Matthew 26:47-56 Mark 14:43-52 Luke 22:47-53 John 18:2-12
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47 While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the
twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who
came from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying,
“Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him.” 49 Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!”
and kissed Him. 50 And Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what
you have come for.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him.
51 And behold, one of those who were with
Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest
and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its
place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. 53 “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and
He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 “How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which
say that it must happen this way?” 55 At that time Jesus said to the crowds,
“Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against
a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not
seize Me. 56 “But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures
of the prophets.” Then all the disciples left Him and fled.
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43 Immediately while He was still speaking, Judas, one of
the twelve, came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who
were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal,
saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away under
guard.” 45 After coming, Judas immediately went to Him, saying,
“Rabbi!” and kissed Him. 46 They laid hands on Him and seized
Him. 47 But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck
the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. 48 And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords
and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a robber? 49 “Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and
you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to
fulfill the Scriptures.” 50 And they all left Him and fled.
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47 While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and
the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he
approached Jesus to kiss Him. 48 But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you
betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49 When those who were around Him saw
what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the
sword?” 50 And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and
cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No
more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him. 52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the
temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords
and clubs as you would against a robber? 53 “While I was with you daily in the
temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness
are yours.”
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2 Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place,
for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. 3 Judas then, having received the Roman cohort
and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with
lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 So Jesus, knowing all the things that
were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to
them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was
standing with them. 6 So when He said to them, “I am He,” they
drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Therefore He again asked them, “Whom
do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so
if you seek Me, let these go their way,” 9 to fulfill the word which He spoke,
“Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.” 10 Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the
high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath;
the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” 12 So the Roman cohort and the commander
and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him,
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When
Jesus finished praying, Judas and a crowd confront Jesus and the
encounter reveals some very interesting things.
Jesus is not surprised or distressed about this entire encounter. He knows what must happen and has accepted
this fact. Jesus is being taken into
custody, but it is clear that He is allowing this to happen. These events and reactions are interesting to
observe. It is ironic that the authorities
in this scene are detaining Jesus who has all the power of the universe at His
disposal. They think they are in control,
but we know that is not the case. The
same thing happens in our lives when we presume to be in control of our
lives. We would do well to demonstrate
humility instead of pretending to be the authorities in our own lives.
JUDAS BETRAYS JESUS WITH A KISS: The plot to arrest Jesus
had to be done in secret and with the cover of darkness. Judas was key to the success of this plot
because he would know where Jesus was and who Jesus was even in the dark. Judas leads the soldiers to where he knows
Jesus will be and then identifies Jesus to the soldiers be greeting Him with a
kiss. This does not take Jesus by
surprise and He confronts Judas by calling him a friend and questioning why he
would betray him with a kiss. He has
pretended to be one of the followers of Jesus all this time, but He never
recognized Jesus as the Son of God. His
view as to what the Messiah would look like and do was so different than what
Jesus fulfilled that he rejected Jesus and was then used by Satan and the
religious leaders to betray Him. Judas
expected a political revolutionary and thought that by following Jesus, he too
would be granted a position of influence in the new kingdom that would
emerge. However, the kingdom Jesus was
offering was not a political one but was far larger than just the nation of
Israel. It is easy for our understanding
of Scripture to be skewed according to our own experience and expectation. We must be careful not to allow our
expectations about following Jesus to discourage us when they go unmet.
PETER DEFENDS JESUS WITH A SWORD: When Peter sees what is
about to happen, he decides to put the sword Jesus had asked them about earlier
to use. He might have thought that this
was the beginning of a revolution and that this was the first step to
overthrowing Rome and the corrupt priests.
He strikes at the head of the slave of the high priest, Malchus. The result was that the guys ear was cut off,
so Peter was a little off target, but not by much. Jesus responds by telling Peter to back down and
then he heals the man’s ear. This must
have been a strange scene as the slave is there to arrest Jesus and then has
his ear healed by the man he is trying to arrest. That had to have given him cause for
thought. It is amazing to see Peter’s
willingness to defend Jesus at this point when we know that he will deny
knowing Jesus in a short period of time.
Perhaps at this time with Jesus by his side, it was easier to be
courageous. After Jesus was arrested and
Peter was alone, it was harder to identify with Him. It is important that we all recognize that we
are fully capable of standing up for Christ in one circumstance and then failing
to follow Him the next. The key to
consistency is to constantly practice the presence of our Lord and depend on
His Spirit that is always with us.
SOLDIERS ARREST JESUS WITH FEAR: The soldiers are men who do
as they are told to do. They may not
have held any animosity towards Jesus or even know much about Him. They were sent out to arrest Him and were
there to do their job. However, there
are clearly evidences that they and/or their superiors were fearful of
arresting Jesus. The first evidence is what
Jesus points out in His dialogue. He
asks them why they have come at night when He had been publicly speaking in the
Synagogues. During the day, arresting
Jesus would have been risky and would have likely started a riot. However, once He had been arrested and then
found “guilty” the crowds would have been surprised, but not having witnessed
the “infraction” would accept and even join in the crowd assuming that the
court was just. However, when Jesus
states that He is “I AM,” one of God’s names, and the entire crown spontaneously
falls to the ground, it had to have been a disconcerting experience. I would certainly be fearful trying to arrest
a man that could knock down a small army of men with his voice. However, that is what they did and now the trial
begins. Just because God permits something,
does not mean that He is approving of it.
We should always fear doing anything we know will not be pleasing to the
Lord.
APPLICATION: Don’t allow disappointment with God in diverse
circumstances in our lives poison our hearts.
These trials should be used as reminders to draw closer to the
Lord. Depend on the Lord for our strength
by recognizing that He is always with us and always loves us. Stand in awe of the power of God and use that
awe as motivation to live in a way that is pleasing to Him.
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