034 - Watch Where You Stand

You pick up your Bible and wonder, is there more here than meets the eye?

Is there something here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right? Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink.

Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own, as we ask God to meet us there in its pages. Welcome to More Than Ink. So, have you seen those t-shirts that say, I'm with stupid? I'm with stupid, yeah.

Why do people wear those? Well, they're making a comment about who they're with. Ah, and that's important. And maybe stepping away. And maybe stepping away. And so today in John 18, who you stand with is important, right? Right, as with Peter and Judas in the garden.

Exactly, so today on More Than Ink. Well, welcome to our dining room table again. I'm Jim.

And I'm Dorothy. And it's awfully fun that you would join us today. Well, it's fun for us. I mean, it gives us another excuse to go through the Gospel of John, and it's just awesome. We don't need an excuse, but we're glad you're with us. And we hope that you're discovering stuff with us, because that's our intent, not really to tell you what to think, but like Turga is to point out at the scenery and say, did you notice this?

Did you notice that? And so we have made our way through the great prayer of Jesus in John 17, and we are now back to an active narrative. In fact, a very detailed narrative in 18 where Jesus gets arrested and starts the procession toward the cross.

So that's where we're at today. Well, and when we're reading a narrative, we approach it a little bit differently than we do some other kinds of Scripture. But when I was reading this just yesterday, again, I thought, well, how can I approach this differently? And going into that with that attitude was really interesting to me, because I did. I was drawn to some things I really hadn't thought about from a different perspective before.

And those will come out as we talk about it. But when you're reading a narrative, you want to be looking for repeated details, repeated phrases. What is the writer included that maybe the other gospel writers don't, and how does that fit his purpose? Because John includes lots of details that the other gospels don't.

Right. And just in case you don't know, which is a good thing to do, the other gospels that cover this section are Matthew 26, chapter 26, Mark chapter 14, and Luke 22. So it's good to go compare and see what the differences are. Yeah, it's very good, because those other gospels include that prayer when Jesus prayed in the garden, Father, not my will, but Thine.

And John doesn't include that, but he does include a reference to the cup, which figures prominently in the prayer. So we'll talk about that when we get there. So we'll talk about it. So yeah, so with narratives, we often are lulled into kind of a sleep, because you're just reading a story. And you go, well, you know, a story doesn't mean anything. It's just a story. Things happen. But you need to interact with the story, and we're going to try and do that for you as we look at this. So let's just dive in.

What do you say? Okay. Do you want to start reading for us?

Sure. I'm going to read from verses one to nine of chapter 18. And John begins, Now when Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden which he and his disciples had entered. Now, just remember that the words he had spoken just previously were that amazing prayer that we talked about the last couple weeks in John 17. And then all of the conversation of the whole evening about him going away and the coming of the Holy Spirit, about love in one another and God's purpose for the Son.

He emphasizes the oneness of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So all of that is kind of swirling around in their heads. And so John says, all of that was in their heads. Jesus had just spoken it when they go out to head for the garden. Okay, picking it up in verse two. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often had met there with his disciples. And remember, Judas had left earlier in the evening, very early in the evening. He left from the room.

Yes, he's not with him right here. So, verse three. So Judas, having procured a band of the soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, whom do you seek? And they answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am he.

Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. And when Jesus said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I told you that I am he. So if you seek me, let these men go. This was to fulfill the word that he'd spoken.

Of those whom you gave me, I've lost not one. And that's a quotation from the prayer that he had prayed just in the previous chapter. That's right. We just saw it, the first half of John 17. Yeah.

So it's, yeah, it's fulfillment right here. Well, let's wind back to the top here and see. So they leave town, they cross the Brook Kidron, which, by the way, if you're a Bible study person, it's kind of interesting to find out how this little creek, the Kidron, figures in a lot of the narrative, especially in the Old Testament.

And the one that jumps to my mind is when David, King David is driven out of town by his son Absalom, it's really a significant event when he crosses the Kidron River. Oh, it's kind of a boundary. It's a boundary, yeah. And it's an interesting parallel.

I don't know how far you want to go. It was an interesting parallel that David, who was the prototype, he's the type of Jesus, was pushed out of his rule and Jesus, in a way, and crossed the Kidron. So you can draw any conclusions you want from that. But if you are starting to use Bible software and you can actually look up words, look up the Kidron River, that word, and see where it figures, and you might find some parallels that are kind of intriguing. So just a little for you to extra credit. Well, and just along those same lines, like I said, I approached this narrative a little differently, so I asked, well, what really attracts my attention this time through?

