John 18: Jesus Betrayed and Arrested

Invite you to turn with me to John 18.

This is Palm Sunday and Easter is quickly approaching

And as we think about Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus, I would like to break away from Galatians for a couple of weeks, and finish our study on the Gospel of John

John 18. When we were last in John, we see Jesus spending the final moments before his death with his disciples, giving them last instructions and words of comfort

And then in chapter 17, He prays this wonderful prayer…one which reveals His heart for his followers.

And that leads us to chapter 18

I will be reading the entire chapter

John 18 ESV

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” 12 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. 13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. 15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. 17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” 18 Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. 19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” 22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” 24 Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. 25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” 26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” 27 Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. 28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” 32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Jesus and His disciples left the upper room and head east out of Jerusalem toward the Mount of Olives where they were sleeping at night during the feast of the Passover

To get there, they had to go down from the city of Jerusalem, into the Kidron Valley, cross the Kidron Brook, and up again toward the Mount of Olives

Doubtless, they had made this trip many times

But this time.Jesus makes this short trip knowing full well that He is moments away from being betrayed in the most painful ways possible

Jesus was not the first one to make this trip.

Around 1000 years earlier, King David, the ancestor of Jesus, was betrayed by his own son, Absolom

And David, rather than summon his army to fight Absolom, rather than risk killing his own son,

He chose to flee Jerusalem, much to the dismay of the people who loved him.

And he, too, headed east, out of the city of Jerusalem. Down into the Kidron Valley and across the Kidron Brook

2 Samuel 15:23 ESV

23 And all the land wept aloud as all the people passed by, and the king crossed the brook Kidron, and all the people passed on toward the wilderness.

English Standard Version (Chapter 15)

30 But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went. 31 And it was told David, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”

Can you imagine the pain of King David? Imagine his confusion and bewilderment at what was happening to him?

He was God’s chosen. God’s anointed King. Yet, here he was fleeing for his life from his own son, and from a trusted advisor, not knowing if he would ever be king again, or even if he would live for much longer.

What a picture of what would happen to David’s descendent, the King of Kings, the Savior of the world

David didn’t know what the future held for him

But Jesus went knowing that His betrayal was already in progress, and the most horrifying of deaths were awaiting him

We know this story well, and we know that Judas is the betrayer…the one who “sells Jesus out.”

But as I read this story again I discovered not one, but many betrayers.

Judas—betrayal by greed and selfishness

The Bible doesn’t tell us what Judas’ true motives were for betraying Jesus

We know that he sold his services for 30 pieces of silver.

But why did he do it? We don’t really know.

Maybe he just wanted to get rid of Jesus

Maybe he was trying to get Jesus into trouble with the Romans so that Jesus would have no choice but to establish His own Messianic kingdom

Matthew tells us that Judas did not intend for Jesus to be condemned and die. Because upon seeing that Jesus was condemned, Judas changed his mind, and ended up committing suicide

Whatever his motives were, this is pretty evident:

Judas had a heart problem

I think Judas had a greedy and selfish heart

John 12 says that Judas was a thief.

He didn’t really care about the poor.

He just wanted more money in the bag because he used to help himself from it

I believe that Judas never understood the call to forsake everything and follow Jesus

Oh, he followed Jesus, from place to place that is

But he didn’t forsake everything for Jesus

He managed to look the part.

People who saw Jesus walking around with the 12 disciples probably didn’t point at Judas and say, “What’s he doing with Jesus?”

I think it’s quite possible that the disciples didn’t even realize who he was and what he was doing until later

But of course, Jesus knew

Judas followed Jesus and looked the part, but he didn’t forsake all

He didn’t forsake his desire for money and he didn’t forsake his #1 person: Judas. Himself

And when given the opportunity, Judas chose 30 pieces of silver over being a disciple of Jesus

because Judas was in it for Judas

His greedy heart got the best of him

How many of us have looked at Judas and said, “How could he? I would never betray Jesus like that”

It’s really easy, especially in America, to “sign on with Jesus”, follow Him, and look the part, but be saying in our heart, “I hope He doesn’t ask me to give up everything.”

But the thing is, Jesus has already asked that of us!

Luke 14:26-27 “26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

And we go on with our lives. Looking the part of a follower.

Kind of playing deaf and pretending we didn’t hear what Jesus said there in Luke

But meanwhile Jesus is calling to us saying, “Are you ready to give up everything for my sake?”

Can each of us say, “I am ready to give up my house, my business, my mom, my dad, my siblings, my family for the sake of Jesus

How many people have I heard say, “Yeah, when I was younger, I believed that Jesus was calling me into missions, but then this business opportunity came up and…well, I think I’m too old now.” I’ve heard people talk like this

See, saying that I’m a follower of Jesus, and pretending to be one is pretty easy. At least in this country.

