The Stricken Shepherd


Sermon by David Strain on March 14, 2021 John 18:1-18

Well do continue with your Bibles in hand please and turn with me now to the New Testament scriptures and to John’s gospel, chapter 18; John, chapter 18. We are using the weeks in the run-up to Easter Sunday to reflect on the final hours of our Savior’s earthly life and ministry. We began last time by joining the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane as the Lord Jesus, overwhelmed with a sorrow, He said, “a sorrow unto death,” in great agony of soul, began to seek the face of God preparing for the nightmare of suffering that was shortly to follow. And there we watched, in amazement, didn’t we, as the disciples were found sleeping, not just once but three times over. We felt the sting of rebuke as we found our own hearts mirrored in their inconstancy and sin. And we looked on in wonder at the perfect submission of Christ to the will of the Lord, knowing that the cup the Father had given Him to drink was a cup of unutterable suffering.

And now today we pick up, actually, exactly where we left off. We are back once again in the shadows of the evening in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus, His prayers now ended, is shaking the disciples, the sleeping disciples awake, one more time. “Sleep and take your rest no more,” He tells them. “See, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” And as the dosey disciples stretch and yawn and rub the sleep from their eyes, they see a line of torches snaking through the darkness toward them. And then Judas steps into view, at the head of a troop of soldiers. They’ve come now at last to seize Jesus and to execute all their wicked design. No sooner has Jesus concluded His prayer, “Father, Your will be done,” than we now see that prayer beginning to be answered as the will of the Lord to crush Him is accomplished.

Before we look in more detail at the drama that unfolds, we’re going to pause and pray once again and then we’ll read the text together. Let us pray.

O God, open our eyes, our ears. Take hold on our hearts, our consciences, our lives by this portion of Your Word. Work within us to call those of us who do not follow the Lord Jesus to true repentance before it is too late. And in the hearts of all who follow Him, to cling to Him with tenacious faith, knowing that He is always the Good Shepherd to us, who protects us and keeps us. This we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

John chapter 18, beginning at the first verse. This is the Word of God:

“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. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 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. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’ They answered him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am he.’ Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, ‘Whom do you seek?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.’ This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: ‘Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.’ 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?’

So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

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, 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. 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.’ 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.”

Amen, and we praise God for His holy Word.

We’re going to focus on the first eleven verses of this chapter together, the scene that immediately follows upon the conclusion of our Savior’s prayers that night in the Garden of Gethsemane. And as we approach these events, we may be tempted to view it as a moment of weakness and abject failure and defeat for Jesus. We may even see it as a cause of some mourning for us as we watch our Savior betrayed and bound and led away to the awful ordeal that waits for Him. And to be sure, the malice of a hateful world now begins to execute its worst intentions upon Him in a way that ought to appall us. Here, the evidence of the full depravity of the human heart is on display like never before – the bondage of the One who came to set us free, the betrayal of the only Redeemer of God’s elect, the violence done to the God-Man, Maker of heaven and earth – it’s monstrous, isn’t it? It’s monstrous.

But not everything is as it at first appears here, as I hope to show you. In particular, I want you to see two aspects of our Savior’s identity and mission that I think these first eleven verses especially highlight. First of all, we get to see here the true King judging the world. The true King judging the world. And then secondly, we get to see also the Good Shepherd protecting His flock. The Good Shepherd protecting His flock.

The True King Judging the World

Let’s think about the true King judging the world, first of all. I want you to imagine the ancient city of Jerusalem. It’s about two days before Passover. The city is jammed with people all gathered for the festival. Its narrow streets are crowded, bustling with people, all of them busy with last minute preparations for the great feast. But while everyone else is focused on the festivities, the chief priests and the elders of the people have gathered at a clandestine meeting at the home of Caiphas, the high priest, with much darker business on the agenda. Matthew 26, verses 4 and 5, explains that it’s here at this meeting, two days before Passover, that they hatch their plot. Matthew says, “to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill Him.” But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.” We don’t know all the details, exactly what the sequence is, but whether it was at this meeting while they were still gathered or some time shortly thereafter, but it is now at this point that Judas makes contact with them. Luke 22:3 tells us that Satan had entered into Judas who then conferred with the Jewish leaders who were, frankly, jubilant to find an agent to assist them in their wicked design that was so close to Christ and His inner circle.

