Job 34:1-20, Jonah 1-4, John 18:1-18, Revelation 10

John 18:1-18:

What love is this? Judas, intimate with Jesus and the disciples, knowing where Jesus would be, betrays Jesus. Have you ever been betrayed? Perhaps by someone close to you, near to you, dear to you? Take heart that Jesus is able to help you: “For because he himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). Jesus knows our weaknesses and trials, from a personal experience basis, and by the power of God is able to give us the strength we so desperately need. Ask him to help you be faithful even when someone betrays you.

There is such power in Jesus’ person and in his words, that when he replies to the soldiers’ questions, “I am he” (18:5), the soldiers draw back and fall to the ground (18:6). There was no way they could have arrested him if Jesus had not allowed it. Perhaps some terrible thing has happened to you. There is no harm that can come to you that does not first pass through the loving hands of a Father God whose intention is always good—even in the midst of a painful surgery to remove some ailment. He looks after us, and none that is given to Jesus does he lose (18:9).

Peter attempts to fight off the soldiers—as if his little sword was necessary in the face of omnipotence in the person of Jesus. But Jesus submits to the “cup” that the Father has given him (18:11): the cup of drinking God’s wrath at the cross that he might bear the sin of the world.

And so comes the trial. And Jesus, having been betrayed by Judas, is now denied by Peter (18:17). Perhaps someone has denied you, let you down, failed to support you. Take comfort from the experience of Christ—his death and his resurrection to come, as well as the giving of his Spirit. No weapon forged against you can stand.