And so many people look the part without truly giving up everything.

And when the test comes, folks betray Jesus by choosing the 30 pieces of silver

Things catch their eye

money catches their eye

busyness ties up their time

Traditions and comfort immobilize them from truly laying it all on the line for Him

Do any of us identify with Judas in this way?

Peter—betrayal by fear

Peter: Bold, outspoken, passionate

Peter: when it came to Jesus, Peter was all in. at least in his mind he was

Peter: Declaring, Lord, I would never deny you! Even if it means my life, I would never deny you!

But when the rubber hit the road, when it came to confessing that he was a friend of Jesus, that he even knew Jesus, he failed the test

He was afraid

And it wasn’t even a huge Roman soldier with a sword pressed to his throat demanding that he deny or die

It was a group of servants standing around, trying to stay warm

People basically just like him

People who really had no power over whether he lived or died

inquiring if he knew Jesus

“Hey, you’re one of those…those Jesus followers, right?”

And Peter choked. Fear gripped his heart and all the enthusiasm with which he declared his love for the Lord now went into denying that he ever knew Jesus

Peter, Peter, what happened to you? Why did you betray your Lord who at that very moment was being interrogated and abused by the Jewish leaders.

At that very moment when Jesus needed a friend

Psalm 69:20-21 “20 Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.”

But you know, I don’t really get down on Peter. I feel a lot of empathy for him.

Because who among us, when we have a chance to be known as followers of Jesus, to declare that, yes, I know Jesus, how many of us have choked in times like that

How do we declare that we are His disciples?

Most of the time, we think of witnessing to the lost. And that is a big part of it

But what are some other ways of declaring that we are His disciples

We’ve been studying the book of Galatians and talking about getting the Gospel right. Basically, we are talking about

By confessing sin with each other

By seeking forgiveness when we’ve hurt others

Restoring each other

Pursuing unity

By speaking life and encouragement to a brother or sister who is down

These can be hard things to do. They can make our heart feel frightened

So is it possible that we pass up on opportunities to declare that we are His disciples? That we know Him?

Have we ever betrayed Jesus like that?

I’ve been there. Sadly, I’ve been there

At times my love for Jesus is so strong. My heart declares, “Even though I die, I won’t betray you!”

And then I go out and have the opportunity to confess that I know Him and follow Him, and I choke. Just like Peter did

the crowd—betrayal of loyalty

The crowd betrayed Jesus too

They turned from their King, Messiah, Chosen One, the Holy One of God, to the corrupt and evil Roman government to do their dirty work

They set up a sham trial in order to get rid of Jesus.

And look how crazy and weird this whole thing is. Look at how skewed their thinking is (verse 28).

in the midst of trying to get the Son of God killed,

They didn’t want to “enter the governor’s headquarters so that they wouldn’t be defiled. Because they wanted to eat the Passover.”

Like you talk about trying to walk multiple sides of the fence!

Pilate tries to get some specific charges out of them, and they just say, “Hey, if he weren’t doing anything wrong, do you think we would bring him to you?”

These Jews who resented their Roman overlords, now turn to the Romans to solve their “problem”

And later in chapter 19, they astonishingly declare, “We have no king but Caesar!”

The Jewish people, God’s chosen people since the time of Abraham betray their King by turning to the pagan government.

And we say, how could they have done this? What is going on in their hearts that they could betray God’s Chosen One like this?

But I get it

How many of us have betrayed Jesus with our misplaced loyalty

A king is one who demands absolute loyalty to his kingdom and rule

But it’s so easy to find ourselves betraying Jesus by setting up other little kings and declaring loyalty to them

government

my job

my schedule

my comfort

When there is a decision to be made in life, or a direction to be chosen, who gets your loyalty?

Who, or what do you first run this decision through to see if it will work?

That thing or that person just might be your king

We are looking forward to communion on Friday night, and I would just like to pause for a few moments and let’s talk to the Lord about this and ask him, “Lord, is there any way in which I have betrayed you? If so, how?”

Because there is good news. He offers forgiveness and grace.

Peter, after denying Jesus, went out and wept bitterly.

in the last chapter of John, we will see Jesus love for Peter and Peter restored to fellowship with Jesus

The same would have been offered for Judas, I am sure of it, had his remorse turned him toward Jesus instead of toward suicide

And as for the crowd, how many of them became Believers later on? We don’t know

Let’s just pause for some time and in your spirit be honest and open with Him.