Jesus Is in Control
John 18:1-11,
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. 3So 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?”
Back in John Chapter 10, Jesus said something really important we should keep in mind. He said, Chapter 10, verse 18:
No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.
In other words, Jesus has told us in advance that he’s in complete control of his suffering that will come, and in Chapter 18 that suffering is no longer future tense. The suffering that Jesus has talked about begins to unfold rapidly, in real time. Notice here how verse 1 sets the scene for us: Jesus has finished the Farewell Discourse, and his prayer for the disciples in Chapter 17, and now he leaves the Upper Room, and they go outside to a garden.
So this is a new setting — and all the Gospel writers report this to us, but John includes some details here that the others don’t. And the reason is because John has a direct theological agenda: He wants readers to know that what Jesus said back in Chapter 10, verse 18 is true — the arrest of Jesus is not a haphazard collapse into chaos, but it is the controlled descent into chaos for our sake.
John’s point is that Jesus is in control — that’s his main idea here, and he makes it clear in at least three ways. That’s what I wanna show you this morning: three ways Jesus is in control during chaos …
1. Jesus knew all that would happen to him.
John tells us this directly in verse 4. He says Jesus knew “all that would happen to him” — and the keyword there is the word “all.” This implies that Jesus didn’t just know the outcome — he didn’t just know where he’d end up — but he knew all the details that would take him there, including the details of Judas’s betrayal. That’s the focus in this passage.
It’s fascinating that John gives us more details about Judas than any other Gospel.
First, it’s just in the mention of Judas … Five different times in this Gospel when John names Judas, he says, “Judas, who would betray him.” He said that way back in Chapter 6, and again in Chapters 12 and 13, and he says it twice in this passage, in verses 2 and 5 — which means John says this about Judas even as the betrayal is taking place (see John 6:71; 12:4; 13:2; 18:2, 5).
Why does John do this?
Well, I think most basically it’s because John wants us to never forget who Judas is, but it’s also because he wants us to see Judas through a certain lens: John wants us to see that everything Judas does is fulfillment, not surprise.
The case in point is that John gives us these premeditation details of Judas — that’s what I’m calling them, “premeditation details.”
Look at this in verse 2. After Jesus and his disciples went to the garden in verse 1, verse 2 says:
“Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.”
Don’t miss how dark and sinister this is … Judas knew where to find Jesus.
Judas had left the Upper Room in Chapter 13, and maybe by this point he had come back to the Upper Room and found it empty, or maybe he didn’t. Either way, at some point, Judas thought, “I know where he is.”
And he knew where Jesus was because of their friendship.
He knew Jesus was in the garden because he had been there with him many times before.
The garden was a favorite spot for Jesus to pray and teach his disciples, and Judas had prayed with Jesus there. He had been taught by Jesus there. Jesus had brought him there, and now Judas used that against Jesus.
I hate Judas. I hate him. I hate him like I hate the devil. Can you believe what he did?
More details in verse 3 are important.
Judas had procured two groups of men to come with him.
One was a band of soldiers (which would have been Roman soldiers), and the other was a group of officials from the chief priests and Pharisees.
Now the the English Standard Version translates the first group “band of soldiers” but another word for it is “detachment of soldiers” (that’s how the New International Version translates it). And what’s interesting is that the Greek word behind “detachment” or “band” was an actual category of soldiers in the Roman army. Historical documents from the First Century tell us about it. A detachment was 200 soldiers. That’s what the word means.
Now, there’s a chance that the full 200 soldiers didn’t come along here, but my guess is that more soldiers came with Judas than we typically picture in our minds.
Because in addition to this relatively large group of Roman soldiers, there were also Jewish officials. (This group would have been like the temple police who worked for the high priests and Pharisees.)
And together, these soldiers and police, had lanterns and torches and weapons.
So we gotta picture this correctly: this is not a small group of ragtag cavemen with clubs, but this is a sizable fraction of the Roman army together with Jewish police, and they’re well-supplied, and they’re led by Judas to this place only Judas knows about. This was calculated evil.
John tells us in verse 5:
“Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.”
