18:1-11. Jesus arrested
After praying Jesus went across the Kidron valley,
on the east side of the city and not mentioned in the synoptic gospels, John's
account of Jesus' arrest is dramatic and symbolic. There is no kiss from Judas
to identify Jesus for Jesus identified himself with the divine 'I AM.' Those
who had come to seize the Son of God could not arrest him until he offered
himself to them. Only in John's gospel is Peter named as the disciple who made
an attempt to defend Jesus, and the slave named who was injured (Mark 14:47).
John does not say that the disciples then fled (Mark 14:50) but this is
understood by the reader (16:32).