Image: Black Christ of Esquipulas, ca. 1595
April 18, 2025: Good Friday
John 18:1 – 19:42
Yesterday, we heard about the Passover, a meal celebrating the liberation of God’s people from the false lord Pharaoh. We also heard and partook of Jesus’s own meal of liberation, where he invites us all into his Father’s house as friends. In that meal, Holy Communion, we receive Jesus’s very self. And we are liberated from all would-be pharaohs that make claims on us.
However, as we continue in John’s Gospel, the false lords make their move. John’s passion narrative opens with Jesus and his disciples traveling to a garden across the valley. And Judas, who broke relationship with Jesus and the other disciples by leaving their company, now returns with a combined force of Roman soldiers and Temple police. The Empire and the Temple institution, political and religious powers, have combined to put an end to this Jesus who will free the world through the power of his self-giving love.
Why would they care? Jesus, of course, is not a king among kings. He is not simply another politician or revolutionary. He tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” But make no mistake—Jesus is a threat. He is a threat to the powers that be because he represents their ultimate demise.
Think of what happens in that garden. Jesus is in full control of what’s happening even though it may not seem that way. Certainly, Judas and the combined authorities thought they were in control. But Jesus reveals that for what it is—an illusion. That illusion is shattered right away when Jesus steps forward and asks, “Who are you looking for?” When the guards respond, “Jesus of Nazareth”, he responds with the divine name: I AM. Is it any wonder the police and soldiers fall to the ground?
Everything in Jesus’s earthly life and ministry has led to this moment—to this conflict between the powers, both human and immaterial, and divine sovereignty. That conflict plays out throughout the passion narrative, but we can see it especially in one person: Peter.
Peter, of course, is one of the first disciples. In John’s telling, Peter’s brother Andrew brought him to Jesus. He was the one who recognized Jesus had the words of eternal life. He was the impulsive one, both brave and cowardly. He told Jesus he would lay down his life for him and tried to engineer a violent insurrection in the garden. Yet he is also the one who ends up standing not with Jesus, but with the Temple police around the fire. When asked, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?”, he responds, “I am not.”
Peter is more than just Peter in that moment. Peter is representative of the whole church. With those three words, “I am not”, Peter unwittingly confesses the weakness and sinfulness of every disciple of Jesus Christ. In this world, we, like Peter, are subject to multiple forces. We hold multiple allegiances. We, like Peter, can be driven by a desire for self-preservation. We can be frightened by the powers of this world and what they might do to us. Out of our fear, we can find ourselves, like Peter, standing with the forces of sin and death.
Yet, despite the seeming powerlessness of the situation, Jesus is firmly in control. Meanwhile, the so-called powers are shown to be utterly impotent. We are told that Judas hands Jesus over to the Temple police and the soldiers, who hand him over to the council of religious leaders, who hand him over to Pilate, who hands him over for crucifixion. No one takes responsibility for Jesus’s crucifixion in John except for Jesus himself, who told his disciples earlier, “I lay down my life of my own accord.” Pilate betrays this powerlessness when he tells Jesus, “Don’t you know that I have the power to release you and the power to crucify you?” Jesus’s response is simple: “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.” Pilate’s power, like that of all other players in the passion narrative, is revealed as a chimera (ki-meer-uh), merely derivative and dependent upon God’s sovereign will.
And from the beginning, the wills of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit have been aligned. Jesus Christ will drink the cup his Father has given him, the cup of the world’s sin and suffering. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, even the sin of those who have betrayed their faith in and relationship with him, like Peter. Even the sin of people like us. He is the one put to death under the sign “The King of the Jews”. Though this is meant ironically by the powers, this sign is actually an understatement—Jesus is the King of the whole created order. He is the great I AM. He was the Word by which creation came into being. At the moment of his death, he is enthroned as Sovereign of all.
This is true regardless of the evil we see in the world or the evil we commit ourselves. Even when the world seems out of control and the powers of this world rage, Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Sovereign. And on that cross, our sin is crucified with Jesus, along with the powers of death and hell. We like Peter, may say, “I am not.” But Jesus is the great I AM. He is in control. And in him, we have a forgiveness and new life, fuller and more abundant than we dare imagine. Amen.
© 2025, David M. Fleener. Permission granted to copy and adapt original material herein for non-commercial purposes with appropriate credit given.