Today's readings are Proverbs 22.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Prov.+22.1-21 ) and John 18.1-14 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+18.1-14 ).
As we look at the arrest of Jesus we see a very odd situation. While reading John 18 with some students this year I looked up the term which the ESV translates "band" of soldiers. As with most military terms, it is a rather specific one. The force of soldiers Judas brought with him, in addition to the temple guards, was a group of about 600 men. Over six hundred men to arrest one man? At night? What were they expecting? Maybe they expected Jesus and his disciples to be armed? Maybe they expected them to resist arrest? Yet outnumbering the people you are planning to arrest 50:1 seems excessive. Those soldiers, unarmed, could apprehend even well armed and trained opponents with that ratio. And here the soldiers were armed and trained. Peter pulled a sword out from somewhere, but seems to have used it approximately as a fisherman would, attacking a servant and not a real soldier.
Jesus in fact does not resist arrest. This is a show of his power and authority. Jesus knew they would come to arrest him. He knew that his purpose would be accomplished by being put to death. He was ready to do so out of his love for you and for me. Jesus, the mighty God, came to bear our sin so we would not have to bear it ourselves. He, alone, is more powerful than the hundreds of men who came to arrest him, for he conquered sin and death through his death, something all the people in the world will not overcome through their lives or deaths. And he goes willingly, considering the shame of the cross and the pain of death less important than redeeming your life.
Rejoice! When everyone else was sleeping, Jesus was praying that the Father's will might be done, though it would cost him his life. While we were yet dead in sin (a sort of sleep), Jesus gave himself over for us. They probably could have sent one officer to come get Jesus. If the disciples had let him in, Jesus would have gone. It is God's good will to redeem the world to himself in Christ.
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