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A. The Arrest of Jesus

After Jesus completed his “farewell discourse” (John 13:31—16:33) and prayed for his disciples and all believers (John 17:6–26), he and his disciples left the city of Jerusalem, crossed the Kidron Valley, and entered the garden that was called Gethsemane (“the place of the oil-press”) on the Mount of Olives. This secluded garden was a favorite retreat for them all (Luke 22:39; John 18:1–2).

There Jesus prayed with such intense anguish as he anticipated his imminent suffering that would end in death that his sweat dripped like clotted blood and an angel was sent from heaven to strengthen him physically (Luke 22:41–44) lest he should die prematurely.1 At this time he was “overwhelmed by sorrow . . . to the point of death” (Mark 14:34), not consumed by fear as he faced death.2

Immediately after Jesus’ third session of agonizing prayer (Mark 14:33–43), Judas entered Gethsemane at the head of an arresting party3 that carried lanterns, torches, and weapons, and that comprised three groups: a band of Roman soldiers under the control of the “commanding officer” or “tribune”; Temple police provided by the Sanhedrin; and certain chief priests and elders (Luke 22:52; John 18:3). Why such a sizeable company to arrest one man? It seems that the Jewish leaders anticipated resistance to the arrest of Jesus and so they were given, perhaps by Pilate, a precautionary reinforcement in the form of a detachment of Roman soldiers of considerable size.4

On the arrival of this diverse group, Jesus emerged from the relative darkness of the garden into the light and enquired who it was they were looking for. When they answered, “Jesus of Nazareth,” he identified himself with the words “I am he.” At this, says John (18:6), “they drew back and fell to the ground.” Why this embarrassing retreat of the arresting party? They were surprised by Jesus’ sudden emergence from the shadows of the garden orchard and his prompt self-surrender in an authoritative tone, without any violence on his part. Also, when he identified himself, Jesus used one of God’s most awe-inspiring self-designations—“I AM” (egō eimi in Greek)—that would have been immediately recognized by the chief priests and elders present, by Judas, and by at least some of the Temple police.

This retreat prompted Jesus to ask again, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they said. Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. Now if you are looking for me, let these men [my disciples] go on their way” (John 18:7–8). In saying this, Jesus the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14) and the helper-protector (cf. John 14:16) was protecting his sheep.

At some stage during these proceedings, Judas stepped forward and gave the soldiers a pre-arranged signal to identify Jesus. He addressed him with the greeting “Rabbi!” and gave him a kiss (Mark 14:44–45).

As soon as Jesus was arrested, Peter drew out a short sword that he had probably concealed under his cloak and sliced off the right ear of the high priest’s servant (John 18:10). This prompted Jesus’ immediate directive, “Put your sword back into its sheath! All who draw the sword will die by the sword. How can I possibly refuse to drink the cup the Father has given me?” (Matt 26:52; John 18:11).

Peter may have been carrying a concealed sword because he took Jesus’ words in Luke 22:36, 38 literally: “‘If you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.’ . . . The disciples said, ‘See, Lord, here are two swords.’ ‘That’s enough!’ Jesus replied.” In this way he cut short any further discussion of the topic of “change of provision because of change of circumstance.” Peter was not arrested for his action, probably because Jesus immediately healed the severed ear (Luke 22:51), and because it was possibly uncertain who was responsible for the assault, and because there may have been a scuffle involving the disciples.

With Peter’s misguided rescue mission thwarted, all of Jesus’ disciples fled for safety (Matt 26:56; Mark 14:50–53), leaving Jesus alone, to be escorted in bonds and under guard to the palace of Annas and the beginning of his Jewish trial.

B. The Trials of Jesus

As recorded by the Gospel writers, there were two separate trials involving Jesus. In his Jewish trial he was charged with blasphemy: it was alleged he was a messianic pretender who claimed he would sit at God’s right hand (Matt 26:59–66; John 19:7). In his Roman trial he was charged with treason: it was alleged that he was a political agitator who claimed kingship (Luke 23:2–3, 5; John 18:33–39).

