When Pilate asked the Jews concerning their accusations the emotion of hatred turned them into an unreasonable mob. Instead of bringing forth a charge as was required by law they simply retorted, “If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.” There is no reason to this chiding response. Where is the indictment? Only their hatred responds!
Such is the universal unreasonableness of hatred. Why do the Muslim hate the Jews? Why do the Jews hate the Palestinians? Why do the contra hate the Sandinistas? Why do the Mexicans hate the gringoes? Why do the Americans hate the Iraqis? Why do northerners hate southerners? Why do Protestants hate Catholics? Why do the Hatfields hate the McCoys? Why do the rich hate the poor? Why do the learned hate the illiterate? Why do the sober hate the drunk? Why do the straight hate the gay? No hatred is reasonable!

The political expediency of Pilate is easily seen from the very beginning of these proceedings. When they would not come into the judgment hall he went out to them. When they brought no accusations he nevertheless assented that they could judge Him by their own law. When they insisted that Jesus be tried by Roman law in order that he could be put to death by crucifixion he returned to the courtroom to make legal inquisition. There is no doubt that all was done for political motives.
Within itself the word “politics” is amoral. Coming from the Greek word POLIS (a city), in its pure form according to Webster it means “Prudent and sagacious” and refers mainly to “the policies and aims of a government of a nation or state.” However, in its extended meaning pertaining to political affairs it came to mean “the plotting or scheming of those seeking personal power, glory, position, or the like” (p. 737).
If a Christian is able to participate in the running of governmental programs or agencies in a manner that (s)he can freely act by his/her own conscience, both the individual and the city/state/country will be blessed. However, when the scheming for either popular acclaim or ballot votes drives a person to act simply according to the desires of the majority, rather than according to right or wrong, then we must beware lest we join the mob who clamors for the Lord’s crucifixion.
Neither should we think that this principle is limited to the actions of the world. The same can be said for the church. We should always be aware that the majority vote does not mean something is either right or wrong. It is just as gross a sin – if not more so – to follow a majority of Christians into error as it is to follow a majority of sinners into error.
Therefore, “politics in the church” should be clearly defined. As long as we have church polity, of necessity we will have church politics. Within itself this is amoral – neither good nor bad. However, the moment the Christian begins to base his/her actions simply on the desires and/or reaction of the majority of people – and does not consider whether an issue is right or wrong – then politics in the church takes on the same evil character as the politics of Pilate who accommodated the cries of the accusing Jews.

The Lord’s first answer evidently caught Pilate by complete surprise. Suddenly, he finds himself not only being interrogated by the accused but he also feels a compulsion to answer this unique captive standing bound before him. “Am I a Jew? Your own people and the chief priests have delivered you over to me!” Nevertheless, Pilate does return to his duty as an adjudicator and specifically inquires, “What have you done?”
Jesus responds by explaining that his kingdom is not one that comes from this world. If His were an earthly kingdom then his fo llowers would have taken up arms and fought when the Jews came to arrest Him. “But now,” since there had been no fighting, no rebellion, no bloodshed, it can be seen that “my kingdom is not from here.”

Since Jesus had not denied that he was a king – he had said only that his kingdom was not of this world – then Pilate pressed for an answer. It’s difficult to translate the idiomatic expression OUKOUN in English. Rienecker says it is “an augmentative particle seeking a definite answer” and quotes Barrett’s translation, “very well; so you are a king?” (page 257).
However, Jesus will not allow Pilate to put words into his own mouth. He insists, “You are the one that is saying that I am a king.” If it could have been proven that Jesus Himself claimed to be a king in the same way that he was being accused by the mob then He would have laid Himself open to the criminal charges of sedition. Therefore, He succinctly asserts, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, THAT I SHOULD BEAR WITNESS UNTO THE TRUTH. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”

Jesus’ reply evoked another impulsive question from Pilate, “What is truth?” However, he did not expect, nor did he give Jesus an opportunity for, an answer. Instead, he returned to the open courtyard and declared to the Jews, “I find in him no fault at all.” He then reminded them of the custom of releasing a prisoner at the time of Passover and asked, “Will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?”
This preliminary verdict of innocence – along with referring to the prisoner as “King of the Jews” – elicited an outrage from the throng. They literally screamed for the release of Barabbas, a known robber, instead of Jesus.
It is noteworthy that after his careful examination according to the dictates of official Roman law, Pilate insists on three separate occasions, “I find no fault in him” (John 18:38; 19:4 and 19:6). Jesus was totally exonerated from any and all charges brought against Him.

