1. Jesus Surrenders Himself.

Passion week commence today, and its a time in which we should recall successive events which took Jesus to the Cross. Last Sunday we contemplated the scene of His arrest on Thursday in the olive grove. We learned that He surrendered himself in order to obey God’s will, by being arrested. From this, we concluded that God was implicated and knowingly participated in the act of handing Jesus over to the Jewish authorities.
Today we will focus our attention on the judgement of Jesus, by reading chapter 18 from the Gospel according to John . In advance, I will give you the conclusion, and that is: the Cross was also chosen by Jesus Himself, not the other way around, not by force.
After arresting Jesus, the officials and solders, brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year (John 18:13). At that time the high priest in office was Caiaphas, but it was the retired Annas, who was dominating the Jewish supreme court.
The family of the high priest exercised great influence over the people, and their dominating power is said to be based on enormous wealth, some of which came from the temple through taxes and tithes. Jesus once accused those very religious readers who were abusing the temple by using it as a commercial market for buying and selling, To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” (John 2:16).
In consequence they felt threatened by Jesus, whom they thought would destabilize their business activities, and obstruct their economically and socially advantageous status. Perhaps that was one of reasons why solders brought Jesus at first to Annas because he was the chief of the high priests’ family. Annas asked questions about His teachings and His disciples, to which Jesus responded thus: “I have spoken openly to the world, I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said” (John 18:20-21).
Once arrested by the authorities, a man would normally be tied-up with rope and interrogated before a number of people. Under such circumstances, most would feel intimidated, depressed or behave outrageously to pretend they was fearless. Jesus, however, talked calmly and sensibly: Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” (John 18:4).
The high priest’s subordinates found His attitude very arrogant and when Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” He demanded. “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” (John 18:22-23). Jesus’ conduct here portrays that of a confident judge, rather than that of the accused.

2. Peter, who could not surrender himself.

When Jesus was arrested in Gesthemane He said to the soldiers, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go” (John 18:8). That shows that Jesus wanted His disciples to escape. On the other hand, Peter could not allow himself to leave and followed Jesus until they arrived at the high priest’s house. There, Peter was brought in by another disciple , an acquaintance of the hight Priest. However, at the entrance to the courtyard Peter was challenged: “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” the girl at the door asked Peter. He replied, “I am not” (John 18:17).
We see here a contrast between Peter’s response, ¡ÈI am not¡É in an original Greek text, “I am (he)”, which Jesus’ said to the solder at the moment of His arrest. Throughout His life, Jesus boldly announces who He is, but Peter cannot even claim discipleship.
Meanwhile, he servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself (John 18:18). As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.” One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the olive grove?” Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow (John 18:25-27).
Peter’s denial was written in two parts, verses 15-18 and 25-27. I want to draw your attention to the frequency of Peter’s name being repeated seven times in these short passages. Why so much? Because John is emphasizing the fact that even Peter, Jesus’ first disciple, disowned Jesus at that crucial moment.
Indeed, it was the Jewish priests and Roman officials who crucified Jesus, after being guided to Jesus’ whereabouts by the one who betrayed Him, Judas Iscariot. But Peter and the other disciples were also unfaithful to Jesus, by rejecting Him. In this way, through the scripture, John asks us whether we might or might not, reject our Lord if we were in the same situation as the disciples were. We must recognize that Peter’s weakness then, is our weakness now.

3. To know we are Forgiven.

I chose John 13:36 as today’s invocation verse: Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
When Jesus predicted His future death at the table of the last supper; “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come” (John 13:33). Peter reacted by asking: “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times! (John 13:37-38).
And, just as Jesus predicted, Peter denied Him three times before the rooster crowed. We now need to think about what could have happened if Peter, remaining loyal, admitted in the high priest’s courtyard to being Jesus’ disciple. Peter might be considered to be a hero. Instead, he denied his faith and belief in Jesus. When Jesus said to Peter, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later” (John13:36). He had already known about Peter’s future denial, and at the same time he had already forgiven him.
Peter’s denial and betrayal became the starting point of his genuine faith in Jesus and His teachings. Today’s lecture reveals to us a secret truth: ‘there is no sin which can’t be forgiven’. Through committing sin and genuine repentance we come to recognize that we too have already been forgiven, all of which encourages us to follow Jesus.

After the Resurrection, Jesus showed Himself to Peter in order to let him know that He trusted him with this mission: “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). Through his sin and repentance, Peter knew forgiveness, which made him a genuine believer in Christ. Peter commenced a new phase in his life and became a great Church leader. He personally testified as a witness of Jesus’ Resurrection. Therefore, the high priests, who were responsible for the death of Jesus, now threatened His followers with the risk of execution if they would not keep silent. The verbal threats are reiterated and reinforced with physical abuse. This only strengthened their resolve to teach and proclaim Jesus. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name (Acts 5:41).
Peter, who was completely intimidated by the high priest’s housemaid, became spiritually strong and confident, showing great leadership !! Peter’s cowardly denial was changed into a venerable declaration of faith. Here we can see how the light of God’s grace shone through human weakness and defeat. To finish today’s lecture, I will tell you about a similar case to Peter’s, experienced by a song writer of hymns, Mr.Ioki. In his own words he describes a divine experience, enabling him to write the words of Hymn number 486, “Oh Lord’s Eyes” (see notes below).
[ It was in 1950, autumn. I was depressed because I was reluctant to start theological study, which I had already chosen for my future. Moreover, I was not sure any more about my faith despite the baptism received one year before. That evening I left my house to participate in a prayer meeting, but I didn’t feel like going. While walking up the slope to the church I felt as if I were a sheep being led to the slaughterhouse. On the way, I heard a forging sound on iron. Just at that moment this phrase: “The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter” (Luke 22:61), came to my mind, and I saw exactly Jesus’ eyes. His gaze upon me was telling me that all my sins were borne by Him, so I must live with forgiveness. His love and mercy hit me. I ran up to the church, entered into the prayer room and wrote down the hymn.]
Those who do not know Christ think they can love others by their own capacity and intelligence. But such arrogant thinking should be banished from our mind. One should begin by looking for God. We as humans cannot do anything without God’s love and mercy. We begin to love only by first recognizing that we are all sinners, forgiven by God. From that, we learn to be accepting and love one another irrespective of perceived sin. This attitude is one that is founded on real love, a love which continues to grow the Christian church.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
Notes:

Japan Baptist New Hymns Book
http://wiki.bap.net/index.php/486
http://bap.net/