The Hour When Darkness Reigned
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”
Introduction
Introduction
There are those times in life when that which is evil would appear to be gaining the upper hand.
We see that playing out when those who are evil seem to gain the upper hand, or when those who are evil appear to flourish and thrive in this world. This was the observation of the Psalmist in Psalm 73 when he observed the wicked in the world.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.
Evil appeared to abound to the Psalmist, and he cried out his heart to God on account of this.
But the most striking example of when evil seemed to abound is this very account in the passage before us this morning. By all accounts, what unfolds here in this passage, combined with the events that follow, are the most extreme and striking example in the history of the world where darkness appeared to reign, where evil appeared to be gaining the upper hand.
We need to see and recognise the extent of the evil that was being carried out in these passages, and just how heinous these events were. Part of that is the reminder that this was God the flesh, God in human appearance, that was being targeted by the hands of those he had come to save. God the flesh that was taken captive, in order to have Him tortured and put to death.
This is indeed an hour when darkness reigned.
1 The Deceit
1 The Deceit
We begin by considering this important matter of the deceitfulness of one of the disciples of Jesus.
47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him,
While he was still speaking...
We note here that these events unfold even as Jesus was still busy speaking to the disciples. They were in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives. You will recall that Jesus had gone there with his disciples following there participating in the Passover meal, as this was the place where they would spend the nights. Jesus had left eight of the disciples in one place, gone a little further with three of them, and then left them also in order to go and pray to the Father. His prayer was...
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
As He had finished praying, He returned to His disciples and was engaging with them on the importance of being watchful and praying. He was fully aware that dark times where coming and that they were going to be tested and tried. There was an urgent need for them to be praying in this hour in particular, in order that they may have the strength and the courage to stand firm in the truth of the Gospel.
Jesus himself had been praying for them. He had prayed that the Lord would keep them in this world, rather than remove them from the world, but it was necessary that they be praying. This is what Jesus was conveying to His disciples at this very moment when the lanterns and torches of the crowd that was coming to arrest Jesus made their way towards Jesus and the disciples.
Even as He was speaking to them, the crowd appeared in the place where they had been praying.
…a crowd came up...
Now, I want to pause for a moment, and consider this crowd.
The very reason that Jesus had not been arrested in the day time in the temple (we’ll see that Jesus speaks to this later on) was that he was too popular. It would have caused a revolt. The ordinary people hung on every word of Jesus, and they loved His manner of teaching as well as the miracles he performed. While the religious leaders hated Jesus, the general crowds loved Him.
Thus, we must recognise that this crowd that was now arriving by night was made up of those who were in opposition to Jesus, which included the religious leaders and those who would have been the ardent supporters of these religious leaders of the day. Further down, in verse 52, we read that this crowd was at least made up of the chief priests, the officers of the temple, and the Elders. All of those with some form of power and authority within the religious leadership had come out in order to have Jesus arrested.
We also need to recognise that the religious leaders would not merely have arrested Jesus without the approval of, or at least some involvement of, the Roman authorities. It was likely that there were Roman soldiers accompanying the temple guards as they went out to arrest Jesus.
We can just imagine the crazed rush that it would have been in order to assemble this group of people in the early hours of darkness in order to mobilize them to have Jesus arrested. Judas had gone out even during the course of the Passover meal, and would have had to signal to the religious leaders that the time was ready. They would have had to convey the message to all the religious leaders (who ought to have been in preparations for the Sabbath observance.
Those involved would have to be told to gather, get ready to go out. They would have had to do this under secrecy, so that the crowds visiting at the time of the Passover wouldn’t become aware and so come out in defense of Jesus. They would have had to collect their torches, their swords and their clubs etc. All of this under the veil of secrecy, again, while they ought to have been participating in the Passover, and preparing themselves for Sabbath observance.
150 Those who devise wicked schemes are near,
but they are far from your law.
9 Do not take away my soul along with sinners,
my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 in whose hands are wicked schemes,
whose right hands are full of bribes.
This is precisely the kind of people that were now coming out to Jesus. They had devised wicked schemes in their hearts, and they were intent on doing evil. While they claimed to love God and His law, the reality was that their hearts were far from the law.
...and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them.
As we look back to our text, we notice that the leader of this crowd of people is none other than Judas, the disciples of Jesus that had gone out from them during the course of their observance of the Passover Meal.
27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
“What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him,
30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
He had gone out into the darkness of the night in order to betray Jesus into the hands of the religious leaders. He had done this for a small sum of money (30 pieces of silver) and now was leading the crowd to the place where he knew that Jesus would be.
Notice that Luke points out that Judas was “one of the twelve.” This just heightens the seriousness and the weightiness of what was unfolding.