And I'm going to pause on those things and think about those things. And so the Kidron was not one of those things, but the fact that John says in verse 4 that Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, stepped forward. And in a normal narrative, if you knew what was going to happen to you, you'd avoid it. Well, in this case he might have. He might have.

But for us, we would. But Jesus, knowing what's going to happen, steps into it. And John had said that about him early in the evening, right at the beginning of chapter 13. He had said, now Jesus, knowing who he was and where he had come from and why he had come, he loved his disciples to the end.

And so this is a little echo of that. He knows this is the hour, this is the thing that I came for. Yeah, and he's boldly leading them from the upper room across town, across the Kidron River.

That's actually a creek. And then over into the garden. And he's taking the lead and saying, we got an appointment. You know, if you want to get dramatic, an appointment with destiny, this has to happen.

So we're going to the garden. And he doesn't avoid it, knowing full what's going to go on. In fact, it makes me think of, if you wind back in John to when Jesus fed all those people up around the sea of Galilee, remember they liked the food so much that they wanted to take him by force and make him king. He knew that, so he withdrew away from them. So it's interesting in that case, he knew they wanted to make him king and they withdrew.

In this case, they knew they wanted to arrest him and not make him king, but he stayed the course. That's kind of interesting. That is interesting.

Interesting contrast. So whom do you seek? And they answered, well, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said, I am. Yeah, because the he is not actually in the Greek.

It's not in the Greek. It's I am. Right, which if you remember from Exodus 3, somewhere in the middle there, that's when Moses asked, what's your name, God? God says, I am.

Tell him that I am sent you. This is one of those things that really attracted my attention on this fresh reading. Jesus says, John tells us it three times, I am. And then he repeats that Jesus said, when he said this, I am, they fell back. And then Jesus says again, so whom do you seek? I am, I am, I am, I am. How many times in the Gospel of John does John record Jesus saying, I am. Yeah, a significant connection to the Old Testament. Those massive statements, I am the bread, I am the resurrection, I am the living water, I am the light, I am the door, I am the good shepherd, right? All of that is rolled into this, I am. Well, so many I ams that the Pharisees considered blasphemous.

He was being a little bit too close to claiming to be God. So why did these guys fall back? Good question.

These are soldiers. Right, right, right. And there's a ton of speculation about this.

Yeah. But since the bulk of them are Roman soldiers, Gentiles, they wouldn't know what I am means. But the bunch of them were people who came from a Jewish background, you know, servants of the big leaders in town and stuff like that. So I've always wondered whether or not they recognize that phrase.

And since Jesus could speak with authority, remember they said this man speaks with authority. I wonder if when he said that something inside of them stirred and they went, whoa, whoa. Maybe. Maybe.

We don't know. They're bristling with weapons. Yeah. They were not expecting him to step forward.

They were expecting him to be hiding and on the run. Well, yeah. So when he steps forward, there may have been a surprise factor and they all kind of go, whoa, trip over each other.

That could be. I mean, that's from a very practical point of view. And I've always thought, you know, at the moment that they all fell over, that would be the time to run away.

Let's go, guys. And they'd run away. But he doesn't. He stands there and he actually waits for them to get back up. And he says to them again, so like, who are you looking for?

Who are you looking for? Yeah. And that's just almost hilarious. But what do you make of the fact that it says that Judas was standing with them? Because I think there's more there than just the fact that he was physically present. Well, you know, John told us earlier in the evening that when Judas went out, because Satan had already put it into his heart to follow through on the betrayal. Right.

Judas went out and John says, and it was night. Yeah. Right.

So here we are in the garden, in the dark, and Judas is standing not with Jesus in the garden, but with the men who've come to arrest him. Yeah. So if you change the emphasis on the sentence and say, and he was standing with them, then you understand that he's being identified with them. I mean, he used to stand with Jesus, now he's standing with them. Right.

