Arrest and Trials

The Agony in the Garden

(Mt 26:36-46; Mk 14:32-42; Lk 22:39-46; Jn 18:1)

^18:1When Jesus finished, he left and went as he often did with his disciples past the Kidron valley to the Mount of Olives, to an orchard called Gethsemane. ⁴⁰When he got where he was going, ³²he said, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

³³He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, and began to feel stress and dread. He said, “I’m distressed to death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

He went on ⁴¹about a stone’s throw and knelt down and prayed, “Abba [Father], you can do anything. ³⁹Take this cup away from me; but not what I want, but what you want.” [[43An angel from heaven appeared to him to strengthen him. ⁴⁴In agony he prayed more intensely. His sweat became like drops of blood dripping on the ground.]]ms

⁴⁵He got up from praying and went back to the disciples and found them sleeping from grief. He said to Peter, ³⁷“Simon, you’resg sleeping? Couldn’t yousg watch for one hour? ³⁸Watchpl and pray so youpl won’t be tempted. The spirit’s willing, but the flesh is weak.”

⁴²A second time he went and prayed, “My Father, if this can’t pass without me drinking it, your will be done.” ⁴³He came back and found them sleeping again. ⁴⁰Their eyes were very heavy, and they didn’t know what to say.

⁴⁴He left them again, and prayed a third time, saying the same thing. ⁴⁵He came back to his disciples, “You’re sleeping a little and resting? It’s time; the Son of Man is being betrayed to sinners. ⁴⁶Get up; let’s go. The one that’s betraying me is coming.”

The Arrest of Jesus

(Mt 26:47-56; Mk 14:43-52; Lk 22:47-53; Jn 18:2-11)

²Judas knew about the place, because Jesus often went there with his disciples. ³Judas had received a cohort as well as officers of the high priests, Pharisees, and elders of the people. 47While Jesus was still talking, Judas came there, with a large contingent that was carrying lanterns and torches and armed with swords and clubs.

⁴Jesus knew what was coming, and went out to them. ⁴⁸The traitor had given them a signal, “The one I kiss—that’s him; arrest him and take him away safely.” ⁴⁹At once he came right to Jesus to kiss him, and said, “Hello, Rabbi.”

⁴⁸Jesus said, “Friend, you’re betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? Do what you came to do.”

Judas kissed him.

“Who are youpl looking for?”

5“Jesus the Nazarene.”

“I’m Jesus.”

Judas was standing with them. ⁶When he said, “I’m Jesus,” they shrank back and fell to the ground.

⁷He asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”

“Jesus the Nazarene.”

⁸“I told you, I’m Jesus. If you’re looking for me, let these go” (9in keeping with what he’d said, “I haven’t lost any you gave me”).

They came and grabbed him and arrested him. ⁴⁹When the ones around him saw what was happening, they said, “Lord, should we strike with a sword?” ¹⁰Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. His name was Malchus.

¹¹Jesus said, “Back off! Put your sword back in its sheath. ⁵²Everybody that picks up a sword dies by a sword. ⁵³Do you suppose I can’t ask my Father at once for more than seventy thousand angels? Am I not going to drink the cup the Father gave me to drink? ⁵⁴How then would the scriptures be fulfilled that things have to happen this way?” ⁵¹Jesus touched his ear and healed him.

⁵²Jesus said to the chief priests, soldiers, and elders, “You’ve come out with swords and clubs as if you’re capturing a rebel? ⁵³I sat in the temple teaching every day with you, and you didn’t lay a hand on me—but this is your time and the power of darkness. This is all happening ⁵⁶to fulfill the scriptures of the prophets.”

⁵⁰The disciples left him and fled. ⁵¹A young man was following him with a linen sheet wrapped around his naked body. ⁵²They grabbed him, but he left the sheet behind and fled.

The Trial Before Annas

(Jn 18:12-14, 19-23)

¹²Then the cohort, the tribune, and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. ¹³They led him to Annas first, because he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. ¹⁴He was the Caiaphas that advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die for the people.

¹⁹The high priest asked Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

²⁰Jesus answered, “I spoke to the world openly and taught constantly in the synagogue and the temple, where all the Jews gather. I haven’t done anything secretly. ²¹Why ask me? Ask the ones that heard me. They know what I said.”

²²One of the officers standing by slapped him, “Do you answer the high priest that way?”

23“If I said something wrong, tell me what it was. If I said something good, why are you hitting me?”

²⁴Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

The Trial Before Caiaphas; Peter’s Denials;

The Condemnation by the Sanhedrin

(Mt 26:57-7:1; Mk 14:53-15:1; Lk 22:54-23:5; Jn 18:15-18, 25-27)

⁵⁷The ones that arrested Jesus took him away to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, where the chief priests, scribes, and elders had assembled.