One thing worth commenting (as a bit of an aside) is that this actually supports the authenticity of the account. Humanly speaking, if you wanted to portray a hero of the faith, the last thing that you’d do is script in the fact that one of the men chosen by this hero, trained by this hero, would betray Him. At the very least, it shows us that God is unafraid of preserving the reality and truth of the sinful acts of people.
…He approached Jesus to kiss him...
Now, beyond the fact that Judas was leading the group, we find that the manner in which Judas had chosen to betray Jesus was deeply twisted. He would do so with a kiss, a show of affection. In that day, we need to recognise that it was common practice to greet someone with a kiss. Even in the New Testament letters, we find these exhortations to greet one another with a kiss.
12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
20 All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
All the churches of Christ send greetings.
Clearly this was not something that was out of place. In this instance, it may even have been a customary kiss that a disciple would have given to his teacher / Rabbi. The fact was that this kiss was a common form of greeting, but it was also an endearing and affectionate form of greeting. In other words, it demonstrated a kind of love and commitment to a person. In fact the word that is used here is the Greek word “phileo” - which refers to love - a brotherly love. In other words, this was an expression of love.
As such, what Judas was doing here was a most terrible form of betrayal. That sign that ought to have been used as a sign of brotherly love and affection was being used in this instance to betray Jesus. Mark’s Gospel account includes the fact that this is the way that Judas had actually planned in his heart to betray Jesus.
44 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.”
This was all pre-arranged by Judas, and set up as the means by which he would show them who should be arrested.
Jesus Confronts Judas...
At this point, we read that Jesus confronted Judas in His sinful actions…
48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
We notice immediately that Jesus was perfectly aware of what was about to unfold. He knew why the crowd had arrived. He knew that Judas was the leader of the crowd that had come to arrest Him.
The other Gospel accounts tell us that Judas actually approached Jesus and kissed him.
45 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him.
49 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
Jesus asks the pertinent question at this stage: “Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss.” I don’t think we should skip over the significance of this question by Jesus. By this stage, Judas was probably of the view that Jesus was unaware of what he was doing. That which he had conceived in his heart, he probably believed to be hidden from the sight of His teacher.
But Christ shows Judas immediately that nothing was hidden from him. He knew what Judas was doing. In this sense, this would have been the first real confrontation of Judas in terms of his actions. This would have been the first time that his heart was exposed, not only for Jesus to see, but also the rest of the disciples. While he was carrying out his plot of evil, planning with the religious leaders what he would do to help them arrest Jesus, he no doubt would have had a conscience that was pricking him. But now that conscience would do its more powerful work of deep conviction. Sadly, the deep conviction of his sinful actions would not lead to a meaningful repentance. Rather, it would lead him to death.
I want to read of the account of what happened subsequently with Judas, just to get a taste of what he went through spiritually / emotionally following the crucifixion. We see this in Matthew 27:1-5…
1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2 They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
Very clearly, the conscience of Judas began to work in his life. He began to be troubled by the fact that he had betrayed this man, who was absolutely innocent, into the hands of the authorities. That sense of his own sinful actions would only increase, and the deep conviction of sin mount, as he witnessed Jesus now being led out to be put to death.
But the sad reality of this account is that Judas’ conviction of his sin would only produce a sorrow that was worldly in nature. It would not produce a sorrow that would lead him to a place of genuine repentance. Peter would sin against Jesus, and he would be moved to deep sorrow because he had forsaken Jesus. But Peter’s response would be that of repentance before the Lord, and then usefulness in the Kingdom.
Judas would be moved to sorrow, but it would not be a sorrow that would lead to repentance, but rather an ungodly sorrow that would bring ultimate death.
10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Judas was certainly deeply sorrowful, but it didn’t lead to a repentance that would grant life.
We need to pause and consider this. In both instances - Peter and Judas - there is an outward demonstration of sorrow. Perhaps there were tears. In Judas case, he expressed that he had done wrong. He even returned the money that he had received as a bribe from the religious leaders. Outwardly, there appeared to at least be some form of sorrow.
But there was not a deep conviction of sin that would lead him to a point of repentance of that sin.
“Worldly sorrow” has non-repentive characteristics. Here are a few of them.
- Self-pity – I can’t believe I did this.
- Personal embarrassment – What are others going to think about me now?
- Shameful regret – I will never be able to forget what I have done.
- Unbelieving guilt – I can’t forgive myself.
Worldly sorrow–simply put–is feeling sorry for yourself but not sorry enough to turn to God in real life change.
We need to ask ourselves, when we are confronted by our own sin, if there is a genuine repentance before the Lord; A recognition of our sin before God, that leads us to recognise that our sin is first and foremost against Him. And then a true confession and repentance that leads to joy and freedom before God, and also fruit in our lives that is in keeping with repentance.
