As Jesus awoke the sleeping disciples saying,
“Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand” (Mark 14:42),
Judas, leading a great multitude entered the garden. What we usually
don’t realize is how great that multitude really was. The gospel writers
tell us that the group consisted of the chief priests, scribes, elders,
the captain and officers of the Jews temple police force, and a band of
Roman soldiers armed with swords and staves and carrying torches and
lanterns. Like all things in New Testament scholarship, how many men
were in a band of soldiers is debated, but it is safe to assume there
were at least 150 which shows how much the chief priest fear Jesus. In
addition, it is Passover week and the city is crowded with people who
hearing the commotion would have followed out of curiosity. One senses
the irony as hundreds of angry men stomped through the night led by the
light of their torches in order to capture the Light of the world! (See
Isaiah 50:11.) As they approached Jesus, Judas cried out “Hail, master!”
and kissed Jesus.
Jesus responded, “Judas, betrayest thou the
Son of man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48). Then turning to the crowd He
asked, “Whom seek ye?”
They responded “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus answered, “I am he” (John 18:6). But you will notice in your scriptures that the word he
is italicized. This means that the word is not in the original Greek
manuscripts but is a word the King James translators added to make
things clearer. However, in this case it hides the meaning. What Jesus
says to them is simply, “I am” which was considered to be the name of
God. As Thomas Aquinas explained, the title I Am referred to the “being
of all things.”
Something extraordinary happens as Jesus
pronounces, “I am.” At those words the entire multitude stepped backward
and fell to the ground which indicates to me that there must have been a
power or spirit that accompanied those words as if to give the people
one last chance to understand and repent. Instead they arrest Him, but
as He surrenders His love is manifest as He asks that His disciples be
set free.
At this point Peter drew his sword and
lashing out cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest named
Malcus. “Put up thy sword,” Jesus says to Peter. Then turning to Malcus
he touched his ear and healed him. But even that fails to soften the
angry mob. Now, turning Himself over to the mob Jesus said, “This is
your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53).
After His arrest Jesus was taken to the
palace of the chief priest Caiaphas, and his father-in-law Annas, and
tried for the crime of blasphemy. The fact that they were trying a man
during the night and many other details of the proceedings were illegal
under their own laws, but that did not stop them. A unanimous decision
was reached (also illegal) and the crowd began to spit on Jesus and make
a game of covering His face, striking him, and then crying out,
“Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?”
Outside as Peter waited, a maid who also sat with him at the fire suddenly proclaimed, “This man was also with him.”
But
Peter answered, “Woman, I know him not.” Two more times people
recognized Peter as a follower and both times Peter again denied knowing
Jesus. After the third denial the cock crew and Peter remembered that
the night before Jesus had told him, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice.” At the realization of what he had done, Peter went out
and wept bitterly.
As the day began to dawn, Jesus was taken
to Pilate because the chief priests wanted Him executed under Roman law.
As they delivered Jesus up to Pilate in the Praetorium, the official
residence of the Roman governor, they refused to enter the judgment hall
themselves lest they be defiled. Curious about this man he had heard so
much about, Pilate began the examination by asking, “Art thou the King
of the Jews?” (John 18:33).
Jesus replied, “Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?
Sarcastically
Pilate replied, “Am I a Jew?” and explained that it is the chief
priests that have told him these things. As the trial goes on Pilate
persisted, “Art thou a king then?”
Jesus finally answered, “For this cause came I into the world. . . . Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
At this Pilate asked, “What is truth?” But without waiting for an answer sent Jesus to be judged of Herod.
Herod is equally as curious to see Jesus
and questioned Him intensely, but Jesus refused to answer Herod. So
Herod and his men mock “the King” by arraying him in a gorgeous royal
robe and send Him back to Pilate.
Pilate can see that Jesus has committed no
crime and is reluctant to pass judgment, but the Jewish leaders incite
the crowd and insist on Jesus’ death. In a last attempt to free Jesus,
Pilate offers the people a choice. There is to be a prisoner released to
celebrate the Passover. Do they want Barabbas who is accused of murder
and sedition set free or Jesus? The name Barabbas in Hebrew means “son
of the father” and an early Christian scholar named Origen claimed that
Barabbas’ given name was Yeshua, which in Greek is Jesus. Whether that
is true or not the irony remains. The Jewish leaders chose to free the
guilty “son of the father” who had destroyed lives, and condemn the
innocent “Son of the Father” who would give them life.
Pilate, still unconvinced of the Savior’s
guilt pleaded with the crowd, but fearing rioting from the crowd that
refuses to relent, Pilate washes his hands as a symbolic gesture that he
does not agree with this verdict, but proclaims Jesus as guilty and
condemns Him to be crucified with the words, “Shall I crucify your
King?” and the people shout back, “We have no king but Caesar” (John
19:15).
Once again the soldiers mock and
torture the Savior as they carry him to prison. Clothed in the purple
royal robe, they now place a crown of thorns upon his head and salute
him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” as they smite and spit upon Him.
Tired from being awake all night, fatigued
from the atoning agony, and wounded from the scourging He had received
Jesus began the walk to Calvery with the beam of the cross upon His
back, but He had no strength left for the task and so a man, Simon a
Cyrenian, was pulled from the crowd and forced to carry the cross. Once
on the hill, Jesus was nailed to the cross beam, it was lifted into
place on the permanently installed post, His feet were nailed to the
post and He was crucified with a placard placed atop the cross that read
in three languages, “This is the King of the Jews.” The Jewish leaders
asked Pilate to change the placard to read, “He said, I am King of the
Jews.” But Pilate refused to change it saying, “What I have written I
have written.”
As the soldiers jeered and reviled while
carrying out their duties, Jesus looked down upon them and said,
"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
Totally clueless as to the eternally significant event taking place at
the top of the cross, the soldiers at the bottom of the cross made four
piles of His clothing, but instead of ripping the royal coat into four
pieces they cast lots to see who would win it. Thus they went home that
day rejoicing over their spoils unaware of the great gift of life that
had been given them.
The crowd continued to jeer and mock. “Thou
that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save
thyself, and come down from the cross.” And the chief priests cried out,
“He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of
God.”
(To be continued tomorrow)
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