John 18:1-7

John 18:1-7 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it. Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 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. Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

Since first breaking bread with his disciples at the Passover meal, Jesus' actions and his words pointed continually toward this moment, the time when He would no longer walk freely among the people. No more would He escape arrest by slipping into the crowd. All along, He knew the time was drawing nigh, even before the passover meal, John records these words: Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. As Jesus gives them a new command, saying: Love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another; He also tells them He will be with them only a little longer. (See John 13:1 & 33-34) Then when He sees their troubled hearts, He tells them not to fear because He is going to prepare a place for them that they might be with him there. When their anxiety continues, as He knew it would; He lets them know He will not merely show them the way or make a way to the Father: He is the way and the truth and the life; no one approaches the Father except through the Son. Finally, Jesus questions his disciples lack of faith when they ask him to show them the Father, asking them if they have forgotten all He has said and done among them. After all this, He asks, Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Again He says, I am going to the Father, but He gives them a tremendous promise. He tells them they will do greater things than He has done to bring glory to the Father. He promises the Holy Spirit who will abide within: If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. (See John 14:1-6, 9-10, & 11-17) Throughout all of Christ's words to his much-loved followers, his message consistently states and restates his love and the love of the Father--one love for a lost world. Yet He also reminds them to follow, to listen and to obey. This message is a message to us.

Now the moment of his arrest arrives, and Jesus has left his time of prayer to the Father and crossed the Kidron Valley to an olive grove, a place where oil originates, cooking oil, eating oil, anointing oil. This is a place where death begins for Christ and the possibility of eternal life for all people takes a sharp upwards turn. Judas the betrayer followed Jesus there with his band of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They carried torches, lanterns and weapons. Since Judas knew Jesus and his disciples represented no military threat, they did not need to mount a sneak attack under protection of darkness to catch Jesus and his "soldiers" unaware. Perhaps they came at night because they feared the reaction of those who followed Jesus. Perhaps they in the dark because they loved darkness more than light and John wanted that recorded because of Jesus said: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. (John 3:16-10) Here we see Christ's words played out on the world's stage, with each real life actor playing his part: choosing the darkness or the light, death or life. We see this every day of our lives.

Jesus asks these night-time marauders, Who is it you want? When they answer, Jesus of Nazareth, He simply says, I am He. In the presence of the glory of the Lord, the I Am, the beginning and the end; they drew back and fell to the ground. They could not have remained standing had they tried with all their might. Jesus understood their purposes, the evil intentions of their hearts. The Holy Spirit revealed all wisdom, knowledge, and truth to Christ as He walked this earth. Jesus did not need mere men to tell him anything. He was looking ahead to the cross, the resurrection, and the joy set before him: victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. He knew this small group of soldiers and religious leaders had no power over him except what God yielded to them according to his divine plan. Jesus looked ahead to a day John describes in his vision in Revelation. John writes: I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life." (Revelation 21:2-4 & 6) For this, Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” Today, He says, What is it you want in your life, my daughter, my son? What is it you seek? I am He, the Alpha and the Omega, the Way, your way. Follow me, and old things will pass away and all things will become new. May we listen, live, and walk in the light of his love!