2 The Defenders (vv.49-51)
2 The Defenders (vv.49-51)
As we continue, we find the response of the disciples of Jesus. At this point, there is a fairly noble response from them. However, we need to recognise that their response was very much grounded in thinking in worldly terms.
You recall the time when Peter said to Jesus that he would never allow Jesus to go to the cross. Jesus had to say to Peter that he was not thinking in the manner of God, but rather was thinking in earthly terms. He was thinking in terms of the patterns, and according to the wisdom of the world.
At that time, Jesus had to rebuke Peter because of his opposition to the unfolding of God’s plans.
That’s kind of what we’re going to see in this section under this heading.
We see then…
2.1 The Worldly Focus (v.49-50)
2.1 The Worldly Focus (v.49-50)
The disciples of Jesus, although noble in their intentions at this point, were focused on the physical realities and their own perceptions of how things should be unfolding, rather than on the spiritual realities and the purposes of God in terms of what was taking place. We see their response in verse 49…
49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?”
Now, the followers (who in this case was the disciples - probably all 11 of them that were with him) see all of this unfolding, and their response is one of a violent defense. Probably they were somewhat infuriated. They had not come to understand the various comments of Jesus in terms of what was to take place. They now see their friend and co-worker, Judas, giving a kiss to Jesus as a means of betrayal. This would have been the first time that it dawned on them what Judas was all about. They would have been shocked, and probably angered by what Judas had done.
But their response here is that they want to draw the sword and defend Jesus from this crowd. In this particular moment, the disciples would have been acting with bravery. It is a possibility that since they deeply believed Jesus to be the Messiah (although in their minds a political Messiah) they had an idea that he would be taking over by force, and establishing the kingdom that they longed for. We must also keep in the back of our minds, that not so long ago (as in a couple of hours prior to this) Jesus had said to them that they should make provisions for themselves, and part of that provision included the buying of a sword...
36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
And just after that, the disciples had responded on that very point…
38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That is enough,” he replied.
As I mentioned when we looked at that, however, Jesus wasn’t referring to a physical sword that they should buy, but rather to be equipped with the spiritual sword for the battle against their souls. That’s why Christ responded with the words, “that’s enough.”
But the point here is that the disciples still would have had this idea in their minds that this was the time for using the sword in order to defend the kingdom that they believed should be established. They wanted to fight for the rule of the Messiah in the world.
One of the disciples, before even giving Jesus the opportunity to respond to the question, leapt into action...
50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
In John 18:10 we read...
10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
Here is Simon Peter, then one that Jesus has said is going to deny him three times, seeking to defend Jesus. At this present moment, there was a sense in Peter that he was prepared to fight and defend Jesus. Part of that may have flowed out of the fact that just a moment prior to this, the entire crowd had fallen to the ground just at the spoken word of Jesus.
4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”
5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.
“I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
That is quite a striking account, and it may just have been that this added to the motivation of Peter to strike out with his sword.
The problem at this stage is that this is not the manner of the kingdom. This was not to be the manner in which Christ would come to establish and inaugurate his kingdom. Further on in John’s Gospel, we read the words of Jesus…
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
The disciples of Jesus, at least in this moment, were taking the approach of wanting to fight to establish the kingdom of Christ in the present world, in their location of that day. This was what they wanted to do, but Jesus put a very quick end to their approach. In fact, the response of Jesus is quite profound!
2.2 The Humble Response (v.51)
2.2 The Humble Response (v.51)
In verse 51 we read…
51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
There are two things that Jesus does in this account.
The first is that he puts an end to the actions of the disciples. He gives them a stern rebuke, and tells them that they are not to continue in this way.
His words are, “No more of this!!”
Very clearly, Jesus is forbidding the use of force. Part of the reason behind this is what we saw in John 18:36… His kingdom is not of this world. Thus the use of physical force in order to bring about the establishment of the kingdom is misplaced. Let me just add to that, any use of physical force through the course of history, in order to bring about the establishment of the kingdom of Christ, is misplaced.
But apart from John 18:36, we see further reasoning behind Jesus’ response here as we look at the parallel accounts, and particularly Matthew 26:52-54. It says there....
52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
Here is the further motivation of Jesus. Not only is His kingdom not of this world, but in addition, the Scriptures must be fulfilled. It’s quite striking here that Jesus says to His disciples that he has the power and authority to call on His Father who will immediately put legions of angels at His disposal. Nonetheless, He completely restrained Himself from this, because it was necessary for Him to go to the cross. The Scriptures needed to be fulfilled, and the perfect salvation plan of God needed to be taken to finality. Jesus was not going to stand in the way of God’s salvation plan being fully worked out. Here was a practical application of Luke 22:42 - not my will but yours be done!!
