As has been mentioned a couple times now, Jim Franks and not Jim Franks,
! Britt Hopper and Scott Sage and I were in Louisville this past week for our
! denominations General Assembly and so I'm grateful that this Sunday Jeff Kreisel is bringing God's word to us. Jeff is one of our missionaries.
He's the campus minister for reformed university fellowship at the Air Force Academy where he ministers to our cadets. So welcome Jeff.
Jeff Kreisel, Chief Executive Director of the Air Force Academy
Alright, well good morning Cheyenne Mountain.
Like Matt said, my name is Jeff Kreisel. I serve as the RUF campus minister at the Air Force Academy and I also am an Army Reserve Chaplain.
No longer here at Fort Carson, I now drill in Salt Lake City. It's a beautiful, beautiful state and city.
Before I begin, Matt reminded me that I needed to thank the church in his words, I believe streams of cheddar.
No, you know, we're so thankful for your generosity to our ministry. We would not be able to do what we do without this church and without others.
Myself, my wife, our intern Abby all here this morning and then Jay our associate.
We all are very very grateful and so just wanted to begin by saying that.
I am going into my tenth year at the Air Force Academy and so I am now at that point in my college ministry career.
In which people seem to be obsessed with the question, what's next for you, Jeff?
How much longer are you going to do RUF?
When are you going to pastor a church?
It reminds me of like when you're a senior in high school and everybody and their mother wants to know like,
what's next for you after high school?
Or for college students, what's your major?
You hear that question over and over again.
I get these types of questions all the time and, you know, being in college ministry for 10 years, it's fairly unusual.
And so I understand why I get asked these questions and I know that people mean well.
But if you think about it, it is an unusual question.
Imagine asking people from other professions that question.
Hey, Mr. Dentist, you've been doing dentistry for a while now.
What's next for you?
Or hey, Miss Lawyer, when are you going to start looking for judge jobs?
You are at that point in your career after all.
People mean well.
And in their defense, like college ministry is a weird job.
And to some extent, it does seem to have an expiration date based on age.
And that brings me to another question that I get a lot recently.
It's this.
Jeff, how do you continue to connect with college students that are half your age?
And I usually say, well, they haven't been half my age for a while.
So, but thank you.
But in all seriousness, it's not that complicated.
How do you connect with college students?
You connect with college students the same way that you connect with anyone.
You meet them where they are.
And then you bring that gospel good news into that space.
The best way to learn a new language is through cultural immersion, through proximity.
And it's the same with college ministry.
We learn their language through proximity, through cultural immersion.
So if my students participate in some new social media trend, or want to participate in some new social media trend, we're probably going to participate in it as a ministry as long as it's clean.
If my students are really excited about some new video game or board game, I'm probably going to play it.
If they're into Dungeons and Dragons, guess what? Sign me up for the campaign.
If they're really passionate about chemistry, I'm relearning chemistry for them.
And if they're really excited about a new book, I'm going to buy it.
I'm going to read it.
And maybe if it's good, I'll also get excited about it.
For instance, last year, several of our students became what I would call evangelists for the book, Project Hail Mary.
You guys probably know better from the movie.
So Jen and I, we read the book, and then we connected with our students over it.
We met them where they are, and then we brought the gospel into that space.
The story is awesome.
It's an amazing book.
It's really well written.
It'll keep you engaged.
But the thing I love the most about Project Hail Mary is how the book ends.
And don't worry.
No spoilers.
You can still go watch the movie.
The author, Andy Weir, he is an expert at landing the plane.
Every book, he perfectly lands the plane.
He knows how to thread themes together from start to finish.
He knows how to tie the loose ends.
And he knows how to complete character arcs, to bring those arcs to a satisfying conclusion.
And so we met our students in this space.
And I told them, you know, there's another book that lands the plane perfectly.
And while discussing this book with some of our students, it was so much fun to see them make the connections with the biblical story.
The Bible made up of 66 books that tells one story about one hero in one central conflict.
The themes that are threaded throughout the Old Testament that began in Genesis 1, they are beautifully tied together in the person, the work and the worth of Jesus Christ.
And our passage this morning is a powerful example of this truth.
That the entire Bible is one story.
We're going to be looking at John chapter 18, when Jesus is arrested and betrayed in the garden of Gethsemane.