And so now the plan is made, the blood money has been exchanged between Judas and the leaders of the Jews, and he has now gone back to be with the other disciples to prepare the feast in the upper room. He sat with them as Jesus washed first John’s feet and then James and then Andrew’s and then Thomas’ and then so on down the line until Jesus washed his feet. He ate and drank with them all at the Passover meal until the moment came. And after having taken the morsel of unleavened bread from Jesus’ hands, he could delay no longer and went out into the night to rendezvous with the plotters. And so while the Lord Jesus was agonizing in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas was coordinating their assault on his former brothers and their Master. Armed with torches and lanterns and weapons, he led a troop of soldiers and their officers to the place where he knew they would be, where he had spent so many nights before now with the disciples and the Lord Jesus.

Now there is some debate about whether the soldiers with Judas that night are Roman soldiers or Jewish soldiers. The words that John uses here and again in verse 12 usually refer to Roman ranks. And some have suggested that the armed group actually consists of both Jewish temple guards and Roman officers that have been seconded to the chief priest for his use. If that is the case, then what we see here is the Roman civil and the Jewish religious powers of the city of the day, normally at loggerheads and in opposition to one another, now united in common hostility to the Lord Jesus Christ. They’ve come out, notice, as if armed for a fight. And if Peter’s violent act in verse 10 is any indication, if it had only been the disciples they had come out to arrest perhaps they would have been justified in their expectation of conflict. They’ve come bristling with weaponry as if expecting to fight their way through the eleven and finally lay hands on an unwilling Jesus to drag Him away kicking and screaming into the night.

But notice what happens instead. Jesus steps forward first. Before anyone can speak or do anything, Jesus takes the initiative. It’s a remarkable moment. He steps forward to receive presumably, first of all, Judas’ faithless kiss, and then He turns to the mob and asks them quietly, “Who are you looking for? Whom do you seek?” And now, having seized the initiative, everyone else must react to Him. Whether it’s the disciples or the traitor or the temple guards or the Roman officers, everyone follows His lead. And look at His reply. When they tell Him they’re looking for Jesus of Nazareth, He says very simply, “I am He.” And they draw back and fall to the ground. Three times over – He says it twice – three times John records these words, as though to make a point. “I am He.” It’s a contrast, I think, to the three occasions when we see the disciples in their weakness, sound asleep, fickle and unable to watch even for one hour, now here, unlike them, here is Jesus clothed with authority. Thrice over John reports Jesus’ words, His willing self-identification to the soldiers. He’s not hiding behind His disciples, is He? He’s not cowering in the shadows behind an olive tree some place. He steps forward. He offers Himself up.

And He does it – notice this carefully – not as a helpless victim, stripped of power, overcome by the hatred of a world that has rejected Him. Not at all! Here we see His dignity and authority, His prerogatives as the divine Son, who answers them as you may know in Greek, “Ego Eimi.” If you know anything about John’s gospel, you’ll know that Jesus has repeatedly used this phrase throughout the gospel to point to His divine identity and mission. It’s a Greek play on the Hebrew name of God revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai back in Exodus 3. “I AM.” That’s what He says literally. Jesus is the great “I AM.”

Now what happens when, as Jesus does here, God reveals Himself to people like this in the Bible? Judges 13:20 – “Manoah and his wife fell on their faces to the ground.” Daniel 8:18 – “Daniel met the Lord and when He had spoken to me I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground.” Acts 22:7 – the persecuting Saul of Tarsus met the exalted Christ on the Damascus road and, “I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting Me?’” Revelation 1:17 – the apostle John sees the exalted Christ, “and when I saw Him I fell at His feet as though dead.” And now here, on a very ordinary evening in a quiet olive grove in Jerusalem, this unremarkable looking man, Jesus of Nazareth, locks eyes with His captors and identifies Himself and the revelation puts them, every one of them, in the dust. “I AM,” He says.

Earlier, while Jesus had been praying in Gethsemane, we got a glimpse of the solitude and the sorrow and the submission to the will of God by the Lord Jesus Christ. His submission to the sufferings that were ordained for Him. And we heard Him pray, “Not My will, but Yours be done.” Now that prayer of submission to God’s will complete, we see it beginning to be answered with the arrival of Judas and the troop of soldiers. But we ought not to imagine that Jesus is subject to the indignities of betrayal and bondage and beatings and everything else that is to come as a merely passive victim, helplessly enduring what’s beyond His power to stop. No, no. He is, yes He is, indeed a man with all the limitations and liabilities of frail human nature. And yet for all His frail humanity as He demonstrates to us here once again, He remained unconquerable deity, the great I AM who levels a squad of soldiers, armed to the teeth and ready for violence, simply by naming Himself in their presence. This is no mere victim. Here is the Lord, the God Man, stepping forward actively bearing His power in a flash of divine glory lest anyone think Him a pitiful and put upon casualty of other men’s evil plans. No, He is the obedient Son, actively going at His Father’s behest to embrace the sufferings ordained.

