This is part of a year-long series. Find out more about this series here.

John 18:4 “Whom do you seek?”

I made an observation that struck me as quite powerful. On the night he was betrayed, a crowd of people approached Jesus. He asked them “whom do you seek?” (Jn. 18:4). This question is remarkably similar to the one Jesus asked John the Baptist’s disciples, which was “what do you seek?” (John 1:38; read my post on this question here). The question to John’s disciples is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, and the question to the crowd is at the end of His ministry. These two questions, therefore, bookend His ministry, but they are profoundly different contexts. John’s disciples approached Jesus because they wanted to follow Him. The crowd approached Him because they wanted to arrest and murder Him. Jesus’ identity as the Messiah was at the center of both groups’ interest in Him, but each group responded to Him in direct contrast from the other.

I think John bookended Jesus’ ministry with these questions intentionally because it emphasizes a major theme throughout his Gospel: the contrast between receiving Jesus and hating Him. The end of John 2 provides a short but powerful statement, which foreshadows this contrast between verses 1:38 and 18:4. John 2 ends with “But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” (John 2:24-25 ESV). Jesus was fully aware of the wickedness within the human heart, and this statement at the end of ch.2 sets the stage for a series of conflicts and contrasts that culminate in Jesus being arrested, unlawfully tried, and murdered.

I am thankful for John’s emphasis of this contrast because it reminds me of the seriousness of the gospel. It reminds me the severity of the human heart. It reminds me of the reality that people will hate Jesus because of who He is. It reminds me that stepping into a gospel-centered life is to embrace a life of contrasts. Even in America, which, in the historical perspective of humanity, is a safe country to practice religion, we will encounter people who are seeking Jesus for one of two reasons: to follow Him, or to arrest and crucify Him.