The last 4 chapters dealt deliberately and slowly with the Thursday evening Passover meal and the teaching that Jesus shared with his disciples following the meal. Chapter 18 flies through the next 10 -12 hours hitting high points and leaving much to be filled in by the other gospel writers and tradition of the early church.
As chapter 18 begins Jesus and the 11 disciples leave the Upper Room for a garden across the Kidron Valley where they often went and prayed. In John's Gospel Judas and the soldiers and police from the temple arrive almost immediately. When Jesus identifies himself for the guards his mere presence causes them to fall down backwards! When Jesus has them reeling he presses the issue and says, "I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go." John 18:8 NRSV. Peter then jumps to Jesus defense and courageously wades into the superior forces swinging his sword and cuts off the ear of a servant named Malchus. Jesus rebukes Peter, and the soldiers bind Jesus and take him to Annas and Caiaphas and eventually to Pilate for trial. Peter and another disciple (I presume John) follow Jesus and Peter eventually fulfills Jesus prophesy that he would deny Jesus 3 times.
As I read this portion about Peter's denial of Jesus it says at one point that Peter stood warming himself at the fire of the slaves and soldiers that had arrested Jesus. How often can we be found warming ourselves at the fire of those who are enemies of Jesus? We should be careful where we allow ourselves to draw our comfort!
The trial is contrived and the decision about Jesus guilt had been made before he was arrested. Now the religious authorities seek out the secular authority to do what they can not - crucify Jesus! Pilate seems reluctant and weak. He waffles and squirms and in the end he will give in to the pressure of the religious authorities and hand Jesus over to be crucified.
This Holy Week seems more intense to me than those in my recent memories. Perhaps it is because I am walking through these scriptures with our church family via our daily readings? Whatever the reason, I seem to feel all of these emotions more sharply this year - the injustice, the fear, the sorrow, the betrayal are almost overwhelming. I can't imagine what it must have been like to live through the real events.
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
7 comments:
Hello to all my fellow Christians, I pray that everyone is in prayer during Holy Week. I remember viewing the movie "The Passion Of The Christ" and feeling anger. I took a minute and prayed to Father God and realized that at any given time Jesus could have ended the crucifixon. But He had to fulfill the prophesy for us.
Today I was listening to a radio program called "Bible Line". My wife and I have listened to this program for years. I have said that I don't agree with all the commentator had to say, and today was no different. He states that today Wednesday was the day that Jesus was actually crucified, as according to Jewish tradition, He would have to have been buried by sunset. Thus He would have risen on Saturday. His church celebrates the rising on Saturday evening. He believes that his church has the only Saturday evening service celebrating the Resurection in the country. I'm open for comments. The commentator states that this was the way it was for years but {I guess for a lack of knowledge stated that the now "Good Friday" was formed to acknowledge businesses.} I find the latter hard to comprehend!
Guilty.
I have warmed myself at the wrong fires. I am at the wrong fire everytime I hear the name of our Lord taken in vain and I fail to rebuke them.
I rebuke most people, but there are still one or two that I cringe, say a silent prayer and press on.
Guilty. Wrong fire.
It's funny - most of my life I always said I wanted to be Peter, standing up for Jesus and cutting off the soldier's ear in defense of my Lord.
As I mature (in faith, not age), I really see how wrong that would have been for me - it would be a reaction from my flesh, not my spirit.
Jesus whole life was an example of love, sacrifice and forgiveness. How silly of me to think that He would need me to defend Him with a sword.
Did Peter think that this was the start of the "revolution" and Jesus was soon to be the earthly king?
I chuckle when I read they bound Jesus.
Talk about a false sense of security - here was a man that could destroy them all with just a word, and they "bound" him.
Lucky for them our man was (and is) a man of peace!
A true warrior worthy of following!
Prasie God.
Hi A-M,
The weight of church history and thousands (maybe millions) of theologians over the last 2000 years say he is wrong about this new dating for Resurrection.
I can not find any historical record, or contemporary movement that agrees with this position. However, just because 10 billion people see it one way and he sees it another doesn't mean he can't be right - I just doubt it.
Bill
Hi Mark,
Me too - warmed myself at the wrong fire I mean. And me too - i wanted to be Peter and hack away at anyone that would hurt Jesus, actually I still kind of want to!
I cracked up at your read about binding Jesus - duhh! He could have just spoken them dead and gone or turned them into dust or???? Binding him - what a good idea. Thanks for the insight!
Bill
Hi A-M and mark,
You are both helping me today get past the victim part of the crucifiction and see the power of Christ even in the sacrifice - thanks to both of you for shining a different light here for me!
Bill
I feel so bad for Peter as I read this chapter. He's got to be going through some pretty rough stuff, and feel pretty horrible afterwards! He probably felt even worse a few days later when he realized the greatness of the Jesus he denied. However, we have all lost our armor in parts of our life and denied our faith in one way or another, "warming by another fire" if you will. It's got to feel just as bad for Jesus when we do these things as it did for him when Peter did it.
There's a scene in "The Passion of the Christ" where Jesus sees Peter deny him, and the look on both of their faces is just incredible. So much pain and anguish. I try to picture that when I know I'm warming by another fire.
It's interesting to see how Jesus' comments to the "superiors" are taken as him being rude or cocky. He only speaks the truth, yet he gets ridiculed. Poor guy.
Barabbas, set free to help fulfill the prophesy - I hope he knew how lucky he was, and learned of the power of the person who took his place.
Bill, I agree that this has been a more "spiritual" Easter than usual- maybe because of the timing, maybe because of the bible study, or maybe because I'm just noticing things more. I'm so glad to share it with all you.
God Bless!
Marshall
I'm not even sure what to say about this chapter. For me, the passion has always spoken for itself. I think that's why I've loved superstar so much - it just shows it. The story is enough on its own.
As an aside, during NT class in college, we had to identify which gospel had different parts of the account of the passion story. I couldn't remember, and knew that superstar was supposed to be based on John's gospel, and used that to help me answer. Didn't work. Apparently Andrew Lloyd Webber mixed his gospels. So much for counting on the musical for inspiration...
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