The apostle John is bringing us back to a garden.
He's bringing us back to the beginning.
He's threading the themes beautifully in order to land the plane.
You see, the story of Adam's betrayal of God in the garden of Eden is the backdrop of Judas's betrayal of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.
Now, the apostle John has been very explicit from the very beginning of his gospel account that he was seeking to write a new kind of Genesis.
Chapter 1, verse 1.
In the beginning, he's making that direct connection with the first book in the Bible.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Throughout the remainder of his gospel, he is seeking to answer one question.
And he wants us to answer this question, and that is this.
Who is Jesus?
Who are you seeking?
What version of Jesus do you long for?
And so by John 18, our passage this morning, John needs to land the plane.
And so once again, he returns to that initial setting.
He returns to a garden.
He returns to the central conflict that was introduced in Genesis 3.
1 John 3, verse 8 says,
The reason the Son of God appeared was to defeat or destroy the works of the devil.
He gets us back to that central conflict, and then he introduces us to the true hero of the story.
The seed of the woman that was prophesied in Genesis 3.
The Proto-Evangelion, the first mention of the gospel that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.
The second Adam.
You see, in the Garden of Eden, the first Adam hid from God to avoid being found in his sin so that he could preserve his life.
Whereas in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus, the second Adam, intentionally goes to the very place where he knew he would be found.
So that he could give his life for the sins of the world.
So I invite you, if you are willing and able, to please stand for the reading of God's holy, inerrant, and inspired word for us this morning.
We will be looking at John 18, verses 1 through 11.
John 18, verses 1 through 11.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook of 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 again.
I told you that I am he.
So if you seek me, let these men go.
This was to fill 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 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 to me?
This is the reading of God's word.
You may be seated.
So in verse four, let me read it again.
Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, whom do you seek?
Whom do you seek?
This has been the question that John has been getting at since chapter one of his gospel.
But before we answer that question, we need to first clarify who is Jesus speaking to?
Who is Jesus talking to in the garden?
Who is the them?
Well, thankfully, we don't have to guess.
The text tells us directly if you look at verses two and three.
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.
So who is the them?
Who is in the garden of Gethsemane with Jesus?
Who is Jesus asking the question?
Whom do you seek?
Well, first, Judas is obviously there.
He was one of Jesus' disciples a few chapters earlier in John chapter 13.
Jesus takes a towel and he wraps it around his waist.
He picks up a water basin and he starts scrubbing Judas' dirty feet.
It was after this instance, this encounter, that Judas excuses himself from the table.
And the text says that he goes into the night.
He goes into the darkness to do an evil deed to betray his savior.
So Judas is there.
Second, there is a band of Roman soldiers.
They are also there.
Now, a band of soldiers could be anywhere from eight to a few hundred soldiers.
Some scholars are convinced that in this little Garden of Gethsemane, if you Google Garden of Gethsemane and look at pictures in this pretty small garden, that there were hundreds of Roman soldiers.
I personally am not convinced.
I think it was probably more like a Roman contubernium, which was essentially a squad of like eight to ten soldiers.
They would have been fully armored.
They would have been well-trained.
They're there.
Third, we have officers who are representing the chief priests and Pharisees.
So these officers, they're essentially the religious police who have been sent here on behalf of the chief priests and the Pharisees.
And a deal has clearly been worked out in advance between the religious and the Roman authorities to hand over Jesus to the religious leaders instead of the Roman authorities.
And so they're there as well.
And then fourth and finally, the disciples are there.
We know this first from Peter's impulsive reaction with his sword in John 18.
But we also know this from the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that all of the disciples were present in Gethsemane on this evening.
In John's Gospel, Peter essentially serves as a representative for the disciples in the story for this fourth group of people.
Okay.
So there are four very different factions in the garden.
And they have four very different agendas.
And these agendas are built around the fact that they have very different ideas about the identity and mission of Jesus.
And so Jesus asks all four factions, whom do you seek?
And he is also asking that same question to us this morning.
So who is Judas seeking?
Verse 3.
So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Now, given the fact that Judas leaves right after the foot washing ceremony in the upper room to go procure this small army of well-trained and like well-armed men,
the other day, the other day, the other day, the other day, the other day, the other day, the other day.
