Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (John 18:12-18)
So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In the book of Acts chapter 4 we read about the early Christians gathered together to pray for boldness and confidence in the face of persecution. Their prayer went like this: “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your work with all boldness, while you stretch out your power to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And we read: And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
You hear in this prayer that the people quoted Psalm 2: Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot in vain? And here in our reading tonight we see this all taking place: the Jewish leaders used the Roman soldiers to come and arrest Jesus. All these people come together to conspire against Jesus to arrest him. The lengths that people go to get rid of Jesus!
But particularly notice in our reading tonight what is says here: So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
Notice those words there: … and bound him.
Only just a few moment earlier, they had fallen to the ground when Jesus said the words “I am.” They fell over like pieces on a chess-board. And now, Jesus is arrested by them and he is bound by them.
See here Jesus’ willingness to endure his sufferings.
But there is something very special that is signified when Jesus is bound.
You see, we are also bound. St Paul says in Romans 7: “I am of the flesh, sold under sin.” Sold under sin – we are slaves. Just as when Adam and Eve sold themselves into this slavery, so also all their children for centuries and millennia to come are also born as slaves.
“I am of the flesh, sold under sin.”
And St Paul explains exactly what he means.
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Many of you will know what St Paul is talking about here from your own experience. You see, so often we really want to do what is right, and for some reason we always seem to let ourselves down. Right from early childhood, we know something is forbidden, we know something is wrong, and yet we still go and do it anyway. And all the way along we know that we are doing what is wrong. And then when the job is done, we regret it.
This is what it means to be in bondage to sin. And it’s not something that we recognise by ourselves – we only learn this from the Scripture. The Scripture itself has to enlighten us to this truth.
So many people will know this experience in such a superficial manner—and so when a person finds themselves in this situation, and realise that they are stuck in a rut where they find themselves disappointing themselves all the time, the advice that is so often given is, “Cheer up! We’re only human!”
And they are partly right—we are only human. But God didn’t creat human beings like this—this bondage to sin, and the bondage of our human will, comes through the fall into sin. What they don’t realise is that this bondage deserves the punishment of God.
In 2 Peter 2 we read that “God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.” And Jude verse 6, “The angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.”
The devil and all the demons, the fallen angels, are subjected to all the power and wrath of hell. They are chained up.
We are not angels though. And neither is Jesus. Hebrews 2 says: For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Human beings: human flesh—that’s what we are, and that’s what Jesus is.
The devil is in chains. Hell was made for the devil—it wasn’t made for us. Why would we want to be somewhere where we don’t belong, and isn’t for us?
But you see, this bondage to sin means that we are chained to the devil, and we deserve punishment. So yes, it’s one thing to say, “we’re only human”, but that doesn’t mean that we are not responsible for our own sin, and it doesn’t mean that we will not be called to account for it.
And in our reading tonight, Jesus is bound. We read on Sunday that when he was conceived, that it happened through the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High God. He was the only human being since Adam and Eve to be born without this bondage, and yet he is bound.
So when we feel this bondage, we can say: Jesus, you are bound with chains too. The devil put his handcuffs on you too, and chained your arms and put shackles on your feet. When I am bound in sin, come and let yourself be chained and bound to me too. Come, Lord Jesus, share my prison cell, share my chains—and set me free. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
This bondage to sin is particularly felt by those who suffer with addictions, whether it be alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, or whatever. Many people have a bad temper, are violent, sexually perverse, or open their mouths when they shouldn’t. And then comes the despair. And then comes the riddle of predestination and people start to think: Maybe God has actually already consigned me to hell ahead of time, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Maybe I was born this way, and there’s nothing I can do to fix it—so I might as well give up now, and resign myself to an eternity of flames. This lie is so terrible—and so many people find themselves trapped by it. And of course, what leads people even more deeply into despair is that every time they fall into their bad habit they are doing more damage, either to their health, their body, or their loved ones.
But it’s precisely for these people—all of us who are born in bondage to sin—it’s exactly for people like us with bad habits, addictions, despair that Jesus came and let himself be chained up.
He puts out his hands that made the world, and ropes and chains are tied around them. And he says: “Let me chain myself to your sin. Let me submit to your bondage. I have given up all my freedom for your servitude, your slavery.”
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, says Jesus, to speak the good news to the poor, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are in prison.
