"The Willing Servant"

"They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them." (John 18:5 KJV)

  "I have entered my garden, my treasure, my bride! I gathered myrrh with my spices and eat honeycomb with my honey. I drink wine with my milk. Oh, lover and beloved, eat and drink! Yes, drink deeply of your love!" (Song Of Songs 5:1 NLT)

 Oh my, I really didn't see this coming; but I am absolutely certain that God knew everything, every little detail, from start to finish! There is so much going on here, as it appears and does not appear, most of this has been shown throughout the history of Israel, the children of Jacob. 

 To start, Jesus of Nazareth, although that is what they called Him, that was not really true, because He was born in Bethlehem, which was the place by which the Messiah would come from. They either had this name as the name written on His warrant, or the Jews, that totally denied who He was, had given that name as the person that they wanted arrested. 

 Either way, Jesus took no opportunity to correct them or make any defense for His identity. He simply took the opportunity to tell them that He was the one they sought. Willingly, He was prepared for the grueling night and day that would be ahead; and now it was His moment to express that! 'You came for me, now take me!' 

 On the flip side of that, we have Judas; the one that betrayed Him! You must realize that Judas was a man of the world; nothing that Jesus had done or said made any sense to him, and he only wanted Jesus to be that Messiah that would free Israel from Roman rule. He also only cared about the money, as he was the one that had kept the money bag; he was also the one that complained whenever money was wasted. 

 That said, this moment most have seemed quite awkward for him, as he was standing with those who were coming against Jesus, when he once had stood beside Jesus! Who was the most willing servant in this crowd? Was it the One who knew all that would happen? or was the clueless one, that was being used to do evil? 

 To be clear, Jesus had no fear of what He was doing; He knew full well that this was something that had to be done; and He also knew that the outcome would please the Father! So, in some form or fashion, this was His honor to do what He was going to do. Besides, all He needed to do from here was to just remain humble and human! 

 Judas, on the other hand, had no clue what he was doing, what was to come, or how all of this would be turning out. Jesus had mentioned it, many times and in several different way; but Judas hardly paid any attention, because it was not what he wanted to hear. He wanted to hear Jesus say that He was going destroy the Romans, not that He was going to be crucified on a cross. 

 Think about that; how much Jesus knew, being in control but being led into what was about to happen; while Judas was out of control, being led by the devil. Which one has now the characteristics of a servant? Servants are told what to do, but not really given all the details why. Servants only do what they are told; blindly led from one place to the other. 

 Anywho, as far as the verse from Song of Songs, although that might not mix well, it totally matches...

""Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy. For someday the people will follow me. I, the LORD, will roar like a lion. And when I roar, my people will return trembling from the west. Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt. Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria. And I will bring them home again," saith the LORD." (Hosea 11:8-11 NLT)