At the time of Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Roman soldiers bound Jesus.  This seemingly innocuous event seems pretty straightforward, unless you think about it a little more closely.  So let’s do that.

John 18:1-14 recounts Jesus’ arrest in the Garden.  When the Roman soldiers came looking for Jesus, with Judas who could identify Him for them, He asked them who they wanted.  They replied that they were looking for Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus responded with “I am He.”  At this point, they drew back and fell to the ground.  The text does not state why they fell to the ground, but this was more than simply a matter of one person stumbling.  This group included Judas, some officials of the chief priests and Pharisees, as well as a Roman detachment.  Matthew and Mark refer to a mob in their gospels, which could have just meant the large group of people that John referred to, or it could have included an actual mob of possible troublemakers, in addition to the people that John referred to.  Regardless of who it was, there appear to have been quite a few people involved, yet they all fell to the ground.

This likely involuntary response to Jesus helps us to see God’s power versus man’s power.  They were coming to arrest Jesus, but if Jesus didn’t go with them voluntarily, they never could have taken Him by force.  Although Peter tried to defend Jesus, He told Peter to put away his sword.  Jesus was going to go peacefully with the Roman soldiers, but not because they were able to overpower Him.  Jesus would go with them because this was part of the Father’s will(John 18:11).  Jesus was being the obedient Son; He was not a captured criminal.

In verse 12, they bound Jesus.  This is the same Jesus they could not even stand in the presence of just a short while earlier.  Could their binding really hold Jesus?  Of course not!  If Jesus had not allowed himself to be bound, nothing could have held Him.

In John 1:1-3, John had previously made the following points: that Jesus was God; all things were created through Him; and without Him, there was not anything made that was made.  Essentially, Jesus is God and created everything(including people).  If He created everything(just by speaking - Gen. 1), it would be ludicrous to think, even for a second, that people could bind the Creator of the universe.

In John 19:1, Pilate had Jesus flogged.  This would have involved putting Jesus’ arms around a flogging post and binding them to hold Him there.  This again could only have happened if Jesus allowed it. 

In John 19:23, they crucified Jesus, binding Him to the cross.  It has been said, and rightly so, that the nails did not hold Jesus to the cross.  Only His willingness to follow His Father’s plan kept Him on the cross.  Even Satan knew that angels would protect Jesus from any harm(Ps. 91:12; Matt. 4:6), so any harm done to Jesus would have been things that Jesus allowed.

Although it may have seemed rather normal to bind Jesus, it was actually anything but that.  No person or group could have ever bound Jesus in any way if He did not first allow it to happen.  Being God and the Creator of the universe, he was not “bind-able” - at least not without His permission. It was only His submission to His Father’s plan of salvation that allowed Him to be bound, and the rest of us to be unbound - unbound from our sin, which separates us from God.  Jesus allowed Himself to be bound so that we could be reunited with God.  That is strength.  That is meekness.  That is love.  Let’s remember what had to happen so our sins could be forgiven.