Stopping the mob with a word.

John 18.3-9.

In contrast with the mob arresting Jesus in the synoptic gospels, and Simon Peter whipping out a machete to slash at them, and chaos and fighting and a quick supernatural healing, Lk 22.51 the Gospel of John shows Jesus has total control of the situation.

Yeah there’s a mob; yeah they’ve come to grab him, and bring the usual chaos and disorder. But when they approached Jesus, he actually stopped them. With two words.

John 18.3-9 KWL

3So Judas Iscariot, taking the mob,

and officers from the head priests and Pharisees,

comes there with torches, lamps, and weapons.

4Jesus already knew what is coming to him,

so he comes forth and tells the mob,

“For whom are you looking?”

5They answer him, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

Jesus tells them, “Here I am.”

Judas his betrayer was standing with them,

6so when Jesus tells them, “Here I am,”

they move backward and fall to the ground.

7So again Jesus asks them,

“For whom are you looking?”

They say, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

8Jesus answers, “I tell you, here I am.

So if you seek me,

leave these others alone to go away”—

9so he might fulfill this word which he says:

“I’ve not lost anyone whom you’ve given me.” Jn 17.12

The two words Jesus said to the mob are ἐγώ εἰμι/eghó eími, “I am.” It’s short for “Here I am,” which is why I added the word “here” for us English-speakers. And various preachers love to point out “I AM” is the the name of God which he shared with Moses ben Amram in Midian. Literally what God shared with Moses was אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה/Ehyé ašér ehyé, “I’m being what I’m being.” Or, for short, יהוה/YHWH, which means the same thing—which we either transliterate as “Yahweh,” or translate as “Jehovah.” Anyway these preachers like to imagine—and proclaim all the time—Jesus wasn’t just saying, “Here I am,” like you would if you were surrendering, but boldly declaring the 𝕳𝖔𝖑𝖞 𝖓𝖆𝖒𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕲𝖔𝖉, and identifying himself with it. So the Holy Spirit promptly knocked this unholy mob onto their keisters. “Every knee will bow,” Pp 2.10 and all that.

Jesus’s motive—and ours.

Sometimes these preachers will add this claim: Whenever we declare the holy name of God, whenever we declare stuff in Jesus’s name, it’ll knock evildoers and evil spirits on their butts. In the very same way it did here in John 18.

Meh; this sounds way too much like Harry Potter shouting, “Expelliarmus!” for my taste. Too much like using God’s name as a magic spell. Which it’s not. Bluntly, this sort of behavior uses Jesus’s name in vain for ungodly reasons: We wanna flex with God’s power, and show off how mighty he’s made us… so that people might respect us. Might fear us.

That is not what Jesus was doing here. He didn’t knock back the mob so they’d fear him. Obviously: If they feared him, they’d’ve feared to arrest him. They’d’ve done as the temple police did in chapter 7:

John 7.32, 45-47 NIV

32The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

45Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

46“No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.

47“You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted.

Other times, the Jerusalem leaders wanted Jesus arrested, but they didn’t touch him because they feared the crowds, who knew Jesus to be a prophet. Mt 21.46 They went to arrest Jesus at night precisely because of this fear of crowds; a fact Jesus called them out on.

Luke 22.53 NIV

“Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”

Fear was involved, but it wasn’t any fear of Jesus; it was fear of the Judean people. And Jesus didn’t knock ’em back in order to evoke fear. We would do it for that reason, but Jesus has a divine character, and doesn’t share our selfish motivations.

No, it wasn’t to humiliate them. Because it didn’t humiliate them. They didn’t understand what had happened to them. They didn’t even imagine God was involved, and simply shrugged it off and arrested Jesus anyway. Again, we would do it to humiliate them; to remind them who’s boss here. Again, Jesus doesn’t share our motives.

So why’d he do this? For same reason Christians have always taught he did this: To make it obvious he was in control of the circumstances. Not the mob. Not the Judean leadership. Not the Romans later. Jesus could put a stop to these events at any time, exactly as he told Simon Peter.

Matthew 26.53 NIV

“Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

The 12 legions of angels, however, wasn’t the plan: “How then might the scriptures be fulfilled? So this has to happen.” Mt 26.54 But in case there’s any doubt about who really holds all the power in this situation… well, there’s Jesus saying, “I am,” and the mob falling back.

And this was not for the mob to know. This wasn’t for skeptics. Skeptics still don’t wholly believe Jesus willingly went to the cross; I’ve heard the Historical Jesus teachers speculate about the “real reason” Jesus went to his death, and they generally conclude Jesus was a passive victim who couldn’t stop the Judeans and Romans from killing him. Oh, they know about John 18, but they don’t believe it; they think John made it up.

But those of us who’ve encountered the living Jesus, who know he’s exactly like John described him in his gospel, can read this passage and recognize Jesus was totally in control—and totally on board with his Father’s plan. It meant great suffering, but it also meant he’d save the world.