ALIVE: Chapter 175, ARRESTED

Back at the camp the rest of the disciples were all fast asleep.

John shook Thomas and told him, “Hey come on wake up, we think something is going to happen! Wake up!”

“What are you talking about?” replied groggy Thomas. “It’s night time, this is when people are supposed to sleep; let’s just stay here tonight. We’re too tired to go to the camp.”

“Seriously Thomas, this is the time to pray, not argue. Just get up and let’s all pray together. Just believe me. No. Don’t believe me, believe Jesus. I’ve never seen Him so upset before.”

Bartholomew and Matthew were awakened by the conversation. They laid there and listened with sleepy eyes closing and opening, wanting to ignore the danger and go back to sleep, until they both realized that was futile. They opened their eyes for good and looked around for Jesus and didn’t see Him.

Peter and James were also rousing the troupes.

“I hear people coming!” Simon shouted the warning. Everyone stood up.

Meanwhile, in the distance a large gang with swords, lanterns, and torches were approaching.

Pharisees and officers from the chief priests led by Judas Iscariot were making their way to them. Judas knew that Jesus and the others were going to head back to camp from their  supper in Jerusalem and this was the way they usually went, and that they often stopped at this garden to rest.

“Come on!” shouted Judas, I don’t know if they are going to stay and sleep here, or go on to the camp at the top. Let’s hurry and get this over with!”

Having gotten through His fear and agony with the help of His Father and angels, Jesus was calmly making His way down the trail to meet them. He too was ready to get this over with. The mob was near when Jesus spotted them. He called out to them, “Who are you gentlemen looking for?”

As the band of political and religious leaders and their servants kept hiking towards Jesus, a naive but ambitious young soldier shouted, “Jesus of Nazareth. Have you seen Him?”

Jesus shouted back, “I am He.”

Hearing his Master, Judas nervously tripped and fell down. By coincidence, several other young soldiers tripped and fell too as if an invisible power pushed them. The more determined Pharisees and officers stood strong and arrogant. Neither Judas nor the younger men expected to feel so discombobulated.

Judas, lifted himself from the dirty ground and wiped his hands on the back of his cloak. He boldly looked at Jesus approaching Him and sputtered, “Hail, Rabbi.” Then he leaned into Jesus and gave Him a kiss on the cheek. He did that because he promised the Pharisees that he would. Pathetic Judas was more afraid of them than he was of Jesus. They had agreed that a kiss would for certain tell them who to arrest since many of them had never seen Jesus before, and others only once or twice. But the deal was that after he identified Jesus, they would lead Him away safely and not harm Him. Judas didn’t expect them to be carrying so many weapons. However, he had already taken the money and couldn’t go back on his word.

Jesus looked at Judas curiously and responded to the kiss by saying sarcastically, “Did you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” Judas jerked his head away and squinted his eyes to avoid seeing Jesus’ face. Then he turned his back on Jesus and walked away from the whole scene and back to Jerusalem. He couldn’t bear any more.

By then the disciples arrived. Peter had Thomas’ sword in his hand and said, “Lord should I strike them?” Without waiting for a reply Peter took a swipe at the head of Malchus, a servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

Jesus went over to the poor guy and picked up his ear from the ground and carefully placed it back on the screaming man’s head, which instantly calmed him. Then Jesus said, “Peter, let it go. Put your sword away. Whoever uses the sword, will perish by the sword. Don’t you realize that I could easily ask My Father, even now, and He would send me more than twelve legions of angels? Shall I not drink of the cup which My Father has given Me? How then would the scriptures be fulfilled?” Then Jesus turned to the mob and said, “Are you coming out to seize Me with swords and staves as if I was a robber? I sat in your temple every day teaching; you could have taken Me then, but you didn’t.” And then to regain the upper hand, He added, “I know that it has to happen this way so that the scriptures would be fulfilled.”

Hearing that and trusting Jesus to His Father, the disciples, to save themselves, ran from the scene. John who only had a linen cloth around him was grabbed by a soldier but he jerked himself away, and then the cloth fell off and John escaped naked.

Jesus yelled, “I told you that I am He! Let My disciples go their way.” Jesus knew He was fulfilling Scripture again. That memory strengthened Him. The one that says, “Of those whom Thou hast given me I lost not one.”

Having heard enough, the band and the chief captain and the officers of the Jews seized Jesus and bound him. He yielded to them because He knew that this was exactly what He had been provoking them to do.

Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, Jesus’ mother was still chanting and praying when suddenly the archangel Gabriel appeared to her again! At first she was surprised, but the angel gave her a sense of calm. He visited with her for a long while and let her know about the difficult days to come. He told her that more than ever she will trust the Father. As dark and deep the suffering will be, her upcoming joy will be infinitely greater, overwhelming even the light of the sun.

He who put the earth and moon and stars into motion was arrested that night. Hands tied, He walked with them back into Jerusalem where they locked Him in a stone room. This may have been the most precious night of His life spent in holy solitude with His Father.

I wonder if plummeting from the throne room of God to become fully human, into a zygote, then a baby, a boy, a young man, and a mature man compares to the condescension of Jesus Christ emptying Himself of His divinity on this holy night in Jerusalem, forfeiting His divine power to the Jews and the Romans in all their hatred, fear, and arrogance.

It was His LOVE, a purely divine trait, that gave Jesus the strength to endure that dark cold night in the stone cell formerly inhabited by thieves and murderers to lock away from society  their evil behavior. It was the love of His Father, the Creator of heaven and earth and of everything visible and invisible who comforted His only begotten Son throughout the darkest night and prepared Him for the one thing the Father could not do, and that was to meet death.