Chapter Eighteen
Jn. 18:1. Having said these things,
The evangelist did not say "Jesus, having prayed in this manner," but "having said these things." For the preceding discourse was not a prayer, but a conversation, and was for the consolation of the disciples.
Jn. 18:1. Jesus went out with His disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, into which He Himself entered, and His disciples.
Jesus goes in the middle of the night, crosses the river, and hastens to come to the place known to His betrayer. He gives Himself up to the murderers in order to show that He goes to His suffering voluntarily, and frees the Jews from the labor of seeking Him. Lest they be troubled, going here and there searching for Him, He Himself goes to them, He Himself gives Himself into their hands; for in the garden they find Him, as if in some prison.
The garden, in which our salvation had its beginning, may be compared to paradise. For in a garden we fell from paradise; in a garden, we see, Christ's saving passion also begins, and sets right all the former calamities.
Jn. 18:2. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place,
Lest you think that Jesus withdrew to the garden with the purpose of hiding, the Evangelist adds that Judas also knew this place. Therefore Jesus departs to this place rather with the purpose of revealing Himself than of hiding.
Jn. 18:2. Because Jesus often gathered there with His disciples.
Judas knows this place because Jesus often used to go there. For the Lord loved to withdraw to desolate places and tranquil retreats, especially when He was imparting something mysterious.
Why did Judas know that Jesus was currently in the garden, and did not expect to find Him sleeping in a house? He knew that the Lord spent many nights outside the city and the house, and therefore went out at that time as well. And another interpretation: he knew that the Lord during the feast especially had the custom of teaching His disciples something lofty. And, as we have said, He taught His disciples mystical things in mystical places. And since it was then a feast, Judas surmised that Jesus was there, and was, as usual, discoursing with His disciples concerning the feast.
Jn. 18:3. So Judas, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees,
They persuade a detachment of soldiers to assist them for money; for soldiers are such that they can be bribed with gold. Many of them come, because they fear the followers of Jesus, who were attached to Him on account of His teaching and miracles.
Jn. 18:3. They come there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
They carry with them lanterns and torches, so that Jesus, having hidden in the darkness, would not flee from them. But He so little needed to flee that He Himself goes out to meet them and gives Himself up.
Jn. 18:4. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
The Lord asks them not because He had need to know; the Evangelist says that He knew "all that would happen to Him." And since He knew what would happen to Him, He asks not out of need to know, but with the purpose of showing that even when He was right before them, they did not see Him and did not recognize Him.
Jn. 18:5. They answered Him: Jesus the Nazarene. Jesus says to them: It is I. And Judas, His betrayer, was also standing with them.
He asks as a different person, and He is recognized by His voice neither by the others nor by Judas himself. And that they did not recognize Him was not because of the darkness is evident from the fact that, according to the evangelist's account, they came with lanterns. If we grant that they did not recognize Him also because of the darkness, then they should have recognized Him by His voice. And so, the Lord asks, as we said, in order to show that they recognized Him neither by appearance nor by voice. Thus, His power was ineffable, so that they could not have even crucified Him if He Himself had not surrendered voluntarily.
Jn. 18:6. When He said to them, "I am He," they drew back and fell to the ground.
The Lord not only blinded their eyes, but also cast them to the ground by His question alone. The fact that those who came against Jesus fell was a sign of the universal downfall of this people, which befell them afterwards, after the death of Christ, as Jeremiah also foretold: "The house of Israel has fallen, and there is none to raise it up." And so fall all those who oppose the word of God.
The Lord cast them to the ground in order to show both His power and that He was going to His suffering voluntarily. Beyond this, He also arranges something else. So that no one would say that the Jews sinned not at all, since He Himself gave Himself into their hands and appeared to them, He therefore shows this miracle upon them, and it was sufficient to bring them to their senses. But when even after this miracle they remained in their malice, then He gives Himself into their hands.
Jn. 18:7. Again He asked them: Whom do you seek? They said: Jesus of Nazareth.
Jn. 18:8. Jesus answered: I told you that it is I; therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,
See how until the last hour the Lord does not abandon His love for the disciples. "If," He says, "you seek Me, let these go their way."