of Jesus who gave Him and His disciples the right to use the garden. "Jesus had often met there with His disciples" for peace and quiet time. Of course, Judas who already betrayed Jesus "knew the place" well. He had often rested there, listening with the other disciples to the Master's words. He knew this little garden would be the convenient spot to arrange the arrest of Jesus. "So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons." The authorities had trouble to arrest Jesus when He taught in public, for fear of the people who believed in Him. They were thrilled when Judas came to them to offer his infamous service of leading them to arrest Jesus. There is something astonishing about the force which came out to arrest Jesus. There was a company of Roman soldiers, together with the Jewish police force which were the "officials from the chief priests and Pharisees". A "detachment" could be made up of 200 men. What an expedition to send out almost an army to arrest an unarmed Galilean carpenter! But what a compliment to the power of Jesus! The Gospel according to John made it clear that both Jews and Gentiles were guilty of the death of Jesus who was about to die for the life of the world, the Jews and the Gentiles. "They were carrying torches, lanterns" to search for "the Light of the World". "They were carrying...weapons" to against the "Prince of Peace".

The other Gospels record how Judas kissed Jesus to betray Him. John does not mention Judas' kiss. John makes it clear that Judas is not the revealer but the betrayer, and rather that Jesus will identify Himself. It is not Judas' infamy that brings the success of Jesus' arrest. Rather, it is the Father's will. John also omitted Jesus' agonizing struggle in prayer and the disciples' sleepiness in Gethsemane, recorded in the other Gospel accounts. John kept the spotlight fully on Jesus who was fully prepared for "His hour" to win His personal victory on the cross in His Father's will. He would win without any help from man. Salvation itself involves no man's work. It is God's own work. 

When Jesus was fully prepared for the work of salvation, His disciples seemed deeply sleepy and did not notice the torches flickering through the olive trees and the feet tramping on the ground as the soldiers and officials reached the garden. Unlike His disciples, Jesus was fully aware of the soldiers' approach and took the initiative. "Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’" The soldiers and officials must have thought that they would have to search among the trees and in the hillside nooks to find Jesus with the help of full moon's bright light, plus the "torches, lanterns" brought by them. Far from hiding, Jesus stepped out and asked them the same question that He asked His first two disciples when the two followed Him for the first time. This question demanded an answer. The soldiers and officials replied, "Jesus of Nazareth". They referred to Jesus with His most humble and human name among all His names. 

Jesus stood alone, without weapon, as a man from an insignificant and small town in Galilee who is also God. He responded, "I am he". He used the most exalted and divine name "I am" to identify Himself. Jesus' self-identification produced dramatic effects. The soldiers and officials "drew back and fell to the ground. Judas the traitor (who) was standing there with them" must have fallen back as well. People falling to ground in the presence of God are mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. Here the ones falling are His enemies, not His worshipers. This reaction is a reflection not of their hearts, but of Jesus' majesty. This falling before the Messiah shows that no superior power compelled Jesus to surrender. He could have escaped death if He had so wished. He could have walked through the soldiers and officials, gone His way with all His disciples. But He chose to help His enemies to arrest Him. He allowed the soldiers to stand and asked them again, "Who is it you want?" He asked the same question that searched the souls. The soldiers seemed to have been too frightened or embarrassed to speak, but their souls were not awakened by the numinous they just experienced. They didn't search Jesus for their soul's sake. They were doing their job. They had their own agenda. So they said again, "Jesus of Nazareth." 

Jesus answered, "I told you that I am he, if you are looking for me, then let these men go." He issued orders to His enemies to arrest Him but not to touch His friends. His enemies' power had just been shown to be insignificant compared to the power of His words. The Word Himself who created all that exist has spoken of His protection for those the Father has given Him and He fulfilled His words. He said, "I have not lost one of those you gave me." As the true Shepherd, the Lord put Himself between His own beloved sheep and the danger that threatened them. Jesus' protective love for the eleven disciples is a glimpse of the sacrificial love He displayed at the cross for His believers.

