Jesus is Arrested
Matthew 26
Jesus and the disciples are walking to the Garden of Gethsemane
Jesus had predicted that before the rooster crows in the
morning that Peter would deny Him three times.
And Jesus had also mentioned that when he is being judged and crucified all
of the other disciples will run off and pretend not to know Him. Peter and the other disciples did not want to hear
this. They tell Jesus that they would
never leave Him: -that they will always be loyal to Him. .
Jesus told the disciples that He would be raised from the
dead and that He would meet them in Galilee
afterwards. So he was already trying to
set up a meeting with them after his resurrection. “But after I have been raised, I will go
before you to Galilee .” Jesus told them. (Matthew 26:32) But even though Jesus often had discussed his
death and resurrection with the disciples, they just didn’t seem to understand!
When they arrive at the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus
Then Jesus prays to his Father: “Oh My Father, if it is
possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as You
will.” (Matthew 26:39) Scripture says that Jesus had the power to
stop his death. He gave it up for us. “I lay down my life that I may take it
again. No one takes it from Me, but I
lay it down of Myself…”(John 10:17-18) But Jesus was completely submissive to
the will of the Father.
Jesus was in agony and prayed most of the night in the Garden of Gethsemane
Finally Judas appeared with a large group of soldiers all
carrying lanterns and swords and clubs along with the chief priests and
elders. It was dark and the soldiers
couldn’t tell which man was the one they should arrest. But Judas had agreed with the chief priests
that he would give them a sign to point out Jesus. He would walk up to Jesus and kiss him and
that would be the one they would arrest. Judas threw Jesus away and Scripture says he
was no longer a disciple but was replaced by Matthias. (Acts 1) Judas’ extreme rejection and betrayal of Jesus
had consequences.
So Judas, as planned, walked up to Jesus and kissed him and
the soldiers grabbed Jesus and started dragging him away. But in the scuffle, Peter pulled out his
sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest! He was just trying to defend Jesus, but Jesus
stopped him.
Jesus reached out and put the ear back on the servant and
healed him. And then Jesus told Peter to
put his sword away. And he said: “He who
lives by the sword will die by the sword.
I can pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve
legions of angels.” (Matthew 25:52b-53)
I believe that Jesus
was telling Peter – and all of us - that his message – the Christian faith – is
not to be defended or advanced with force or with human weapons. The Christian faith is only to be advanced
and defended by love and by prayers and by humility! “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,
says the Lord.” (Zechariah 4:6) At that point all of the disciples ran
away. I suppose they were afraid that
they might be arrested along with Jesus.
The soldiers tied Jesus up and dragged him away to Caiaphas,
the high priest’s house, where the scribes and elders were all waiting. But Peter followed Jesus at a distance all
the way to the high priest’s courtyard.
And he sat with the servants to see what would happen.
The priests and elders were so anxious to have Jesus put to
death that they would lie or do just about anything. But their laws said that an accused person
could not be convicted of a crime without several people testifying against
that person. So the priests and elders
were trying to get people to give false testimonies against Jesus and they couldn’t
find anyone.
Finally the high priest turned and spoke directly to Jesus
and said: “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the
Christ, the Son of God.” (Matthew
26:63b) And Jesus answered him: “It is
as you say. Nevertheless, I say to you,
hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Father
and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
(Matthew 26:64)
Here Jesus
acknowledges to the high priest and everyone in the assembly that He is indeed the
Son of God and He adds that a time will come when they will see Him coming from
heaven in the clouds as the Messiah and fulfilling the messianic prophecy of
Daniel 7:13
All of the priests and elders there in the assembly tore
their clothes and said: “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? He is deserving of death?” (Matthew 26:65-66) Then they spit in his face and beat Him and
struck him in the face and made fun of Him.
All this time Peter has been sitting outside in the
courtyard with the servants and then a servant girl comes up to him and asks
Peter if he is one of the ones that was with Jesus. Peter immediately denies this to the girl and
to the crowd nearby and says: “I do not know what you are talking about!” (Matthew 26:70) Peter jumps up and starts walking out the
gate when another girl sees him and turns to her friends and says that she
thinks that Peter was one of the ones who followed Jesus! When Peter hears this he gets angry and starts
swearing and says: “I do not know the Man!”
(Matthew 16:72.)
And then an hour or so later some of the people who were
standing around the fire with Peter warming their hands insist that he must
have know Jesus. And in between swearing and cursing Peter insists that he
never knew Jesus at all!
And then it
happens! A rooster crows! And Peter stops and remembers what Jesus had
said to him! “Before the rooster crows,
you will deny Me three times.” (Matthew
16:75) Peter is so ashamed of himself! He turns and runs out of the courtyard and
weeps bitterly.
Jesus chose these twelve men; these disciples and He held
nothing back from them. These twelve had
seen it all – the miracles, the healings, the teachings and the love poured
out. Jesus had given them his power to
heal and cast out demons. And Jesus had
given them all of Himself.
But still these disciples were slow to believe. When Jesus told them again and again that He
would be resurrected after his death, they still didn’t get it. And when Jesus was in agony and depressed and
needing his disciples to stay with Him and give him courage while He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane
And when He is arrested and carried off to be tried and
murdered, all of his disciples run off and leave Him. And Peter denies Him three times. And Judas betrays Him and joins up with the
enemies who plan to crucify Him. And all
for thirty pieces of silver! Do you
think Jesus was discouraged with these disciples of his?
And a more important question: Do you think Jesus is ever disappointed with
us? You and me? Disappointed that we don’t love Him all the
way or that we follow Him from a distance?
And discouraged when we deny Him when things get tough and disappointed
when He needs us to be there with Him and instead we fall asleep?
Do you think Jesus is ever discouraged with us when we run
away and don’t do the right thing? We
might lose face or we might have to pay a high price in order to do that right
thing. So can we be counted on to follow
Jesus even when we have to pay the high price and carry the cross? And can we stand up for Jesus even when
everyone else is denying Him? We tell
Jesus, “Oh, yes, I will always follow you!”, but will we really?
Jesus had imperfect disciples who had lots of problems. Disciples who disappointed Him and let Him
down. So maybe there is hope for
us. But Jesus still loved them dearly
and gave them the keys to the kingdom.
He gave them his Holy Spirit and He gave them everything He had. If He was so generous and forgiving to his
followers back then He will be generous and forgiving to us today when we mess
up
What we do matters to
Him, so let’s try not to disappoint Him..
Since He has such great love for us, let’s choose to love even when it
is so tempting to hate. And let’s follow Him all the way to the cross, even
when we may be crucified along with Him.
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