Once the humiliation was initiated by Pilate the attending soldiers began to scorn the very idea that the man before them could even possibly be considered to be a king. Having fashioned a mock crown out of some thorny branches they set it upon his head, clothed him with a purple robe, jeeringly feigned to proclaim him as king and smote him with their hands.

Pilate came again to the crowd and announced the second time that he could find no fault with the accused. He then paraded Jesus before them in a mockery of royal attire and proclaimed, “Behold the man!” We are not told exactly what Pilate’s motives were. Some have suggested that he thought that by such open ridicule the crowd would be appeased by the lesser punishment and Jesus would be allowed to go free.
However, such “token punishment” would never placate the enraged crowd. With even more fury they yelled, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”
The flagrant injustice of Pilate’s actions cannot be missed. He has already declared that he can find no fault in Him. Two more times he will make the same declaration. Nevertheless, he personally ordered that the innocent prisoner be scourged; he at least allowed, if he did not actually direct, the soldiers to lampoon the innocent victim as a king; and he paraded the Lord in a travesty of royal apparel before a bloodthirsty mob.

(John 19:9-11) When Pilate asked Him, “Whence art thou?” the Lord would not answer, probably because He knew that this had absolutely nothing to do with trial proceedings. It was incredible to Pilate that the prisoner would not answer the man that had the power to sentence Him to death or to set Him free.
But now Jesus speaks, reminding Pilate that he really would have no power at all except it had been given to him from above. Therefore, the one who had the greater sin in the whole matter was not Pilate, but the one who had delivered the Lord over to Pilate -that is, Caiaphas the High Priest.

(John 19:12-13)  This reply by the Lord caused Pilate to try even more to release Him. However, the throng now charged that if he let the prisoner go he was no friend of Caesar’s because anyone who would make himself a king would in effect be speaking aga inst Caesar. This was enough to persuade the vacillating Pilate to be seated on the raised seat of judgment in order to pronounce the final verdict.

(John 19:14-16) At this point John inserts two notes that at first place seem to be contradictory to the Synoptics: (1) he said, “it was the preparation of the Passover” and (2) that it was “about the sixth hour.” Since it is said that Jesus had already observed the Passover the previous evening, it seems that the temple leaders observed a different calendar from the one observed by the common people. So while the Lord and His disciples had followed the more popular tradition of the Essenes and observed the Passover the previous evening, the chief priests and leaders would be observing the feast later on the same day the Lord was crucified.
Concerning the time, Mark says “it was the third hour, and they crucified him” (Mark 15:25)  while John says here it was “about the sixth hour.” It is possible that John used the Roman and Mark the Hebrew computation of time.
After Pilate said, “Behold your King,” the people again cried, “Away! Away! Crucify him!” When Pilate asks them a final time, “Shall I crucify your king?” they answered, “We have no king but Caesar. With this Pilate delivered Jesus to them to be crucified and they took him away.

Since Golgotha was located alongside a heavily traveled road close to the city of Jerusalem, many people witnessed the gruesome event. Pilate wanted to make sure that all who could read would be able to understand the words of the inscription. Therefore, it was written in the three languages that would have been prevalent in that part of the world at that time – Hebrew or Aramaic was the language of Palestine; Latin was the official language of the Roman government; and Greek was the common language spoken throughout the Roman empire.
The Jews were incensed that the sign actually called Jesus a king and insisted that Pilate change the wording so that it would say, “HE SAID” that He was king of the Jews. However, Pilate was adamant concerning what he had written. So throughout the whole area both citizens and travelers came to know about the “crucifixion of the King of the Jews.”

Regardless of the reason for Pilate’s writing the inscription, John uses the message to force the readers of his Gospel to consider the royalty of Christ even in His death. How marvelous are the ways of God! Even those who conspired together to crucify Him found themselves proclaiming that Jesus was their King.

John carefully points out that this action by the soldiers was more than just a simple daily happening in history. It was in fact prophesied by the Psalmist when he himself had been in such dire straits that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he penned the words of the twenty-second Psalm. John and the Synoptic writers see in these actions a fulfillment of David’s plaintive words, “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Psalms 22: 18).