And as we see that, I want to make sure we don’t miss the way John illustrates the fundamental consequence that must inevitably follow upon this disclosure of Christ’s identity and mission, upon His obedience and sufferings. If this is who Jesus is as He goes to the cross, what difference does it make? What are the implications? Well look at the story. Do you see how John highlights the separation between the disciples and the mob? Jesus has shaken the eleven awake, He’s roused them from their slumber, and then He steps forward positioning Himself between the disciples and Judas who John says was “standing with the soldiers.” If you were to take out your iPhone and take a snapshot of that moment and capture the scene, you would have captured in miniature the great divide that Jesus’ coming, His cross and resurrection, His reign, forces upon every single one of us. There are those who follow Him and there are those who deny Him. There are false believers in their midst – Judas. There are secular powers – Roman officers. There are representatives of the religious establishment – the temple guards. There are Jews and Gentiles. There are false friends and open enemies. And when Jesus makes Himself known in their midst, the representatives of a rebel world fall to the ground judged.

This is what Jesus’ coming does, do you see? In Luke 12:51 Jesus said, “Do you think I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” It’s a sobering picture, isn’t it? He is the great divider; Jesus, the great divider. And His work forces all people everywhere into one of two camps. And those who are not His disciples, please see this, those who are not His disciples will fall one day before the thunder of the voice of the Son of God who will say to those who have not repented when He comes to judge, “Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.” And they will be cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The tablo here in Gethsemane, under the flickering torch light of the soldiers as Jesus goes to be judged, is really a foreshadowing of another day that will come. And it will blaze with light when Jesus, as the great Judge, will return. And then the sheep will be separated from the goats and the redeemed from the damned forever. And it seems to me to be supremely fitting that we should glimpse this division as Jesus begins His final march towards Calvary. Because after all, it is the cross that is the stumbling block to so many people. It is the cross that will cause all people to decide into which of these two camps they will go. It’s what you do with the suffering Christ, with this Man nailed to a Roman gibbet that will decide everything for you. Here in Gethsemane, do you see it, here is the King, the true King, judging the world.

The Good Shepherd Protecting the Flock

But at the same time, we also get to see, in the second place, the Good Shepherd protecting the flock. The Good Shepherd protecting the flock. When Jesus’ enemies reply a second time they are seeking Jesus of Nazareth, look at His answer in verse 8. Do you see this in verse 8? “I told you that I am He, so if you seek me, let these men go.” J.C. Ryle says of this moment, “The tender sympathy and consideration of our great High Priest for His people come out very beautifully in this place and would doubtless be remembered by the eleven long afterward. They would recollect that the very last thought of their Master, before He was made a prisoner, was for them and their safety.” If I were to be the one arrested, I think my mind would have been in turmoil. I’ve only been pulled over by the police a couple of times in my life, but there’s nothing quite like the fear of seeing those blue lights suddenly appear in your rearview mirror. And you can barely think about anything. My heart’s pounding, my palms are sweaty – I’m scared to death! I can’t think of anything! Not Jesus. Jesus, as they seize Him and tie His hands behind His back, brutally shove Him around, Jesus’ thoughts are all for His disciples. They fill His mind. “If it’s Me you’re looking for, let these ones go, these, My beloved ones.”

More is going on, of course, than Jesus merely protecting the disciples in this one moment of crisis as John’s little comment in verse 9 makes plain to us. You see this in verse 9? “This was to fulfill the word that He had spoken, ‘Of those whom You gave Me, I have not lost one.’” When He had been praying in John 17, this is what He said to God – “Of those whom You have given Me in eternity, the elect of God, I have not lost even one.” And so the same power – get this – the same power that levels the soldiers with a word keeps the disciples and protects and preserves them, from eternity into eternity, as His own.

Now to be sure, one of the band of disciples outwardly called by Jesus to follow Him, we now see very clearly in this story, don’t we, has never really been converted. Although he had attached himself to the band of his followers, he never really belonged to Jesus. So here at the moment of crisis, Judas stands not with the disciples, not with the eleven; he stands where he belongs – with the enemies of the cross, falling to the ground before the great I AM.

