"Whom Do You Seek?"

Psalm 27:1-6                      Malachi 3:1-5               John 18:1-12

“Whom Do You Seek?”

I once heard a story about a young girl who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her five-year old brother who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies she needed to combat the illness. 

The doctor explained the situation to her little brother and asked the boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. He hesitated for only a moment before taking a deep breath and agreeing to the procedure. As they lay side by side, his blood flowing into her veins, the little boy smiled as he saw the colour return to his sister’s pale cheeks. His smile slowly faded as he turned to the doctor and asked in a trembling voice, “Will I start to die now?”

Apparently, he had misunderstood and had thought he had to give his sister all his blood…his life for hers. 

With Jesus there was no such misunderstanding. In verse 4 John clearly recorded that Jesus knew what was about to happen to him…he knew he was the one sacrifice that would cover the nakedness of the world…he was the lamb of God, who was sent into the world to die for the world and to take away the sins of the world. His life for ours.

Having prayed for his disciples and for all those who would believe in him because of their witness to him, he now turned his attention to the event for which he had come into the world. In John’s Gospel, the transition from preparation to implementation…from words to action…is quite abrupt. Unlike the other Gospels, there is no interlude…no agonized prayer in the Garden…we simply walk with the group from the Upper Room to a garden on the other side of the Kidron Valley and directly move on to the arrest. 

As such, we move suddenly from the sublime heights of Jesus’ prayerful revelation of God’s love to the abyss of betrayal, violence, desertion, denial, religious hypocrisy, political manoeuvring, brutality, and the grisly execution of an innocent man. But it is out of these dark depths that the unity prayed for in the previous chapter emerges. Without chapters 18-20, chapter 17 would forever remain an unrealistic and unfulfilled ideal.

In John’s record of the arrest of Jesus, we have an echo of another event in another garden where the clash between light and darkness also resulted in judgment, just in reverse order. In one, God judged Adam…in the other, the sons of Adam judged God…a judgement soon to be reversed yet again as Jesus took upon himself the judgement that is ours. In Genesis 3, God came looking for Adam, but Adam hid because he was afraid. Here, the sons of Adam come looking for the 2nd Adam, namely Jesus, God-incarnate, but instead of hiding he revealed himself causing them to retreat and fall over from fear. Any form of deceitful behaviour, whether it be disobedience or dishonesty or deviousness, always leads to a shame-filled fear.

Also, just like our progenitors, Judas was tempted to act against God…to betray his unique relationship with Jesus by taking that which seemed pleasing to the eye and desirable to the flesh. Jesus too was tempted to side-step God’s plan…to betray the Father’s trust, if you will…but unlike Judas and our progenitors, he did not succumb to the temptation. He triumphed over it through humble submission and obedience to the will and wisdom of the Father. 

And finally, like the two animals who had to die in Genesis to cover the nakedness of our forebears, so Jesus would die to cover ours. 

But, as we have come to expect from John, there are multiple layers to this tightly worded section. One of these layers appears to connect Jesus’ statement of self-identification (usually translated as “I am he”, but in Greek it is simply “I AM) with the divine name, “I AM” …the divine self-identification of God signifying his eternal, self-existent nature which he revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14. 

Now, by using this divine name here (as he did at other times as recorded in the Gospel of John), Jesus implicitly claimed this divine identity, an identity that ought to evoke awe and reverence, but here it appeared to physically impact those present. Indeed, like in Psalm 27, the enemies of Jesus quite literally stumbled and fell at the mention of his name as they began to advance against him. 

It seems that it was only when Jesus allowed them to come and take him, that they could do so, but only on his terms. His willingness to be arrested was contingent upon the soldiers allowing his followers to go free. Now, you must remember, that all the followers of those claiming to be Messiahs in the past had been mercilessly slaughtered by the Romans together with their leader. So, Jesus allows his arrest to take place, but only on the condition that his followers are allowed to go free.

Now, interestingly, in 2 Chronicles 5:14, we are told that when the glory of the Lord came down on the Temple, “the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” (ESV) Also, in Isaiah 6:1-5, Ezekiel 1:28, and Daniel 10:9, the three prophets were overcome when they experienced visions of God’s overwhelming glory, the latter two quite literally falling to the ground. All of these accounts illustrate human reaction to encountering the divine presence—a mixture of awe, reverence, and, as in the case of the priests, Ezekiel and Daniel, physical collapse. 

But, since John described Jesus in John 1:14 as the Word who became flesh so that he might “tabernacle” (usually translated as “dwell”) among us, we may also hear an echo of 1 Samuel 5:3-4 where the Philistine idol, Dagon, fell and broke before the Ark of the Covenant. This scene may parallel the soldiers’ reaction to Jesus, suggesting that just as Dagon could not stand before God’s presence, so too no human power can stand before Jesus, who embodies God’s presence in a similar yet greater manner than the Tabernacle or the Ark of the Covenant once did. 

Now, these Old Testament parallels may highlight the fact that Jesus’ declaration of “I AM” in verse 6 was not just a reply to their answer to his question, “Whom do you seek?”, but rather a powerful assertion of His divine identity…an assertion possibly meant to encourage his disciples. But as the soldiers’ reaction—falling back in awe or fear—mirrors the reactions of those who encountered God directly in the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as the toppling of the idol Dagon, Jesus’ assertion and their reaction underscores his authority and links him to the God of Israel, who revealed Himself as “I AM” thereby commanding reverence from all creation. In other words, even as he stood, seemingly defenceless before his armed enemies, Jesus, as God incarnate, was in complete control.

However, Jesus’ declaration and the possible parallels with Old Testament events, appear to have been lost on the disciples. To be fair, we must remember that, after a heavy delicious roasted lamb dinner and a few cups of wine, they were more than likely very sleepy. Plus, it was probably somewhere between midnight and 3 AM when this arrest took place. 

Also, unlike Jesus who was awake and who appeared to be prepared for this turn of events, they were rudely roused from their slumber by the noise of the approaching armed soldiers. Nevertheless, Peter’s rash and reckless response to the arrest, Jesus’ reaction to that response in the form of a rebuke and an explanation of what was really happening here, as well as the healing of the wounded Malchus, all served to expose the chasm that often separates limited human comprehension from the infinitely wise and omniscient divine will. 

But before we judge Peter too harshly here, perhaps we need to ask ourselves how many times we haven’t displayed a kneejerk reaction to negative events instead of displaying a calm assurance that God is in sovereign control of all things? How many “ears” haven’t we “cut off” in our self-righteous response to other’s whom Jesus seeks to heal? How many times have we not shied away from the purifying experience of drinking the cup the Father gives to us? We blunder and bluster through life thinking that we are right in wielding our proverbial swords, when it would be better for us to rather humbly allow our Lord to reveal to us his divine perspective.

In this sense, Jesus’ question, “Whom do you seek?”, addresses us all. When it comes to our views about God humans tend to swing between two extremes. Either we believe in a God who is totally flexible or in a God who is totally rigid…a God who flips and flops whichever way we wish or a graceless God who is without compassion or mercy. 

But Scripture reveals to us a God who humbles himself and takes on human form so that he might shed his blood for us…he was willing and determined to drink the cup given to him by the Father…he was willing and determined to give his life for ours.

So, we need to ask ourselves the question. When the Lord whom we seek suddenly steps forward and reveals himself to us in all his glory, will we be able to endure his coming…will we be able to stand before him? Or will we too need to feel his refiner’s fire so that we might be purified like gold and silver?

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024