Judas betrays Jesus.
Click here for an online Bible John 18:1-14
Jesus took his disciples across the Kidron valley to the garden of Gethsemane. We know from the other gospels that he took them there to pray. Judas led the soldiers to the garden to arrest Jesus. Notice the contrast between the group and Jesus. There were many of them and one Jesus. They were carrying lanterns and torches; he is the light of the world. They were armed with weapons. He was unarmed, but not powerless. When Peter tried to defend Jesus with a sword, Jesus told him in Matthew 26 that he could summon 12 legions of angels to defend himself. A legion was about 6000 soldiers. Jesus was clearly in control of the situation. John said that Jesus got up to met the mob and identify himself because he knew what was going on.
Jesus scolded Peter for intervening. He said that he was to drink the cup the Father had given him. In order to understand the cup, we need to read Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22. In those gospels, it was the cup that Jesus was praying about in the garden. He struggled with the cup that he faced. He finished his prayer with, “Not my will, but yours.” We often view the cup as his approaching death. That is not the complete picture. If you do a word search in the Old Testament, you find that cup is often associated with the wrath of God (Psalm 75:8, Isaiah 51:17, Jeremiah 25:15, Habakkuk 2:16, Revelation 14:10). The horror of the cross that Jesus dreads in his prayer in the garden is more than just physical death and suffering. It is the response of the Father to the sin of the world. Wrath is God’s holy response to sin. Jesus prayed about the cup, but submitted to the Father. Now, when Peter tries to stop the arrest, Jesus rebukes him. He is committed to carry out his mission.
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2 comments:
Christ man handled the mob with His merely spoken words, "I am He." I imagine so many times before how easily Jesus escaped capture, by hiding in the crowds. Clearly, the Kidron Valley was like His playground, and He could have easily escaped this mob. The kidron valley for Him was like when we walk into our dark homes. We can usually manage to move around the house without the light or by memory. The Lord could have easily eluded Sheriff Roscoe and Barney Fife.
I think Peter signifies a lot of us Christians today. Every time we see someone else doing the Lord's will contrary to what we believe the Lord's will ought to be, we want to go and cut their spiritual ear off. We know the Lord's will in our life by listening and yielding to that small still voice, the Holy Spirit, which we will do well to develop an ear for listening to for our own direction within the will of the Lord. For the Lord works all things to the good of those who are called according to His will and love Him.
It sometimes is easy to forget who is in charge, we see all these things in the world that make our lives so easy, we each feel like a king. We ought too, at least. But we also should realize Who is on the throne. We are called to judge not Judge, to His rest not our work (laboring is our punishment).
anyway just a few of my thoughts for today. Thanks again for the blog. It has done a good job of keeping me accountable to my commitments to the Lord.
-=Ej
I wonder if Peter's lack of due diligence in prayer with the Lord for one hour caused him to miss out on what the Lord was accomplishing. And thereby lashing out against the servants of the High Priest. I believe Peter's intentions were heart-felt but taken against the wrong people and administered by the wrong hands. It is not the disciples nor the church's responsibility to administer God's Judgment nor God's Wrath.
Love,
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