So that's why Judas had a very different idea of what Jesus' identity and his mission should have been.
And consequently, what Judas' mission in life should be as his follower.
Judas was seeking a worldly revolutionary Jesus.
A Jesus who wasn't afraid to use violence to bring about a revolution.
Judas wanted an insurrectionist Jesus.
But instead, he heard these words from Jesus in the upper room in chapter 13.
Jesus says,
If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.
In other words, I don't want you to fight for me, Judas.
I want you to wash feet for me.
I don't want you to stay at the head of the table and like exude your authority.
I want you to step down from the head of the table to empty yourself and to take the form of a servant for me, Judas.
I want you to take your rank off.
I don't want you to show it off.
You can understand why Judas was upset with Jesus in the upper room.
A few months ago, Secretary Hegseth issued a directive to all military chaplains.
And that is this, take off your rank.
I'm sure many of you in this room are well aware of this directive.
And as you can imagine, there have been a lot of strong opinions.
It has caused quite the stir in the chaplain corps of all branches.
There are a lot of loud opinions on this decision.
And I have talked to a lot of chaplains of varying ranks over the past few months about this directive.
I'm going to try to be kind here.
But what I've noticed is that on average, the higher the chaplains rank, the more opposed they are with the decision.
Now, to be fair, these senior chaplains, they have a variety of good reasons for why they think chaplains should continue to wear the rank.
And some of these reasons certainly do have merit.
But by and large, in my opinion, they're reasons, if you really kind of boil them down, they are rooted in worldly motives.
Like personally, obviously, I'm in favor of the decision.
Not because I think it will necessarily help with chaplain approachability.
It could do that.
It probably will to some extent.
Or that I think it will necessarily help with emboldening chaplains to advise their commanders.
The rank can be something that deters them from that.
Maybe.
I am in favor of the decision because I believe that it is a small act that reflects a big truth.
It reflects Jesus' command to empty ourselves for the sake of others.
It is a humbling thing to tell an officer in the military to take off your rank.
It is humbling.
And we don't like to be humbled.
But I would argue that it is a humbling act that will actually strengthen the character of the chaplain corps.
And I care a lot more about the character of the chaplain corps than the rank that they wear.
Because Judas didn't want to be humbled.
He didn't want to take off his rank.
He didn't want to leverage worldly authority.
Or sorry.
He wanted to leverage worldly authority.
Because he wanted to bring about a worldly kingdom.
He wanted a Jesus who would display his rank.
In a way, Judas represents all of the Israelites who were expecting the Messiah to be this military leader,
this person who is politically powerful, who would lead a bloody revolution and overthrow the Romans.
They wanted another Maccabean revolt.
They wanted people like Barabbas.
Barabbas, we meet him at the end of this same chapter, John 18.
Barabbas was a murdering insurrectionist.
He was not a humble, rank-removing foot washer.
And given the fact that the Israelites demanded Barabbas' release, the insurrectionist, instead of Jesus,
it shows us that this military messianic expectation was not uncommon.
But it is surprising that Judas shared this expectation.
Despite walking with Jesus and learning from Jesus from three full years, he saw countless miracles.
He heard world-shifting, world-altering sermons.
He watched Jesus put others ahead of himself time and time and time again.
And yet, he still sought a different kind of king.
And he sought a different kind of kingdom.
And so Jesus asks Judas,
Whom do you seek?
Who are you seeking?
Who are you looking for?
What kind of Jesus do you want?
And I think the answer that was going through Judas' head in Gethsemane in answer to this question was something like this.
I'm looking for a worldly revolutionary Jesus.
And I thought you were him.
But no, you're preoccupied with washing feet when we have a war to win.
You must be a fraud because you don't fit my expectations for who you should be.
Now, perhaps Judas felt betrayed by Jesus.
And in a sense, this is true.
Jesus betrayed Judas' faulty, ingrained worldview.
A worldview that believed that God's kingdom was the result of military strength, political power, and economic prosperity.
For Judas, to get on earth as it is in heaven,
you needed to get to heaven through as it is on earth.
And Judas is challenged here.
Jesus challenges his faulty worldview.
Judas expected an insurrectionist because he believed that the main enemy and the main conflict was against flesh and blood.
But Jesus came to defeat a far greater and far more dangerous enemy in order to secure a far better future,
not only for the Israelites, but for the entire world.
So that's Judas.
Who were the Roman soldiers seeking?
I think the Roman soldiers just thought they were in Gethsemane to do their job,
to keep the peace.
So what kind of Jesus were they seeking?
They were probably seeking a socially undisruptive Jesus.
They thought that Jesus was, in fact, just another kind of crazy Israelite
who was starting some form of insurrection, like Barabbas,
and they're coming to keep the peace.
Maybe they knew their history books, their history, and they knew of Judah Maccabee,
and they didn't want that situation to repeat itself.
You see, by coming to Gethsemane to arrest Jesus,
the Roman soldiers sought a Jesus who would no longer bring disruption to their society.
Ooh.
Listen, if you are looking for a Jesus who won't disrupt your way of life,
don't read the Bible.
Jesus was purposefully and perpetually disruptive throughout his earthly ministry.
His commands were disruptive.
His sermons were disruptive.
His miracles were disruptive.
His parables were disruptive.
His parables, they sought to afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted.
They were disruptive.
They were intended to be.
And when he purposefully violates the Pharisees' legalistic laws,
he was intending to be disruptive.
I'll give you an example.
In John chapter 5, Jesus goes to the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath of all days,
knowing that the Pharisees would not be happy with the actions he was about to perform on said day.
Jesus finds a paralyzed man who had been sitting by this supposed miracle healing hot spring for up to 40 years.
You know, we have a lot of hot springs in Colorado.
This one, it probably had some sort of pain relief or stress reduction properties within it,
but it obviously could not heal paralysis.
And so he sat there, hopeless and helpless for 40 years.
But then Jesus, the great physician, sees him, has compassion on him,
and then heals him instantaneously.
But his healing was disruptive.
This paralyzed man was used to living a paralyzed lifestyle.
In fact, it was pretty much all he'd ever known.
Other people had to bring him food, had to care for his daily needs.
They took care of him because he couldn't.
He couldn't work.
He could not provide for himself.
But now that he was healed, he had to embrace a different lifestyle.
He had to change because he was changed.
Gospel healing is disruptive.
Or take the apostle Paul.
Back when he was Saul.
He was the Pharisee of Pharisees, right?
He was this, like, prominent, promising up-and-comer.
He was zealous for the law.
And he was eager to hunt down Christians and eradicate this new church that was called The Way.
As Saul, the Jesus that he sought was a forgotten Jesus.
A Jesus who was forgotten, who was lost in time.
And so he commits his life to eliminating the early church, The Way.
Why?
Because if what The Way was saying about Jesus was actually true,
then Saul would have to completely change the way that he lived.
He'd have to change everything.
And on the road to Damascus, that's exactly what happens.
Jesus disrupts Saul's way of life.
Blindness.
Instantaneously.
And in an instant, Saul, he loses his worldly power.
He loses his prestige.
He loses his position.
He loses his identity.
He loses his community.
He loses everything.
Quite the disruption.
And then after healing Saul, Jesus disrupts his identity.
He changes his name.
Jesus disrupts his mission.
He makes him the apostle to the Gentiles.
And Jesus disrupts his community.
He surrounds him with the people that he was previously hunting.
Listen, the Jesus of the Bible will disrupt your social life.
Instead of fearing the opinions of others, you'll start to fear for their souls.
Instead of longing for every human experience, you'll start to long for worship.
Instead of being a coward in the face of cruelty, you'll start to speak up.
You'll start to speak disruptive truths to people you love.
You will start to help them become undeceived by their own sin.
Instead of hoarding your money and all of your possessions, you will start to store up treasures in heaven.
You'll start to be a cheerful giver.
A joyful giver.
A generous giver.
And instead of holding on to grudges and resentment and bitterness, you'll start to pursue reconciliation.
And it is disruptive.
It is humbling.
And it is hard.
When Jesus changes you, he calls you to a changed life.
And it is disruptive.
Who were the chief priests and the Pharisees seeking?
Well, they were seeking a Jesus they could control.
They wanted a compliant Jesus.
One who would yield to their will.
One who would stop undermining their authority.
One who knew his place and stayed in his lane.