There is a sober warning, I think, in this scene, isn’t there, that we all ought to make our calling and election sure? It’s not enough, beloved, to associate with Jesus and His disciples. It’s not enough to enjoy an external connection to those who trust in Him. Judas Iscariot is infamous now across history as the archetypal traitor, isn’t he? But I don’t think that’s how we really should view him. Not as a one of a kind traitor, but rather as the chief example of a class of religious people who can often enough be found in nearly every Christian assembly around the world. They have formally attached themselves to Christ and to the Church, but they are not Christ’s and they do not know Him. It should shake us from our spiritual laziness and lukewarmness to realize that an apostle, an apostle, he’d been sent out on mission trips to do ministry with all the others, whose feet Jesus washed in the upper room, who ate the Last Supper with Him, such a one could kiss his Master and with an apparent act of adoration utterly repudiate His Lordship, utterly repudiate His Lordship. Be sure, brothers and sisters, be sure that your religion is more than superficial. It is possible to belong to this church and not belong to Jesus Christ. There is a sober warning here.

But if there’s a warning there’s also wonderful comfort. Think about all the others! What a ragtag band the eleven were. Thomas with all his doubts. James and John who argued about who could be first in the kingdom. Even Peter, so brash and overconfident. Three times he’s about to deny even knowing Jesus. This motley crew of hypocrites and loud mouths and show offs – Jesus kept them and guarded them and shepherded them so that He did not lose even one. He who began a good work in you, hypocrite, loud mouth, show off, coward, compromiser, doubter, He who began a good work in you will complete it. He will. You are kept, weak, trembling, yet honest believer in Jesus, you are kept by the power of God unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. All that the Father has given to the Son cannot be lost. He keeps you. He is the Good Shepherd of the sheep.

This is the ground of our assurance. Isn’t it? It’s not, “I’m wise. I’m spiritually minded.” It’s not, “I’m holy.” It’s not, “I’ve measured up or prayed more or done more or studied harder.” It’s not, in my case, “I’m a minister of the Gospel and I preach the Word, therefore I know I’m saved.” None of those things can establish my security. None of them can provide certainty when trials begin to assault me, that I will stand firm. What can? What is at the basis of your confidence before God? It must be that Jesus was bound that you might go free. It must be that Jesus delivered Himself up to protect you. It must be that of those whom the Father has given to His Son, Jesus Christ has never lost a single one. He will keep you and hold you in His hand forever.

Here’s the Gospel. If the cross is the great dividing line so that on the one hand are those who fall under the judgment of Christ, we need to see there is another group – those who receive the protection and watchcare of Christ, those He delivers and keeps and rescues and redeems. When Peter tries to fight back in verse 10 and cuts off Malchus’ ear with his sword, look at what Jesus says to him. “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?” “He’s resolved,” as Richard Cecil famously put it, “to drink to the dregs the cup of wrath without mercy that we might drink the cup of mercy without wrath.” He doesn’t want them to fight back, you see? He wants to go to Calvary because that’s how He will keep us and deliver us and save us. It’s how He is going to keep you and deliver you and save you. He will give Himself up for you.

Now I want you to see, as we close, the dilemma this passage forces upon us all. Do you see how the cross does not allow any neutral space? You’re in one group or the other. Do you see it? You’re either with Judas and the soldiers or with Jesus and the disciples. What you do with Jesus of Nazareth, what you do with the suffering Savior will determine to which group you belong, not just for this life, but forever. If you are to come under the shepherd care of Jesus Christ rather than fall before His voice of judgment, you, you must trust yourself, your whole life into His hands. You must turn from your sin and beg for His mercy, ask Him for forgiveness, cry to Him for deliverance. Look, He’s holding out a cup of mercy before the day of His judgment comes. He’s drunk in full the cup of wrath so that you can drink the cup of mercy. It’s for you. You take it simply by trusting Him. Take the cup and drink in His mercy and be received under His shepherd care. He loves to rescue sinners, so trust Him, flee to Him, flee from the wrath that is to come. I wonder if you’ll answer His call.

Here is the King, the true King, judging the world. We get to see a little glimpse of it. One day, we will see it wide-eyed for every eye to behold when our Master returns. And here is the Good Shepherd who protects His flock. He will keep you and guard you and feed you and bring you safely home at last. Who Jesus will be to you depends entirely now on how you respond to Him. So with that thought, let’s bow our heads as we pray.

Lord Jesus, we pray for one another, for ourselves. We would not be a false disciple. We would not be merely outwardly connected to You and to Your Church. We want to come under Your shepherd care, protecting us, delivering us, rescuing us. We know that You gave Yourself in place of Your disciples that none of them might be lost. And so we cry to You, Lord Jesus, please forgive our sins; please have mercy on us. We turn from life on our own terms to bow before You and ask, Lord Jesus, come and reign in our hearts. Be King and Savior to us. We would not have You as King and condemning Judge. Hear our cries, for we ask this all in Your name. Amen.

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