Chapter 48 - The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

CHAPTER 48

THE BETRAYAL AND ARREST OF JESUS

Jesus sat down, alone, on the olive press, where he awaited the coming of the betrayer.

The Master’s Arrest

Judas Iscariot started out from the temple about half after eleven o'clock with more than sixty persons; temple guards, Roman soldiers, and curious servants of the chief priests and rulers.

As soon as Peter, James, and John, with some thirty of their fellow campers, saw the armed band with torches swing around the brow of the hill, they knew that these soldiers were coming to arrest Jesus. They all rushed down to near the olive press where the Master was sitting in moonlit solitude. As the company of soldiers approached on one side, the three apostles and their associates approached on the other. As Judas strode forward to accost the Master, there the two groups stood, motionless, with the Master between them and Judas making ready to impress the traitorous kiss upon his brow.

Jesus made one last effort to save Judas from actually betraying him. Before the traitor could reach him, he stepped to one side, and addressing the foremost soldier on the left, the captain of the Romans, said:

• "Whom do you seek?"

The captain answered:

• "Jesus of Nazareth."

Then Jesus stepped up immediately in front of the officer, and standing there in the calm majesty of the God of all this creation, said:

• "I am he."

When they heard him thus boldly announce his identity, those in the front ranks fell suddenly backward. They were overcome with surprise at his calm and majestic announcement of identity.

As the guards rallied from their first faltering at the sight of Jesus and at the sound of his unusual voice, and as the apostles and disciples drew nearer, Judas stepped up to Jesus, and placing a kiss upon his brow, said:

• "Hail, Master and Teacher."

Jesus:

• "Friend, is it not enough to do this! Would you even betray the Son of Man with a kiss?"

The apostles and disciples were literally stunned by what they saw. For a moment no one moved.

Then Jesus, disengaging himself from the traitorous embrace of Judas, stepped up to the guards and soldiers and again asked:

• "Whom do you seek?"

And again the captain said:

• "Jesus of Nazareth."

And again answered Jesus:

• "I have told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these others go their way. I am ready to go with you."

Continued

As Jesus stood there awaiting the captain's orders, one Malchus, the Syrian bodyguard of the high priest, stepped up to Jesus and made ready to bind his hands behind his back. Although the Roman captain had not directed that Jesus should be thus bound. When Peter and his associates saw their Master being subjected to this indignity, they were no longer able to restrain themselves. Peter drew his sword and with the others rushed forward to smite Malchus.

But before the soldiers could come to the defense of the high priest's servant, Jesus raised a forbidding hand to Peter, and speaking sternly, said:

• "Peter, put up your sword. They who take the sword shall perish by the sword. Do you not understand that it is the Father's will that I drink this cup? And do you not further know that I could even now command more than twelve legions of angels and their associates, who would deliver me from the hands of these few men?"

While Jesus thus effectively put a stop to this show of physical resistance by his followers, it was enough to arouse the fear of the captain of the guards. Who now, with the help of his soldiers, laid heavy hands on Jesus and quickly bound him.

And as they tied his hands with heavy cords, Jesus said to them:

• "Why do you come out against me with swords and with staves as if to seize a robber? I was daily with you in the temple, publicly teaching the people, and you made no effort to take me."

When Jesus had been bound, the captain, fearing that the followers of the Master might attempt to rescue him, gave orders that they be seized. But the soldiers were not quick enough, having overheard the captain's orders to arrest them, Jesus' followers fled in haste back into the ravine.

On the Way to the High Priest’s Palace

John Zebedee, remembering his Master's instructions to remain always near at hand, hurried up near Jesus as he marched along between the two captains.

The commander of the temple guards, seeing John, said to his assistant:

• "Take this man and bind him. He is one of this fellow's followers."

But when the Roman captain heard this and looking around saw John, he gave orders that the apostle should come over by him and that no man should molest him.

Then the Roman captain said to the Jewish captain:

• "This man is neither a traitor nor a coward. I saw him in the garden, and he did not draw a sword to resist us. He has the courage to come forward to be with his Master, and no man shall lay hands on him. The Roman law allows that any prisoner may have at least one friend to stand with him before the judgment bar, and this man shall not be prevented from standing by the side of his Master, the prisoner."

And when Judas heard this he was so ashamed and humiliated that he dropped back behind the marchers, coming up to the palace of Annas alone.

And all the way to the palace of Annas Jesus opened not his mouth. From the time of his arrest to the time of his appearance before Annas the Son of Man spoke no word.