Even though by now Jesus’ body was wracked by intolerable pain He did not fail to make provisions for His mother in the same faithful manner that He had assured that His disciples would not be arrested. In a poignant and paradoxical scene of both hideous sin and tender mercy the Lord commended His mother to the care of the disciple who drew from Him the most affectionate love and compassion. Furthermore, He then charged the disciple of love with the responsibility of providing for the woman who now was losing her firstborn Son through a cruel execution. He was to accept her as his own mother and she was to accept him as her own son. From that time John took Mary into his own household and evidently provided for her until her death. 4

Having accomplished the purpose for which He had come into the world and having made proper provision for His mother, the Lord finally allows His humanity to express one passionate desire as He exclaims, “I thirst.” But even in this most natural expression of human desire His voiced words are in perfect harmony with that eternal Word “which has been written.” His own thirst is the Messianic fulfillment of that prophetic experience of the Psalmist who cried, “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 69:21). Having earlier refused the drugged wine which would have eased the pain (Mark 15:23; Matt. 27:34), He now does not hesitate to sip a few drops of the OXUS (“mixture of vinegar and water,” Thayer, p. 449) from the sponge which had been dipped in a nearby container and lifted up to him on the end of a piece of hyssop. The moisture will prepare His lips for His final cry from the cross. 5

This is the moment for which the Lord had been born and the cause for which the King of Glory had come unto the world (John 18:37). Now the LOGOS Word which was “in the beginning with God” and “was God” is “made flesh” (John 1:1,14) in its ultimate destiny with death.
Now the life which was the “light of men” (1:4) that “lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (1:9) is shining forth in the darkness of man’s most dismal moment of misery (1:5). Now the “Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) is being “lifted up” even as “Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness” (John 3:14; Nu. 21:8,9).
Now the seed of woman is to bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Now the Edenic sacrifice is slain in order to cover the disobedient Adamic man with the righteous clothing of the Son of Man (Gen. 3:21). Now the “ram caught in a thicket” on Mount Moriah is slain instead of Isaac (Gen 22:8-13). Now the Passover Lamb is killed (Gen 12:1-13) in order that the “blood of the new testament” may be “shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mt. 26:28).
Now He that grew up as a “tender plant” and as “a root out of dry ground” is “despised and rejected of Men” (Isaiah 53:2,3). Now He “bears our griefs” and “carries our sorrows” even as man “esteem(s) him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (v. 4). Now He is “wounded for our transgressions,” “bruised for our iniquities,” “the chastisement of our peace” is “upon him” and “with his stripes we are healed” (v. 5). Now the “sheep have gone astray” and “turned every one to his own way” and “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (v. 6). Now He is “oppressed” and “afflicted” (v. 7) and “cut off out of the land of the living” because of “the transgression” of the people (v.8). Now He “hath poured out his soul unto death” and is “numbered with the transgressors” (v. 12). Now all is fulfilled as He cries to Heaven and Hell, “It is finished!”

Even though death, like a specter, had hovered by the side of Jesus from the moment He had been taken by the multitude, mortality could not conquer Him by its own force. In a final act of His own Divine will He “bowed his head” even in the midst of the excruciating pain. The expression “gave up the ghost” (PAREDOKEN TO PNEUMA, literally, “delivered over His Spirit”) is never used of the death of another man or woman. Only the Christ Who “had come from God” and now would “go to God” was able to truly “lay down His own life.” No man could take it from Him.

When one of the soldiers saw that Jesus was dead already, possibly simply because of some type of morbid pleasure, he thrust a spear into the side of Jesus and as John records, “forthwith came there out blood and water.” John reinforces the actuality of this phenomenon by assuring, “And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true.”

