But let me pray before we open up this passage together. Almighty God and Father, we thank you and we praise you that you have spoken. We thank you that you have revealed yourself and your plan to us clearly.

We thank you that we have access to your word and through it we can learn how to live for you. Father, I pray this morning that each and every one of us who hears your word will be convicted by it and respond to it today. And I include myself in that same prayer.

(0:41 – 1:13)

In Jesus’ name, Amen. Well, the news coverage over the last few days has been dominated by a prince or should I say a former prince and that prince was arrested. Pictures flashed across our news screens wherever we see it of vans, fleets of vans and SUVs showing up to arrest a man in Sandringham.

(1:15 – 1:40)

I expect you’ve seen now the famous photo taken by Phil Noble of the former Prince Andrew slumped in the back seat of a car as he’s driven away from the police station. He looks absolutely shell-shocked, haunted, disbelieving, lost. He clearly didn’t expect that any of this would happen to him.

(1:41 – 2:49)

Rewind 2,000 years to a quiet moonlit garden just outside the Judean city of Jerusalem. We find another prince being arrested. There were no cameras to capture the prince’s face but there were plenty of eyewitnesses as we’ll see including John the son of Zebedee whose account of this arrest is available to any of us to read and in fact we had it read to us just a few minutes ago.

Unlike the gospel writers, John doesn’t include all the details leading up to Jesus’ arrest. Instead he jumps straight in to the arrest and gives us a picture that reveals the mindset of his beloved friend and mentor at the time of his arrest. He presents us with a portrait, a picture of a human being who faces the future however seemingly bleak for him with calm resolve.

(2:51 – 3:18)

Unlike the royal prince slumped in the back of the car who looks totally lost, John gives us a picture of a man who’s in complete control despite what it looks like to everybody else. This is a man we can trust. This is a man we can follow in the trials that we face.

(3:19 – 4:53)

In these 14 verses John shows us four important truths that demonstrate Jesus’ total control. Firstly, in verses one to four we see him follow God’s plan against the natural pull to avoid. Jesus walks the hard path of faithfulness.

John tells us that after finishing his prayer Jesus left with the disciples and crossed the Kidron valley. He left the safety of the upper room knowing that Judas had already left to betray him. He led his disciples through the moonlit streets of Jerusalem passing north and then east past the temple and down into the Kidron down to the Kidron valley and up into the mountain of olives.

John simply calls it a garden, doesn’t refer to it as the mount of olives and that invites us to recall another garden, the garden of Eden where Adam was first called to obey God. We know from the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke that Jesus felt the pressure in the garden. In prayer he asked the father if the cup of God’s judgement could pass from him.

(4:54 – 5:18)

He wrestled with the natural desire to avoid suffering even to the point of sweating blood. But unlike Adam and Eve who grasped the forbidden fruit, Jesus didn’t resist the cup, the very consequence of Adam’s and our disobedience. Instead he submitted himself to God’s plan.

(5:19 – 5:49)

Here we see the contrast, Adam’s disobedience and Jesus’ obedience. Adam’s rebellion and Jesus’ submission. Where Adam grasped, Jesus yielded.

Where Adam resisted, Jesus surrendered. Where Adam chose his own will, Jesus entrusted himself to the father’s will.

(5:51 – 6:05)

In one garden a man said, my will. In another garden a man said, not my will. And in that difference lies the turning point of human history.

(6:08 – 7:21)

John adds another detail in verse two. Judas who betrayed Jesus knew the place. Now why include this level of detail here? It’s to remind us that Jesus is in control.

He knows what Judas is about to do. Rather than flee, he goes deliberately to the one place Judas will think to search for him. He walks straight into his own arrest.

He does not shirk from God’s plan. He steps right into it. Sure enough, Judas arrives with a detachment of soldiers and temple guards carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

Put yourself in the disciples’ shoes for a moment. As they watched on this picture of an army or a seeming army marching down the hill from the temple down into the Kidron Valley and up into this garden. Perhaps they froze like Andrew Mountbatten.

(7:22 – 8:35)

Perhaps they whispered for Jesus to hide or to appease the authorities by saying, I’m sorry for what I’ve done. We don’t know what they were saying. But John does tell us what Jesus does.

And it’s remarkable. John writes in verse four, Jesus knowing all that was going to happen to him went out and asked them, who is it you want? He knew Judas’ betrayal. He knew his arrest.

None of this surprised him. None of this took him aback. And Mark reminds us that Jesus had warned his disciples repeatedly that the Son of Man would be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.

