The Gentleness of Jesus
John 18:1-14
June 14, 2015
As you know we are in the middle of a study called: “It’s All About Jesus”
It was a study that began as a reminder that
Everything in life is indeed to be all about Him.
He is our purpose
He is our pattern
Our goal is to give Him first place in everything
And ultimately to be conformed into His image.
And since our goal is to look like Christ, it is only fitting
That we take the time to examine what He looked like.
Several years ago there 4 little letters that took the Christian community by storm, they were WWJD (What would Jesus do?)
The idea was that a Christian should ask Himself in every situation
What Jesus would do if He were there?
I certainly don’t have a problem with that idea, but the purpose of our study is more accurately to ask What DID Jesus do?
We are seeking to examine Him in various situations to learn how He operated and responded and then we seek to apply that to our lives.
As a guideline for this we have been following the list
Paul provided in Colossians 3:12-14
Colossians 3:12-14 “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”
Each of those qualities were qualities of Jesus
And we are called to put them on.
We looked at the compassion of Jesus.
It was a time when He was tired and He and the disciples decided to get away for a retreat and a time of rest, but the crowd spotted Him.
And instead of sending them away
The Bible says that Jesus “felt compassion” for them.
In His heart, He hurt more for the people than He did for Himself.
Their grief was more painful to Him than His own fatigue.
It was compassion.
We saw then Jesus feed those 5,000 that day.
Next we looked at the Kindness of Jesus.
As He passed through Samaria He came to a well at noon and encountered an interesting woman.
• She was a different race
• She was a different gender
• She was a different religion
• She had a different moral code
And by John’s own admittance Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
And yet Jesus not only talked with this woman,
But He ultimately offered and gave her salvation.
Jesus was kind to wicked and ungrateful people.
Then last week we looked at the Humility of Jesus
We studied Philippians 2 and took a look at the incarnation of Jesus.
Humility means “lowliness of mind” and this is certainly what Jesus exhibited when He left the glory of heaven to become a servant and die on a cross.
No person ever existed higher and no person ever descended lower than Jesus.
His expression of humility cannot be equaled.
We then learned what Paul taught us that each of us should consider one another as more important than ourselves.
And that we should do nothing from selfishness of empty conceit.
Well tonight we move on to the next attributed on Paul’s list
And that is the attribute of GENTLENESS
“Put on a heart of…gentleness”
PRAUTES (prow-tace) in the Greek
And ordinarily I would just give you a short definition,
But this time I want to read you the definition from Vine’s Greek Dictionary.
“…it is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; it is closely linked with the word [humility]…it is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and contend with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by [God] for the chastening and purifying of His elect”
(Vine, W.E. [An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN] pg. 727-728)
We are talking here about an amazing attribute.
It is also translated as “meekness” which I have told you many times means “strength under control” or “submission”
(My dad would call a horse “broke” – not necessarily gentle)
It is the attribute that must be employed for you to apply a verse like:
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
It is the attribute that most clearly comes forth in the life of Joseph.
That trust or confidence that God is in control,
That nothing happens outside of His will,
And that it is not wise to resist what He is doing.
It believes that God knows best at all times
Therefore it not only trusts God’s wisdom, but obeys God’s voice.
In fact, all genuine obedience must come from this mentality.
• Since God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.
• Since God’s ways are not our ways
• Since God’s Spirit always wars with our natural flesh
We can’t obey any of His commands
Without first exercising at least a degree of “gentleness” or “meekness”
Whereby we submit to His will even though we don’t understand
And trust His hand even though we don’t see it.
This meekness or gentleness is best seen
Any time we resist the natural inclinations and desires of the flesh
In favor of obedience to God’s commands.
If you will remember when we studied the rest of that passage in Colossians 3 where Paul told us what a Jesus focused life practically looks like.
We looked at
• Wives submitting to their husbands
• Husbands loving their wives
• Children obeying their parents
• Parents not exasperating their children
• Slaves obeying their masters
• And masters not taking advantage of their slaves
Obeying commands like that requires this attribute.