John now gives a cursory indication of something he will expand on further in the next chapter – that is, that his main purpose for saying these things is in order the reader might believe. Even after the Lord’s death there comes forth a twofold witness from the cross. First, even though the Jews had been granted permission to do so, the soldiers did not break Jesus’ legs in order that it would come to pass even as it had been prophesied, “A bone of him shall not be broken” (see Psalm 34:2). Second, even though Jesus was already dead one of the soldiers plunged his spear into the Lord’s side in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “They shall look on him whom they pierced” (Zech. 12:10). John sees in this twofold witness a testimony, strengthened by prophetic truth, which is given in order that we might believe

But the people who throw stones, they don’t like to be reminded about good works or good life by faith. They can overlook every good thing you’ve ever done to turn over some little rotten thing that happened in your life somewhere.
Look at it for just a minute. Those people in a stone throwing business, they overlooked who He was in the first place. They overlooked His good works. They react to what they don’t like, His words. They throw stones to hide their own sins and to express their own jealousy.
As a pastor for over 30 years, that’s one thing that made me angry. Self righteous people who throw stones at other folks overlooking every good deed or every good work they ever performed to drag up some little failure or some little something that was wrong somewhere. That made me angry. It still does. I don’t like people in the stone throwing business. How about you? Have you ever had anybody to throw any at you? I want to tell you, throwing stones has no place around the flock of God.
You know the only reason shepherds ever throw stones? Well, they use them in their sling to kill wolves and to kill bears and sometimes kill giants. That’s what you throw stones for. People who throw stones at the sheep, they are way out of line. If you are going to throw any stones at all, well you just practice up on some wolves and wait for the day to come when that giant crosses your path and be ready then.

It comes out of the very heart of the Old Testament. It comes out of the Psalms of the Old Testament, especially the 23rd. That Good Shepherd theme runs throughout the entire Bible–the Lord reaching down to the world, reaching down with arms of love to embrace those who would hear His voice and who would follow Him. I want to tell you, that same voice still calls and that same voice still reaches and that same arm still reaches out tonight and God is still calling and reaching and saving and gathering and bringing in to one fold to have one people who are redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ.
I’m glad I know the Shepherd’s voice. If you do, just raise your hand and just say, “Praise the Lord.” Would you say it together with me, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” If you really believe it, if that’s the way you feel about it, say it again: “The Lord is my Shepherd.”
He says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” He talks to them further in this chapter about what real dedication really means. Because He says He is really the dedicated one because He is sent of the Father. He is the one who is not a hireling, but He has been sanctified or dedicated by the Almighty God and He is sent of God. He has come with all of His heart to do the work of a Good Shepherd.

You know what Jesus did? He went and slipped away alone into a mountain to pray. When the clamor and the cries of the people feed your ego for that popularity and that desire to be well known and to build your reputation, you’re on dangerous ground. It’s a subtle form of temptation and trial. It is a time to flee by yourself alone in a mountain and pray. Pray until the midnight hours. Because you see that same crowd that is so fickle that just follows you because of sensationalism and signs, when they’re put to the test they may turn on you and may cry – crucify you as they crucified Him.

The next day, the people were looking for more bread. They came seeking for Jesus, but it was not because they saw or understood the meaning of the great sign. Jesus said, “You seek me, not because you have seen the miracles, and you’re seeking me not because you understood what I was doing and the purpose and the meaning behind that miracle, but because you did eat the loaves and were filled.”
When He blesses, it’s for a reason. When He anoints, it’s for a reason. When He heals, it’s for a reason. When He moves with miraculous power, it is for a reason. That men may see Him and believe on Him and have life and have life more abundantly. Hallelujah!
They said, in answer to that, “What shall we do to have life and work the works of God?” Jesus said, “It’s not a matter of what you can do or not do to do the works of God. To do the works of God is to believe in Him whom God hath sent.”
They said, “Well, if you want us to believe on you, then show us a sign.” It always has disgusted me. This fellow is about twice as fat as I am with his toothpick whittled out of a willow stick I guess leaning over here to the side picking out bread and fish out of his teeth and him so full of signs then he’s about to pop said, “Show us a sign if you want us to believe.”
Do you know what? There are a lot of spiritual gluttons around the church these days. God’s everywhere, but they don’t see Him. His hand is moving but they don’t feel it. The Holy Ghost is working, but they’re not aware. God’s working, but they’re not walking with Him. All they want is one more sign. One more great thing to heap upon them and glut their appetite for the sensational.

But look quickly at the reaction of the people and the religious leaders what it said. When Jesus offered this way to everlasting life first of all the murmured at Him. You know murmur, murmur, murmur. Just rising up throughout the congregation.
You know I preach on people like that murmuring at you. He went a little bit
further and He gave them to understand that His own flesh was the living bread.

