How dare Judas kiss the Savior as if he cares about him.
He's already sold him for the price of a disabled slave. Betrayal is a terrible thing, but when it comes with a kiss, even more so. When it comes from someone who should love you, when it comes from someone who's supposed to care about you, someone who says they're looking out for what's best for you, that kind of betrayal is especially crushing. Imagine being in the middle of a chaotic scene where betrayal, panic, and the threat of violence swirl around you.
What would you do? As we enter one of the most intense moments in the New Testament, Jesus shows us what it means to remain calm in the midst of total chaos. In Luke 22, just hours before his crucifixion, Jesus is met with betrayal, an armed mob, and the confusion of his disciples. If you're feeling overwhelmed by chaos, keep listening. I want us to enter one of the most chaotic scenes in the New Testament. This is where prayer meeting morphs into pandemonium. If you're new to our study, we're in the gospel by Luke.
I invite you to turn back to chapter 22. The Lord has only moments ago surrendered to the will of his Father. He is addressing his disciples. We're not told what he's saying, but he no doubt hears the footsteps. He knows that this mob is heading toward the Garden of Gethsemane. Let's pick it up at verse 47. While Jesus was still speaking, there came a crowd of cowards. Well, that's my translation.
I have to insert there. And the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. So now you have this, beloved. You have the moment arriving. Jesus has long predicted this. One of the twelve is going to betray him. He's about to face the most difficult moments any human being could ever experience.
Fully God, yet fully man. He's about to drink this cup. It's ordained by the counsel of Almighty God. It's been planned before time began. And this cup is one of agony at this moment and a few hours ahead.
Opposition, difficulty, anguish, effort. Jesus is calling all of these events, including what we're about to observe, as part of the cup that he's going to drink. He will endure all of it and ultimately defeat all of it. Now Luke tells us that a crowd arrives. Mark's gospel account says that the crowd comes from the high priests, the elders, the scribes. Luke tells us that the crowd includes them. Look at verse 52.
Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him. In other words, they're all in on it. They can't stand waiting to see what's going to happen. Here they are to arrest the Lord around midnight.
They're going to try to get rid of him as quickly as they can. And they come, and it strikes me they're prepared for everything except what's about to happen. But here's what they evidently expected. I would observe this. At least one of two responses, if not both. First of all, I believe they expected a measure of deceitfulness. Matthew says that they arrive with torches, lanterns. They light up this garden like noonday.
Why? Well, they're assuming these guys are going to run and hide. Jesus maybe withdraws hides behind a tree. Maybe one of the disciples will say, oh, take me, I'm Jesus, in order to protect him. Or maybe his disciples will say, no, we're all just friends up here for, you know, an overnighter.
We don't know. But they evidently did expect deception. Because the middle part of verse 47 says, As they planned, Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray, identify, and in so doing, betray the Son of Man with a kiss. Now the plan then was for Judas to undeniably identify Jesus with a kiss. A kiss was common in this culture.
This could be a kiss on the hand, a kiss on the cheek. As among believers, we know that this kiss is still a traditional greeting in certain parts of the world. The church in Russia takes very seriously the admonition of Paul, to greet one another with a holy kiss, Romans 16, 16. So they do when the church gathers.
A missionary to Russia some time ago invited me to travel with him into some of the less developed areas of Russia, the countryside where the churches were small but deeply united in love, thriving in their fellowship. But he told me that if I came, I needed to be prepared for this tradition where they greeted one another with a kiss on the lips. And I said, wait, you mean the men and the women? And he said, no, just the men. They greet one another with this smack on the lips.
He said, Stephen, it's customary, it's quick, they all have thick beards, you won't feel a thing. Well, it's interesting that Luke kind of glosses over, in fact, you're not even sure that Judas kissed Jesus. You have to go over to Matthew and Mark, where they actually use a compound word that intensifies it, which you could translate shower with kisses, which now makes this all the more despicable, doesn't it?
This over-the-top display of affection, false affection. Have you ever thought about, though, what's happening in the spirit world, behind the scenes at this moment? You have the serpent embracing the Son. You have a satanically empowered deceiver embracing the Deliverer, and Jesus knew it. Now, you might wonder why Jesus doesn't perform a miracle and Judas has reduced a little pile of sawdust. I would have been tempted. How dare Judas kiss the Savior as if he cares about him.
He's already sold them for the price of a disabled slave. Betrayal is a terrible thing, but when it comes with a kiss, even more so. When it comes from someone who should love you, when it comes from someone who's supposed to care about you, someone who says they're looking out for what's best for you, that kind of betrayal is especially crushing and discouraging, isn't it? Maybe you're experiencing right now some form of betrayal. Maybe it's a spouse who said they loved you but lived a lie behind you. Maybe it's an adult child who has now discarded you so they could be, quote, free to live their life without your guilt.
