“Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.’ This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: ‘I have not lost one of those you gave me’ ” (John 18:8-9).
When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus His first thought was for the protection of His disciples. Most of us would have thought of ourselves at that moment. Jesus always put others before Himself. He proved that by coming to die so that we can live.
Had He not been thinking of us He wouldn’t have faced the Cross. He was not only willing to give Himself up to the horrific abuse and death that awaited Him; He wanted to protect His disciples from the ordeal He was about to undergo. “Let these men go” was His way of protecting His followers to the very last moment before the Cross.
While many people regard following Jesus as a supreme sacrifice the truth is quite the opposite. He made the supreme sacrifice and only asks us to believe in what He did for us. While many of His disciples then and now face martyrdom and die for their beliefs they never die alone. He was abandoned by His Father at the moment when our sins were placed on Him. We will never be abandoned by God—even in death.
When Stephen was martyred a short time after the death of Christ he saw Jesus standing to welcome him home. Jesus faced the full sting of death. That sting is removed for all of us. He protected His followers from death until He had overcome it. We still live under His divine protection, no matter what we face.