A long ways back, ¹⁵Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and went in with Jesus to the courtyard. ¹⁶Peter stood outside at the gate. The other disciple went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in.

¹⁸Servants and officers were standing there. They’d started a charcoal fire in the middle of the courtyard because it was cold, and they sat down together, warming themselves. Peter sat down with the officers to see the end, warming himself at the fire.

When it got daylight, all the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people—the full Sanhedrin—brought Jesus into their Court. They ⁵⁹were looking for false testimony against him so they could put him to death. ⁶⁰But they didn’t find it even though many false witnesses came forward. Their testimonies didn’t agree with each other.

Finally, two came forward, ⁶¹“He said, ‘I can tear down God’s sanctuary made with hands and rebuild one in three days without hands.’” ⁵⁹Their testimonies didn’t agree even on that point.

⁶²The high priest got up and said, “You aren’t going to answer what these men are testifying against you?”

Jesus didn’t say anything.

They all said, “Are you God’s Son?”

“If I tell youpl, you won’t believe me. If I ask a question, you won’t answer me.”

⁶³The high priest said, “I’m putting you under oath: by the living God, tell us if you’re the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed. Tell us.”

“Yes, I am, but ⁶⁴I’m telling you,

from now on you’ll see ‘THE SON OF MAN

SITTING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THE POWER OF GOD, AND

COMING ON THE CLOUDS IN THE SKY’” [Ps 110:1].

⁶²The high priest tore his clothes, “Why do we still need witnesses? You’ve heard the blasphemy from his own mouth yourselves. What’s your verdict?”

“He deserves the death penalty.”

⁶³The men that held Jesus in custody spit in his face and hit him with their fists. They were making fun of him, ⁶⁴blindfolding him, slapping him, and asking, “Proclaim to us, ‘Messiah,’ who slapped you?” ⁶⁵They were saying a lot of other insulting things to him as well.

⁶⁶Peter was down below in the courtyard. A servant girl of the high priest, ¹⁷the gatekeeper, ⁵⁶saw Peter sitting there, facing the fire. She looked closely at him and said to him—and the others, “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples, are you?”

“No.”

⁷¹“You were too with Jesus the Galilean.”

He denied it in front of them all, “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” and went out into the forecourt.

⁵⁸A little later another person saw him again, ²⁵warming himself, and said to the ones standing there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene. He’s one of them.” They said to him, “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?

He denied it again—with an oath, “Man, I am not. I don’t know the man.”

About an hour after that, ²⁶one of the high priest’s servant, a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, started insisting, “This man was too with him. He’s a Galilean. I saw you in the orchard with him, didn’t I?” ⁷³The ones standing around came up to Peter, “You are too one of them. Your accent gives you away.”

⁷¹He started taking oaths and swearing: “I don’t know the man you’re talking about.” Immediately while he was still speaking, ⁷²a rooster double-crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter, and he remembered, “Before a rooster double-crows, you’ll deny me three times.” He went out and broke down sobbing.

15:1As soon as it got daylight, the chief priests held session with the elders of the people, the scribes, and the full Sanhedrin to make plans for putting him to death.

The Death of Judas

(Mt 27:3-10; cp Acts 1:18-19)

³When Judas the traitor saw he was condemned, he regretted it and took the thirty silver shekels back to the chief priests and elders, ⁴“I’ve sinned. I betrayed innocent blood.”

They said, “What’s that to us? That’s your problem.”

⁵He threw the shekels into the sanctuary and went and hanged himself.

⁶The chief priests took the shekels and said, “It’s against the law to put them in the temple Treasury since they’re blood money.” ⁷After they talked it over, they used them to buy a Potter’s Field as a burial place for foreigners. ⁸That’s why that field has been called “The Field of Blood” to this day. ⁹That fulfilled what Jeremiah the prophet said,

“THEY TOOK THIRTY SILVER SHEKELS,

THE PRICE OF THE ONE THEY PRICED,

¹⁰AND GAVE THEM FOR A POTTER’S FIELD,

LIKE THE LORD COMMANDED ME” [Zech 11:12-13].

The First Trial Before Pilate

(Mt 27:2, 11-14; Mk 15:2-5; Lk 23:1-5; Jn 18:28-38)

²⁸They bound Jesus, and ¹the whole assembly brought him from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, to Pilate the governor. It was early. But they didn’t go in the Praetorium themselves. They didn’t want to get defiled and not be able to eat the Passover. ²⁹So Pilate came out to them. “What charge are you bringing against this man?”

30“If he weren’t a criminal, we wouldn’t have delivered him to you.”

