“Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?”
Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and said to them, 'Whom are you looking for?' — Jesus' initiative ("came forward") contrasts sharply with Synoptic accounts of arrest by surprise. "Knowing all that was to happen" (eidōs panta ta erchomena ep' auton) reveals Jesus in full possession of events, acting from divine omniscience rather than victimized passivity. His question—simple, direct—invites the arresting party to name their prey.
Church Fathers on John 18:4
The Evangelist had strewn how Judas had found, out the place where Christ was, now he relates how he went there. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, comes there with lanterns and torched and weapons.
It was a band not of Jews, but of soldiers, granted, we must understand, by the Governor, with legal authority to take the criminal, as He was considered, and crush any opposition that might be made.
But how could they persuade the band? By hiring them; for being soldiers, they were ready to do anything for money.
Read all 15 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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