Do you see how despicable this is? There’s deeper meaning here:
The Roman soldiers represented the Gentile world; the Jewish officials or police represented Jesus’s own people; and Judas represented Satan himself — because John told us in 13:27 that Satan had entered into Judas.
So, understand what’s going on here: In this group that came to arrest Jesus, it represents all of creation conspiring against him. All of humanity, Jew and Gentile, and the demonic realm — they have plotted together and set themselves against the Lord and his anointed.
And Judas, standing with him, would have thought he was so smart. He would have had the smuggest look on his face.
And the only thing that does not make this an absolute knockout win for Judas — like the only reason Judas has not just pulled one over on his Rabbi — is that Jesus knew about it the whole time.
Every single time Jesus had been in this garden with his disciples … every single time over the last three years he prayed there with them and taught there with them … every time they “took sweet counsel together” as friends — every single time Jesus had ever seen the face of Judas in this garden, he knew that Judas would do this. Every moment in the garden before this moment, he knew this moment would come.
Because he knew all that would happen to him. See, Jesus is in control.
Here’s another way we see Jesus in control during the chaos …
2. Jesus was straightforward about his identity.
I want you to notice both what Jesus says and the way he says it.
First, what he says. When they tell Jesus they’re looking for Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus says in verse 5, “I am he” — John tells us again that Jesus said this in verse 6, and Jesus repeats himself in verse 8.
So three times in this passage, we read the words: “I am.”
And in the Gospel of John, we know this is intentional. When Jesus says this, he is declaring himself to be God. He’s revealing his true identity — He was before Abraham! He is one with the Father! He has been sent into the world by the Father!
Jesus is, again, claiming the divine name: Jesus is the “I am.” Amen!
But now notice the way he says it.
Years ago, I got a book on public speaking titled, “The Way You Say It.” (I got it to help me with an accent I used to have. That’s what the book is for.)
But the underlying premise of the book is that the way you say something matters. The words matter the most, but the tone and context make a difference. Speech is dynamic like that.
Well, we can’t actually hear how Jesus says what he says here, but we can pay attention to the context. John gives us some key details here, so let’s follow closely with what he says: In verse 4, there’s this long group of soldiers, with their torches and weapons, and show up in this garden where Jesus and his disciples are. John says Jesus “came forward and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’”
They say “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus says “I am he.”
Notice how straightforward this is. Rows of uniformed soldiers and police came looking for Jesus, and when they got to Jesus, he asked them what they’re doing.
Can you picture that? All these soldiers and police and Judas are standing together, and Jesus is the one who does the talking. And literally, they must answer to him.
It gets better.
When Jesus declares his identity, when he says “I am he,” verse 6 says “they drew back and fell to the ground.”
Which I think means exactly what it says. All of these soldiers fell down before Jesus. Verse 7, “So he asked them again…” which implies that he asked them right away — Jesus keeps talking to them while they are still on the ground.
Let’s back up for a minute. I need you to use your imagination here. Picture this scene: It’s night. Jesus and his disciples are in the garden. Suddenly, a swarm of Romans soldiers and Jewish police, and Judas show up with torches and weapons, and Jesus steps forward to say “Who you looking for?”
They say, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus says, “I am he.” And swoosh!
They all fall to ground like dominos, and while they’re laying on the ground, Jesus says, “Who you looking for again?”
This is almost comedy. It’s incredible!
If we could just freeze this scene — if we could snap a photo of this scene and show people, everybody who sees the photo is gonna know who’s in charge.
And it ain’t Judas. It ain’t the Roman soldiers. It ain’t the Jewish officials.
Jesus Christ is in control. John is showing us this in how Jesus was so straightforward about his identity. He’s doing the talking. He’s asking the questions. Because he’s in control.
One more. A third way we see Jesus’s control during the chaos …
3. Jesus was resolved to be the better Adam.
Remember the setting here. All this is taking place in a garden. And this absolutely is meant to be an allusion to the Garden of Eden. I mentioned before, John has a theological agenda. (The other Gospel writers use the name Gethsemane, but John uses just the word “garden.”)
