John 18.4-6 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. – St. John
It’s not like John was a Bible scholar; he was just a man
who possessed a deep and unique relationship with Jesus. To my knowledge, John
never went to seminary. He probably was only schooled as a boy in the rabbinical
offerings of his local synagogue, but other than that, he was just a fisherman,
along with all of what comes along with that trade: smelly hands and clothes, tolling
long hours through the night in search of a catch, trying to make a living as a
business man. Competition. Customers. Compensation.
But John, knew Jesus. John knew Jesus and saw Jesus and
presented Him to us by what he experienced with Jesus. John saw Jesus
differently.
John was there that night Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane; and John heard Jesus
say, “I am He.” We note that in the narrative there is no exclamation point: Jesus didn’t say “I AM HE!”; He simply said, “I
am He.” John said when Jesus said this, all of the men who came to arrest Him,
drew back and fell to the ground. When you come to arrest God, better be careful what
you seek to do.
John is the only gospel writer to address the issue of
the, drawing back and falling down.
Matthew omitted it. Mark (Peter’s gospel) doesn’t mention it. And Dr. Luke, Mr.
Detail, didn’t include it either. But John did and he did for good reason: John,
defends the deity of Christ. It’s not
that the others don’t, but John is the only gospel writer to overtly deal with
the deity of Christ. The others deal with His messiah-ship to Israel; and His
human ancestry. John is the only one who says:
“In the beginning was the word and the word
was with God and the word was God.” (John 1.1)
The mere humans who came to do Jesus ought that night, had no idea who they were dealing with. John, and
only in hindsight, got it – Jesus was not only God’s Son, He was God. That makes people uncomfortable and that makes lots of people draw back and
fall down in their understanding of Who God is and what it is He desires to do
with us.
Our belief is acceptable to us when we’re comfortable
with it: a baby in a manger, wise men, a star, angels and shepherds. But when
God shows up as He does in the life of every human, every day, one of two things
happen: either (a: we draw back and fall down in disbelief; or (b: we step
forward and fall down in worship… Our attempts to arrest God are futile.
You know though, what does arrest God is: faith. What pleases
God is: faith. What brings all of God into all of us is: faith. It isn’t
Christmas – or Easter; it’s faith. And
without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him
must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
(Hebrews 11.6) To arrest God, one must come armed with faith…
Father, we silly
humans think we have such power and strength but in reality we are poor and
naked, wretched, and blind. Give us faith today to see You, to know You and to trust
You. May my faith, arrest You in Your heavenly governance to come alongside me
and help me. I pray this in Your holy, and unarrestable Name! Thank You for
what You are doing! Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment