Did the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Happen?
Lesson 5 – Events Leading Up to the Arrest
The Situation Before and During Passover Week
For reference, we are going to look at the events leading up to the arrest of Jesus and these events are covered in the four Gospels in these chapters:Matthew 21.1 – 26.47, Mark 11.1 – 14.43, Luke 19.29 – 22.47, John 11.45 – 18.3.
We are switching gears today. The resurrection is a real historical event and that changes everything. Jesus predicted his death and resurrection; he said it was the proof of his authority; and he rose from the dead. That means he is who he claimed to be: savior of the world, God incarnate. So now we are going to look at God’s Word and go back in time and really study the events. We are doing this for 3 reasons:
-To really know what happened. As Christians, we should be very familiar with the events.
-To really bring the events to life. To make them real to us by looking at the details.
-To see Jesus’ behavior throughout the events and learn from his actions.
<Exercise 1-5 10 minutes
When you are looking at these verses I point you to, you will need to look around at them at the context. I only give you the main verse to answer the question.
1)According to John 11.48, why did the priests want Jesus killed?
“If 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.”
2) How does Jesus’ situation, described in John 11.53-57, color what took place in John 12.12-15?
John 11.54-57: “Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the Feast at all?” But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.”
John 12.12-13: “The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! ” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!”
It’s a brash, extremely bold move. He is in the priests’ face. This is a major confrontation. This could cause big problems with the Romans. Thus in Luke 19.39 the priests tell Jesus to rebuke his disciples. Now consider this: why did the people use palm branches? When Jews in the Maccabean revolt some 150 years earlier took back control of their country, they minted coins with palm branches on them. It was a sign of victory. The palm branch is also on Roman coins, so this symbolism is well known. This is a very nationalistic thing happening here and the priests are beside themselves.
As an aside, Jesus is being hailed as a King, but he chose a donkey not a white horse to ride on. He weeps over their response to him because they didn’t know what would truly bring them peace. And the day he rides into Jerusalem is sheep selection day and he is riding in through the North gate, which is known as the Sheep’s gate because it was used to bring the daily sacrifice to God’s house. Jesus was symbolically very clear. He came as the ultimate sacrificial lamb.
3) According to Mark 14.1, 10-11, when did Judas decide to betray Jesus?
Two days before Passover and right after Jesus seemed to be wasting money and talking about being gone, so he may not be the Messiah.
4) Why don’t the priests want to kill Jesus during the feast? (Mark 11:18, 14:2) They were afraid of the people; they were afraid of Jesus.
With all they had heard about Jesus, they couldn’t be sure that even a large amount of force would be enough to take Jesus. He might even prove to be unarrestable. Note the size of the crowd that came to arrest Jesus in John 18:3. A detachment or cohort is normally 600 soldiers but could also be 200.
5) Comparing Mark 11.1a & 11, and Luke 21.37, where did Jesus spend the night each evening during the Passover week?
In Bethany. So why was Judas needed by the Pharisees at all? What was it he could offer the Pharisees that they didn’t already know or could obtain due to their official status? To think that Judas was hired to take them to Jesus’ secret hiding-place is absurd. Jesus wasn’t hiding. His whereabouts were public enough that a huge crowd gathered for the triumphal entry. We can’t think that all Judas did was lead them to a lonely and secluded spot where they could secretly arrest Jesus, when they could have done it on their own in the early hours of any morning in Bethany when the villagers were asleep. On any day of the Passover, Jesus could have easily been arrested.
Obviously, there’s more going on here. Before we look at that, let’s finish the timeline of the evening. Matt. 26.19-20 says “So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve.” In April in Jerusalem the sun sets around 7 PM.
6) From the events described in the following verses, what time would you estimate Jesus was arrested?
John 13:2-5, 14, 18, 27-30 – Judas leaves dinner (about 8 or 9 PM)
John 18:1 – Jesus and disciples go to the garden. (Maybe an hour later at the soonest.)
Mark 14:32, 37, 40-42– Disciples sleep 3 times. (Another 1.5 hours.)
John 18.2-3 – large mob and Roman cohort, which is normally 600 soldiers but can also be 200 for smaller tasks. (At the soonest, 11:30 PM.)
Now if we assume that the arrangement between Judas and the Pharisees was “Okay, so we are going to arrest him on Thursday night. Stay with him until you know for sure where he’ll be. Then come tell us and we’ll do the rest. See you Thursday night.” We run into problems.
