Binding Jesus

Binding Jesus

April 10, 2017

John 18:12 "Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him..."

Jesus was and is the Son of God. This is easy for you and me to recognize, but to His contemporaries during His walk on the earth it wasn't always so easy to make the distinction.  In fact, many read about Him prior to His coming, but few recognized Him. If you were to follow His miracles while He was on the earth, you might at least be able to recognize Him as a miracle worker, certainly a prophet. But few recognized Him as the Son of God. This is why Judas had to betray Jesus with a kiss. It wasn't enough to lead the soldiers to Jesus, Judas had to identify Him as the one, the One, but in the dark it was important to get up close. Judas did so,  but not before Jesus identified Himself. Judas didn't even need to show them He was the one; Jesus did that for them. When They arrived to arrest Jesus they said they were looking for Jesus. Jesus wasn't hiding and He didn't try to disguise Himself.

When Jesus identified Himself He answered with the same answer the Lord used when Moses discussed with the Lord His identity. Moses asked Him what His name was, and the Lord used the words "I am." These are the same words Jesus used when He identified Himself. He said, "I am He." Then Judas still identified Him as the one and Jesus declared His identity yet again. I am He. And as Jesus willingly identified Himself, and volunteered to surrender, they bound Him. It is interesting that Jesus voluntarily came with them, yet they bound Him. It is interesting that Jesus identified Himself as the Son of God by saying, "I am He," and yet they still bound Him. The idea of someone binding Jesus is funny. Jesus had the power to zap everyone into oblivion, and some make shift hand cuffs were somehow going to stop Him. It is like using spaghetti to tie the hands of Superman after he told everyone he was superman, absurd especially if they knew who he was and the power he held.

They didn't have to bind Jesus; He went voluntarily. Somehow the soldiers felt as if the hand cuffs were going to stop Jesus. No one could stop Jesus; that's why He volunteered. Any effort to bind Jesus was just an effort to think they were in control, to try and exert power over Jesus and inflict their will upon Him. No one can inflict their will on the Lord. The Lord's will was done and they all fell perfectly into His master plan. Leading Jesus away in handcuffs almost seems cute in a pitiful way, like they thought they were really doing something. Jesus placated them and their silly device.

What's even more funny is that you and I think we can bind Jesus. We don't do it directly and overtly, but certainly try to inflict our will on Him, to get Him to do what we want Him to do. I've seen Christians try to manipulate Him, object to Him, speak on His behalf, and defy Him. But all Jesus wants is for us to submit to Him. Jesus has to power to zap us into oblivion yet you and I think we even have the right to talk back to Him as an equal. We recognize Him as the Son of God and yet we try to bind Him and His work in our lives. We call Him by name and still try to control how far He can go and what He can do. Jesus placated the soldiers with their trinket handcuffs and my guess is Jesus sometimes placates you and me.

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  Matt 26:52-56, Luke 22:47-53, John 18:1-14