Title John 16:28-33
Even if you missed all these opportunities, if you would, with his divine powers to calm storms, cast out demons, and raise the sick and the dead, he would smash prison gates, blind soldiers, or knock down a thousand for every single Peter swing. He must have been able to disappear like the wind by demonstrating his superpower to walk on water. Also, he must have been able to turn the people's hearts 180 degrees back to Jesus' side by using the power of making wine from water and performing miracles of 5 bottles and 2 fish, giving more profits to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem than the money the high priests sowed. But Jesus was released and made no attempt to survive.
It is not that Jesus was not afraid of the suffering and death of the cross. As a human being just like us, Jesus was often gripped with intense fear and anguish from moment to moment. According to Mark 14:33-34, he said to Peter, James, and John, "My heart is so troubled that I am about to die," and even asked him to stay awake while praying for himself. Remove me from me” (Mark 14:36). Luke 22:44 tells us that "the sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground." Even on the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).
Then, why did Jesus not avoid the suffering and death of the cross, which he knew so clearly, but took it upon himself, and how could he instead declare victory while looking forward to the suffering, disgrace, and death? We can find two answers. First, it was because of the conviction that God the Father was with us. Second, it was because of the will to do the work that God the Father had given us.
What does verse 32 say? "Behold, the hour is coming, when each of you is scattered to his own place, and when you leave me alone, it has already come; but I am not alone; the Father is with me." For Jesus, being alone with people was not a problem. It was enough just to know that the Father was with him. That certainty was the reason that victory could already be declared before the final decisive battle began. The Lord wants this kind of faith from us today as well. Only this faith is the power that makes us not avoid our cross and gives us victory in any situation.