To any onlooker here, it looks like Judas is in control of the whole situation. But Jesus is really in control here. Jesus’ final steps as a free man were not away from danger, but toward it and towards God’s plan.

(8:37 – 9:22)

After wrestling with God’s will, he was now ready to embrace it himself. He did not hide in shame or fear like Adam and Eve. He stepped forward in obedience following God’s plan despite the natural human pull to avoid it.

And that call extends to us today. God calls us to walk in obedience to him, to resist the pull of disobedience, to trust him when it’s hard, to step out in faith when the world screams, forget it. Maybe you’re making unethical choices at work to keep the boss happy.

(9:24 – 10:48)

Maybe your marriage is struggling and everyone says, just leave. Maybe you’re hiding your faith out of fear of what people will think. Or maybe you’re covering up or denying your sin.

God calls us, you and me, to something different. He calls us to faith. He calls us to courage.

He calls us to obedience even when it costs. So remember who is really in control and remember to follow his plan. Now all that said, we’re not Jesus.

And we must remember that Jesus faithfully followed the road, to the cross, not us. He walked into God’s judgement for us, for our sins. Unlike him, we will stumble and we will fall along the path of faithfulness.

Only he has and only he will walk perfectly according to God’s plan. You see, John is not exhorting us to live like Jesus, although we should, but rather to see that Jesus walked the path of obedience for us. There is forgiveness.

(10:49 – 11:29)

There is pardon because Jesus walked in righteousness and took the cup of God’s wrath for us. So I encourage you today, look to him, rely on his perfect faithfulness rather than your own. Trust him even when it’s hard, even when it feels like your life is hanging by a thread.

Don’t let your sin haunt you. Don’t allow shame and guilt to define you. Turn and trust in him who bore all your iniquities on the cross.

(11:30 – 12:51)

Remember who was really in control at Gethsemane and who’s still in control today. Remember Jesus followed God’s plan against the natural pull to avoid it and he did this for you. Secondly, we see in verses four and nine that Jesus is really in control when we see him assert God’s power over fear and chaos.

Jesus stands with calm authority. He strides out towards the army who had come to arrest him in obedience to the father’s plan. But then surprisingly, he asks, who is it you want? They reply, Jesus of Nazareth.

That is who they’d been told to arrest. You see, Jesus to them was just another guy from Nazareth that they were told to arrest. Perhaps they wondered why so many of them had been told to go and arrest him.

To arrest one man, perhaps they’d heard tales of his miracles and about claims to his divinity. But they were following orders to arrest a mere man. They look completely in control.

(12:53 – 13:13)

A cohort of armed soldiers, hundreds of trained men against a handful of fishermen and tax collectors. There’s no contest. But once again, John is about to show us that Jesus is really in control.

(13:15 – 13:52)

Jesus answers with words that seem rather innocuous. He says, I am he. Simple, unremarkable, almost understated.

But John knows, and he wants us to know that this is no ordinary reply. Because when Jesus says, I am he, he is echoing the divine name God uses of himself. I’m sure you’ve seen it as you’ve been working through the book of John.

(13:55 – 14:08)

After reminding us that Judas is standing there with them, John repeats the words for emphasis. I am he. At that moment, the balance of power shifts.

(14:10 – 14:17)

The soldiers draw back. They stagger. They fall to the ground.

(14:18 – 14:47)

Not because Jesus resists them, but because his presence overwhelms them. The arresting party comes armed with swords and clubs. Yet with a couple of words, Jesus sends them to the ground.

Just as he spoke and the winds retreated. Just as he spoke and demons fled. Just as he spoke and death itself released its grip.

(14:47 – 15:01)

Now he speaks again and armed soldiers collapse to the ground. This is divine power. This is the authority of the son of God being revealed.

(15:02 – 15:17)

You see, Jesus is not merely omniscient, not merely all knowing. He’s omnipotent. He’s all powerful.

He does not simply foresee events. He commands them. He does not merely know the future.

(15:18 – 15:36)

He rules it with nothing more than the words of his lips. Jesus again is showing who’s really in control here. From a human perspective, it looks like the soldiers have come to arrest Jesus.

(15:38 – 16:02)

But John wants us to see something deeper. Jesus is not being taken. He is giving himself.

And he had already made this unmistakably clear long before his arrest. When he said in John chapter 10, no one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord.

(16:02 – 18:00)

I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This arrest is not forced upon him. It’s permitted by him.

Jesus is showing that he has the power to stop his arrest. He could summon a legion of angels to overcome any army. His divine word, the same word through which the earth was formed and the stars were placed in the heavens is more than enough to knock back this army.

