John narrates some small things that we don’t see in the other Gospels, while the other Gospels record some things that John doesn’t. We see that in the story of the garden of Gethsemane. John only calls it a garden and not by name but gives us directions to it. John records a prayer during the Last Supper but doesn’t record that Jesus prayed at all in the garden (maybe John was embarrassed that he had fallen asleep). John records the name of who cut off the ear, Peter, and who’s ear was cut off, Malcus. But he doesn’t record that Jesus healed the ear. I wonder why but then again, John wrote only a couple sentences earlier something that should have had our minds reeling.
Jesus asked the gang that had come to arrest him who they were looking for. They answer, Jesus of Nazareth. He answers, “I AM”. Yes, when you read it in an English translation, most likely it reads “I am he” which is valid but the Greek is simply “I AM”, the same two words we find in John 8, ego eimi. Those two words are the words of divinity. They are the name of God as we see in Exodus 3. Those two words had the power to cause that rabble of men to fall back and onto the ground. The power of the I AM is overwhelming.
And yet, Jesus let those men take him away and crucify him. Jesus could have called to the Father and had twelve legions of angels rescue him. But this was the time that Jesus had been born for, only the I AM could, only the I AM would. Jesus knew the sacrifice had to be made for only the I AM could redeem the lost.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. -John 3:16