The chief priests and the Pharisees wanted a Jesus that they could mold into their own image.
And Jesus refused.
In the Old Testament, this same spirit is at work in the Israelites as they crafted idols to worship.
They also wanted gods that they could control.
They wanted gods fashioned in their own image and likeness.
Gods that were compliant.
Gods who knew their place.
In Exodus 32, Moses comes down from the summit of Mount Sinai.
Where he had been commuting with God and where he received the Ten Commandments.
And what does he find at the base of the mountain?
He finds a golden calf.
He finds spiritual adultery.
Spiritual treason.
Spiritual rebellion.
Despite being rescued from Egypt in the most miraculous way.
As soon as Moses goes up the mountain, the Israelites take it as an opportunity to bring out the idols that are already in their heart.
After 400 years in Egypt, their false gods have become ingrained in their hearts.
You've probably heard it said, it is easy to get the Israelites out of Egypt.
It's a whole other thing to get Egypt out of the Israelites.
They wanted gods they could control.
R.C. Sproul put it like this.
The calf gave no law.
Demanded no obedience.
It had no wrath or justice or holiness to be feared.
It was deaf, dumb, and impotent.
But at least it could not intrude on their fun and call them to judgment.
Listen, if you are seeking a Jesus who is fashioned in your image, a version of Jesus who is compliant, that you can control,
you might as well pull out your chisel and your mallet and start carving.
But forewarning, the version of Jesus that you create will be deaf, dumb, impotent, and ultimately useless.
You will receive no hope, no joy, no peace from a version of Jesus that is crafted in your own image.
But at least he won't intrude on your fun.
It might make you feel better to impose your ideas of morality onto Jesus.
But like he did with the Pharisees, Jesus will refuse.
We don't control him.
He is the Lord of all.
In the words of Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper,
Listen, you can't mold him.
He molds you.
He doesn't yield to your will.
You yield to his.
As sovereign Lord, he knows his place.
He's noted for eternity.
The question is, do we know our place before such a holy, awesome God?
Last but not least, we have Peter, who is representing the disciples.
Now, you've got to hand it to Peter.
Peter was even willing to die for Jesus before Jesus was resurrected.
I mean, consider the odds, right?
Even if you go on the low number of the Roman soldiers, we're looking at 8 to 10,
plus we have these officers probably another 8 to 10 or so.
So they're already outnumbered 2 to 1.
Peter didn't stand a chance against this well-trained, fully armed squadron.
But he was ready to die in his attempt to deliver Jesus from their hands.
And so when Jesus asks the question, whom do you seek?
Given Peter's reaction when he pulls out his sword,
I think Peter's answer would have been something like this.
I'm looking for a Jesus who doesn't go to a cross.
You see, this wasn't the first time that Peter said something along these same lines.
In Matthew 16, Jesus explains to Peter that he had to go to Jerusalem to suffer many things and be killed,
and then on the third day rise again.
And Peter says, not on my watch.
And Jesus replies to Peter, get behind me, Satan.
You are a hindrance to me,
for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
You see, Peter didn't understand Jesus' true mission.
He wanted a version of Christianity without a cross.
Martin Luther King Jr. put it this way,
there is no crown without a cross.
I wish we could get to Easter without going to Good Friday,
but history tells us that we got to go by Good Friday before we can get to Easter.
Peter wanted a Christianity without the cross.
He wanted a version of Christianity that made his life easier,
not a version that brought hardship and suffering.
After Gethsemane, and over the next few days,
Peter would come to terms with the fact that if you remove the cross,
you get a false gospel, you get a fragile hope,
and you get a phony Savior.
And then we see this at Pentecost.
In Acts, Peter preaches boldly the true gospel.
He preaches the version of Christ who was wearing a crown of thorns
and who was bearing a cross.
And then a few decades later, Peter was still willing to die for Jesus,
but now he was willing to die for him for a different purpose.
He was willing to embrace a cross of his own.
And this, my friends, is at the very heart of Christianity.
Jesus says, this is what it means to follow me.
Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.
There is no crown without a cross.
So what about you this morning?
What version of Jesus are you looking for?
A worldly revolutionary Jesus?
A socially undisruptive Jesus?
A compliant Jesus?
A Jesus without a cross?