They began to strive among themselves pushing and pulling. “I can’t accept that. I don’t believe.” Striving among themselves. Then in a little bit when He said, “…Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” They and the disciples said, “…This is a hard saying, who can hear it?” And Jesus said, “…Are you offended?” And that word offended means, “Are you scandalized at this?”

You see, what John does throughout this great Gospel is show us levels of rejection. Levels of unbelief. And at the same time and sometimes in the very same story, he’ll show us levels of faith that move step by step into higher realms of enlightenment which we’ll perhaps see the next time as we look at Jesus the light of the world, and a young man emerging out of darkness step by step moving into realms of higher faith and light and enlightenment and understanding.

You see, that’s the way of the Gospel and that’s the way of Christ and that’s the way of the Word. Every time you hear it, every time you’re into it’s presence, you either move into a higher level of faith and receptivity to God’s Word, or you sink to a lower depth of misunderstanding and confusion and rejection.
The Gospel is powerful. It’s no neutral ground. Every time the Word goes forth with power and the anointing of the Spirit you’re on the spot. You either move up or you move out. Go up in faith or sink down with a harder heart and a more confused mind. It’s always active, life giving.
So they murmured first and then there was strife among them and then they were offended. I’ve preached when people were offended and got their feelings hurt so bad they never came back to church. But think of Jesus on this day. The Bible says, verse 66, “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”

Finally, he tested the twelve. And in testing the twelve He says to them, “Will ye also go away? Are you going too? Are you offended at me and what I have taught? Then Simon Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
Listen friends, there is no other place to go. He is the bread of life and He has the words to eternal life and that’s the reason the pastor today almost shouted while he preached the funeral because he knew a saint of God was in the presence of the Lord with eternal life. And that’s the reason yesterday we had almost a worship service as Brother Walker went on. Eternal life. And you’ve got it abiding in you now. And if you keep believing on Jesus and eating that bread of life, you’ll never die. One day you’ll just change your dwelling place and move swiftly out of this world. Amen.

Neither of the Synoptic writers makes any mention of Nicodemus. John is careful to point out that he is the same member of the Sanhedrin who had come to Jesus at night. John also records that at one gathering of the priests and Pharisees Nicodemus said unto them, “Doth our Law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?” (John 7:51).
But like Joseph it seems that Nicodemus had not been affected by the life and ministry of Jesus to the point of being willing to openly proclaim Him as Lord. His mind was centered on this world, as seen in his blindness to the true meaning of Lord’s “new birth.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” he .had asked. “Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” (John 3:4). But now that He is dead the Lord speaks, much like the writer of Hebrews says of Able, “by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4). We don’t know the circumstances. We know not from where nor how he might have witnessed the crucifixion. But through the Spirit of God which was already at work in the hearts of both Joseph and Nicodemus, the Lord spoke and they heeded His voice, providing for Him a burial worthy of the King.

However, while the ointments of Nicodemus would insure a proper Jewish burial fit for a king, this is not the first time that Jesus had been anointed for burial. John has earlier recorded that when Jesus came to Bethany, “Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment” (John 12:3). When the disciples complained about the expense, “Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this” (v. 7). Matthew explains even further (Matthew 26:6-13).

 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

Mark’s wording is slightly different. “She had done what she could; she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying” (Mark 14:8). But the meaning is the same. Matthew simply says she “throws” the ointment (MURON) upon Him while Mark uses the verb form of ointment (MURIDZO), or, she “anoints” Him. In both instances (cf. also Luke 23:50-56) Jesus strongly affirms that Mary’s action is a blessed anointing for His burial. It was a “pouring out” of an anointing upon His death. And like the spices of Nicodemus it was a worthy gift, estimated to cost about 300 denarii which would be the equivalent of a common laborer’s yearly wages in today’s world. Furthermore, Jesus told the disciples, wherever the Gospel would be preached this anointing by Mary would be spoken of.

