John 18:12 — Community Reflections

JOHN 18:12 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him,”

So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him — The formal arrest (synelabosan) and binding (edēsan) represent the soldiers' execution of their commission after the initial awe-struck moment. Multiple forces coordinate—Roman soldiers, their officer, Jewish police—demonstrating the coalition required to capture the divine word incarnate. Yet the binding of Jesus ironically restrains only his body; his will remains free.

Church Fathers on John 18:12

Every thing having been done that could be to dissuade the Jews, and they refusing to take warning, He suffered Himself to be delivered into their hands: Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus.
Theophylact · 11th century

They took Him Whom they did not draw nigh to; nor understood that which is written in the Psalms, Draw nigh to Him, and be you lightened. For had they thus drawn nigh to Him, they would have taken Him, not to kill Him, but to be in their hearts. But now that they take Him the way they do, they go backward. It follows, and bound Him, Him by Whom they ought to have wished to be loosed. And perhaps there were among them some who, afterwards delivered by Him, exclaimed, you have…
Augustine · 4th century

In exultation, to show what they had done, as if they were raising a trophy.
Chrysostom · 4th century

Read all 7 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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