• How else can a woman submit to a disobedient husband?
• How else can a man love a disrespectful wife?
• How else can a child obey a hateful parent?
• How else can a parent patiently teach an insubordinate child?
• How else can a slave serve a brutal master?
• How else can a master be fair to a lazy slave?
All of those incidents require a person
To disregard the natural inclination of the flesh
And submit to the revealed will and command of God.
Doing so is “gentleness” or “meekness”
And that attribute is even more seen
When obeying those commands of God
Does not initially have the desired effect.
When the wife submits, but the husband doesn’t seem to get it.
When the husband loves, but the wife remains ungrateful.
When the child obeys, but the parent never recognizes it.
True meekness continues to obey and trust the commands of God
With the understanding that at the very least
God is allowing the trial to continue for the sake of sanctifying you.
So if I can say it bluntly – “gentleness” or “meekness”
IS A HARD ATTRIBUTE TO APPLY IN YOUR LIFE
However, it was a constant attribute of Jesus.
And if we long to be like Him, we must see what it looked like,
And then apply it in our lives.
As is commonly the case, this attribute overlaps previous ones as well.
We actually saw it on display last week, though we didn’t comment on it.
Paul said:
Philippians 2:8 “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
That phrase “obedient to the point of death” was the epitome
Of Jesus being “gentle” or “meek” or “submissive”
And it is that reality we want to examine tonight.
We want to look at the very moment where Jesus
Took that step of obedience to submit Himself to the plan of the cross.
And that decision was made in a place called
“The Garden of Gethsemane”
Now before we dive into John’s narrative about what took place in the garden, I first want to make sure we recognize something that John did not include.
I want to make sure you are fully aware of the internal struggle
That Jesus had going on inside His heart and in His own human will.
Matthew 26:36-44 “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.”
Have you ever found yourself in a position
Where God asked something of you that your flesh didn’t want to give?
Well Jesus understands how you feel.
• Did He come to die? Yes
• Was His plan to die? Yes
• Was He willing to die? Yes
• Did He look forward to it? Absolutely not
Listen to Him in the garden,
Three times asking the Father for a different plan of salvation.
Three times asking the Father to not have to fight this particular battle.
And if you are familiar with Jesus at all,
Then you know that this is shocking.
Here we have the Son of God in a way we never see Him anywhere else.
• We saw Him stare down the crowds that wanted to throw Him off a cliff…
• We saw Him clear a temple with a whip…
• We saw Him attend feasts where they wanted to kill Him…
• We saw Him stand toe to toe with Pharisees and chief priests…
• We saw Him go to Lazarus when the disciples were sure it meant death…
• We saw Him stand up for a woman in adultery…
• We saw Him talk publicly to a Samaritan woman…
I mean we’ve seen Him boldly do so much,
And He never even seemed to flinch.
And then we get this scene.
Please understand how hard it will be for Him
To submit to what He is about to submit to in John’s gospel.
In this passage the “gentleness” or “meekness” or “submission” of Jesus
Is about to be put to the test.
So let’s look at John 18.
What I want you to see first is how much power Jesus had.
Submission isn’t as impressive if it is forced.
If I only do what you say because you bend my arm behind my back and I have no other choice, it is submission, but it isn’t quite “meekness”.
However, if I have every ability NOT to do what you request
And yet choose to submit to your will and do it anyway,
Then we are talking about a Christ-like attitude.
So let’s look at this scene from the perspective of who has the power.
#1 ASSUMED POWER
John 18:1-3
John records here that after Jesus finished in the upper room,
• He did not run off to hide,
• He did not go to a new place,
• He did not seek to conceal Himself.
Instead He willingly went to the place
Where Judas and his soldiers could easily find Him.
It is amazing to me the willingness of Jesus.