1. The Jewish Trial

The order of events in this trial is uncertain when we seek to correlate the Gospel accounts, but the following is one reconstruction of events that is defensible. Three stages may be discerned.

(a) A preliminary, informal, and unofficial enquiry by Annas, the senior ex-high priest (John 18:12–14, 19–24), probably held in Annas’s quarters within the palace (cf. Matt 26:3) of his son-in-law, Caiaphas, the current high priest.5 Annas questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. In the latter case Annas was perhaps trying to decide whether Jesus was a false prophet and so worthy of death (cf. Deut 13:1–11). Jesus responded by appealing to the total openness of his teaching in synagogue and temple; he had not created a secret society and was no conspirator. When he suggested that the high priest should call witnesses regarding the content of his teaching, he was slapped in the face by an official standing near who said, “Is that any way to answer the high priest?” Jesus’ pointed objection to this mistreatment was legitimate. He knew that regular Jewish legal procedure was to call witnesses, not to cross-examine the accused with a view to causing self-incrimination. Then, still in fetters, Jesus is sent off to Caiaphas.

(b) A formal interrogation at night (Thursday) by a council (perhaps a quorum) of the Sanhedrin under its president Caiaphas in his palace (Matt 26:59–68; Mark 14:55–65; Luke 22:66–71). Various witnesses spoke against Jesus, but their testimony did not agree. In frustration Caiaphas called for Jesus’ response: “Do you have no reply to make to the charges these men are bringing against you?” When Jesus remained silent, Caiaphas put him on oath: “Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” To this Jesus answered, “The words are yours. But I tell all of you: from this time on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Almighty and coming on the clouds of heaven.” It seems it was this conjunction of two messianic passages—Dan 7:13–14 and Ps 110:1—that prompted Caiaphas to accuse Jesus of blasphemy. “Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, you have just heard his blasphemy” (Matt 26:65).6

(c) Ratification of the council’s decision very early in the morning (Friday) by the whole Sanhedrin (Matt 27:1–2; Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1).7 This involved a rehearsing of the discussion that had taken place on Thursday night and also a reformulation of their religious indictment in political terms appropriate for Pilate (Luke 23:2). Having resolved to take action against Jesus and have him executed, they bound him and handed him over to Pilate to obtain his confirmation of their death sentence as was required (John 18:31b, “we are not permitted to execute anyone”) and so that Jesus would die by crucifixion, not stoning (Luke 23:21, 23, 25).

2. The Roman Trial

Here, too, we can isolate three stages in the proceedings.

(a) Pilate interrogates Jesus (Matt 27:11–14; John 18:28–38). This began “early (in the morning),” during the fourth “watch,” 3 to 6 a.m. Probably some prior arrangement with Pilate enabled this very early start (5 a.m.?); the Jewish hierarchy may have anticipated a crisis precipitated by Jesus’ arrest. When Pilate surprises the Jewish leaders by demanding a formal indictment, they reply (somewhat insolently) that if Jesus were not a criminal they would not have handed him over. Jesus replies to the governor’s blunt question, “Are you the king of the Jews?” by pointing out the radical difference between his kingdom and any earthly kingdom. “My kingdom comes from elsewhere.” He cannot deny his kingship but he divorces it from any political, seditious, or earthly sense. “So, then, you are a king?” Pilate concludes. But Jesus must distance himself from all the implications of kingship in Pilate’s mind. “You are saying that I am a king” or “‘King’ is your word.” Jesus proceeds to link his kingship with his declaration of truth, but this exasperates Pilate who tries to dismiss the case by saying to the Jews gathered there, “I find no basis for a charge against him.”

(b) Pilate sends Jesus to Herod Antipas who questions Jesus (Luke 23:6–12). This is part of the Roman trial in the sense that Pilate initiated this action during the trial when he heard that Jesus was a Galilean and therefore under Herod’s power. Herod was in his palace in Jerusalem (a mere ten-minute walk from Pilate) for Passover, probably as a religious and political gesture. Pilate may have had two motives for his action—to pass over to Herod, or at least to share with Herod, the responsibility for condemning Jesus; and to mend relations with Herod (cf. Luke 13:1–2; 23:12).

