by Frank Luke
Sermon Introduction:
This being Palm Sunday, we will be reading about the Triumphal Entry and what happened right after that. The Triumphal Entry kicks off Holy Week, the last days of Jesus’ earthly ministry and ending with His time in the grave on Saturday. We’ve just seen the entry, and next week we will celebrate the resurrection, so let’s spend time at an event between those two: the Garden of Gethsemane.
Scripture Introduction:
As you turn to John 18, remember that the Gospel of John divides easily into two, major parts—the book of signs, which records seven miracles of Jesus, and the book of Glory, where Jesus prepares for His glorification. The book of signs is the first 11 chapters with the book of Glory taking chapters 12 through 21. Chapters 12 through 19 deal with the week of Jesus’ triumphal entry to His time in the tomb.
Why the book of Glory? What glory do we find in Jesus dying on the cross like a criminal? It doesn’t seem glorified. Rightly, to our eyes, it is the worst death we can think of. Today, we will be spending time in the garden of Gethsemane as Jesus prays and is betrayed. Surely, this isn’t glory. How can the arrest be glorification? The Resurrection surely shows Jesus’ glory.
John speaks of “glory” many times in his gospel. In John 1:14, he writes, “and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus will remind us several times in John that the glory for Him comes from God not men.
But back to chapter 18 to begin Holy Week.
John 18:1-12 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with 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 So Jesus, 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 So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Therefore He again asked them, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,” 9 to fulfill the word which He spoke, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.” 10 Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. 11So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” 12 So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him,
1) The Glory Challenged (1-3)
When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with 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.
Paul called Jesus the Second Adam and wrote how where the first failed, the second succeeded. In fact, many events in Jesus’ life have similarities to events in Israel’s history and Adam. Today’s passage has one of those similarities. Adam failed the temptation in the Garden of Eden. Jesus would face His last temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane. Where Adam faltered and fell, Jesus overcame the temptation to leave us to our deserved fate and drank from the cup of suffering. We know this was not easy. The gospels tell how Jesus spent hours weeping in prayer, begging the Father to take the cup of suffering from Him, yet always saying, ‘your will be done.’
When Jesus went into the Garden, He knew that Judas would come for Him there. This was no surprise. Many times they entered this garden over the Kidron valley for teaching. This was the betrayal that Jesus knew was coming. At the Last Supper, he had said one would betray Him then told Judas to go and do it quickly. The others did not know what Jesus meant by that.
Imagine that. Walking with Jesus for three years, seeing the miracles and hearing the teaching, yet betraying Him. I think, from what we see of Judas, that Judas did not intend for Jesus to be killed by the betrayal. From what we see of him, Judas was a zealot, a rebel against Rome. They believed the Messiah was coming in power and glory to drive out the Romans and “restore the Kingdom to Israel.” I believe Judas intended to push Jesus into revealing Himself as Messiah. That was not the glory that Christ came to provide the first time. The first time, the sun of righteousness rises with healing in his rays; the second time, He will come in power and glory.
Look at it through a zealot’s eyes. You want Rome out of the territory. You believe this man is the Messiah. He’s not moving fast enough for you. How can you push him to proclaim independence? Back Him into a corner! With your information, the Romans send a cohort along with officers from the Sanhedrin against Jesus. Jesus calls ten thousand angels to prevent the arrest. The angels don’t stop there, but push out the entire Roman army from Judea and Galilee (and from Samaria, why not?). They overthrow the corrupt Sanhedrin, and stretch the borders back to the extent of David and Solomon’s kingdom!
That’s a swing and a miss. All those years with Jesus, and Judas missed when Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Maybe Judas was busy stealing from the bag when Jesus said that?
But here’s a question. Jesus was in the Garden with the Apostles and maybe a few others from the Upper Room event. Why bring a cohort and officers from the Sanhedrin? A cohort was typically 480 soldiers, but any part of a cohort larger than a century (100) could be called that. Why so many? Two reasons. 1) In case the crowd rioted (as Judeans often did when Rome got too pushy) and 2) To prevent escape.
