The Strange Arrest of Jesus
Matthew 26:47-56
February 24, 2013
When Paul spoke of the cross of Christ and the atonement He purchased, He described it as one of the most peculiar and backward events
Of human history.
Romans 5:6-8 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Paul was clearly saying there that the things God did for us
Through the cross are things that humans just don’t do.
Sure we have our fair share of self-sacrifice.
• We see soldiers who die for the good of country.
• We see parents who sacrifice for their children.
• We see religious followers who die for the cause.
Self-sacrifice and martyrdom are not foreign concepts to us.
But the cross is more like backward martyrdom.
Soldiers die for their country because the country is worth it.
Parents die for their children because their children are worth it.
The religious die for their cause because the cause is worth it.
But what Christ did on the cross was backward.
We don’t have a man dying for another good man.
We have a perfect man dying for wretched sinners.
To sit back from the outside and examine the events of the cross
Really can cause the casual observer to scratch his head.
WHY?
Because nothing done here is according to man.
Peter preached it correctly at Pentecost.
Acts 2:22-23 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”
It is true that godless men put Jesus to death by nailing Him to a cross.
He was betrayed, arrested, condemned, beaten, crucified, and buried.
Wicked men murdered Jesus.
But it was all done according
“the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God”
And the more you study the events surrounding the death of Jesus,
The more that becomes evident.
Yes man is responsible.
• Judas is guilty for betraying –better if He had never been born.
• Caiaphas has innocent blood on His hands
• Pilate also shares the innocent blood
• Those vile soldiers are guilty for gambling at the foot of His cross
The cross of Jesus was man at their worst.
BUT BEHIND IT ALL WAS THE PLAN OF GOD.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT THAT YOU KNOW THAT?
Because if the cross was all done
By the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of sinners,
Then all the cross does is magnify the depravity of humanity.
If this is solely the work of man, then the cross is nothing
But the low point of man’s existence.
But, if the cross was the plan of God,
Then it does not magnify the depravity of humanity,
Rather it magnifies the love of God.
If the cross is the work of God,
Then the cross is the chief revelation of God’s unfailing love.
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
• Everything about the cross is strange.
• Everything about the cross is wrong.
• Everything about the cross is shocking.
That is because everything here is beyond human logic,
Everything here is happening according to higher wisdom.
And this morning in this strange saga we look at the arrest of Christ.
And as I said, everything here is really just backward and wrong.
But through it all, we are amazed at the
Resolve, commitment, meekness, and love of Christ.
There are four things we see here in this text.
#1 A SICKENING BETRAYAL
Matthew 26:47-56
As you know, Jesus has just come up from
His third intense prayer time with the Father.
Three times He has gone before the throne of God
To intensely ask if there is any other way that humanity can be saved apart from Him drinking the cup of God’s wrath.
Jesus has been as vulnerable as we have ever seen Him.
And all the while, He has gotten no help from His friends,
instead of bearing His burden, they have been sleeping.
Matthew 26:45-46 “Then He came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. “Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”
And that is where we are.
• The prayer time is over
• The disciples have just been awakened
• And Judas is a right in front of them.
THIS IS THE POINT OF NO RETURN.
The decisions Jesus just made during His prayer time
Will now have to be acted upon.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW SERIOUS THIS MOMENT IS?
How many times have we been in prayer and told God we would do something, and then at the point of attack turned and disobeyed?
Well, we had all better hope Jesus doesn’t do that.
This is where the rubber will meet the road.
He either will or He won’t right here.
And the resolve He shows here is nothing short of amazing.
But aside from His tremendous resolve we see what is
Without a doubt the most sickening scene in all the Bible.
• We are appalled by things like Cain murdering Abel
• We are appalled by things like David stealing Bathsheba
• We are appalled by things like Herod killing the babies of Bethlehem
But none of those events are as unwarranted and sickening as this one.
By this point you must know that Judas is no longer in control.
John 13:26-27 “Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”
Judas is not demon-possessed.
Judas is Satan possessed.
He is under Satan’s full control.
And that is really the only explanation for such an event.
Now verse 47 is bad enough.
(47) “While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people.”
It is really bad enough that “one of the twelve”
Would come leading an army to Jesus.
That is betrayal and betrayal is always detestable,
But that isn’t even the worst part.
