Now I don't know whether or not you are familiar with the teaching in Scriptue, of the concept of the crucible, known as "the cup of the wrath of God", but what we have described in these last chapters of John's account of the Gospel record, is, as referred-to by Jesus in vs. 11 and following, are leading-up to His horrible crucifiction upon the cross of His sacrifice..."the crucible" of His suffering for your sins and mine!
The prophesies concerning this last chapter of Jesus' earth-walk, can be found in the records of the Old Testament Prophets and the Psalms, as well as the Revelation. The most descriptive of these, and perhaps the most terriyfying, is found in Jeremiah 25, "For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, 'Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.' Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me, to drink it...".
So in vs. 12, we read of the first step in that appalling journey of our Lord to drink that cup, prepared for us...John's account of Jesus' arrest by that posse of unBelievers made-up of the Roman Guard, their captain, and the officers of the covenant people of Jehovah-God! We saw last time how Jesus, by both word and work, had demonstrated His magnificent healing power, as He had restored the severed ear of the High Priest's servant...yet the horde of His captors had remained unmoved. And still today, unBelievers mostly remain hard-of-heart, and will continue to be-so, until they face their Judge, and the crucible, or cup, of God's wrath upon the nations, on that terrible Day of their judgment.
But true to form, Jesus did not resist. Now this is a powerful statement of the determination of our Lord, to the will of the Father, and He did not...not because He could not, but in order to save sinners from our sin. So then, why did they bind Jesus? Well, of course, in order to fulfill prophecy, but also, to heap shame upon Him; and to take Him as a sheep, to His slaughter...but best of all, to set us free! We are bound by our sin, as thusly was Jesus...and we ought to be willing to be bound again, but this time, in the yoke of harmonious obedience, to Him.
Then, in verses 13,14 we read how He was led to be judged by His enemy...the figurehead of the Jewish Establishment, Annas..."the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the High Priest that year." The temple was still considered to be, even under Roman rule, the symbol and the authority of the Jewish legal system, from centuries past. So we can only imagine how, under Roman occupation, the confusuion of roles between Rome and the children of Promise, had overturned their traditions. It seems from what we read in chapt. 11, that the Romans had taken up the practice of appointing "a puppet priest", just as they had appointed "a puppet king", from what appeared to be a "High Priest(ly)" family, all having some semblance of a shared authority at the same time. In any case, the prophecy of Caiaphas, from chapt. 11, was beginning to come true, that "it was expedient that one man die on behalf of all, that they not perish"; and that Man, was to be Jesus.
But we're told in the next few verses that Simon Peter followed Him...afar off. This is a perfect example of how so many professing Believers today, tend to follow Jesus, gauging their behaviour according-to their circumstances, so often resulting-in a distant following of their Lord. Peter was, here, "in the flesh"...from loyalty to fear, from fear to anger, from anger to shame, and finally denial! But there was also another, mysterious disciple, who was known to the the High Priest and his servants, who arranged at least, for Peter to be allowed into the courtyard of the palace, where he was soon to be recognized as one of Jesus' followers.
All the disciples, as did Jesus Himself, know that Peter was bent to disobedience and contradiction, and it's here that we see him at his worst, vs. 17..."Aren't you one of his followers?" Then, the first of three denials of his Lord..."I am not!" And verse 25..."Are you not one of his disciples?", followed by his second denial..."I am not!" And finally, "Did I not see you with him in the Garden?", to which Peter responded, as recorded by both Matthew and John, with cursing..."That was not me!!" He was keeping company here, with the ungodly of this world...the very ones he had railed against back in the Garden...and he had become one, with them! And the rooster crowed. But let's go back to the scene in the High Priests' palace.
Notice that in vs. 19, how we're told that Annas asked about His disciples...who are they? What do they have planned? and...how many are there? But he didn't send the posse back out to round them up; Jesus had assured their safety while still in the Garden. But then Annas asked of His doctrine...oh, not to be edified or enlightened, and most certainly not converted...rather, only for the purpose of drumming up acceptable charges to assure His conviction before the authorities of Rome. And we can see, even at this point, what Annas' intentions were...to accuse Jesus of insurrection, in order to satisfy the Roman requirement to determine the penalty; and the charge of blasphemy, to satisfy the Jewish code, as described in Luke 22.66-23.5. And Jesus' response? "I spoke openly...to the world...", making reference to the Jews and their religiosity. But what Jesus had said and done in the open, Annas intended to do in secret, there in his own private and personal hall of justice.
We know today, from the very words and actions of our Lord here, that our faith, as well, must be worth dying for! The fact that Jesus had displayed near contempt for His enemies, did not at all negate his love and longing for their lost souls. Where, do you suppose, me and you might stand in a time such as this, as Himself and Peter were suffering?
A stirring question, deservng of some soul-searching of my own.
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