Maybe it's a coworker you thought had your back that they really wanted your job. Maybe you feel entitled to a little hatred, a trainload of resentment, maybe revenge, but watch Jesus here. Matthew's Gospel says he simply responds by saying, friend, do what you came to do. Kent Hughes writes wonderfully in his commentary on this passage, even though Judas was Satan's agent, he was still a lost soul, and Jesus always cared about lost souls, so this was an appeal. This is one last invitation before it was forever too late for Judas. Jesus didn't just preach in his ministry, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. He's living it here. He's practicing everything he preached. So get this scene now in the midst of this emotionally charged chaos, this mob suddenly appears, torches, lanterns. The Son of God is not panicking.
You notice? He isn't running around trying to, you know, get the lamp set back up and get the scenery up and get everything back into order. No, you look at the Son of God here in the midst of this chaos and he is perfectly composed.
Friend, do what you came to do. He's not running, he's not hiding. Now that leads me to another observation. This mob not only came to the Garden of Gethsemane expecting a measure of deceitfulness, I believe they came.
Secondly, expecting a measure of defiance. Matthew writes it this way. Judas arrived and with him a great crowd with swords. Kyra, those are the short battle swords of the Roman soldiers. And clubs, those would have been used by the temple police, common among them. John's account records, so Judas, having procured a band of soldiers, a cohort, and some officers from the chief priests, and the Pharisees, that's the policemen from the temple, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. This band of soldiers is a battalion of 600 armed Roman soldiers. Officers from the chief priests represented the temple police. They were there to make sure that everything was in order. They carried out the decrees, the verdicts of the Sanhedrin, Israel's Supreme Court, and they all show up here. You've got probably 800, 900, maybe 1,000 armed men. Why send an army to arrest a carpenter?
Because this is no carpenter. They knew he was no ordinary man. He might pull something supernatural out of his hat, so to speak.
Or maybe now that he's cornered, he's going to fight back. So they're ready for anything, but let me tell you, they were ready for nothing that was about to happen. Now John's Gospel fills in for us what happens immediately following Judas' kiss. 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. And Jesus said to them, I am he. And when Jesus said to them, I am he, they fell to the ground.
They all, like bowling pins, fall down. Now it's because in the original language, it's missed by the English here, Jesus simply says, and go, Amy. He says, I am, all caps. This is the same expression, by the way, God used in giving Moses his name. Moses says, who should I, you know, say, send me? And he says, God says, go back to them and tell them my name.
My name is I am. The Septuagint translation, ego, Amy, I am. The verb, Yahweh. Jehovah, Jehovah, most often translated Lord. And so get this, Jesus is announcing to them that the one who spoke to Moses at the burning bush is now standing before them at the Garden of Gethsemane. Ego, Amy, wham, they fall down. Just one little declaration of his divine nature.
And they all, they all did what we all would do in the presence of God, we would fall prostrate. So make no mistake here, beloved Jesus, the Son of God is in command. They're not arresting him, he's arresting them. He's going to, he's going to help them. He's going to wait, John says, for them to get up.
Can you just see those guys, thousand of them, getting back up? And then he says again, whom do you seek? Jesus of Nazareth.
I am. In the Garden of Eden, the first Adam sinned against the will of God. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the second Adam surrendered to the will of God. In the Garden of Eden, the first Adam ran and hid in his sinful humanity. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the second Adam steps forward and announces his deity. What's happening here is not the decision of the Sanhedrin. This has nothing to do with the Roman soldiers, the temple police, the emperor. This is the decision of the Godhead. Jesus is not a victim, he is a willing sacrifice. Here, let me help you out.
You can take me. He's surrendering. Now, evidently, Peter didn't get the memo.
A little slow on the uptake here. Peter's declaring war, verse 49. And when those who are around him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? And one of them, evidently not waiting for an answer, struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Well, now you've got this set. It's collapsed.
The lamp's crushed. By the way, John's the only gospel writer to give us the details that the servant's name was Malchus. He knew him personally, no doubt. John 18, 15 informs us that John knew the high priest. We often overlook the fact that John actually goes with Jesus into the home of the high priest.
Peter stands outside. John knew the high priest more than likely because his relative was Zachariah, a priest, married to Elizabeth who will bear John the Baptist. Well, all that to say, John knows him. John mentions it's Malchus. Only John does. And only John mentions that Peter was the guy swinging the sword. I can imagine Peter later saying, John, thanks a lot, you know, for the details you threw into your gospel account. But you have to admit, don't go too quickly, this is great courage. Peter's taking on a thousand armed men. He's going to jump into it. He deserves, I think, a medal of bravery. He isn't going to live long enough to pin it on his shirt, but he deserves it, unless. Fortunately, Peter's aim was a little off.
Malchus should be grateful Peter was a fisherman. But still imagine this scene now. You've got a young man, no doubt, screaming in pain. He's holding the side of his head where his ear used to be, gushing blood through his fingers.
Soldiers, no doubt, have pulled their swords from their scabbard. They're going to advance forward. Peter's done, and so is everybody else. Now you've got utter pandemonium. You've got total chaos. I mean, this all happened so fast. Where did this come from?
