Whom Do You Seek? – John 18:1-14

The Garden of Gethsemane, just outside Jerusalem, is an extraordinary place, with olive trees that stretch from 1000 to 1200 years old.  Jesus came here often.  It was a place where Jesus found it meaningful to pray.  Was it ironic that it was also the place he was arrested?  I don’t think so.

When he had said these things Jesus went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron where there was a garden.  He and his disciples entered into it.  Judas, his betrayer, also knew this place, because Jesus had often gone there with his disciples.  So Judas, taking a cohort of soldiers and some servants from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.  And because Jesus knew everything that was coming upon him went out and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”  They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.”  He said, “I am he.”  Judas, his betrayer, was standing with them.  When Jesus told them, “I am he,” they fell back and dropped to the ground.  Then he asked him again, “Whom do you seek?”  And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”  Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So if you are seeking me, allow these to go.”  This was to fulfill the word he had spoken, “Those You’ve given me, I didn’t lose any of them.”

Simon Peter then, having obtained a sword, drew it and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.  The servant’s name was Malchus.  Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath.  Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given to me?”

So the cohort of soldiers, the cohort commander, and the servants of the Jews seized Jesus, bound him, and led him to Annas first.  For he was the father-in-law of Caiphas, who was high priest that year.  Caiphas was the one who advised the Jews that it was better that one man die for the sake of the people.  (John 18:1-14)

John does not tell us why Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane since that is known from the other Gospels written years before his.  He went there to pray.  But he shows us Judas’ betrayal and a couple of details the other Gospels did not tell us.  

First, when Jesus identified himself it caused the band sent to arrest him to fall backward.  It would seem the forcefulness of his words, rather than as might be expected his timidity, caused them surprise, or, perhaps God made them tremble to give them an opportunity to realize what they were doing and repent.

Second, Jesus asks the party to let his disciples go.  He had just prayed to the Father about not losing one of them and here he was forcefully guaranteeing it.  Jesus knows what we can take and when.  This was not a time for his disciples to be arrested.

Third, John tells us the name of the man whose ear Peter cut off, Malchus, the high priest’s servant.  It is uncommon to name someone like this in the Gospels unless, as many believe, they later became followers of Jesus.  We’re not told by John what Luke did (Luke 22:51), that Jesus healed this man’s ear.

Jesus is not resistant to God’s plan for him but is ready to drink the bitter cup of death at the Father’s hand.  So begins the illegal trial procedures at the hands of Annas and Caiaphas designed to railroad Jesus.  He is the one man who can die on behalf of the nation and bring true deliverance.

Discussion Questions

1. Do you have a favorite place to pray?
2. Judas had special knowledge that helped the arresting officers get Jesus isolated.  Why all the weapons?  What were their expectations?
3. What might you have been feeling if you had been in that arresting band and fell back when Jesus said, “I am he”?
4. Do you know of anything Jesus has protected you from because you couldn’t handle it?
5. Would you be surprised if Malchus did become a believer?
6. Are you more likely in times of stress to act like Peter (violent, decisive) or the other disciples (passive)?  Is that good or bad?