We cannot turn to earthly examples for the complete significance of the Lord’s anointing for burial. It is true that other humans have had even more lavish ointments administered over their dead bodies. Perhaps there have been some religious rituals in which living persons were ceremoniously anointed to die as a sacrifice for a particular god. Or the annals of history may reveal that in some instance a mortal was proclaimed as a god while yet alive and given a lavish preparation for death. But never has another earthling been so lavishly anointed for a tomb that would itself be the platform for kingdom coronation. It was through His tomb that Jesus Christ entered into the most glorious phase of His Kingdom on earth. From the sepulcher the Lord would begin His reign. The true significance of the Lord’s anointing for burial, therefore, must be found in the Scriptures themselves. Consider the two examples given by God to Moses from the flaming summit of Mount Sinai.

      Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt-offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot. And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy (Exodus 30:22-29).

      And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: and thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: and thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation,
where I will meet with thee: It shall be unto you most holy (Exodus 30:34-36).

     So God told Moses, “Thou shalt anoint the tabernacle” with the “holy anointing oil” and put the “perfume” “before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee.” The writer to the Hebrews explains that these “serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things” because God told Moses to “make all things according to the
pattern shewed to thee in the mount” (Hebrews 8:5). The anointing of Jesus unto His burial was the anointing of the true tabernacle which was “made flesh” and “tabernacled among us” and “we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14).

This tomb which belonged to the rich Sanhedrin member in which no body had ever been placed is significant. As William Hull explains, “The fact that no one had ever been laid in this rock-hewn tomb made it especially suitable for use by Jesus since Jewish law prohibited the burying of executed criminals in family tombs” (page 362).

So in the death and burial of Jesus Christ His Lordship is proclaimed. Disciples who had formerly only followed Him in secrecy and fear now boldly lay claim to His body. Even in death He is anointed as the Heavenly Tabernacle come to earth whereby God will now meet with mankind. While He had been executed as a common criminal by the Roman soldiers, nevertheless He was placed in a tomb befitting a King.

A “band” was “a Roman cohort or tenth part of a legion, and therefore containing about 600 men” and probably referred to “the garrison of the castle Antonia, which, during the Passover, was available to assist the Sanhedrin in maintaining order” (Expositors Greek New Testament, p. 847). While some scholars insist only a part of the cohort came with Judas, this is mere speculation. The article would seem to imply that the entire group of 600 soldiers accompanied the traitor to the garden.
These soldiers were in addition to the “officers” or “temple police” from the chief priests and Pharisees. We’re not told why so many men from two entirely different groups of authorities were sent to take Jesus. But the wording seems to indicate that Judas himself was responsible. Possibly it was because that even as a traitor he still recognized the awesome power of Jesus. Or, perhaps the Jews didn’t trust the Romans and didn’t feel that their own officers were sufficient.
But regardless of the reasons, a huge crowd of well over six hundred men came “with lanterns and torches and weapons” in order to arrest one unarmed Galilean from Nazareth. Included in that number was one servant of the high priest by the name of Malchus whose ear was sliced off by Peter and placed back by the hands of the One they came to arrest. Most of these men probably felt they were simply doing their job – following orders – having no idea they were about to arrest the King of Glory.

But Jesus met them, “knowing all things that should come upon him.” In the thirteenth chapter John has already given more insight into the marvelous knowledge of the Son of God. Notice his four specific statements.
      John 13:3 – Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God.
John 13:11 – He knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
John 13:18 – I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled,  He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.

John is not implying that this knowledge of Jesus was the omniscience of divine nature. Even though Jesus surely is divine “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3) and “in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9), when He came to earth the Lord chose to separate Himself from the glory which He had known with the Father from eternity.
      As Paul says He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). Otherwise it could not have been said of Him, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

Rather, Jesus knew because He had learned. The Greek word translated “increased” (PROKOPTO, #4298) comes from a root, which means to “chop” or “cut out.” The picture is as one who chops down trees in order to cut a road so that an advance can be made into the unknown wilderness. So Jesus learned by toilsome study just as men learn today.

 However, the Lord’s knowledge came directly from the Scriptures. He did no quote the philosophers. He had not learned from the scholastics. Throughout His ministry it is obvious that He had searched the Old Testament scrolls until they had become indelibly imprinted upon His memory.
But He knew the Scriptures not only in word but also in Spirit. Having read and learned the written Word He spent much of His life in communing with the Father so that the Spirit of the Word would live in His heart. It was this type of communion that transfigured Him on the mount so that Moses and Elijah talked with him (Mt. 17:2,3) and “spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Lu. 9:31).
So the Lord knew “all things that should come upon him” because they had been prophesied by the prophets and revealed unto Him by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, He “went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?” One Man went forth armed with knowledge to meet a Roman cohort of six hundred soldiers and the entire temple police force with their deadly weapons.