The soldiers seemed prepared to treat Jesus roughly to cover their shame of being struck to the ground by one man. The other Gospels record how panic swept through the disciples. Some asked, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" Did the disciples counted how many swords they had? Did they not see the many swords "a detachment of soldiers and some officials" carried? More importantly, did they hear their Master's call for them to leave unharmed and for Him to be arrested? "Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear."  Peter, one man, drew his sword against hundreds. He was soon to deny his master by his tongue. But at that moment he was prepared to take on hundreds all alone by his one sword, for the sake of his Master. We must never forget the sublime courage of this moment. Peter's rash act would have meant his death when he had hundreds of soldiers around him. But before the soldiers could respond, Jesus told Peter and the others, "Put your sword away!" He stepped to the servant, touched his severed ear and healed his wound. John does not mention that Jesus healed the servant's ear since it has been recorded in the other Gospels. But John does add that the servant's name was Malthus. Jesus' intervention undoubtedly counted for Peter's not being arrested or killed on the spot. In Jesus' divine will, His eleven disciples all walked away free. He later commissioned them to confess that they were His disciples and friends, and gave their testimonies to the world.

 At the same time, the Lord refused to resist or to permit His disciples to resist His arrest. He chose to obey perfectly all His Father's will. He said, "Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" The image of the cup is used in the Scripture to denote suffering and in particular, the wrath of God. Jesus Christ had come to drink for sinners the cup of God's wrath against sin. This was His Father's will and nothing would sway Jesus from doing His Father's will. 

From the other Gospels we know that all the disciples walked away and left Jesus alone to be handled roughly by His captors. "Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people." It was intense humiliation to be taken prisoner, wrists bound with cords, surrounded by armed guards, called a lawbreaker, subject to the whim of brutal men. He allowed Himself to be humiliated for us who are real prisoners bound by our sins. He allowed His enemies to tie Him up as a common thief so He might set us free forever.

Only John tells us that Jesus was brought first to Annas. Annas had been High Priest. And the current High Priest was his son-in-law Caiaphas who suggested that it would be good for Jesus to die for the people. Annas remained the power behind the throne in Jerusalem. He probably was the most powerful of Jewish authorities at that time. John referred him as high priest even though John was clear Caiaphas was the one holding the position at the time. The private trial took place in Annas house during the night was a mockery of justice. The Sanhedrin could not meet before daybreak according to Jewish law. And the meeting place was not supposed to be in Annas' house. It was an essential regulation of the Jewish law that a prisoner must be asked no question which would incriminate him. Annas broke the very law which he supposed to keep, because he and his colleagues had been allied with the devil to attack the Son of God by no fair means. Jesus never had any hope of justice. Jesus gave His enemies the permission to be unfair, to be unjust to Him. The world has judged Jesus, and in turn Jesus has judged the world by every word He spoke.

Annas first "questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching." He seemed to want Jesus to incriminate Himself as a false prophet or at least as a false teacher. Jesus didn't mention His disciples at all, protecting them to the end. Annas violated the principles of Jewish law when he questioned Jesus. It was precisely of this that Jesus reminded him by saying, "I have spoken openly to the world, I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said." Jesus was, in effect, saying, "Don't ask me those questions. Take your evidence about me in the proper and legal way by asking the people who heard me. They are the witnesses." Jesus' appeal to the witnesses of those who had heard Him was basically a demand for a fair trial to assert His legal right. There was to be no formal charge until witnesses had been heard and been found to be truthful. It was the high priest's duty to call forth the witnesses. He also held Annas responsible in another aspect. Jesus had spoken publicly so Annas did know what Jesus had taught. But Annas chose not to believe and his attitude of sincere inquiry was simply a pretense. Jesus holds people today responsible to know His words and to decide if they want to believe. Since His words are not secret but available to almost all of them.