Matthew Henry wrote,
“When the people would have forced him to a crown, he withdrew, and hid himself (ch. vi 15); but when they came to force him to a cross, he offered himself; for he came to this world to suffer and went to the other world to reign.”
(Matthew Henry commentary, pg. 1611)
He is not running from duty at all, instead He seems eager to face it.
For as you know, His hour was now at hand.
And so John says, “He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples.”
“Kidron” – “black brook” – the drain for the blood of the Passover Lambs
30 years after Jesus they counted 256,000.
He then enters the place that the other gospels tell us
Is called Gethsemane and there He begins to pray.
He is literally here a sitting duck.
(Vs. 3-4) “Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.”
And what a picture we have painted for us.
Here John tells us who comes to arrest Jesus.
(Look at them)
1) Judas, the traitor, and I’ll tell you why they brought him along. First to locate Jesus, but also to identify Him in case one of the disciples tried to pretend to be Him and die in His stead. Judas came to kiss the One they were to arrest.
2) officers from the chief priests were no doubt brought as the authority to arrest Jesus, since He would be taken to trial in front of the Sanhedrin first.
3) the Pharisees were no doubt there to mock, but also to substantiate the warrant for His arrest in case Jesus tried to argue His way out of it.
4) the Roman cohort we brought in case there was a struggle. A Roman cohort at full strength was 1,000 men strong. It consisted of 760 infantry and 240 cavalry and one was always in Jerusalem to control the peace. Commonly a cohort was simply 600 mean and the smallest record of any Roman cohort was 200 men.
And if you were to look at the scene as this army approached the garden, they must have had the very display of power.
They certainly looked powerful, but you will quickly see that
They weren’t even close to the most powerful in the garden.
#2 ACTUAL POWER
John 18:4-6
Here John allows us to see who really had the power.
“It seemed like the guards had the power,
But it only seemed that way.”
For as Jesus goes out to meet His accusers, He had a point to make.
(4) “So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”
It wasn’t because He did not know.
John makes that point obvious.
He knew what was going on.
He was about to bring their pride and faulty assumptions
Down a notch.
(Vs. 5-6) “They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, “I am He.” They drew back and fell to the ground.”
When Jesus introduces Himself we get a glimpse of His glory
All of a sudden we see who really has the power.
For not only could Jesus have put them on their knees,
He had the power to keep them there.
Remember this Old Testament story?
The King of Israel sends servants to seek foreign gods and Elijah catches them and sends them home. It angers the King and so he is going to go get Elijah.
2 Kings 1:9-14 “Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.'” Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. So he again sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to him, “O man of God, thus says the king, ‘Come down quickly.'” Elijah replied to them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. So he again sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. When the third captain of fifty went up, he came and bowed down on his knees before Elijah, and begged him and said to him, “O man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. “Behold fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight.”
I want you to know Jesus could have easily done the same,
But His purpose was not escape, but to show where the power really was.
In case they thought they were in charge,
Jesus gives us a glimpse of the future.
Isaiah 11:4 “But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.”
Philippians 2:10 “so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,”
Jeremiah 16:21 “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know — This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they shall know that My name is the LORD.”
That day is a certain day that is coming
And Jesus here gives His arrestors just a glimpse.
It is Jesus here who truly is strong.
Now you are already catching my point.
We would have said that the army was pretty powerful,
And yet Jesus just showed us He is more powerful than them.
Assumed Power Actual Power
#3 AUTHORITATIVE POWER
John 18:7-9
It first begins in tragedy as these hard hearted men fail to acknowledge the power that Jesus has, as they arrogantly rise to ask for Jesus again.
But then comes a very humorous incident.
(Vs. 8-9) “Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,” to fulfill the word which He spoke, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.”
DID YOU CATCH WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
Did you catch who is giving the orders?
THE ACTUAL POWER OF GOD TRUMPS
THE ASSUMED POWER OF THE WORLD EVERY TIME.
