The Man In The Middle Series

The Man in the Middle

Text: John 18:1-11

The word “Treachery” comes from an old Latin word, “Tricari” which means, “an act of treason”, or literally, “faithlessness” to a sworn oath. It’s a word that doesn’t get a lot of use today… word meaning is becoming a thing of the past thanks to modernism… but it’s a word that describes what we’re going to be reading about today. TREASON! Or faithlessness to a sworn promise.

We are in John’s Gospel, chapter 18 this morning. And if you would, please take your Bibles, and follow along as I read verses 1 through 11. John 18:1-11 (READ).

Now let me fill in some blanks for you here. John doesn’t retell for us the account of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden. We find that in Matthew’s Gospel. But basically what happened is – After Jesus had finished His “High Priestly Prayer” He and the disciples crossed the Brook – Kidron and entered the Garden of Gethsemane. It was probably a pleasant evening. They had just eaten a big meal, and the Garden was a lot quieter than the hustle and bustle of down town Jerusalem, and the temple district. These guys get out there, and they probably fully intended to pray… but we know the whole story. They go to sleep while Jesus prays.

John doesn’t give us those details. Instead, he goes right in to the treachery of Judas.

And I’ll just tell you… I’ve probably read this more than 100 times… literally… and every time, I am appalled at this. It is gut wrenching to me, to see one of the 12 Disciples… or really anyone… do this to Jesus. To betray Him. After having walked with Him for nearly 3 and ½ years. After having seen Him do miracles of healing, and feeding multitudes with just a couple of small fish and a loaf of bread, and seeing Him walk on water, and calm storms, and raise the dead. How does someone do what Judas has done?

The amount of hate, is really mind boggling. And I read through that, and I’m reminded that this same kind of hate, and animosity, and treachery was in my own heart before God saved me. And it’s in the heart of everyone who is not a believer. And people will say, “Well yeah, I mean… I was far from God in my life, but I wasn’t like that… not like Judas.” Oh yes we were! According to the Bible we all were. God by His good grace may have restrained you from going as far off the rails as Judas, but the potential was there. In every one of our hearts.

So we can thank God for His amazing grace that saved a wretch like me… Right! But here’s the thing… that amazing grace is applied BECAUSE Jesus died. If Jesus doesn’t die, there’s no payment for sin. And we’re all in BIG, BIG TROUBLE!

So let’s unpack this text and get into the real meat of it.

So, the City of Jerusalem is jam packed with people. All there to celebrate Passover. It’s an exciting time for most of the folks there. People have traveled from all over the Roman Empire to come and celebrate. Jesus and His disciples have retreated to the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus has prayed, and the disciples have passed out like me on Thanksgiving Day. In another part of town, the chief priests and elders have gathered together for a secret meeting in Caiphas’ house and Judas is there. He’s already agreed to betray Jesus and he comes in and tells them, “Now’s the time! And I know exactly where He’s going to be.” So the priests and elders gather up a cohort of both Roman soldiers, and temple guards, and they all come together to the Garden to arrest Jesus.

Now what we have right there is a picture of the world and its hostility towards the Lord.

You’ve got Jews and Gentiles. You’ve got the Roman civil authorities, and the Jewish religious leaders. And normally they would be arguing and fighting each other, but they’ve united against Jesus. And they’ve come armed. They’re carrying torches, and weapons. It’s a bit much right? I mean… I guess the equivalent might be a full FBI TacTeam raiding the home of a mom who spoke out a school board meeting. Wearing full body armor, carrying their M-4’s, kicking in the door of a soccer mom.

But that’s what they do.

So this armed mob is approaching, Jesus wakes up the disciples and again, John doesn’t tell us about the “Judas Kiss”, but we know it happened, and after words, Jesus, “knowing all that would happen to Him, came forward and said to them ‘Whom do you seek?’”