Those who were Jews would have immediately recognized that Jesus was using Jehovah’s own name when He said, “I am.” When Moses asked God who he should tell the Israelites had sent him with the message of deliverance, “God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14).

Also, those among the crowd who had heard Jesus speaking to the multitudes possible would have remembered His claim to being the “I am.” Not only did He use “I Am” (EGO EIMI) as an identifying name of WHO He was, but He also used the term to tell the Israelites WHAT He was. John particularly notes seven great “I Am” sayings of the Lord.

– “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35ff)
– “I am the light of the world (John 8:12ff)
– “I am the door of the sheep” (John 1:7ff)
– “I am the good shepherd” (John 11:1ff)
– “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25ff)
– “I am the way, the truth, the life” (John 14:6ff)
– “I am the true vine” (John 15:1ff)

But while some of the crowd would have known the Biblical significance of Jesus’ saying, “I am,” it is almost certain that there were those in the crowd who would not have ever heard of this uniquely Jewish expression. However, it seems that when the Lord spoke, all of them “went backward, and fell to the ground” (John 18:6). There was more involved here than the knowledge of “I AM.” There was a power in the voice of Jesus that these men could not resist even on the night of His arrest.
They were the soldiers. He was the meek and lowly prophet. They were the temple guards. He was the temple that would be destroyed. They were armed with weapons. He had no sword. They were the multitude of over six hundred. He was the lonely Nazarene. But they could not stand before the power of His voice and the bold declaration, “I am!”

While John does not mention it, the words of Luke the physician would surely have been common knowledge by the time John wrote the fourth Gospel – “And he touched his ear, and healed him” (Luke 22:51). The Lord’s compassionate mercy reached out to the very enemy who came to arrest Him.

While John does not mention the healing of Malchus he records the Master’s rebuke of Peter. “Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” This was clearly an act of mercy on the Lord’s part toward Peter, sparing him from certain death at the hands of the Roman cohort and temple police. At the same time He emphasized to Peter that He was ready to drink the cup of bitter death that had been prepared by the Father for the salvation of the world.

While Jesus seemed to have been alone before the crowd of soldiers and officers, Matthew tells how he explained to Peter, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53). Had Jesus not been merciful towards the crowd, in one brief moment the entire multitude could have been destroyed.

Instead of calling for the delivering angels the Lord yielded Himself to them. “Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him, and led him away.” Thus began the sacrifice of mercy for the whole world. Paul wonderfully summarizes it in his letter to Titus.
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:3-7).

I am really impressed as I read the Gospel of John and as I see how Jesus is portrayed there. As I see the tremendous teaching and ministry of Christ – His miracle signs, His great actions coming through the conflicts with the Jews and the opposition to His own life and ministry – I’m impressed with the scenes of action out in the public stage, public arena. But I am also impressed with those times when He draws away, when He is alone. There in communion with the Father He reaches up to draw strength and grace and power.
We have seen Him when the crowds came to take Him by force to make Him their king. He slipped away and went alone to the mountain to pray. We have seen Him at prayer at the graveside of Lazarus. We have seen Him at prayer in blessing and breaking bread. We have seen Him at prayer in other places. But here is a place where it seems as if the Lord just lays bare His entire heart and we’re able to look deep within to understand the burden of His life and the desires of His very innermost being.

It would be enough just to hear His words. But to be able to look further than just hearing words to being able to understand what’s going on in His heart – this is indeed a tremendous experience for us. If we can understand what motivates Jesus Christ when He prays, then we’ll get the idea of how to approach the throne of grace and touch God for ourselves.

In this prayer He prays eight petitions. He makes eight requests. Only two of them are for Himself, two out of eight. Six of them are for others – three for His disciples who are with Him then and three for disciples who would later believe. That includes even you and me. You may be concerned about the prayers of some people, but to know that Jesus has prayed for you, that ought to be encouraging indeed.
It seems to me that first of all we ought to observe that this might be the real ratio that we set up in our own life as a pattern of prayer. Out of every eight times we go to our knees, only two times in behalf of ourselves and six times in intercession in behalf of others and the needs of others.