You see, Jesus is really in control here. And he remains in total control today. As Jesus walked forward, the disciples must have been thinking, what on earth is he doing? But Jesus knew exactly what he was doing.

He was revealing his glorious divinity. As the soldiers pick themselves up and dust themselves off, he asks again, who are you looking for? It’s almost as if he’s goading them here. You think that you’re a big army? Gives you the power to come and take me? You thought you could just come along and take me? Why don’t you come and get me? This is the Jesus that we trust.

This is the saviour that we depend on. So perhaps a little sheepishly, they reply again, Jesus of Nazareth. Even now they’re sticking to the script.

Even now that the supernatural power has been on display, it doesn’t deter them from their task. They’re not changed by encountering the divinity of Christ. But this time Jesus adds a startling command in verse eight.

(18:01 – 18:16)

I told you that I am he. If it is me you are looking for, let these men go. In that moment, Jesus is not only revealing his divine power, he’s also protecting his disciples.

(18:18 – 19:55)

The disciples knew that Jesus was the main target here, but they must have known that the soldiers were coming for them too. And once again, Jesus shows his power, not to harm, but to protect his fearful followers in the midst of the chaos that they were facing. John reminds us of the promise Jesus had made to them earlier in the upper room in John 17, just a few hours earlier, where he said, while I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe.

But that name you gave me, by that name you gave me, none has been lost except the one doomed destruction, so that scriptures would be fulfilled. Here, Jesus’ power is not only to reveal his identity, it’s to protect his people. He not only has the desire to keep his promise, he also has the power to deliver it.

But it’s not only the 11 disciples that Jesus protects, he cares for all who belong to him. Jesus promised to protect his disciples while he was with them, but what about us? We no longer physically have him with us. So are we just left to our own devices, to travel through life alone, unprotected, ready to be picked off by Satan, to fall into despair or the snares of sin? No!

(19:58 – 20:27)

Jesus promises his disciples at the point of his departure, at the point of him going up to heaven, that he would remain with disciples, and by implication, with us, too. If you trust in Christ, any of you here today, if you trust in Christ, you belong to him. You’re his sheep, you belong to him, and he will be with you always.

(20:29 – 20:48)

He works powerfully through his spirit, his word, and through his church to protect us from harm. Maybe you’re here and you’re wracked with anxiety or guilt. Maybe you feel weak and overwhelmed by the struggles in your life.

(20:50 – 21:15)

Bring it to him. Bring it to the one who truly is in control at Gethsemane, and who remains in control today, and watches over you and keeps you safe. So remember, firstly, that Jesus followed God’s plan against the natural pull to avoid it, and he did that for you.

(21:17 – 21:38)

Remember, secondly, that he asserts God’s power for you and your protection. Thirdly, remember that he blocks all interference. Even when fear surrounds his friends, even when armies come, armed to arrest him, Jesus stands unshaken.

(21:39 – 21:56)

Verses 10 and 11, in the middle of the chaos, Peter isn’t ready to let Jesus go. He’s not willing to give him up to the Jewish authorities. He knows what’s going to happen.

(21:58 – 22:24)

So he seeks to take control himself by taking matters into his own hands. So he draws his short sword and lunges at one of the soldiers, a man named Malchus, and the sword slips and slices off this man’s ear. Now, John doesn’t tell us what happens next.

(22:24 – 22:46)

We have to read Luke’s account to see that Jesus healed Malchus’s ear. But there’s a reason for that, because John wants us to focus on what Jesus says to Peter. He wants us to see this as a teaching moment for his disciples and for us.

(22:47 – 23:20)

So he rebukes Peter, put your sword away, shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? The cup, as we’ve seen already, is biblical language for God’s judgement. We see it echoed in Isaiah and in the Psalms, and it points us to the cross that looms over Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He had asked if there was any way to avoid drinking this cup.

(23:20 – 23:39)

Now he has resolved to drink it. Nothing, not fear, nor violence, not even loyalty from his closest friends, would block God’s plan from being fulfilled. Jesus stood firm in God’s plan for us.

(23:40 – 24:01)

He would not allow Peter’s attempt to take control to deter him from the path of the cross. And that gives us confidence for today. Because if Jesus had gone Peter’s way, if he’d avoided the cup of suffering, your and my salvation would have been lost.

(24:02 – 24:24)

Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t follow Peter’s way of salvation, nor does he follow our way of salvation. He trusts in and follows God’s way of salvation. And just as he called Peter to trust his way, he calls us to do the same thing.

(24:26 – 24:33)

We all think we know best. Well, I know I do. But we don’t.

(24:36 – 24:44)

We don’t know best. We want to go our own way. We want to go with our own instincts.

(24:44 – 24:58)

We want to go in our own strength. Think of it a bit like tuning a radio in a car when you get the static. The interference, the signal comes in faint and unclear.

(25:00 – 25:27)

Fear, anxiety, temptation, or even our own impulses can drown out God’s voice if we try to go our own way. But Jesus blocks out all interference. Nothing can disrupt his plan, and nothing can drown out his voice when we tune in to him.

(25:29 – 25:52)

His way, and only his way, leads to life. His way, and only his way, leads to salvation. And through it all, he shows us that nothing, no fear, no violence, no misguided loyalty can block God’s plan.

(25:54 – 26:09)

Jesus blocks out all interference, and he calls us to trust him and follow his way. Jesus is in total control. We see it firstly because he followed God’s plan.

(26:09 – 26:18)

We see it secondly because he asserts God’s power. We see it thirdly because he blocks all interference. And fourthly, we see it because he claims God’s victory.

(26:20 – 26:39)

After everything that unfolded in the previous verses, if you’re reading this for the first time, you might expect another dramatic turn to happen. Surely this guy is not going to be defeated. They can’t kill off the main character, as I often say to my wife when I’m watching a series on the TV.

(26:40 – 27:06)

After all the tension of the soldier’s arrival, after the staggering backward at Jesus’ words, after Peter’s desperate swing of the sword, verses 12 and 13 feel a bit anticlimactic. John writes, with striking calm, then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas.

(27:07 – 27:21)

No drama, no struggle, no resistance. Jesus is arrested, he’s bound, and he’s taken. And to everyone watching, there is only one conclusion.

(27:22 – 27:29)

This is defeat. The soldiers appear to have won. The authorities appear to have won.

(27:30 – 27:44)

The enemies of Jesus appear to have won. This is certainly what the disciples were thinking. The other gospel accounts tell us that despite his promise of protection, they fled, fearful, anxious, overwhelmed.

(27:46 – 28:03)

They think this is the beginning of the end. Even Peter, who moments earlier swung a sword in a bold defence, will soon deny even knowing Jesus to a servant girl. But notice Jesus is not overpowered.

(28:04 – 28:24)

He submits himself willingly. In verse 13, we’re told that Jesus was brought into Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the current high priest. Now, even though he wasn’t the current high priest, a high priest role was something that would go beyond retirement.

(28:25 – 28:56)

So people would go to the former high priest because it would be like once high priest, always high priest. And John reminds us of the words of Caiaphas, the high priest, who had told the Jewish leaders, it is better for one man to die for the people. You see, what Caiaphas meant to be political, he thought that by eliminating Jesus, he could prevent a Roman crackdown on the Jewish nation.

(28:58 – 29:16)

But we know the irony of this, don’t we? And John wants us to see the irony of this. He wants to remind us that as what looked like a defeat was actually the pathway to ultimate victory. Jesus went to the cross.

(29:16 – 29:39)

He submitted himself to death in order to win the victory over sin, over guilt, over shame, and over death itself. Same Jesus was in total control of his own destiny, that same Jesus is in total control of yours. The application is clear.

(29:40 – 30:05)

When life feels chaotic or unfair, remember that Jesus is in control. Even when events seem like defeat, when fear, failure, or pressure tempt you to take matters into your own hands, trust him to guide your steps. When the world seems to be winning, cling to the one who has already claimed ultimate victory.

(30:07 – 30:19)

Jesus is in control. He follows God’s plan against the natural pull to avoid. He asserts God’s power over fear and chaos.

(30:19 – 30:36)

He blocks out all interference and he claims God’s victory over apparent defeat. And because he is in control, we can trust him. And we can step forward in life with confidence.

(30:38 – 30:58)

Even when the path is hard, uncertain, or painful. Let’s take a moment to reflect and then I’ll pray. Father, we come to you in total need of your grace.

(31:00 – 31:14)

We don’t come as strong people, we come as weak people. And we shouldn’t come as proud people, but we should come as humble people. Because we remember what you have done for us, not what we have done for you.

(31:17 – 31:36)

Father, we thank you that Jesus was willing to go the hard path for us. Thank you that he was willing to go God’s way. Thank you that he showed his power but didn’t use it for his own sake, but used it for the protection of his people.

(31:38 – 31:57)

Thank you that he zoned in, focused on the path he was led onto, not allowing interference to get in the way. And thank you that he claimed the victory over sin, and Satan, and death. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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