³¹“You take him and judge him by your law.”

“It’s illegal for us to execute anybody” (32fulfilliing Jesus’ statement about how he would die).

²They started accusing him, “We found this man misleading our nation, forbidding people to pay tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be Messiah, a king.”

³³Pilate went back in the Praetorium and called Jesus, and Jesus stood in front of him. “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴“Are you asking that yourself, or have other people prompted you?”

³⁵“I’m not a Jew, am I? Your nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”

36“My ‘kingdom’ is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being delivered to the Jews.”

³⁷“So you’re a ‘king’ then.”

“Yes, I’m a ‘king.’ That’s why I was born—the reason I came to the world—to testify to truth. Everybody that’s committed to truth listens to me.”

³⁸Pilate said, “What’s truth?”

When he said that, he went out to the Jews, “He’s not guilty of anything.”

¹²While the chief priests and elders continued accusing him, Jesus didn’t answer.

¹³Pilate said, “You hear how many things they are accusing you of, don’t you?”

¹⁴He didn’t answer him on even a single charge. The governor was really amazed.

⁵They kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching everywhere in Judaea, from Galilee to here.”

Trial Before Herod

(Lk 23:6-12)

⁶When Pilate heard that, he asked if the man was a Galilean. ⁷When he found out Jesus came from Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him on to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at the time. ⁸Herod was really glad to see Jesus. He’d wanted to see him for a long time because of what he’d been hearing about him; he’d hoped to see him do a sign. ⁹He asked him lots of questions, but Jesus didn’t answer him.

¹⁰The chief priests and scribes were standing there, accusing him aggressively. ¹¹After treating him with contempt and making fun of him, Herod and his soldiers dressed him in a splendid robe and sent him back to Pilate. ¹²Herod and Pilate became friends that day. They’d been at odds with each other.

The Second Trial Before Pilate;

Torture by the Roman Soldiers

(Mt 27:15-30; Mk 15:6-20a; Lk 23:13-25; Jn 18:39-19:16)

¹³Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 14“You brought this man as someone that incites the people to revolt. I examined him in your presence and didn’t find him guilty of what you claimed. ¹⁵Herod didn’t either, because he sent him back to us. He hasn’t done anything worth executing him for. ¹⁶I’ll flog him and release him.”

¹⁸They shouted out together, “Away with him! Release Barabbas to us.” (¹⁵At each festival the governor was accustomed to releasing one prisoner the crowd wanted. ¹⁶At the time they were holding a notorious prisoner called [Jesus]ms Barabbas. He’d been put in prison for an uprising in the city and for murder.)

²⁰Pilate wanted to release Jesus, and addressed them again, ²¹“Who do you want me to release to you, [Jesus]ms Barabbas or Jesus called Messiah?” (¹⁸He knew they’d delivered him up because of jealousy.) ²⁰The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and execute Jesus.

¹⁹While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, “Don’t get involved with that good man. I suffered a lot in a really bad dream today because of him.”

^19:1So Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ²His soldiers took him into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and twisted thorns together to make a crown, and put it on his head. They put a purple robe on him and a reed in his right hand, knelt in front of him and made fun of him. ³They were coming up to him and saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapping him. They spit on him, and took the reed and started beating him over the head with it.

⁴Pilate brought him out again, “I’m bringing him out to let you know I don’t find him guilty of anything.” ⁵So he brought Jesus out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. “Look at the man!”

⁶When the chief priests and officers saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

“You take him and crucify him. He’s not guilty of anything.”

⁷The Jews answered, “We have a law; according to that law he should die, because he made himself God’s Son.”

⁸When Pilate heard that, he became more concerned. ⁹He went in the Praetorium and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?”

Jesus didn’t answer him.

10“You aren’t talking to me? You know, don’t you, that I have the authority to release you or crucify you?”

11“You wouldn’t have any authority over me if God hadn’t let you have it; so the one that betrayed me to you has committed a worse sin.”

¹²With that comment, Pilate tried to release him.

But the Jews shouted, “If you release him, you’re no friend of Caesar. Anybody that makes himself king is is opposed to Caesar.”

¹³When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. ¹⁴It was Preparation during the Passover, about 6 a.m. He said to the Jews, “Behold, your ‘king’!”

¹⁵They shouted, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!”

“You want me to crucify your king?”

The chief priests answered, “We don’t have any king but Caesar.”

²⁴When Pilate saw he wasn’t getting anywhere, but a riot was brewing, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, “I’m innocent of this man’s blood. This is your problem.”

²⁵The people answered, “May his blood be on us and our descendants.”

²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them, and turned Jesus over to be crucified.

The Way to Golgotha;