John 18:1-14
18: When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 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. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
12 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. 13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.
Reflection
A thousand years earlier, another king crossed the Kidron Valley, reeling in the pain of betrayal. King David, barefoot and weeping, escaped from Jerusalem because his son, Absalom, had betrayed him and had gathered a small army to help him overthrow his father (2 Samuel 15–17). King David fled from the coming danger; but Jesus, the greater Shepherd-King of Israel (2 Samuel 7), walked steadily into the betrayal of Judas and the oncoming danger.
No one could take Jesus’ life from him; he freely laid it down for us (John 10:17–18). A large army of natural enemies, both Jews and Gentiles, tried; but Jesus spoke two words, “I am,” and they fell back to the ground (18:6). Not only was the power of Jesus revealed in his arrest, but his compassion as well. Peter cut off Malchus’s ear, but Jesus loved his enemy and mercifully healed him (Luke 22:51). Oh, how low our God stoops to show mercy to those who do not deserve it!
James 4:11-17
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Reflection
In the previous verses, James has called us to humble ourselves, knowing that God will give us grace and exalt us (James 4:6, 10). He now shows us that humility will be manifest in us as we turn from our prideful sins and entrust ourselves to God. First, we will leave judgment to God—the Judge who can also save (vv. 11–12). Second, we will stop acting as though we know the future. We will confess that God is the only one who is truly in control, that we by comparison are like a mist, and that all achievement depends on God’s will and favor (vv. 13–16). This does not forbid us from making plans, though we should be mindful of our mortal limitations as we do.
Psalm 31:14
14 But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
Only God knows the future, so we do not need to be anxious about trying to control what is beyond our grasp. Entrust your future to the One who knows all things, submitting your life to the control of the One who ultimately works all things for his own good purposes.