John 18:1-7

Posted by DJL on Feb 21, 2015 in Lenten Devotions | 1 comment

After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “For whom are you looking?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “For whom are you looking?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

Events move quite quickly once Jesus crosses the Kidron Valley to meet his fate and achieve his destiny. Judas, who also knew of this place, comes out to meet Jesus with, John says, “a detachment of soldiers.” Detachment, however, doesn’t quite convey John’s intent. Cohort would probably be a better translation, and if it seems like I’m being a bit picky about word choice, it’s for a reason. A cohort was a standard military unit in the Roman army composed of 600 soldiers.

Yes, you read that right. In John’s dramatic retelling of Jesus’ story, Judas comes to meet Jesus with six hundred soldiers and, if that’s not enough, police from the chief priests and the Pharisees. And they have lanterns to light the way through the darkness and, more ominously, weapons, a lot of weapons.

One might well imagine that there will be little left of this garden after it has been trampled by the passage of more than six hundred soldiers and police. But John’s vivid account is by no means done. Because what happens next, though easy to miss, is rather stunning if we slow down to notice.

So I’ll ask you, what does Jesus say when this group answers him that they are looking for Jesus of Nazareth? It seems innocent enough, doesn’t it? “I am he,” Jesus replies simply, perhaps even curtly. But it was actually even more succinct. For in the original Greek John used, it’s really just two words, “I am.” We fill in the “he” to make it sound better, but the Greek is just that brief: “I am.” And that terse statement would remind faithful Jews of another question and answer scene in the Bible, the scene far earlier in the story when Moses asks God who he should tell his comrades in Egypt sent him when he comes bearing words of God’s promised deliverance and exodus. God answered Moses query with this same terse phrase: “I AM,” a name that represents absolute freedom.

So also Jesus answers these soldiers. “We are looking for Jesus of Nazareth,” they say, and he answers with the Divine Name, the name so holy that faithful Jews did not utter it aloud.

And did you notice what happens when Jesus claims his kinship with God? They all fall to the ground. All six hundred-plus are literally bowled over by Jesus’ pronouncement. So I have to imagine that when Jesus repeats his question, perhaps the slightest note of irony tingeing his voice, “I’m sorry, but who did you say you are looking for?” they answer with fear, wonder, and more than a little trepidation.

This is, once again, John the supreme artist, retelling the story of Israel in the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth and making sense of Jesus’ life and death in light of Israel’s story. Why? Because, as a faithful Jew, this is John’s story, the only story that matters. And, as a follower of Jesus, he believes it has a better ending that he’d ever imagined.

Prayer: Dear God, let us discover in the story of Jesus our story, the story of our life caught up in your love and purposes. In Jesus’ name, Amen.