• See Pharaoh’s army who couldn’t stop a rabble of Hebrew slaves.
• Just look at the impenetrable walls of Jericho…
• Just look at a Giant about to fight a shepherd boy…
• Just look at Nazarene holding a donkey’s jawbone about to fight 1,000 Philistines…
• Just look at Gideon scaling down his army to a mere 300 men…
And the list goes on and on.
Remember when Paul was loaded on a boat to sail to Rome?
THE ACTUAL POWER OF GOD TRUMPS
THE ASSUMED POWER OF THE WORLD EVERY TIME
We have talked recently in our Sunday morning study how Satan is the god of this world, and how the current world lies in His power.
And it does.
But that does not mean that God is not still the ultimate authority.
Here God flexed His muscle.
Jesus is God and He can do whatever He wants.
That is why when Jesus would later stand before Pilate He would say:
John 19:10-11 “So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
And that is the point.
No one could do anything to Jesus that He didn’t allow them to.
• If He didn’t want the soldiers to find Him, He wouldn’t be found.
• If He didn’t want Judas to kiss Him, He wouldn’t be kissed.
• If He didn’t want to be arrested He wouldn’t be arrested.
You get the point?
Jesus is hands down the most powerful force in the garden.
He doesn’t have to do anything He doesn’t want to do.
So now let’s look at His “gentleness” or “meekness” or “submission”
#4 APPLIED POWER
John 18:10-14
Now in these 5 verses we see two examples of power.
One is wrong, and one is right.
Obviously you know which is wrong.
(Vs. 10) “Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slaves name was Malchus.”
I couldn’t have been anyone but Peter,
And don’t go off here bragging about Peter’s courage.
Misguided zeal is very dangerous.
A zealot without knowledge only causes trouble
And hinders the true work of God.
If it had been left up to Peter, Jesus would have never died on that cross,
What Peter had looked like strength.
BUT IT WAS REALLY ZEALOUS ARROGANCE
John Calvin wrote “Let us be warned by this striking example to moderate our zeal; and as our unrestrained sinful nature is always eager to attempt more than God commands, let us learn that our zeal will turn out badly whenever we try and do anything contrary to God’s Word. Sometimes the beginning promises much, but in the end we shall be punished for our rashness. Let obedience be the basis for everything we undertake.”
And as Peter was swiping for this man’s head (only getting an ear)
We see what strength is not.
Peter was not applying the power of God.
Peter was trying to use the power of the world.
Peter was the opposite of “gentle” or “meek” or “submissive”
This is not how the church fights.
Zechariah 4:6 “Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
We do not apply God’s power by trying to prove our strength.
And so next we see how true power is applied.
(Vs. 11) “So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”
NOW THAT IS POWER
We do not see the power of Jesus in His victory,
We see the power of Jesus in His submission.
We call it meekness
“Strength under control”
That is THE GENTLENESS OF JESUS
He did not have to do what He did, but He submitted Himself to God’s will.
You’re familiar with the song:
“No one took His life, with love He gave it. He was crucified on a tree that He created.”
And look at the degree of His submission.
(12-14) “So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him, and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiphas, who was high priest that year. Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.”
They arrested Him…
They bound Him…
They led Him…
What did they think they were really accomplishing?
THE PICTURE IS THAT JESUS
HAD ALL THE POWER OF GOD AT HIS FINGERTIPS
(as evidenced when He said, “I am He”)
BUT INSTEAD HE CHOSE TO OBEY HIS FATHER.
THAT WAS THE GENTLENESS OF JESUS.
NOW – WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
As I mentioned at the beginning,
That mentality is the very heart of obedience.
Listen to what Peter had to say about our obedience
In light of Jesus’ meekness.
TURN TO: 1 Peter 2:13-3:17
NOTE: 1 Peter 3:15-17
That is what it means to live this life with the gentleness of Jesus.
It is to do God’s will even when you have the power to do your own.
Jesus always did this.
And it is our calling to be like Him.