Yeah, I think it's really indicative. And that's what John's trying to tell us. So they fall back to the ground. He asks again, whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

And Jesus says, I told you, I'm he. So if you seek me, let these men go. And I've always, I never read quite this way before when he says, let these men go. It doesn't look like he's bargaining. Like, like he's not saying like you see in cop dramas, Hey, you know, take me and let, if I give myself to you, let those people go. That's not what he's saying. In a sense, he's actually commanding them.

He's saying, you know, you want me, let them go. It's not a contract. It's a command.

Oh, that sounds like Exodus, doesn't it? It does. I mean, it really does. Okay. That's a totally... Let my people go. Yeah. That's a totally light bulb moment right here. So we're going to have to dig into that another time. Yeah.

That's what's occurred to me. It's more like a command. Let these men... He's not making a contract. He's not making a deal.

He's saying, take me and you let them go. Wow. He is.

This is one of the things also that strikes me here. He is in utter control of the situation. Isn't that something? And that's going to become even more apparent in a minute. Yeah. He knows what he came to do. He knows that this is the moment and he is essentially making it happen.

Yeah. And he has opportunity all through this to run away and avoid this situation. He takes the initiative to go to a place that he knows that Judas would bring them because they'd been there before. He doesn't avoid that place. He doesn't go hiding in town.

He doesn't run away when they fall down. I mean, Jesus is actually taking the, what do you want to call it? Initiative. Initiative. Thank you.

I couldn't think of the I word. Yeah. To do. To do the very thing. And so he is in control and he's determined to do this. And the next scene that comes up, you see really how determined he is when Peter does a silly thing. Yeah.

Let me read that. So we're in verse 10. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into its sheath.

Shall I not drink the cup that the father has given me? There's that determination right there in the last sentence. Yeah. So Simon Peter has a sword.

I recall back somewhere in Luke, I think it's in the 20s, remember when Jesus talks about sending them out, he says you might want to take some swords and they say, well, we got two. That's enough. That's enough. That's enough to get in trouble with. Well, here's one of them.

Here's one of them right here. And it got him in trouble right here. I've always wondered where that, what the other sword was going on with someone kind of fingering his sword, getting ready to pull it out. But they have two swords, one of them's active and the other one's not. So now, you know, you've probably heard a whole lot about this incident about Peter aiming for the guy's head and winds up getting his ear. You know, I don't know about that, but John is the only one who gives us the name. Of the servant. That's true.

Who is. We know he's a servant and the others. And he doesn't tell us here, but Luke tells us that Jesus healed it. Right.

He healed his ear. Wow. You know, and these guys are still absolutely intent on arresting him. It's kind of, you wonder, did they not see it happen? That's what you wonder. Did it happen so fast? You're not sure it happened.

You know, what, what really happened here? If I was a captain of the guard, who's got all these swords and stuff to arrest Jesus, and then they see this healing happen, I'd put my hand up and say, uh, never mind. If Jesus can heal ears, maybe he can't be arrested, you know, but that they don't put two and two together.

They don't do that. Well, there was probably some of them who had witnessed him doing miraculous healings. Oh, sure. You know, he had done lots of stuff like that in Jerusalem. So they knew his potential. Yeah.

And not too recently, he raised latches from the dead. So I mean, you know, they know what he's all about. So wow. Yeah. Talk about the cup.

Yeah. Because that's, that's where I really paused here when, when he tells Peter, you know, put your sword away. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? Well, John did not include in his narrative here, that intimate account of the prayer of submission that Jesus prayed in the garden somewhere before this time, it must have happened somewhere between verses one and four.

After they crossed the Brook Kidron, they've gotten into the garden. The other three gospels do include it. And they all say essentially the same thing that Jesus said to Peter and a couple of the others, stay awake and watch with me essentially while I have this wrestling match with my will. And he prays, Father, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me.

Nevertheless, not my will, but thine. And Peter had snoozed through that. Right.

And I was thinking yesterday how it's possible that part of this detail on Peter here is because John is highlighting for us that Peter just did not yet understand that Messiah must suffer. He must drink this cup. Yeah, yeah. This assigned thing that the Father has given to him that, you know, when he was praying in the garden earlier, this is the first time in all eternity that the Son maybe wanted something other than what the Father wanted because he actually says, can we do it any other way? Right. There's another way. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine. And so he had invited Peter and James and John to observe that wrestling of the will when he actively submits himself to the Father.

Yeah. So in that prayer in the garden, he has received that cup. He says, can this cup pass from me?

