Scripture

John 18:4-8 NLT

Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.

“Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.

“I AM he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) As Jesus said, “I AM he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

Again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

“I told you that I AM he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.”

Consider

Evil overtook creation in the Garden of Eden, but God already had a plan to win creation back. We catch a glimpse of that plan in this passage describing Jesus’ response to the men who came to arrest him in Gethsemane.

After a time of agonizing prayer, Jesus had centered himself in the will of the Father and was ready to meet his fate head-on. Indeed, John tells us he stepped forward, putting himself between the advancing soldiers and his disciples, who were still groggy from a night of too little sleep. Like the Good Shepherd he was, Jesus faced the wolves himself so that his sheep could be saved. With no effort to save his own life, he asked for their lives: “I am the one you want. Let these others go.”

God’s plan to save creation was to position the Son in front of us and save us by bringing the wrath of evil wholly onto himself in a supreme sacrifice of love on the cross.

To a world ruled by self-interest, Jesus’ sacrifice for love was both unexpected and confounding. The devil himself made the mistake of trying to bait Jesus with promises of self-aggrandizement. For all his wiles, the devil met with defeat because God’s redeeming love had already been set into motion—the same love that called Lazarus from the tomb, healed the sick, and raised Jesus in triumph from the worst the world could do to him.

Because evil cannot comprehend an act of love, our surest defense against the power of darkness is to live deeply into the pure and redemptive light of God’s love. Like Jesus, we will not be tricked into sinning if we remember to center ourselves in the will of the Father and practice loving one another with patience and grace. This is God’s plan—to take back creation not by violence or bribery but by acts of love and self-sacrifice, modeled for us so perfectly by the One who looked evil in the face and said, “Let these others go. Take me instead.”

Pray

God of Love and Healer of my soul, to give you praise and thanks seems too little for a debt I can never repay. I ask you to accept my devotion to you in little acts of love I can do for others. By your Spirit help me to recognize opportunities to sacrifice myself and my interests for the good of others, in the Name of the One who sacrificed everything for me.

Reflect

Psalm 97:10; John 15:12-13; 1 John 2:15-17

Ponder

As an offering to God this week, how can I love and serve others with acts that cost me?