But the Father must be running around the stage trying to get the scenery back. Now what? Matthew tells us that Jesus said, put your sword back in its place. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father and He will at once send me no more than, send me more than 12 legions of angels, a legion 6,000 soldiers? Jesus effectively says all He has to do is ask, and each of the 11 disciples gets 6,000 soldiers, and He's going to get 6,000, you know, extra.
Just one request, and 72,000 angels show up. Do you not think I can do that? Luke records Jesus simply saying here in verse 51, no more of this, that is, stop this. Stop! He's commanding everyone.
Stop! And He touched His ear and healed him. This is the last recorded miracle of Jesus before He dies on the cross. Don't miss the fact that this miracle was performed on His enemy.
Don't miss the miracle either. All four gospels record that Peter's sword literally severed the servant's ear. Only Luke records that Jesus heals him.
He gives us that part. Only Dr. Luke seems to care about the patient and what happened. But follow this, Jesus touched His ear. You could render it, He touched the place of His ear, where it used to be. In other words, Jesus doesn't stoop down and pick up that severed ear and reattach it. He touches the side of Malchus' head, and a new ear appears perfectly whole.
The other ear is still on the ground. I know it's kind of gross. Maybe it's still twitching. I don't know, bloody.
It's terrible. But I mean, you've got to think about the fact, there's the ear. Wait, there's the ear. The pain's gone. Screaming stops.
Bleeding stops. Listen, Jesus did not perform a medical reattachment. He performed a miraculous recreation. And you have to understand in this context, this was not a random act. I think I'd better do a miracle to keep them from, you know, charging.
No, this is part of the plan. This is amazing here. It's woven into the Lord's plan from eternity past. Jesus has just announced to this mob that He is the great I Am.
He is Yahweh in the flesh, Yehovah, Lord. Only God can create something out of nothing. Okay, I'll create something out of nothing, a brand new ear. Many believe that John specifically mentioned the name of Malchus because we learn from early church history that Malchus became a follower of Christ.
I could understand why. To the day he died, that was probably his good ear. Now let's again model the heart of Jesus. He had a way of seeing an enemy and seeing a potential disciple.
Who do we see? A growing list of enemies? Or a growing list of needy potential disciples? Now with that, he has a serious warning for these religious leaders.
I think he's giving them one more chance of sanity and humility. Verse 52, then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you didn't lay hands on me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness. You might circle that word hour and do your own study.
I did a very brief one in mine. The Lord used it. He would say often, this is not my hour. Then in John 17, he says, Father, this is the hour. It's time to be glorified and to glorify you.
But he says to them, this is your hour. This is the hour that's going to demonstrate the power of darkness. In other words, this is the hour when hell will do its worst, when the power of darkness seems like, man, it's going to win the day.
But just like that cup related to difficulty but also was transformed into victory. So this hour of hell's dark power is going to eventually become the hour of heaven's great promise. Now let me offer one observation from this scene as it comes to a close.
Here it is. Global darkness and personal difficulties that surround you are on a divine timer. It strikes me with the way the Lord uses the word hour. In light of eternity, Jesus says, you get an hour. Which means Satan can do his worst, but it's just a matter of time. And I think now, 2,000 years later, do you think he doesn't hear the ticking of this divine timer? It also informs us that he can't do one second more than God allows. Compared to eternity, he's just got one hour.
Time changes, doesn't it? Our perspective changes the way we view difficulty, betrayal, suffering. The apostle Paul was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, abandoned, imprisoned, destined to be beheaded, and yet he would write, for this light momentary affliction.
Wait, what? Yeah, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. I'm comparing this hour to that hour. Paul wrote to the Romans in chapter 8, for I reckon, I love that, it lets me know he was a southerner, for I reckon, I reckon here, I've done the computation, I've done the math, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, oh, they're not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Just wait until that hour dawns. The apostle Peter had this view as well of the divine timer.
He never forgot this. And then he writes this, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials. For a little while. Now look, Peter suffered for decades until he was finally executed by crucifixion.
Just a little while. He learned to compare what was happening today with what will happen on that day. So Jesus is not overwhelmed in the garden. He's in total control of the actors, and the set, and the stage, and the drama, and the outcome.
In fact, he's written the script. So you can trust him today, in this hour wherever you are. Let's act and live in a way that proves all those agnostics, atheists, wrong. Your faith does not need to collapse in the face of calamity. That's because you know, as we've seen here in the garden, that in the midst of calamity, Jesus Christ, the great I Am, is in total control. You can trust that in every moment, no matter the chaos, Jesus is in complete control.
That was Stephen Davey, and this is Wisdom for the Heart. Today's message is called, Control in the Midst of Chaos. We'd love to hear your story. How has our teaching ministry impacted your spiritual life? If these daily lessons have helped you grow in wisdom, we want to know. Whether you have a testimony, a comment, or a question, we're here to listen and assist. You can reach us by email at info at wisdomonline.org, by phone at 866-48-bible or 866-482-4253, or by mail at Wisdom International, P.O.
Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27627. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for listening today. Be sure and join us again next time as we discover more Wisdom for the Heart. .