He actually tells the whole story of Jesus’s passion in view of a garden: John mentions a garden being close to where Jesus was crucified — in Chapter 19, verse 41. He mentions a garden again in Chapter 20 after Jesus is resurrected — spoiler alert here: but when Mary sees the resurrected Jesus, she thinks he’s the garden keeper (see 20:15).
And guess what? He is.
And it starts in this passage.
What’s happening here is a redo of the Garden of Eden when Satan tempted Adam.
Now’s there’s a few differences in this redo, and one is that Peter’s here.
And Peter, so far, is just watching all this happen. He hasn’t said anything. But then we get to verse 10. And this is one we all need to see. So y’all help me out. Find Chapter 18, verses 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.) So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
Two questions:
What is Peter doing?
What is Jesus doing?
First, Peter
When Peter draws his sword, he was ready to go out fighting. Peter has already said, Chapter 13, verse 37, that he would lay down his life for Jesus, and he thinks this is it. Look: he’s no match for these soldiers. He knows that. They have weapons too, and a lot more of them.
So either Peter is ready to die, or maybe he expects Jesus to keep speaking — because he just saw all these soldiers fall to the ground. He remembered what that voice did to the storm that night on the sea. All Jesus has to do is say the word, Peter knows. So maybe Peter swings his sword, and then looks at Jesus like, “Well? Go ahead…”
But Peter was mistaken. D. A. Carson says Peter was “as clumsy as his courage was great, and his tactic as pointless as his misunderstanding was total.”
He was confused, but we know all he was trying to do was help out. Peter was willing to die for Jesus to advance the cause; he didn’t understand that first Jesus must died for him to accomplish the cause.
This is what Jesus is doing.
Jesus tells Peter, verse 11:
“Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
Jesus corrects Peter not on the goal, but on the method. Jesus will indeed triumph over all his enemies, but the way matters. And the way of Jesus’s triumph is to drink the cup.
It’s not a violent overthrow of earthly powers, it’s a blood sacrifice for helpless sinners. It’s not military conquest, it’s substitutionary atonement. Victory soon, but suffering first.
Something different in the Gospel of John compared to the other Gospels is that John leaves out the temptation narrative of Jesus when he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. And I think it’s because, with Genesis 3 on his mind, John reframes Jesus’s big temptation to be here in the garden.
Because Satan was crafty again in this garden.
Defiance and betrayal appear again in this garden.
Obedience or disobedience are the options again in this garden.
Life and death are on the line again in this garden.
What is Jesus doing? He is resolved to be the better Adam … and rather than fall, he descends, not in a vain attempt to augment his life, but in a willingness to lose it, not to subject a world of life to death, but to bring a world of death to life. Where the first Adam fell, the better Adam is faithful. Jesus has never been in more control.
The cup he is about to drink is the cup the Father has given him. And those simple words at the end of verse 11 make it the most clear: this is not a haphazard collapse into chaos — our heavenly Father is writing the story.
Is evil at work in this story? Absolutely. The Roman authorities had a hand in this. The Jewish leaders had a hand in this. Judas, led by Satan, had a hand in this. But who gave Jesus the cup? Who gave him the cup?
The Father gave him the cup. The Father is accomplishing his plan, the plan of the Trinity. Jesus is in control.
And For Us
And look, that was true for Jesus’s passion, and it’s true for our situation right now — for whatever situation you might be going through.
Everything in our lives — listen: every single thing in our lives — occurs beneath the will of God, and he has promised, whatever we got, he will work it together for our salvation.
It doesn’t make bad things less bad, but it gives us that bigger picture, which can be so easy to forget. Jesus loves you, and Jesus is in control.
And this morning, very simply, I want to call you to rest in him. Rest in the truth of his love and power.
And for some of you, that means conversion. Put your faith in Jesus today. I know some of you might be right on the fence — I get it. I’ve been there. Believe in Christ today, and be born again. We’re having baptisms on May 31 — believe and come be baptized.
For others of us, Christians in the room, you believe in Jesus but your vision of him has been a little clouded. We just need to see him again with the eyes of our hearts, and I pray that you would.
Even as we come to this Table.
The Table
At this Table we remember the passion event of Jesus — that he died for us and was raised, which is the most vivid display of his love and power. Glory in the gospel this morning!
