NLT Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition - Flipbook - Page 65
page 1839
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J ohn 1 8
2. Jesus completes his mission
Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested (224/Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke
22:47-53)
18:1
2 Sam 15:23
Matt 26:36
Mark 14:32
18:3
John 7:32, 45
18:4
John 6:64
18:9
John 6:39; 17:12
18:10
Luke 22:36, 38
18:11
Matt 20:22; 26:39
Mark 10:38; 14:36
Luke 22:42
18:12-14
Matt 26:57-58
Mark 14:53-54
Luke 22:54
18:13
Luke 3:2
John 18:24
18:16-18
Matt 26:69-70
Mark 14:66-68
Luke 22:55-57
18:18
Mark 14:54, 67
18
After saying these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and
entered a grove of olive trees. 2Judas, the betrayer, knew this place, because J esus
had often gone there with his disciples. 3The leading priests and Pharisees had given
Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with
blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.
4Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to
meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.
5“Jesus the Nazarene,”* they replied.
“I Am he,”* J esus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) 6As Jesus
said “I Am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! 7Once more he asked them,
“Who are you looking for?”
And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
8“I told you that I Am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these
others go.” 9He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those
you have given me.”*
10Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high
priest’s slave. 11But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not
drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”
Annas Questions Jesus (225)
12So the soldiers, their commanding officer, and the Temple guards arrested J
esus and
tied him up. 13First they took him to Annas, since he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas,
the high priest at that time.* 14Caiaphas was the one who had told the other Jewish leaders, “It’s better that one man should die for the people.”
15Simon Peter followed J
esus, as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was
acquainted with the high priest, so he was allowed to enter the high priest’s courtyard
with Jesus. 16Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the high
priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. 17The woman asked
Peter, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples, are you?”
“No,” he said, “I am not.”
18Because it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire.
They stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself.
18:5a Or Jesus of Nazareth; also in 18:7. 18:5b Or “The ‘I Am’ is here”; or “I am the Lord”; Greek reads I am; also
in 18:6, 8. See Exod 3:14. 18:9 See John 6:39 and 17:12. 18:13 Greek that year.
18:5-6 The power of the actual name of God threw these soldiers to the
ground. By the words “I Am he,” Jesus declared his divinity again (Exodus
3:14; also see John 8:50). He was saying, “The I Am is here.” The Temple
guards would have comprehended what Jesus meant. Jesus affirmed
with his powerful voice that the earthly government had no power over
him except as he would allow.
18:10-11 Trying to protect Jesus, Peter pulled out a sword and wounded
the high priest’s slave. But Jesus told Peter to put away his sword and allow
God’s plan to unfold. When we face dangerous times, we can be tempted
to take matters into our own hands, to force the issue. Such moves are
not what God desires for us. Instead, we must trust God to work out his
plan. Think of it—if Peter had had his way, Jesus would not have gone to
the cross, and God’s plan of redemption would have been thwarted. Luke
records that Jesus touched the man’s ear and healed him (Luke 22:51).
18:11 “The cup” refers to the suffering, isolation, and death that Jesus
would have to endure in order to atone for the sins of the world. In the
Old Testament, the image of a cup referred to the outpouring of God’s
wrath (see Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:17; Jeremiah 25:18). The Father gave
Jesus this cup—not Judas, nor the Jewish leaders, nor the Romans. It
was part of his plan.
18:12-13 Jesus was immediately taken to the high priest’s residence,
even though it was the middle of the night. This gathering was illegal
and against Jewish protocol. The religious leaders were in a hurry—they
wanted to complete the execution before the Sabbath and get on with
the Passover celebration. This residence was a palace whose outer walls
enclosed a courtyard where servants and soldiers could warm themselves
around a fire.
18:13 Both Annas and Caiaphas had been high priests. Annas was Israel’s
high priest from AD 6 to 15, when he was deposed by Roman rulers.
Caiaphas, Annas’s s on-in-law, was appointed high priest from AD 18
to 36 or 37. According to Jewish law, the office of high priest was held
for life. Many Jews, therefore, still considered Annas the high priest and
still called him by that title. But although Annas retained much authority
among the Jews, Caiaphas made the final decisions.
Both Caiaphas and Annas cared more about their political ambitions
than about their responsibility to lead the people to God. Though they
were religious leaders, they had become evil. As the nation’s spiritual leaders, they should have been sensitive to God’s revelation. They should have
known that Jesus was the Messiah about whom the Scriptures spoke, and
they should have pointed the people to him. But when deceitful men and
women pursue evil plans, they want to eliminate all opposition. Instead of
honestly evaluating Jesus’ claims based on their knowledge of Scripture,
these religious leaders sought to further their own selfish ambitions and
were even willing to kill God’s Son, if that’s what it took, to do it.
18:15-16 The other disciple is probably John, the author of this Gospel.
He knew the high priest and identified himself to the woman at the door.
Because of his connections, John got himself and Peter into the courtyard.
But Peter refused to identify himself as Jesus’ follower. Peter’s experiences
in the next few hours would change his life. (For more information about
Peter, see his profile on page 1643.)
