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OHN 18 is chock-full of the notable, the unusual and the unexpected. To begin with, Jesus went out to meet His oppressors when they came into His garden resort in order to arrest Him. It may not be a surprise that He went out to meet His enemies, but it is certainly significant that He went out "knowing all things that would come upon Him" (vs. 4). He inquired concerning whom it was that they were seeking. Obviously, He already knew. So, He was perhaps only showing His willingness to go through with this awful sacrifice of His body (vs. 11).
In addition to the simple and amazing willingness of Christ to lay down His life for us, the scene we are examining also shouts about the deity of Christ. Jesus' "I am He" quote in vs. 5-6 brings us back to the very name of Jehovah as it was introduced to Moses in Exodus 3:14-15. The fact that Jesus' pursuers fell backward onto the ground at Jesus' claim of His own identity confirms the significance of his choice of words.
The high priest inquired concerning Jesus' theology. Jesus' response was to point them to His ministry of teaching in which He had been engaged regularly for at least over 3 years (vs. 20). Of course, what is even more amazing is that He tolerated the absolute disrespect that was shown toward Him (the Creator) from the very outset of His trial. He had the power of life and death over the officer that struck Him first (vs. 22). And yet, all He did was question the man's motive (vs. 23). It should startle us to realize that Jesus allowed Himself to be bound (vs. 24), and that by a crowd with neither scruples nor even basic common sense (vs. 31). They knew that they had no accusation that would stick on Jesus, much less one that would merit His execution. But they didn't care. They were determined to have Him killed at any cost.
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