(48-49) “Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him.” Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.”
And I should go ahead and tell you that the word “kissed” in verse 49
Is in the intensified form. It means “to kiss fervently”.
And that type of kiss is only used of three other events in Scripture.
Luke 7:37-38 “And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.”
There is a woman who loves Jesus so much
That she would fervently kiss His feet.
She is showing the greatest love she knows how to show for Christ.
Luke 15:18-20 “I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”‘ “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
This, of course, is the father of the prodigal son,
Who has such love for his new found son
That he falls on him and kisses him.
Acts 20:36-38 “When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.”
And this is the Ephesian elders who are grieved
That they will never see Paul again.
Their love overflows for him.
That type of kiss was reserved for the most heart-felt
And genuine affection that one person could show to another.
There was no greater symbol of affection or honor or love
That could be given than that type of kiss.
And that was the type of kiss that Judas had the audacity to give to Jesus.
It literally turns the stomach!
It is really as backward as it gets.
• Turn Him in if you hate Him…
• Betray Him if you must…
But why do you have to do it
Through such a phony display of love?
Because that is what Satan loves to do.
The term is APOSTATE
And Satan loves to use them.
Jude 3-4 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
That is an apostate, and that is what Judas was.
• A man who crept in
• A man marked out for condemnation
• A man who was ungodly
• A man who denied our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ
Jude goes on to describe them:
Jude 11-13 “Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”
Sounds like Judas, doesn’t?
• Wanting money, and denying God to get it.
• Rebelling against the deliverer like Korah
• He was a hidden reef (none of the disciples suspected him)
• Feasting without fear
• Fruitless
• “casting up [his own] shame like foam”
• “for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever”
And again:
Jude 16 “These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.”
And that is still Judas, worming his way into one of the twelve,
Telling Jesus “surely not I Rabbi”
And again:
Jude 19 “These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.”
There he still is, “devoid of the Spirit” and filled with Satan.
We have our Judas’s today.
Men who lay low, and infiltrate the ranks,
And put on grand shows of affection and love for God.
But behind their affection is rebellion.
Just when the step forward to kiss Christ, they slip a dagger in His back.
It is wrong, and yet it is exactly what happened.
A Sickening Betrayal
#2 A SENSELESS IMPULSE
Matthew 26:51-54
Here again is a strange circumstance and set of events.
The men have come and laid hold of Jesus:
(51) “And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear.”
Thanks to John’s gospel we know that Peter was the one involved here.
No doubt Peter was going for the man’s head,
But the man ducked and Peter got an ear.
Now let me tell you one reason this is peculiar.
John tells us that Judas came not only with the temple police,
But with a Roman cohort.
A Roman cohort was 600 soldiers, add that to the temple police and it is quite likely that there was an army of 1,000 people there to arrest Jesus.
And yet Peter is going to free Jesus with just his sword?
But again we have Peter walking in the strength of his flesh.
He is trying to solve the problem
The way he had always solved his problems; by brute force.
(it is a shame when men revert to their old way of strength)
But Jesus quickly sets the matter straight
(52) “Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.
In other words, “Peter if you fight with the sword then you will only be guilty before Rome and they will kill you for your treason”
Paul told us that governing authorities, “don’t bear the sword for nothing”
And that is what Jesus is referring to.
All Peter was going to accomplish was to get himself killed,
He wasn’t going to save Jesus.
Beyond that, saving Jesus was not part of the plan:
(53) “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
We read that and realize that Peter
Must have looked pretty pathetic in the eyes of Jesus.
“Peter, if I wanted to be delivered, do you think I’d ask you?”
I can call all the angels of heaven to my defense if I desire.
If I wanted them dead, I wouldn’t ask you.
Beyond that:
(54) “How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”
Is that not what Jesus had just been wrestling with in the garden?
Jesus had just spent that time in prayer
Searching out the truth to this very issue.
Was there any other way?
And the answer is no.
It is as though Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Sure, deliver Me, but how were you planning on saving humanity?”
This has to happen.
Isaiah 53:6 “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”
The only way for sinners to be saved
Is if the righteous takes their punishment.
This has to happen.
Now I’m sure Peter thought he was defending the Messiah.
I’m sure Peter thought he was doing his part to make sure
That the Messiah came to His throne, and earned His kingdom.