The soldiers came from Jerusalem to the garden. They would have been visible and audible for some time. Sneaking in armor is very difficult. The garden is next to several mountains (like the Mount of Olives) which are deeply forested. If Jesus wanted to escape, He could have. Get a hundred yards into the trees, and no one is catching you. In fact, notice that when the Apostles fled, they got away cleanly.
2) The Gory Claimed (4-9)
4 So Jesus, 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 So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Therefore He again asked them, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,” 9 to fulfill the word which He spoke, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.”
John reminds us that Jesus knows all things before asking the questions of them. Only John does not record Judas’ kiss of Jesus (Matt 26:49; Mark 14:45; Luke 22:47-48). This is a turning point. Lives are about to change. Judas openly betrays Jesus; whatever his motivation, he betrayed his Lord. He did wrong. He will regret his wrong doing, but only to kill himself after seeing what his actions brought. He returns the money but cannot return Jesus to life. Could Jesus have forgiven Judas? Yes, had Judas repented to God, the man could have found forgiveness. He did not; he chose death instead of finding peace with God.
The Apostles likewise do wrong. In minutes, they will flee from the garden. You wouldn’t expect the men who fled like this to turn into the strong, vocal proponents of the Resurrection. This is part of their testing. Unlike Jesus, who succeeded against His final temptation, they failed here, but will later persevere until the end. Of these men, all but one will die for preaching the Gospel. That last one, John, will die after being exiled to the Isle of Patmos. Tradition says they left him there to die because their attempts to execute him all failed.
When the soldiers and officers say they are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, He answers, “I am.” They fall back. Why do they fall? Are they simply surprised that someone admitted to being the man they are looking for? Uh. Unlikely. These are soldiers and guards who came ready for a fight.
More likely, especially with John’s theme of the Glory of Christ in these chapters, His statement of power, I AM, struck them. Just as His statement of I AM in John 8:58, He was making clear He knew who He was. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, lay claim to it by invoking the personal name of God, a word that observant Jews of that time went out of their way to avoid saying. In John 8, they called it blasphemy and prepared to stone Him. Here, the arrest will follow because the time has come.
Jesus also says to let the others go. He has just prayed for them, and His concern was now for them. They will have ministry to do after the Resurrection and glorification of Jesus.
3) The Glory Revealed (10-12)
10 Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” 12So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him,
Peter, as so many of us try to do, then intervenes. We are often our own biggest obstacle. We can’t help but get in our own way or in the way of those we love. Peter has good intentions here. He tries to help his Lord. But the time of Christ’s glorifying had come! An ugly step on the way to glory was the cross. He had said in John 12 “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.” By this, He signified His death on the cross.
Peter cuts off a slave’s ear. Jesus heals the man and tells Peter to sheath the sword. In the other Gospels, Jesus had prayed that the cup of suffering be taken away, nevertheless, “not my will be done, but yours.” In John, He references those prayers by saying “the cup my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?”
The healing of the ear revealed that He could do miracles. It revealed a foretaste of the glory He was about to enter into.
Jesus was arrested. The Apostles fled. The soldiers would take Jesus to begin the trials. Some of the Apostles would sneak back to see what was going on, but Peter’s betrayal was still to come. The man who promised to always be with Jesus was one of them who ran. Peter would later deny knowing Jesus three times.
This was all necessary for Jesus to be glorified. Jesus, the Lamb of God, had been slain from before the foundation of the world. The parts these men played had been necessary from them. Part of Jesus’ prayer for the Apostles was that they would see the glory that God had given Him. Soon, they would. But you have to go through the garden and the cross to get to the empty tomb.
Conclusion
Glory. It is truly an important part of Jesus’ ministry. So important, that John devoted half his Gospel to speaking about Jesus’ glory. In John’s eyes, that week of glory was as important as the ministry with signs and wonders. You see, both the signs and glory showed He was God come to minister to man, but the glory shows how man can be saved. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. The glory of the cross made that possible. The cross couldn’t happen without the Garden. There, He was lifted up.
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