Annas and his men understood what Jesus meant. But they hated what Jesus said. One of the officials nearby struck Jesus in the face and yelled at Him, "Is this the way you answer the high priest?" This action was both illegal and brutal. Jesus replied by stressing the issue of truth, "If I said something wrong, testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?" This question applied to all the opposition He had experienced throughout His ministry. His question was an act of grace extended toward a representative of His opponents. But Annas didn't accept the offer to reconsider the truth of Jesus. He was also indifferent to the way those under him treated Jesus. After Annas failed to exam Jesus, he "sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest." In John's Gospel, John weaves together the confrontation between Jesus and Annas and the confrontation going on at the same time between Peter and the people in the courtyard. Peter and another disciple, probably John himself, recovered from the panic that happened in the olive garden. They returned to follow Jesus and His captors at a safe distance to the high priest's palace. We need to remember that all the other disciples had forsaken Jesus and fled. We must also remember that it was not Peter's failure, but his love for his Master which gave him the courage to keep him near Jesus when nine disciples had run away. When Peter and John were at the door, John "was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at the door." Later, John "came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in." John showed no concern about the servant girl's feelings regarding his relationship with Jesus. For he not only was admitted by her, but also came back to get Peter in. John seemed to be able to follow Jesus to go inside the high priest's house court. In this way, John had not missed much of the action and thus was able to bear witness to the whole story. His theme of witness is also the focal point of Jesus' exchange with Annas.

Presumably John returned to the room where Jesus was being questioned, and left Peter alone. It might be Peter's association with John that drew attention to his relationship with Jesus. The servant girl on duty at the door asked Peter, "You are not one of his disciples, are you?" While Peter's attack with the sword might have made him fearful of being recognized, he was not in a position of legal difficulty, since there was no warrant for his arrest. Nor was there indication that he was threatened by this servant girl because she was on very friendly term with John, and it was very unlikely she would get Peter and John into trouble. But Peter quickly replied, "I am not." And he moved off quickly to stand with other servants and officials by a charcoal fire in the courtyard, "warming himself". Could he be warming up from the chill inside his soul? He had said he would die for Jesus a few hours earlier, and then denied any association with Jesus purely out of fear of people. He had no excuse for his denial. John interposed at this point the scene of Annas interrogating Jesus. What a contrast! Only a short distance from where Peter lied to people with little power or intention to harm him, Jesus spoke truth to those who would soon call for His execution. 

After Peter's first denial, John's narrative switched back to what was going on inside between Annas and Jesus. Then he switched back again to Peter who was in the courtyard. As Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, "You are not one of his disciples, are you?" Peter denied, saying, "I am not." Lie is a productive sin. Lie always produces it fruits which are more lies to cover the first one. After Peter lied the second time, "one of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with him in the olive grove?" It must have been a frightening moment for Peter since someone recognized him as the one who had assaulted the high priest's servant. Peter was desperate, he lied again. John was gentle in his account of Peter's denial by simply saying, "Again, Peter denied it." However, Matthew records, Peter "began to call down curses on himself and he swore to" the people around him by saying, "I don't know the man!" Truly, Peter failed. He failed shamefully. But he failed in a situation which none of the other disciples even dared to face. He failed in circumstances which only a faithful lover of Jesus would have ever encountered. The story of Peter's denial would soon get about, for people like ourselves love malicious tale, because we never loved Jesus as deeply as Peter did. We never had the opportunity to be in Peter's place.

At the moment Peter denied Jesus for the third time, "a rooster began to crow." Less than 12 hours had passed since Jesus had warned Peter, "Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!" Suddenly, Peter remembered Jesus' warning. Luke records that at about this time Jesus was led from the house of Annas to Caiaphas, Jesus turned and looked at Peter. The look of Jesus was not a look of condemnation, but a look of the One who knew Peter's deepest heart and loved him. It reminded Peter that Jesus loved and prayed for him. Satan meant Peter's denial for harm, but Jesus was in control over Peter's life. Jesus' look of love wounded Peter's heart. He went out and wept bitterly. John did not write of Peter's grief at this point, waiting instead to recount the grief Peter experienced at his restoration later in chapter 21.