But the reality is that the kingdom of heaven
Does not appear through the death of sinners.
God’s kingdom appears through the death of His Son.
That is the way false-religions think.
Islam thinks if they can kill all the infidels
Then theirs will be the only religion on earth.
But that is not how the kingdom of Christ became real.
God didn’t kill the opposition, God redeemed them.
And all of that is backward to human thinking.
Humans think you squash the opposition and then
When no one is left to oppose you, you can do what you want.
That is walking by the flesh.
That is what Peter is doing.
God accomplishes His will through the power of His Spirit.
A Sickening Betrayal, A Senseless Impulse
#3 A STRANGE ARREST
Matthew 26:55-56a
Again, what we see happening here is a very strange thing.
Jesus even comments on the peculiarity of the scene.
(55) “At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me.”
When you think about it, this is so strange.
We know that Judas betrayed Jesus to them, but what was the charge?
They don’t even know.
And that is part of the point.
It’s as though Jesus looks at the army and says,
“Do you even know why you are arresting Me?”
Did I ever appear to you to be the kind of criminal that required such an army?
How many times was I right there in the temple teaching the word of God?
Why did you think you needed all of this force and strength?
But this is not happening according to the logic of man.
This is happening according to the sovereign decree of God.
(56a) “But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets.”
This is happening because God said it would happen.
The betrayal, the animosity, the arrest, this was all part of the plan.
God ordained that His Son would be handed over to sinners.
God ordained that His Son would be crucified.
And that is why it is all happening.
Everything about it is wrong, and yet it is still occurring.
A Sickening Betrayal, A Senseless Impulse, A Strange Arrest
#4 A SAD FULFILLMENT
Matthew 26:56b
“Then all the disciples left Him and fled.”
Why is that strange?
Because no more than 3 hours ago they had all pledged to die with Him.
Matthew 26:35 “Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.” All the disciples said the same thing too.”
All of these tough talkers…
And yet they all had one glaring flaw:
They all walked in their own strength.
I hope God will permit us when we are done with Matthew’s gospel
To embark on a study of the Holy Spirit.
He really is the difference maker.
See, as Christians you and I have two options every day.
One is the way of weakness, fear, stumbling and failure
The other is the way of power and courage and righteousness and overcoming temptation.
The first is to walk by the flesh.
The second is to walk by the Spirit.
And if you want to see a picture of the first, just look at these disciples.
• They boasted too loud
• They prayed too little
• They slept too much
• They acted too impulsively
And when push came to shove
They had no strength, no courage, no conviction, no ability.
They all failed miserably.
In fact, they would never succeed again, were it not for
The power they were given on the day of Pentecost.
But here you have these strong men running in fear,
And they weren’t even under arrest.
And that again is just backward and wrong.
In reality the whole thing has been backward and wrong.
• We have traitors kissing
• We have disciples fighting
• We have angels resting
• We have the innocent arrested
• We have followers fleeing
Nothing about that is right.
Everything there is wrong.
None of that should have happened.
UNLESS
Man was going to be saved from the sin that enslaved Him.
If man need not be saved, then:
• Judas doesn’t even get access to Jesus, let alone the chance to betray
• Peter doesn’t even use a sword, because angels are already winning the battle
• Jesus isn’t even under arrest because He has done nothing wrong
• And His followers have no need to flee because He is in no danger
That is the way the scene would look, if salvation were not necessary.
BUT:
• If man is to saved…
• If sinners are to be delivered…
• If God’s wrath is to be appeased…
Then the most backward of circumstances had to unfold.
Not only does this sinless Son of God
Have to be betrayed, arrested, and deserted,
But He also has to die upon a Roman cross for sins He did not commit.
Romans 5:6-8 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
This was all wrong, but it was the only way
Things could be made right.
AND JESUS SUBMITTED TO IT
You’ll never find a better example of submission than the arrest of Jesus.
• He is accepting the Father’s will.
• He is submitting to an unjust arrest.
• He is refusing Peter’s sword.
• He is neglecting to call 10,000 angels.
• He is taking that cup of God’s wrath both hands and preparing to drink it
down.
Nothing about this scene makes since,
Unless you look at it through the eyes of a loving God
Who was determined to save His chosen.
Thank God for the wonder of this salvation.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