So, in summary, not only was Christ’s kingdom not of this world, and thus they were not to be fighting for it, but also there was a purpose behind what Christ was about to endure, and it was critical that He proceed on the path as set before Him by the Father.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
Christ knew that He was to endure the sufferings and pain. Isaiah 53 is of course one of the most well-known passages that would speak about this suffering that was to be endured. But even the Law that was given to Israel, particularly the sacrificial system - it was all pointing forward to a perfect sacrifice that would be made - the sacrifice of God’s own Son. The shedding of His blood for the final atonement of sin. That’s what Jesus was looking at.
The Scriptures needed to be fulfilled through His life, and through His death. And so He tells his disciples, “No more of this!”
The second response of Jesus is that of healing. He reaches out, touches the ear of Malchus, the servant of the High Priest, and heals him immediately. Now, this man is his enemy. This man is part of the army of people that have come to unjustly arrest him.
And Jesus brings immediate healing for this man.
One wonders what the response of Malchus would have been… if not now in the moment, at least in the days to come, as He would see the man who brought healing to him, put to death on a cross.
But turning our attention back to Jesus, we must recognise that he modeled that which he taught, even in the time of the most severe of trials!! He showed kindness and thoughtfulness even to His enemies. And that is precisely what God calls us to.
19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Christ was perfectly living this out. Even in this darkest of moments in His life.
3 The Darkness
3 The Darkness
At this point, Jesus confronts those who have come out as part of the crowd.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?
A few things are worth noting here regarding the extent of the evil and darkness that was being carried out.
Firstly, these religious leaders were in the process of breaking their own rules. And they will continue to do this through the course of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.
Keep in mind that this was a Sabbath night, and not only that, it was one of the annual Sabbaths - that being the Passover. In other words, it was a particularly significant Sabbath. It was in fact against their own laws to do this - to arrest someone or have them tried on such a night (we’ll come more to that in weeks to come). But at this stage, keep in mind that the reality is that they themselves were failing in their responsibilities in terms of the Sabbath requirements, and abiding by their own laws.
They would obviously have justified their actions. To them, the arrest of this man was more important than anything else! Here was their hypocrisy coming to the fore.
Apart from breaking their own rules, we must notice that they were treating Jesus as a common (and perhaps even a violent!) criminal.
Here is the one who came as gentle and humble in heart.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Jesus had walked around ministering to and healing people. He healed the blind, the crippled, the lame. He opened the ears of the deaf. He came to preach a message of the Kingdom. He multiplied loaves and fish in order to feed people that were hungry. Jesus lived His life in service of others. But here, he is confronted by these religious leaders because of the hatred towards Him. He has not harmed a single person, but the come out to him with a large crowd of people, all armed with swords and clubs.
It is right that Jesus goes on to say to them…
53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”
Jesus had been in the temple courts daily, teaching the people. If there was any real cause and grounds for His arrest, they could have quite easily effected that arrest while He was there in the temple courts, while it was daylight. We know that they didn’t, because the crowds supported Jesus. That would have caused a revolt.
But as we look at this account from our own perspective, we must think to ourselves, what a veil of darkness was over their eyes that they could not see their own sin and wickedness for what it was. They could not see that their actions were irrational and just downright evil.
Jesus says to them… “this is your hour - when darkness reigns.”
We need to recognise from this statement of Jesus that what was taking place here involved a far deeper opposition than that between the Jewish leadership and Jesus.
This was a cosmic opposition between Satan, the ruler of this age, and God.
Furthermore, this was an hour where deep darkness was blinding the eyes of these religious leaders. The sin of their own hearts had taken them captive.
19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.
Such was the conduct of the religious leaders. Darkness was ruling their hearts and they were incapable of seeing it.
Application / Conclusion
Application / Conclusion
Look to the responses of Christ, and follow Him.
Judas tried to cover his sin of betrayal with a kiss of love. Christ saw through it.
The religious leaders were arresting Jesus in the name of God - claiming to defend His own, meanwhile it was their own.
Such is the nature of sin. It blinds our eyes. It is often hidden behind a veneer of good.
In contrast to these, Jesus acted in humility and grace.
He did not retaliate, and return evil for evil.
He even went so far as to do good to Malchus, by healing him in the midst of his own hour of trial.
This is the example that we are to follow.
A day is coming when Jesus will do battle (see Rev. 19), but we do not need to take up the sword for Jesus now.
Our call is to share the Word, love our neighbor, and work for the unity of the saints.
The call to us is to come into the light, and to conduct ourselves in a manner that
We need the light of the Gospel to strip away the darkness, so that we may walk in the light, as He is in the light.
4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
The hour of darkness was unfolding in the day of Jesus. But because he endured, light has come into the world. We are those who are of the light.
Let us then live as children of light, following the example of our Saviour.