He begins by saying, “Father, the hour is come.” We heard Him say three times, “The hour is not yet come,” and then we finally heard Him say, “the hour is come” (John 12:23). When He was getting ready to make that decision to yield Himself to the divine will of God and in a sense when He said that before in chapter twelve, that was Gethsemane as far as John is concerned. But now again He says it. “The hour is come.” He knows that the hour of His own life is really come to that climatic moment when He will offer Himself once and for all for the sins of the whole world.

Then He prays for the success of His work. He talks about it – just opens His heart to talk about what He has done, what He has finished. Oh, I tell you I wish that somehow we could get the spirit of this prayer operating in our lives daily so that we could come as a son or daughter to the Father and just open up our hearts and talk to Him about the work that He has given us and talk to Him about finishing that work and talk to Him about doing what He wants us to do and talk to Him about keeping what He wants us to keep.
There’s the secret of real prayer that touches the throne of grace – when we commune with God our Father, we’re concerned about His perfect will and the work that He has given us to do.

The next thing He prays for is their protection. “Not that the Lord would take them out of the world but that the Lord would keep them from the evils of the world.” Here we have some tension sometime between our own Christian experience and how far we will draw away from the world to try to shield ourselves? Will we just cry for separation or will we pray for God’s grace and God’s power to operate in our lives so that we are in the world but not of the world?
I think sometimes that we overdo the idea of separation. If there’s anything in this world that’s really needed in this hour, it’s where those places are the darkest. Somebody with a bright light should go there, stand there and magnify Jesus Christ. Amen? “Not that you keep them from the world,” he says, “but just from the evils of this world.”

Then He prays for their sanctification. He wants to see His disciples learn what it means to become fully and completely and wholly dedicated-set apart unto God and set apart from this world and from sin. He says, “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.”
Here is the command that comes to us. If we’re going to maintain the Holy life and maintain the sanctified experience, we must constantly be exposed to the living, purging, cleansing word of God. It must cons tantly be poured out upon our hearts and minds because the word has the power to pierce the very thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word of God has the power to cleanse your mind of all kinds of unclean thoughts or all kinds of fears and doubts and worries and frettings that would come to your mind. The word of God has the power to cleanse your heart from unclean desires or unholy or unworthy tendencies.
Anybody who tries to live the holy life without the word of God is just going to deceive himself. Some people say, “Well, I can live for God at home as easy as I can by going to church and hearing a preacher.” I don’t believe that myself. There is something about coming to the house of God together and worshiping and singing and magnifying God together and going through that total experience of honoring God and then having the word of God to fall upon our hearts. The preached word has power to cleanse and liberate and set men free. Jesus said, “Sanctify them through the truth; thy word is truth.”

Then He prayed for our perfection. He prayed that we may be perfect. That word perfect means, “complete, developed, mature.” He’s talking about growth. He’s talking about progress. He’s talking about development. Oh, listen to me saints. For God sake, the Lord will perfect your life. He will develop it. He will cause you to mature and develop and to do His perfect will if you will let Him work in your life. He’ll put you through some tests that when you come through it, you can stand trials and your shoulders will be stronger and you will be able to reach out with a hand of strength to convert and help others just as He promised Simon Peter. When you’re converted, that is when you go through this and you’re transformed by this awful trial, then you’ll help others.

Then finally – and here’s why I stand in awe and worship and amazement – He prayed for our future glory and that we may share in the glory with Him. He said, “…I pray that they will be with me where I am and that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.”
I can’t comprehend it and I can’t describe it tonight. But oh what a day that will be in answer to the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the living God – when all the redeemed of the Lord come with Him and share His glory and when holy created angelic beings are singing His praise as in Revelation chapter five, and when the redeemed of all the earth join in that song ascribing praise and hono r and glory and power and saying, “Worthy is the Lamb!” You and I – with all the troubles of this world far behind us and all the limitations and imperfections of a human body behind us and all the inglorious path through which we have come, all of this is behind us – we will walk with Him and stand with Him in the glory of the Son of God. Hallelujah!
Jesus Christ has prayed for your glory – not for any shame, not for any failure, not for any reproach of yours. But today you have a lease and a guarantee and you have a handle on the glory that’s to come and it’s the prayer of the Son of God for you.