And the answer is, well, no. And so he's accepted that. And of course, a cup is a metaphor for what's planned for you.

What's assigned to you, what's given to you to internalize. And earlier in his ministry, James and John had come to them, actually their mommy had come to Jesus and said, you know, I want my boys to sit one on your right hand and one on your left hand when you come to your kingdom. And he turns to the brothers and says, can you drink the cup that I will drink?

And they say, yep, yep, we can, we can. And he says, well, you will drink my cup, but it's not for me to assign. And we know that James was the first of the 12 who was martyred, Acts records that for us. And then John lived longer than any of the others, but he also was exiled for his belief in Jesus and his refusal to shut up. So interestingly enough, although eventually they will drink the same cup, Jesus knows that at this point they can't handle it. And in fact, it would work against the plan in real sense right here, Peter is in the way.

Yes. And he was in the way before and Jesus said, get the behind me Satan, you know, so he's actually in the way because Jesus has accepted the cup. He's ready to go. And Peter's saying, well, not on my watch. And so he's actually in the way, good intentions, but you know, in the end they will all drink this cup, but now is not the time. Yeah, now is not the time. Well, let's push on.

Okay. So the band of soldiers, this is verse 12, and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. First they led him to Annas for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year.

And it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. So Simon Peter also followed Jesus and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter stood outside the door. So the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door and brought Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, you're not one of this man's disciples also, are you?

And he said, I am not. Now the servants and the officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. So let's wind back to Annas and Caiaphas. So I mean that in verse 12 is just sort of an entry into what's going to happen and unfold in the rest of the chapter. Yeah, so who are these guys? Yeah, so Annas is the father-in-law of Caiaphas, they're both big toots in the religious authority structure. Caiaphas that year is the high priest. In fact, coincidentally, since this is happening at the same time as Passover, you know what the priests were doing? They were checking out all the lambs being brought in town for sacrifice at Passover. Ironically, here is the high priest checking out the Lamb of God. I never thought about that.

I didn't either. That's just kind of a bizarre thought. And they're actually going to examine him. They're going to examine him in the second half of this chapter. Wow.

Whoa. So anyway, he's brought before the religious guys, thus reinforcing the fact that Jesus wasn't in trouble for civil matters with Rome. He was in trouble with the religious guys. So that's the real deal that's going on here.

And by the way, it says Caiaphas is the one back in chapter 11 who said, look, don't worry about this Jesus guy. It's expedient that someone would die, almost as though he's saying, it's expedient that someone would die. And it doesn't matter if they're guilty or innocent. If someone dies.

Somebody has to die. It'll be good for the people. And it'll calm things down. Right. And it said back, that was John Levin. It said back there that John comments that he didn't really quite know what he was saying. He was actually prophesying because he was the high priest. He was prophesying this very thing, which is a fascinating thing.

That is fascinating. So he's in deep doo-doo with the religious leaders and so they're going to take charge of this thing and they're going to make it happen. I might also point out, I mean this occurred to me as I was looking at this, they arrested Jesus and they bound him. You know, he was going peacefully.

So they didn't really need to bind him. But an interesting parallel is that the sacrifice lamb, the Passover lamb is bound. Whoa. Yeah, it's interesting. So there's just a ton of parallels going on in this entire thing.

We might have to circle back to this and talk about this as we approach Good Friday and Resurrection Day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's look at Peter denying Jesus this last time, or this, well, this time, he'll do it again.

Yeah, this is the first of three times. Short on time. But yeah, he's out there, you know, to his credit, he's trying to follow Jesus in this bad thing going down. You know, it looks like the rest of the apostles have scattered, but Peter's trying to stay up with what's going on. He's on the edges of the courtyard, they're meeting in the courtyard with the high priest and he can't get inside. And then somebody, the mysterious person we do not know, some people say John, some people say Nicodemus, some people say Joseph of Arimathea, there's a lot of theories about this. But someone who is known to the high priest who has credibility is allowed to bring Peter inside so he can see what's going on and he can witness. And in fact, there might have been a thought that if he's here, he can speak out as a witness for Jesus, because it's actually a trial going on in the courtyard. We don't really know, but he's brought in and he's there at the door and a servant girl challenges him and says, yeah, aren't you one of his guys?

