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The Arrest

Matthew 26:47-56

Last Wednesday, I watched nearly two hours of violence. It was too much to watch at times. If you do not handle violent movies well, I cannot recommend you see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. If you feel led to see in gruesome detail what the Lord went through in the final hours leading up to his death for your sins, please go.

To help us understand what happened in those final hours of Christ’s Passion, we are tracing Jesus’ steps through the final chapters of the Gospel According to Matthew. Today, we find ourselves watching that moment when Judas hands Jesus over to the Sanhedrin’s guards. The Sanhedrin was the highest Jewish council in the first century. The council had 71 members and was presided over by the high priest. Some leading Pharisees were members. The Gospels describe that it was a few key members of the Sanhedrin who were the instigators of the capture, suffering, and death of Jesus. (As Time Magazine’s review of The Passion says, the movie is not anti-Semitic, “The Passion is rabidly anti-Sanhedrin — opposed, as Jesus and other Jews were, to the Establishment of the time.”)

The Sanhedrin, under the leadership of Caiaphas the high priest, plotted to have Jesus killed. We read in John’s Gospel,

⁴⁷Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. ⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”  (John 11:47-53)

So, the chief priests conspired with Judas—

³Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. ⁴And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. ⁵They were delighted and agreed to give him money. ⁶He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present. (Luke 22:3-6)

So, here is that opportunity: It is dark; Jesus is away from the crowds with only three of his followers, Peter, James, and John, in the Garden of Gethsemane . Look at Matthew 26, starting with verse 47:

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. ⁴⁸Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” ⁴⁹Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

⁵⁰Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for.”

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.  (Matthew 26:47-50)

1. Are we just pretending to love Jesus? (Matthew 26:47-50)

It has become one of the grandest images in literature—the betrayal with a kiss. In the first century, a person would greet someone to whom they respectfully submitted with a kiss as a sign of intimacy and honor. If you remember, we Christians are told to “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (in Romans 16:16 ; 1 Cor. 16:20 ; 2 Cor. 13:12 ; 1 Thes. 5:26 ), “Greet one another with a kiss of love” (1 Peter 5:14 ).  In other words, Paul and Peter are telling us to do that which shows we are living out the command of Ephesians 5:21—“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” We don’t kiss each other in our culture, but there are sure a lot of things we can honestly do to show that we love each other, to show that we respect each other, to show that we care for each other—there are a lot of outward expressions that would reflect our hearts!

So, here comes Judas up to the one he has pledged to love by submitting his life to him, Jesus, and he does that very outward act to show that love and submission. He says, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and Judas kissed Jesus.

When we pretend to love Jesus with our actions, when we put on the act of submission to Jesus, but our hearts and our private lives are serving purposes more in line with the enemy, we, friends, are following in the footsteps of Judas the betrayer. When Jesus calls us friend, will it be who we really are, or will it be an ironic remark of how our heart does not match our actions?

The Greek word for worship used 59 times in the New Testament literally means, “to turn toward to kiss.” Worship is showing submission, intimacy, reverence, respect, love.  But Jesus said earlier in Matthew,

⁸“‘These people honor me with their lips,

       but their hearts are far from me.

⁹They worship me in vain;

       their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”  (Matthew 15:8-9)

How are we doing? Are we kissing Jesus with our lips, with our actions, with our religiosity, with our good Christian causes, with saying all the right things and doing all the right things that look like we love Jesus…but is all our so-called worship is not from the heart? We can “live by the rules” because that makes us look like good Christians, but our hearts can be very far from Christ.

Take a moment and assess your life as a Christian. Here’s the question to ask: Am I a “Christian” because I do all the right things that look like I love Christ, or do I really love Christ?

I’ll bring You more than a song,

            For a song in itself,

            Is not what You have required.

You search much deeper within,

            Through the way things appear,

You’re looking into my heart.

I’m coming back to the heart of worship,

And it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus;

I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it,

When it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus.

                                --Matt Redman

2. Are we improperly defending Jesus? (Matthew 26:51-56)

⁵¹With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

⁵²“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

⁵⁵At that time Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. ⁵⁶But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

Jesus is right—He has been speaking for a long time out in the open, but here they come under the cover of night, with swords and clubs to capture Jesus.

But Jesus knew it would happen like this all along. Jesus has resolutely been on this mission to suffer and die for the sins of humanity. It has always been his mission, from ages past! He and His Father put the plan in motion a LOOOOOOONG time ago!—so much so that the Father spoke through the prophets about it. That’s why, some 700 years before the fact, Isaiah could write things like this:

¹³      See, my servant will act wisely;

       he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

¹⁴      Just as there were many who were appalled at him—

       his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man

       and his form marred beyond human likeness—

³        He was despised and rejected by men,

       a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

     Like one from whom men hide their faces

       he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴        Surely he took up our infirmities

       and carried our sorrows,

     yet we considered him stricken by God,

       smitten by him, and afflicted.

⁵        But he was pierced for our transgressions,

       he was crushed for our iniquities;

     the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

       and by his wounds we are healed.

⁷        He was oppressed and afflicted,

       yet he did not open his mouth;

     he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

       and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,

       so he did not open his mouth.  (Isaiah 52:13-14; 53:3-5, 7)

It was the words of God through Isaiah that rung in my ears the most as I watched the movie The Passion on Wednesday. As I watched the violence, the suffering, I had this prophecy in my head—and it was that that made me cry the most.  “He was pierced for my transgressions, He was crushed for my iniquities; the punishment that brought me peace was upon him, and by his wounds I am healed.”

But one of the disciples makes a terrible mistake here (we are told by John that it was Peter). When Jesus is threatened, Peter pulls out his sword to defend Him. In the melee that follows, Peter cuts off one of the guard’s ears (I wonder if he was aiming to cut off the guy’s head!).

Jesus says, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Jesus then tells Peter that He is not helpless, in need of Peter’s defense. If Jesus wanted to, he could call twelve legions of angels to come (one Roman legion was six thousand—so that’s a mere 72,000 angels—probably enough to handle these guards…).

Some take Jesus' response—“for all who draw the sword will die by the sword”—as a call to total pacifism, whereas others observe that Jesus told Peter to put his sword “back in its place,” not to throw it away. But those debates miss the point of most relevance to this particular context: Violence in defense of Christ is completely unjustified. So, the question before us is this: Are we improperly defending Jesus?

I am a careful observer of how our culture interacts with Jesus and also of how our culture interacts with Christians. I also watch to see how Christians then react to the people in our culture either in Christlikeness or not like Christ.

It is telling, for instance, how I’ve seen some Christians react to people’s concerns about Mel Gibson or the movie and especially the Gospels themselves—worries of anti-Semitism and other things. Very many Christians reacted in a knee-jerk attacking fashion—calling such charges “stupid,” and simply dismissing the people in contempt.

As Christians watch the specials on network TV and the “experts” disparage the Gospels and the historicity of Jesus, what do we do? Sadly, we draw our swords! We attack back!

That is not the way of Christ. He says, when people attack Him, “Put away your sword.”

Our discussion time this morning will center on this theme. I want us to discuss how we can better talk with people about Jesus Christ, especially with those who seem hostile towards Jesus.

1. How do we often react inappropriately to people who are seemingly hostile towards Jesus? (Are they hostile towards Jesus or something or someone else?)

2. Why do you suppose we react like this? What’s going on in us that we react so poorly?

3. How can we lovingly engage them without “drawing our swords?”

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