Jesus Arrested and Before the Council
Matthew 26:47-68, Mark 14:43:-65, Luke 22:47-53, 66-71, John 18:1-11
In order to understand the significance of these sections of the gospels, we must first understand the cultural context. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah who was prophesied about in the Old Testament, and one who the Jewish people thought would come and free them by conquering all the enemies of Israel and establishing a new kingdom (Isaiah 53). In these passages, instead of preparing for battle, our Savior had just come from a time of deep prayer and sorrow (Matthew 26:36-39) as he prepared for what he knew was to come. Did you catch that? He knew. Remember that Jesus could have chosen any other garden to go pray in that night, but he willingly, like a lamb to slaughter, went to the place where he knew he was to be betrayed. His betrayal and arrest were not an accident, they were part of the story that God has been writing since before the beginning of time.
The story of Jesus’ arrest started in the garden where Judas - disciple, betrayer and Jesus’s friend (Matthew 26:50), arrived with a large group of armed soldiers, a show of force that highlighted how afraid people were of what Jesus could do. As the men approached, John’s gospel tells us that Jesus, in control the entire time, stepped forward and asked who they were seeking. When they said “Jesus of Nazareth”, he responded simply with “I am”. The phrase “I am”, points to the story of the burning bush in Exodus 3 where God tells Moses “I am who I Am”. When Jesus says this hundreds of years later, the men there to arrest him literally fall to the ground. The power of Jesus’ identity as Yahweh - the I Am, literally made them fall before him. As they got back up off the ground to arrest him, we are reminded that our Savior went willingly to the cross, even though he could have simply prayed and been provided with more than 12 legions of angels (Matthew 26:53). Because he was fully God, he could have escaped or overpowered them at any moment, but he chose to willingly surrender in order to glorify God and give us access to a relationship with him.
Then, history’s most rigged trial began. These scriptures tell us that the council was looking for evidence against Jesus and they even brought in false witnesses to testify against him. But let’s think about that, Jesus lived ~ 30 years on Earth and when he was tried, there was not a single person who could actually testify against him. He lived a perfect life, fully human and fully God, and even the false witnesses could not agree on a charge against him. The injustice of the trial shows us the depth and severity of our own sin, because we are just like the council in this story. Just as they brought in witnesses to try to justify their condemnation of Jesus, we too try to justify our own sin in any way that we can. The men condemning Jesus were so blinded by their own fear and envy, that they missed the perfection and kindness of the man before them. Similarly, when we get a glimpse of the holiness of God, our sin is illuminated and we are afraid because we see how broken we are in light of how perfect God is. Our perfect, powerful, humble savior was sacrificed so that we might have a relationship with God. But, the story doesn't end there because Jesus rose victoriously from the grave three days later proving that death has no power over him, and granting us freedom into the life that God has for us.
The questions that we must ask ourselves after reading these scriptures are:
What did I learn about Jesus by reading this section?
Are there areas of sin in my life that I am trying to justify?