You know, you. Yeah, you know, what really struck me here is that Peter's answer is, I am not. I am not. Where we had been seeing earlier in the passage, Jesus saying, I am, I am, I am. And here's Peter, the guy who had said, well, Lord, where else shall we go? You have the words of eternal life saying, I am not stepping away from Jesus.

I am not. Now, it's interesting too, there's a good reason for Peter to be a little bit fearful here, because after all, he cut off the ear of the high priest's servant. And it says right here that he's standing with the servants of the high priest. Now, could, could Malchus be there? It's possible. Could someone knows Malchus be there?

Possible. And in fact, the second half of this chapter, we'll see that very thing happen. So the Malchus connection is a, it's a real threat for him being there inside this courtyard.

So you got to keep that in mind, but I want to make point one last thing as we get there. It says he was standing and standing and warming himself. We're told two, three times that he's warming himself in this chapter. But remember how I said earlier that it said that, that, that Judas was standing with them.

Here's Peter standing with them. He's trying to blend in with the crowd who actually were the same ones who came to the garden to rest Jesus. He's trying to blend in with them, act like he's, you know, like one of them. And in this being one of them, this deceit leads to even more denials and it's kind of a, it's kind of a bad feedback loop for him. So when it says that he's standing there and warming himself, he's trying to fit in with the people who are purposed against Jesus.

And that's probably worse than, than the actual verbal denials. He's with them. He's with them. So I think we're gonna have to stop there and pick up the rest of the chapter 18 next week. Because we can, we can review, but this is only the first time. This is the first time.

Of three. Yeah. When Peter says, I'm not, I'm not. Right. Not.

Right. And here, you know, he's, he's denying Jesus based on the force of a little servant girl. So she's not really pressuring him. It's not like, you know, there's no evidence, but the next time he does this, there's evidence brought forth. And so it gets even worse in that particular sense.

Well, and you know, if we're supposing here, if he was brought in as a potential witness, well, he's just perjured himself. Right. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.

So, you know, it's an interesting, it's an interesting study in the fact that once you begin to deceive, it gets worse and worse and worse and, and the circumstance gets worse. Well, and the self protection that kicks in where Jesus said, you know, I, I'm going to drink this cup. This is what the father has assigned to me. And this is why I came.

This is going according to schedule. Right. And I think, you know, when you look at just this first half of this, it's really apparent that Jesus voluntarily put himself into this. There were so many places he could have exited the whole scene. He could have interrupted the scene.

Just tons of ways. He could do that. Could have gone to a different place. Could have not been found.

Could have hit. I mean, but he, he marches out at upper room across town and marches right to the place where he knows they're going to arrest him. And he's, I mean, he's on top of this and he's even telling the apostles to back off all the way through it. So, you know, if you think that the crucifixion was just a tragic accident, then you're not really reading John 18 because clearly it's a voluntary action according to the purpose of God.

This is the cup he's been given and he follows through with it faithfully. That's what you see when you read John 18. And we see very clearly that Peter didn't get it. He did not understand that. And that's why when earlier in the, in the book when he had said now, but you're the guy, you're Messiah and Jesus immediately tells them all, now don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody. Why?

Because they didn't yet fully grasp that Messiah had to suffer and die. Right. Exactly.

Yeah. So they're still learning about this as well. And yeah, so we'll come back and we'll pick it up. We'll pick it up after the end of where are we? After 18 and verse 19, we'll take that to the end of the book. So read the rest of chapter 18, you know, and read this narrative with your eyes and your heart open and ask the Lord, you know, what is, what is in this story that you are saying to me? Where, where am I standing in this story? Am I standing with Jesus or am I standing with them?

Who do I identify with and what is my understanding of the situation? And you might be surprised at what the Lord draws your attention to. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, I was actually, and I'm very familiar with this. I know I was struck by a lot of things new and fresh this time.

So anyway, we're out of time. I'm Jim and I'm Dorothy and we are delighted you're with us. We hope that you're taking a look at this and getting a close view of who this Jesus, the Messiah is and the fact that he voluntarily willfully step forward for your benefit and for my benefit that we might find life itself. That's what we're finding in these pages. So come and join us next week on More Than Ink. More Than Ink is a production of Main Street Church of Brigham City and is solely responsible for its content. To contact us with your questions or comments, just go to our website, morethanink.org. And so… And so we're stuck. More Than Ink is a production of