Or maybe it's a different version altogether.
Maybe it's the Santa Claus Jesus.
The one who's making a list and checking it twice.
He's going to find out if you're naughty or nice.
He gives you gifts, and he lacks all grace.
Or maybe it's the self-help guru Jesus,
whose mission is just to come alongside you
and make your life more prosperous.
Maybe it's the Aesop's fable Jesus.
He's really just a legend with some good moral stories.
Maybe it's the patriotic American Jesus.
Maybe it's the grace without truth Jesus.
Or even worse, the truth without grace Jesus.
Whom do you seek?
Well, here's the best starting point.
How about you seek after the Jesus
who self-discloses his own identity?
They said they came to Gethsemane
looking for Jesus of Nazareth.
And in verse 5, Jesus said to them,
I am he.
In Greek, it's two words.
Ego, eimi.
And how did they respond?
The text doesn't tell us
that they is just one group.
We can assume that it was possibly all four factions.
Verse 6 says,
When Jesus said to them,
Ego, eimi,
they drew back and they fell to the ground.
They understood what Jesus was saying.
They were confronted with the real glory of Jesus.
And so they fall to the ground.
This is like an echo of divine encounters
that we see throughout the Old Testament.
We read in Exodus earlier,
Moses hiding his face before God.
That's the natural reaction of someone
who comes face to face with a holy God.
But it is also a preview of the day
when every knee shall bow
and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
This is a preview of that.
Ego, eimi.
This is the Greek version of the Hebrew word Yahweh.
I am who I am.
I will be who I will be.
Jesus is saying,
I am self-existent.
I am sovereign.
I am infinite, eternal, and unchanging.
He's saying,
I'm the one who before all time began
was equal with God the Father.
I am the great I am.
Colossians 1 verse 16 says this,
John has been leading to this moment
for 18 chapters.
And now he needs to beautifully land that plane.
He has been leading us to this question.
Jesus, who do you say that you are?
John 6, I am the bread of life.
I'm the one who sustains your life
and satisfies your soul.
John 8, I am, ego, eimi,
the light of the world.
The light shines in the darkness,
but the darkness cannot overcome it.
John 10, I am the door.
I am the entry point.
I am the access point
into God's holy presence.
John 10, again,
I am the good shepherd.
I am the one who lays down his life
for his sheep.
He says in this passage,
take me and let them go.
He is the good shepherd.
John 11,
I am the resurrection and the life.
In other words,
I am hope incarnate
in the face of death and dying.
John 14,
I am the way,
the truth,
and the life.
I am the path
to human flourishing
and fulfillment.
In John 15,
I am the true vine.
I am united to you.
My love is coursing through you.
And I am the one who empowers you
to bear good fruit.
With just two words,
Jesus knocks down his opponents
like a prize fighting boxer.
But then he gives himself up to them.
He gains the upper hand
and yet he remains undistracted
from his mission
because he knows who he is
and what he came to do.
And over the next 24 hours,
he would show them
and us
the kind of Jesus
that he truly is.
He's the kind of Jesus
who gladly bears your burdens.
He's the kind of Jesus
who willingly atones
for your sins.
He's the kind of Jesus
who obediently drinks
the cup of God's wrath
so that you don't have to.
He's the kind of Jesus
who though he was
in the form of God,
did not count equality with God
a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself.
Taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men
and being found in human form,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient
to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
So let me ask you
the question again,
whom do you seek?
Jesus has already revealed himself
to be the exact kind of Jesus
that you most need.
Amen?
All right.
Let me pray for us.
Heavenly Father,
we thank you for your word.
Lord,
we thank you for this story
in John 18
where Jesus is betrayed
and arrested
knowingly.
He went to that garden
knowing what would happen
and yet he went anyway
so that he could bear
the sins of the world.
I pray that we would see him rightly,
that we would worship Jesus
for who he really is
as he has self-disclosed himself,
that he is the bread of life,
he is the light of the world,
he is the true vine,
he is the door of the sheep,
he is the good shepherd,
he is the resurrection and the life,
and he is the way,
the truth,
and the life as well.
We pray that these self-disclosures
would penetrate our hearts
and change our lives.
We pray all this in Christ's name.
Amen.
Let's go ahead and stand up.