You see, freedom in Christianity means being chained to Christ. It means being chained to his forgiveness and having Jesus’ holy body and his holy hands chained to us. You see that’s exactly what the word absolution means: set loose. In German the word for Absolution was Lossprechung: to speak a person free. Every Sunday we come to church to receive this freedom of the gospel, and to have ourselves chained to the atoning blood of Christ.
And in private absolution, this is such a wonderful holy place, where our Lord comes and speaks his liberty and his freedom to each individual prisoner. And private confession is not just a place for private absolution but also for private encouragement from our Lord through a brother in Christ. We are strengthened not just through the words of absolution but also through the mutual consolation of brethren, as Luther called it: one prisoner reminding another prisoner that the door of the prison will be opened soon. Think of Joseph in Egypt encouraging the other prisoners, preaching freedom to one person, judgment to another, forgiveness to the cup-bearer, warning to the baker. Jesus knows what it’s like to be bound like we are, he knows what it’s like to be imprisoned in our flesh, and he chains himself to us, and says: I forgive you all your sins.
So, remember this precious gift for you that Jesus was arrested and bound.
And so in our reading we read: So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.
Something that may strike you here is that Peter had fled from Jesus but was now following him. And not only Peter, but also another disciple. But in order to follow Jesus, they had to pretend to be on the other side of the fence. They pretend to be Jesus’ enemies.
You see, it says that the “other disciple”, whoever he was, maybe John, was known to the high priest. And it also says that he entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest.
Now, hang on a moment, we all knew about Judas betraying Jesus, but how many more of the disciples were in on it? We don’t say that the other disciples were part of the conspiracy to arrest and betray Jesus, but now, this disciple, this unnamed disciple, uses his connections, and the fact that he has friends in high places to go and see what was happening to Jesus. And not only that, but he puts in a word for Peter so that he can come in too.
It was assumed that none of Jesus’ friends were there though. But there’s a girl on the door who says to Peter as he comes in, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”
It’s almost to say: You’re welcome to come into this party, but if you want to come in, you need to give the secret password—you need to say that you hate Jesus. And so Peter and the other disciple are inside, saying nothing more, pretending to be part of the crowd of the other Jesus-haters.
And also, Peter goes and warms himself up by the fire. His heart too was getting colder by the moment, after having run away, denied Jesus the first time – you would think that things would be pretty cold. And so he throws in his lot with the world, the world in which Jesus was born but which did not know him, and makes friends with them, and shares a nice campfire with them.
It’s all pretty sinister to say the least.
It’s so easy for people to use their friends and influence against Jesus. Sometimes the simplest servant girls at doors are sent to test our words whether we are happy to be with Jesus or not.
But all these false friends, false deals, false pretences that happen here is nothing in comparison with the church that Jesus is building. You see, we know that the church is a communion of saints, baptised, absolved, forgiven, fed with the body and blood of Christ. It is a fellowship where the Holy Spirit comes and builds each person up in love, joy and peace.
But that same love, joy and peace can also be an idol in itself. We can be a church that is friendly, loving, warm, supportive, but we better make sure that we are not a church that requires Peter’s password at the door. We are called to confess our Lord Jesus Christ around every corner, we are called to remain faithful to our Lord around every corner, and sometimes the silliest of little traps are waiting for us right at the front door. But we see, that when Jesus is risen from the dead, there is a great gathering of his precious sheep into his arms again, and a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. At the resurrection, each denial is forgiven by Jesus and treated almost as if they never happened.
So we should always be careful that the church is not a club for like-minded men and women, because then we start to require dodgy passwords at the door. Rather, we are chained to Christ—branches on the vine—we are forgiven by him, atoned for with his death and his blood, when all the world is gathered around to hate him.
In Psalm 109, it says: Be not silent, O God of my praise! Speak, Lord, your servants are listening. Help us to hear the word of God and to keep it. Don’t be silent, Lord God, so that the intimidation of young girls standing at doors will not drown out your voice in our minds and hearts.
You see, there are two churches in the world: one that is gathered around him to interrogate him as he writhes in his chains, and one that is gathered around him to be forgiven through his wounds.
Let yourself be chained to him! When you come into the church doors, clamp you shackle on your foot, and limp your way in, and let Jesus be your strength. He loves you, and has been bound and interrogated just for you.
He will give himself as your great friend, he will be such a wonderful friend in high places for you, he will lead you in the door not in secret but publicly in victory, and he himself will warm you with the fire of his own Holy Spirit of love, joy and peace.
He is bound and we are free.
And so in our spiritual bondage we cry out to him, “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will tell of your praise.”
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us! Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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