Number one, waiting until Thursday night, with only one day left before the Sabbath to hold a Jewish trial and then go get Pilate to hold a Roman trial AND get Jesus executed all in the same day is a bad idea. It’s cutting things too close. If for some reason they can’t get him executed, then he’s going to be held for days in jail, the people would have time to react and could riot. Not good.
Number two, if this was the plan, then when Jesus headed to Gethsemane, the mob shouldn’t have taken more than 20 minutes to get there because they would have already been waiting to be told where to go. Most likely they would have thought they’d be going to Bethany. Who would have thought that the ‘wanted’ man would wait conveniently in a nearby garden? Instead we have at least a 3-hour delay before the mob arrives to make the arrest. If Jesus had been any normal fugitive, a delay this long would mean the whole thing would fail. This suggests the Pharisees were not completely prepared. Judas’ visit that night is a bit of a surprise. Remember, they weren’t planning to kill Jesus during the feast.
But it is clear that Judas knew where Jesus would be and that He would wait for Judas to arrive. This does not mean Jesus arranged for Judas to have Jesus arrested; it could have been quite natural. “When you get done with your errands after dinner, meet us in Gethsemane.” It’s on the way to Bethany. This by itself would not overcome the Pharisees fear of Jesus, of the people yes, but not Jesus. So the news that Judas brought the Pharisees that caused them to act and take great risks was likely something like: “Jesus is thinking and talking of death. He is going to Gethsemane and will wait there till I come. Make your arrangements quickly and I’ll take you to Him.”
This was good news as it meant the arrest would likely be successful. But because they could not risk failure, they had to gather the arrest party, which were likely on alert all week. They needed to gather the Sanhedrin. But before the order is given to the arrest party to go to the garden, some communication must have taken place between the Jewish leaders and Pontius Pilate. It’s just not believable that a serious case like this could have been thrown on Pilate early on Friday morning without his knowledge and without first determining his willingness to take it. And not only take it, but agree to the same verdict of the Jewish court. The death sentence.
So the situation is this. Judas left before dinner was over, so he went to the Pharisees between 8 and 9 o’clock. They were suddenly offered the opportunity of arresting Jesus under unexpectedly favorable conditions. It was night and the people were preoccupied with preparations for the Feast. Plus the prisoner was strangely willing and somehow seemed to be helping their plans. This is all good news. On the other hand, the legal difficulties were huge. They had to assemble the Court after nightfall, gather the witnesses, arrange for a full session of the Sanhedrin the next morning, and make sure Pilate would essentially rubberstamp their decision the next day and agree to execute Jesus that same afternoon. Only someone in high standing like the High Priest, Caiaphas, the highest authority in the Jewish State, could have gone to Pilate likely both earlier in the week and that night.
Now we can understand the 3-hour delay. The fact that they gave the order to arrest Jesus meant they had put all this in place, including the fact that Pilate must have agreed. This is backed up by the behavior of Pilate’s wife, Claudia, as she knows Pilate is going to condemn Jesus.(Matthew 27.19)
7) Comparing your answer to question 5, what was Jesus really doing in the garden Thursday evening? Why was He there?
This trip to the garden was different than any other hinted at by John to the same spot.
-The disciples were there because Jesus wanted them to stay; he kept them there.
-It was long after the time when they would have been in bed at Bethany.
-They were waiting for something that Jesus was waiting for.
-Jesus was intentionally waiting for his arrest.
Jesus prayed in the Garden. He agonized over what was about to be done to him. He was doing that knowing that he could just get up and walk out of the garden and mess up all the plans of the Priests. But he didn’t. All he had to do was get out of that garden. That’s was a strong temptation. I tend to avoid situations where I might be tempted. Just avoid them so I don’t have to exercise any discipline. Here Jesus is preparing for his death knowing it was so easy to escape it.
On top of that, in Mark 14.42, Jesus says, “Arise, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!” It is dark. The arrest party is carrying lanterns and torches. So Jesus would see them coming from a distance. So He still has a chance to escape. Instead He sees them coming and waits. Clearly, there’s no way Jesus would have been arrested if He wasn’t willing.
Philippians 2.8 “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Lord give us that level of obedience when it doesn’t even cost us that much.
What can we learn from all this that changes what we do? When you have time on your hands, pray.