Day 111: I Wish We Could Grasp His Name

So Judas, 

having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, 

went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 

Then Jesus, 

knowing all that would happen to him, 

came forward and said to them, 

“Whom do you seek?” 

They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 

Jesus said to them, “I am he.” 

...When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” 

they drew back and fell to the ground. 

John 18:3-5

The place: The garden at Gethsemane. 

It's night, or at least dark. To take into custody one man, the Pharisees and religious leaders had assembled quite the posse. 

It really wasn't needed. Jesus was going to go willingly, like a Lamb to the slaughter. He knew His time had come. Under the distress of knowing all that would happen, He was sweating blood. But He stepped forward anyway.

The gospel of John emphasizes Christ's deity, and I think that this passage is absolutely amazing. He says, "I am he," and the whole group of people there to arrest and exercise authority over this man, fall to their faces, prostrate at Jesus' confession. That is power. 

Jesus is powerful. His name is power.

I wish we could grasp the fullness of His name and the fullness of His deity. He is the great I AM. He is Yahweh. We don't use Yahweh all that much. It is the covenant name that God gave Himself when He spoke to Moses at the burning bush. 

Thursday came and went. Friday's dawn broke. All creation longed for this moment. I AM was headed for the cross. Willingly. In power.