We have a God who is in the business of restoration. In the course of Jesus’s short ministry, He healed all sorts of illnesses, cast out demons, and released people from their sins, but the most important piece of restoration was yet to come.
Friend, even as Jesus was in His darkest moment, He continued to be a force of compassion and healing, and He maintained this position even unto the Cross, where the ultimate restoration — our reunion with God — was paid for. If you are needing healing in your life, then I want you to pay attention, because I’m going to take a close look at Jesus’ actions on the night that He was betrayed and show you how He maintained His ministry of restoration.
Luke 22:41-44 gives us a clear picture of the strain that Jesus was under that night in the Garden of Gethsemane:
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Jesus was facing the reality of horrific abuse and humiliation at the hands of the religious leaders and the Romans, so His intention that night was to go far off, to be separate, so that He could receive strength from the Father, but He was already under such spiritual pressure that He could only go as far as “a stone’s cast,” a short distance. Then the Bible says, “he kneeled down,” but the Greek actually means that He collapsed to His knees. This was not Jesus just getting down on His knees to pray — because of the intensity of the strain on Him, He literally collapsed, falling hard to the ground!
The Bible says that He was in “agony” as He prayed, which comes from the Greek word agōnia (ἀγωνίᾳ), describing a fierce, violent struggle. It pictures two wrestlers throwing each other to the mat, fighting for the victory, and this tells us that Jesus was wrestling fiercely within Himself. We can see His struggle in His words as He prayed, “Father, if it’s possible — if it’s at all possible — let this cup pass from Me” (see Luke 22:42).
This was a wrestling match with His own will. Jesus understood that it was the will of the Father for Him to drink that cup, to go to the Cross and restore our relationship with God. He knew in His heart that He was born for that very moment, but who would want to drink that cup? Who would want to go to the Cross? Who would want to spend three days in Hell? The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus prayed this prayer three separate times! His mind was screaming, “No, don’t do it!” But His heart said, “Do it, for it is the will of the Father.”
This was a battle of such intensity that His mind and body were almost at the breaking point, and He literally began to sweat blood. The Greek here is very specific, and it tells us that Jesus was suffering from a very real medical condition called hematidrosis. When an individual is under intense enough mental pressure, his mind begins to send signals to the body until the body perceives itself to be under actual, physical pressure. Under this strain, the body begins to do something very strange. The top layer of skin separates from the second layer and forms a vacuum, which fills with blood. Eventually the blood pushes out of the individual’s pores and runs down the body like sweat.
Maybe you’ve been under pressure or experienced spiritual warfare, but most likely, you have never experienced such a struggle that you sweated blood. Jesus’ mind and heart were in a battle that we can’t even imagine as He fought to yield to the will of God. But in the end, He won the struggle against His flesh. Right there in the Garden of Gethsemane, the battle was truly won, because that is where Jesus yielded to the plan and chose to be the Lamb of God!
Beyond simply yielding to the plan, Jesus also chose, under all this pressure, to continue acting in love toward the people around Him. You see, Jesus was not alone in the garden that night. He had brought Peter, James, and John and asked them to pray with Him. In all of His ministry, He was always there for them when they needed Him, He never failed them, but now, finally, in a very critical moment, He was the one who needed them. But when He went to them, they were sleeping on the job! Three times, He went to His closest friends, and they had fallen asleep. The last time this happened, Jesus didn’t even wake them — He just let them sleep on.
What is beautiful about Jesus’ example is that never in these Scriptures do you find that He was hurt or bitter about their failure. He understood that they did not comprehend what He was going through. Those disciples were good friends, and they didn’t want to fail Jesus, but they simply could not comprehend what He was bearing in that moment. But rather than be angry and disappointed, Jesus released them.
This is very important, because in your hour of trouble, you may be disappointed by your family and friends. Maybe it’s something you’ve already experienced, but you need to make sure you are doing right by them even in your pain. Your problem is your problem. Your burden is your burden. Even though your friends love you and want to support you, they will never comprehend what you feel, so even if they fall asleep on the job, release them. Let go of the disappointment and hurt and bitterness, just like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane.
When He returned to them again, Jesus said “Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand” (Mark 14:42). This was the equivalent of saying, “It’s time to go to the Cross. Let’s get going.” He had won the battle, and He went out to face His betrayer and the band of soldiers he had brought.
Before I move on, I want to show you something very important. John 18:3 tells us that Judas brought “a band of men” with him to arrest Jesus. The word “band” may sound like only a small group, but in the Greek, this is a very specific military term that refers to a Roman cohort, a group of 300 to 600 Roman soldiers! This word is never used for another purpose — 300 to 600 well-trained soldiers equipped with the finest weaponry of the day. Not only that, but there were also members of the temple police who worked for the chief priests and Pharisees. What had Judas told them about the power of Jesus that they thought it would take so many men to arrest Him?
Yet even this cohort was not enough to arrest Jesus. John 18:4-6 tells us, “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.”
When Jesus said “I am he” in verse 5, He was using the exact same words that God used in Exodus 3:14 to say “I Am that I Am.” Jesus was declaring that He was God in the flesh. He was telling them, “You’re seeking Jesus of Nazareth, but let Me make sure you understand who you’re really coming after — I Am.”
Then the Bible says that the band of 300 or more soldiers “went backward.” It was like a bomb had been detonated, and they were suddenly blasted back, staggering, trying to stand and resist, but they could not. The Greek word means they hit the ground hard. Without trying to fight back, Jesus simply stated His identity, and divine power was released, which pushed back the whole band of 300 to 600 soldiers as well as the temple police and religious leaders.
This release of divine power just shows us that there was no way they could have taken Him, but Jesus had already chosen to let them do it. That is what His struggle had been for, and now, He was committed to the plan to restore humanity.
Furthermore Jesus didn’t let shocking or stressful events shatter His commitment — instead, He used them as an opportunity to set an example for us and demonstrate His desire for restoration.
John 18:10 tells us that while the soldiers were on the ground, “Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.”
This man, Malchus, was no regular servant. He was press secretary for the high priest, which means that for three years, he had been the mouth of the religious leaders, spreading all this false news and bad information about Jesus and His disciples, so when Peter saw him lying there under the power of God, trying to arrest Jesus but unable to move, he acted on his bitterness. He took a sword, and with a hard downward swing meant to kill, he completely severed Malchus’ ear from his head.
Friend, this night was already so difficult for Jesus as He faced the struggle within Himself, the betrayal of His close friend Judas, and the horrific death before Him, and now here was Peter, one of the future leaders of Jesus’ Church, in serious trouble for assaulting a public official. This was so serious, friend. The penalty for assaulting a public official with the intention to kill carried a sentence of death, which meant Jesus was about to lose one of His leaders. This attack would also have cost Malchus his job under the high priest, as no one who was disfigured could serve in the Temple premises.
But despite this mess that Peter had made, adding extra stress to this horrible night in Jesus’ life, Jesus continued to move in love and power. As all the soldiers started to get up, Jesus asked them very calmly, “Suffer ye thus far” (Luke 22:51). This literally means, “Excuse Me, I’ve got to stop this whole thing just for a minute. There’s something I need to fix.” Then Jesus touched Malchus, and He healed him. We don’t know if He picked the ear up and put it back on or just laid His hand on the stump, but when He removed His hand, Malchus had an ear, he could keep his job, and there was no evidence of Peter’s crime.
Friend, Jesus showed us how to behave in our dark moments. He showed us how to struggle well and maintain a position of faith and love throughout everything, but He also showed us His power. He proved that He is able to fight off a whole army and yet willing to put everything on pause to attend to our problem. Even on the way to the Cross, Jesus stopped everything to clean up Peter’s mess. He stopped everything to heal a man who had helped to spread so many horrible lies about Him. Jesus took the time to put everything in place and restore it to the way that it was meant to be, because Jesus is a restorer — it’s part of His nature!