OUR MESSIAH: ABUSED

JANUARY 26, 2014

BEING BEYOND (JOHN 18:1-6)

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, into which He Himself entered, and His disciples. 2 Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place; for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. 3 Judas then, having received the Roman cohort, and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth, and said to them, "Whom do you seek?"  5 They answered Him, "Jesus the Nazarene." He said to them, "I am He." And Judas also who was betraying Him, was standing with them. 6 When therefore He said to them, "I am He," they drew back, and fell to the ground.     NASB 

Verse 1:

·        “When Jesus had spoken these words,…” – these are similar to the words we saw at the beginning of chapter 17.

·        In chapter 17, they referred to what Jesus had taught the disciples after Judas had left.

o   Here they refer to the priestly prayer we find in chapter 17.

o   “the ravine of the Kidron,…” – the word rendered ravine here actually could mean winter torrent.

·        At this time the brook could be running red with the blood of the animals being sacrificed for the Passover.

·        The blood would drain from the alter down to this brook, and then out of the city where it will eventually end up in the Dead Sea.

·        David had also crossed this ravine when he fled from his son Absalom.

·        Why did Christ take His disciples with Him into the garden?

o   To show them and us that He was not seized as a helpless victim, but voluntarily delivered Himself into the hands of His enemies, and,

o   to show His power to protect His own in times of danger.

Verse 2:

·        “who was betraying Him,…” – this indicates that the betrayal was in progress.

·        In Eden, we see a man created in perfection...who sinned.

·        In Gethsemane, we see another perfect man who did not sin.

·        In Eden, we see Adam & Eve heeding the voice of Satan.

·        In Gethsemane, we see Christ heeding the voice of God.

·        In Eden, we see the sin of Adam.

·        In Gethsemane, we see Christ suffering for that sin.

·        In Eden, Adam hid himself.

·        In Gethsemane Christ showed Himself openly.

·        In Eden, God sought Adam.

·        In Gethsemane, Christ sought God.

Verse 3:

·        “Roman cohort,” – the word here for cohort indicates a portion of a legion of soldiers.

·        Among the different commentaries I checked, the estimate is from 120 to 1,200 men.

·        They did not know if there would be a lot of people around that could cause a disturbance when they arrested Jesus; the number of soldiers were there to keep order in case it was needful.

·        Also present were temple guards and officers from the chief priests.

·        Both Jews and Gentiles were represented.

Verse 4:

·        This is another instance where John indicates the omniscience of Jesus.

Verse 5:

·        Jesus answered the soldiers with the declaration that He is God when He again said “I AM”.

·        Judas is now fully identified with the soldiers.

Verse 6:

·        Those who are worshipping God tend to fall forward on their faces; whereas those who are not tend to fall backward as we see here.

·        With all the soldiers and Jews on the ground, He and His disciples would have walked from that place with no one to stop them; but, we see clearly that Jesus would go with them willingly.

·        He has established His power over the situation and the soldiers will now acquiesce to His command to let the others go.

·        This would also account for the fact that they did not immediately attack when Peter struck Malchus’ ear off; they would have been stunned, slow to react, giving Jesus time to rebuke Peter and to heal Malchus.

·        We see here that Jesus will take care of His own; even though they all fled, they needn’t have.

·        Not one of those that belonged to Him was to die that day or else misdirected men would have erected churches dedicated to them and even worship them. 

In verse 11 Jesus said to thrust up your sword. 

BEING DENIED (JOHN 18:17-18)

17 The slave-girl therefore who kept the door said to Peter, "You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." 18 Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.     NASB 

Verse 17:

·        In the Jewish culture of the time it was an acceptable action for a Jew to lie about being a Jew if it would save their life, but, it altogether a different issue when denying Jesus. 

Mark 8:38

38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."      NASB 

“She does not appear to have asked with any design to hurt him.”

John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes 

Verse 18:

·        It is probable that some of these were among the arresting party and Peter may have been fearful of attracting a reprisal for his action in cutting Malchus’ ear off.

·        A cold spring night is even colder when you are afraid and so Peter quite naturally would seek the warmth of the fire. 

BEING REVILED (JOHN 18:19-24)

19 The high priest therefore questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, "I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. 21 "Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; behold, these know what I said."  22 And when He had said this, one of the officers standing by gave Jesus a blow, saying, "Is that the way You answer the high priest?" 23 Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?"  24 Annas therefore sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.     NASB 

Verse 19:

·        Annas was a past high priest and could still be called high priest.

·        His questioning was aimed at getting information as to the nature of His disciples; were they soldiers, how many, what was the secret teaching given them, etc.

·        He was probably hoping to find something to charge Jesus with since they had not as yet formulated any charges, and they wanted it to be something that will allow Rome to put Jesus to death.

Verse 20-21:

·        Jesus’ answer indicates that there was no secret teaching; everything was taught in the open and they need only ask those who have heard Him.

·        In His answer He says nothing about His disciples and so keeps them out of the picture.

·        The last phrase “…behold, these know what I said.” is very emphatic.

Verse 22:

·        This officer was probably hoping to gain favor with the high priest by his actions.

·        It was apparently a very sharp blow with either a rod or the open hand, and according to the law it was illegal to hit a prisoner until he had been proved guilty.

·        Obviously it was very clear that Jesus had already been condemned.

Verse 23:

·        In the midst of being treated illegally at every turn and frustrating their efforts to find a charge, Jesus challenged the officer to show where He was wrong in His answer.

Verse 24:

• Annas had failed to find a charge and so he sends Him off to Caiaphas.
• Possibly Jesus remained bound throughout this questioning, which would also be illegal, or whether He was re-bound is not certain.