This is the beginning of a difficult two chapters. It’s tough to read and to understand.
They come to arrest Jesus carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. It’s an odd scene. Here is a Rabbi, a teacher, who has done nothing to hurt anyone. Yet they come to arrest Him like He is some kind of monster. And John includes an interesting aspect to this otherwise ridiculous scene. When Jesus identifies Himself as Jesus with “I am he,” they all draw back and fall to the ground in worship. Jesus identifies Himself as God identified Himself to Moses.
The absurdity of this scene continues with Peter pulling his sword and cutting the ear of a servant. Here is this fisherman, pulling a sword. How many times do you think Peter had actually handled a sword?
Peter, one of the inner circle amongst the disciples, then fulfills Jesus’ prophecy by denying Christ three times. It’s easy to sit back and criticize Peter, but we need to remember the last time we denied Christ in our thoughts, words or deeds.
In verse 37, Jesus identifies Himself as a king per Pilate’s assertion and the proceeds to let Pilate know that He is here to testify to the truth and that everyone on the side of truth listens to Christ. Then Pilate asks a telling question in verse 38: “What is truth?” Indeed, Jesus tells him the truth yet he still asks the question. What is truth? The truth is that Jesus is the only begotten son of God and it is through Him that we have eternal life.
Amen
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment