The Passion of Christ, Part 1: The Surrender of the Servant

The Passion of Christ, Part 1: The Surrender of the Servant

John 18:1-12

Introduction: This week the stories coming out of Boston and Texas remind us that we live in a world that is fallen. In his devotional this morning, Rick Warren said "Everything is broken!"  It reminds us how desperately we need Jesus.  As we come to the story of the Passion of Christ, we find hope, we’re reminded that God understands our pain, and that He loves us so much He sent the Son to endure the Cross, so that we could experience forgiveness and life.  

     We’ve been walking with the “beloved disciple” through his Gospel for quite a while. Remember that he started the Gospel with a series of miracle stories in the first 11 chapters. John calls them “signs” because they revealed to those with eyes to see something about who Jesus is. The story continues in the second part of the gospel, which has been called the Book of Glory by some, by others the “Book of the Passion.”  The Gospel ties beautifully together since the cross and resurrection really are the last “sign” as prophecies are fulfilled and Jesus proves beyond question who He is. It’s perhaps the greatest sign because it reveals the depth of His love for His people. Its one thing to hear teaching about love, like the Good Shepherd who would lay down his life for his sheep. But here we see it unfold before us as Jesus does exactly that. It’s pretty amazing that John devotes over a third of the Gospel to Jesus’ final week on earth:  in Chapter 12 we have the triumphal entry, then we go to the upper room, and now to the garden and the story of his arrest and all that follows, until the climactic “lifting up” of the Son.  John emphasizes the astounding truth that Jesus wasn’t a “victim” of circumstances. He chose to hand himself over to sinners so that the Father’s plan could be carried out, and sinners like us, could be saved. 

The Big Idea: The Lord Jesus demonstrated His love by laying down His life for us.  We should follow Him, making God’s glory and His mission our top priority and putting the needs of others before ourselves. We can fearlessly love and serve others in His name because of who He is, and what He has done for us.

I. Jesus is Lord, so we can be fearless (1-7)! As we open John 18 we come to one of the most poignant moments in the Gospel.  Jesus spent an evening with his disciples, showing them a lesson about humble service as He washed their feet.  He gave them a new ordinance, the Lord’s Table, which would be a perpetual reminder of his loving sacrifice.  He then taught them about the coming persecution and the promise of the Spirit.  And then we get a glimpse of His intimate communion with the Father in his “high priestly prayer.”  Now the hour is at hand, and Jesus embraces the moment as Judas leads the Jewish leaders and a contingent of soldiers to the Garden. They meant evil against Him, but He is God incarnate, fully in control of the moment.

    Everything is broken, we’re not in Eden anymore! It seems like more than a coincidence that the original act of human disobedience, that of Adam and Eve, happened in a garden.  Now the act of obedience that would bring about redemption happens in a garden. Later He would be buried, and resurrected, in a Garden.  He is Lord. And this is His Story.

We read in John 18:4 “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, ‘Whom are you seeking?’" The point here is that He did not hesitate out of human weakness or out of a natural desire for self-preservation.  He knew the intentions of the approaching crowd, and He knew the Father’s plan. He knew how this story had to unfold, so he stepped forward to meet the situation head on.  He was fearless. Of course He is, He is God!

·         John wants us, as we read the Gospel, to know that Jesus was in control then as He carried out the Father’s plan. 

Earlier in the Gospel Jesus passed through the midst of an angry mob because it was not yet time for Him to lay down his life.  He was in control then and He is in control now.  In Vv.4b-6 we read…

  "…Whom are you seeking?"  ⁵ They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I AM He." And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them.  ⁶ Now when He said to them, "I AM He," they drew back and fell to the ground.”

     Notice also how Jesus responds to their answer.  They say they are looking for “Jesus of Nazareth,” Jesus answers with the name He had long before the day when Joseph and Mary named Him “Jesus.” He responds, “Ego Eimi,” (“I Am [Him”]).  By now the reader of John has surely made the connection.   The “I AM” statements that had a “predicate” revealed much about Jesus and His mission. Remember some of them: He said “I AM the Bread of life…” (6).  “I AM the Light of the world” (8:12; cf. 9:5).   "I AM the Good Shepherd" (10:11), “I AM the resurrection and the Life” (11:28), “I AM the Way, the truth, and the Life” (14:6).

     As amazing as those statements are in all that they reveal about Jesus, perhaps more striking, and shocking in their contexts, were the few “I AM” statements that were absolute, just “Ego Eimi”, “I AM”:  It started in the fourth chapter with the Samaritan woman as she made a statement about the coming Messiah who would teach truth, and Jesus replied, “I AM.” That was striking because it was a clear affirmation by Jesus that He is the promised Messiah.  And His use of the phrase “I AM” echoes Exodus 3 and hints that Messiah is more than a merely human descendant of David.  Jesus later came to his disciples walking on the stormy waters in John 6:20 and assured them, “Fear not, I AM…”  Think about it. If we really believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be, what have we to fear?  Whether it’s a natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake, or an accident like the explosion in Texas or the evil intentions of fallen men like the terrorism in Boston, Jesus promises to be with us, He whispers to us in our pain and confusion, “Fear not, I AM.”

     Later, in Jerusalem at the feast He warns, "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (8:24).  The question at stake here is sin and salvation. Salvation requires believing who Jesus is, the Great I AM, God incarnate.   A few verses later we read, “Then Jesus said to them, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things’” (8:28). He was saying that finally, at the climax of the story, the Cross and Resurrection, the identity of Jesus will be make clear to those who have eyes to see.

     One of the most provocative statements came at the end of John 8, there could be no missing what He was saying.   He said “Before Abraham was, I AM…” (8:58 ).   And now as they come for Him in the Garden, looking for “Jesus,” He says, “I AM,” and they fall back on the ground before Him. There is no question that He was identifying himself with the God of the OT, The Great “I AM” who spoke to Moses from the burning bush, The Word made flesh, dwelt among us.

·         Jesus was in control then and He is in control now as He works God’s plan through us

Jesus was in control then, and He is in control now. We can be fearless (or at least “fear less”!) in a fear-filled world, because we know the One who holds the future, and He is all powerful, and He loves us. It doesn’t mean we won’t face trials, or pain, or hardship. The brutality of the passion was in front of Him. Recall His words at the end of chapter 16, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world!” The Lord Jesus demonstrated His love by laying down His life for us.  We should follow Him, making God’s glory and His mission our top priority. We can fearlessly love and serve others in His name because of who He is, and what He has done for us.

II. Jesus is Love, so we should show love in His name (7-9)! It is interesting that John uses “fulfillment language” here, the same kind of language that is used to describe the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.  Its another indication that He is God. Just as the Old Testament prophecies had to happen as God had determined, the Words of Jesus had to happen according to God’s predetermined purpose. The reference here is to what Jesus was praying about in the previous chapter. The disciples would face a moment of great testing. They would be driven almost to the point of despair, but the Master would not let them lose heart and lose faith.  Jesus intercedes for his friends, “You are after me, let these go their way.”   Earlier, in the upper room, he said in John 15:13  "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.” As this story was unfolding, Jesus was ready for exactly that moment. He knew what was coming.  Jesus speaks here, interceding for His disciples, v.9 “That the saying might be fulfilled, ‘…of those you have given me, I lost none.’”  Jesus has taught  his disciples about love.

Love for God – Jesus referred to this as the greatest commandment: to love God whole-heartedly.  We read in Luke 10:25-27,

“And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  ²⁶ He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?"  ²⁷ So he answered and said, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' "

Jesus acknowledged that answer as correct.  For Jesus himself His love for the Father is evident in His steadfast obedience to the Father’s plan. 17:24 makes it clear that the Father loved the Son from before creation.

Love for one another – Jesus demonstrates love for his disciples by stepping in between them and leaders who mean to do Him harm.  “…Let these go their way…”  He was choosing to lay down his life for his disciples. We can’t say that we love God and then fail to love our brother.  In his first epistle John uses the word “love” thrity-six times in five chapters. One key passage is in I John 4:8-11,

“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  ⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

We spoke about this last week, our love for one another testifies to the world that we have something real.  Jesus said “By this men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34,35).

Love for our neighbors – He also spoke about loving our neighbor as ourselves.  Jesus stops Peter and the others from resorting to violence to save Him (as though He needed their help!). The power of His name was evident, and if he had wished he could have called legions of angels. From the other gospels we know that He even healed the severed ear of the servant Peter struck. That surely defused the moment – and it was another quiet “sign” that revealed again who Jesus is.  Jesus told the parable of the “Good Samaritan” to show the Pharisees that love for our neighbor could not be something that is given grudgingly or only to those who deserve it. It means showing love even when there is no reasonable expectation of getting anything in return.   John tells us in his first letter that “God is love.”  The Lord Jesus demonstrated His love by laying down His life for us.  We should follow Him, making God’s glory and His mission our top priority and putting the needs of others before ourselves. We can fearlessly love and serve others in His name because of who He is, and what He has done for us.

III. Jesus is the Lamb, so we should have the attitude of a servant (10-12)!   “… Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?"  The “cup” is the cup of God’s wrath against sin.  Earlier in the Gospel Jesus asked in John 12:27 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” Jesus was alluding to Psalm 6:3,4. In that Psalm David echoed that his soul was troubled, and he prayed for the Lord to save him.  Jesus didn’t pray David’s prayer, because He came to give his life so that we could be saved.  This was Passover week after all, and the time approached for the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” to be sacrificed.

Since the months have gone by in our study of John we might forget what happened earlier that same night. In the beginning of His time with the disciples in John 13 Jesus did a remarkable thing.  By then they had not only called him Master and Teacher, but they at least had some sense that this was no mere man they were following through the highways and byways of Palestine.  And then, he girds himself with a towel and kneels down and begins to wash their feet, one at a time.  It was the task of a humble servant, normally the lowest ranking servant in the household.  When he finished, Jesus said,

“…Do you know what I have done to you?  ¹³ "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.  ¹⁴ "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.  ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you…”  (John 13:12-15). 

In his letter to the Philippians Paul spoke to this same idea.  He said, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” (Phil 2:5-7). 

What is God saying to me in this passage? The Lord Jesus demonstrated His love by laying down His life for us.  We should follow Him, making God’s glory and His mission our top priority and putting the needs of others before ourselves. We can fearlessly love and serve others in His name because of who He is, and what He has done for us.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Are we willing to serve others because of Jesus, to love unconditionally, and to live by faith, fearlessly trusting Him to take care of us as we carry out his mission in the world?

     What is it that burdens you most today? It may be big, it may be painful, but it doesn’t have to paralyze you.  Get this: God is on your side, and the battle belongs to him. Trust Him, give it to Him, and follow Him, fear not, the Great I AM is with you!  I have a little cross stitch book mark in my Bible, it says “If you knew that you couldn’t fail, what would you do for the glory of God?” If we act for His glory we cannot fail since all God requires is our obedience.

     Is there someone around you that has been a thorn in your side (or, in more modern imagery,  a pain in your neck!)?  They were created by God, and somehow, they too bear His image. Can you choose to love them, even if they don’t love you back? Start by praying for them and then see what happens. They may change, but you will change. You’ll begin to see them differently.

   Jesus took the form of a servant, and scripture says we should have the same attitude. Do you have the attitude of a servant? Here’s the test: How do you react when someone treats you like one?  Jesus is Lord, so “fear not.” Jesus is love, so choose to love. Jesus is the Lamb, so work on your serve.  Think about that, amen.