At first Herod was excited to see Jesus in person and plied him with many questions. But when Jesus did not respond and his Jewish accusers repeated the charges they had made before Pilate, Herod’s demeanor changed and he joined his soldiers in ridiculing Jesus (Luke 23:11). Like Pilate before him, Herod had found no ground for condemning Jesus to death (Luke 23:14–15).

(c) Pilate’s remonstrance with the Jewish leaders and the crowd (Matt 27:15–26; Mark 15:6–15; Luke 23:13–25; John 18:39—19:7, 12–16). On three separate occasions Pilate declared Jesus’ innocence (Luke 23:4, 14–15, 22; John 18:38; 19:4, 6) and he made four attempts to avoid sentencing Jesus to death: he suggested the case could be tried in Jewish courts (John 18:31); he sent Jesus to Herod Antipas (Luke 23:6–12); he appealed to the custom of releasing one prisoner at Passover (John 18:39–40); and he had Jesus flogged (John 19:1). In spite of all this, the chief priests and their officials, along with the crowds incited by them, incessantly demanded that Pilate order Jesus to be crucified. Their repeated cry, “Crucify! Crucify!” without an object expressed (John 19:6) had become a simple slogan, calling for Pilate’s urgent action. The Jewish leadership realized that if Jesus was crucified (rather than stoned) he would be totally discredited in the eyes of his fellow-Jews, since “anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse” (Deut 21:23). Under Pilate’s further questioning, this time about his origin, Jesus remained silent, knowing that Pilate would not understand a straightforward reply.

After Pilate had made further unspecified efforts to set Jesus free (John 19:12), the tactics of the Jewish hierarchy change. No longer do they level a religious charge against Jesus, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God” (John 19:7). They use their “trump card.” “If you set this man free, you are no friend of the Emperor’s. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes the Emperor” (John 19:12). For Pilate to protect—or to be reported to Rome as protecting—a rebel against the Emperor would be disastrous for his tenure as prefect of Judea. And later, after he had paraded Jesus and announced, “Here is your king!” the chief priests declare, “The Emperor is the only king we have,” thus rejecting their status as God’s people with God as their king. Exasperated, Pilate lets them have their way and delivers Jesus into the custody of the soldiers of the execution squad.

A possible time-line for the twelve hours from 9 p.m. on Thursday to 9 a.m. on Friday shows the urgency with which the Jewish authorities acted after the arrest of Jesus.

• Prayer in Gethsemane: 9 to 11 p.m. Thursday

• Arrest: about midnight

• Before Annas: about 1 a.m.

• Before a council of the Sanhedrin: between 2 and 4 a.m.

• Before the whole Sanhedrin: about 5 a.m.

• Before Pilate: 5 to 6 a.m.

• To Herod and back to Pilate: 7 to 8 a.m.

• Jesus sentenced to be crucified: 8 a.m.

• Crucifixion: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

1. In Luke 22:44 (“[Jesus], being in anguish . . .” ) we find the only New Testament use of the word ἀγωνία (agōnia) which refers to anguish in the face of impending ills (BDAG 17b). The verse also indicates that Jesus’ sweat became “like (ὡς, hōs) drops of blood that fall to the ground.” The word “like” shows this was not a case of “bloody sweat” (hematidrosis, a hemorrhage into the sweat glands), as is sometimes suggested.

2. Harris, Prepositions and Theology, 65, 247.

3. In John 18:3 λαβών (labōn, literally, “having taken”) refers to Judas’s guidance of the arrest party to the garden where he knew Jesus and his disciples would be gathered (cf. Luke 22:39, 47); Acts 1:16 mentions that Judas “served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.” This participle does not imply Judas assumed military control of the group; indeed, λαβών may simply mean “with” (BDF §418 [5]).

4. Σπεῖρα (speira) is technically a “cohort” (six hundred Roman soldiers) but here denotes either a “maniple” (two hundred soldiers) or simply “a band/detachment of soldiers.”

5. The word “first” (πρῶτον, prōton) or “to begin with” (BDAG 893b) in John 18:13 hints at a later trial, the one conducted before Caiaphas ([1(b)] in the text) as recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke (who all omit any mention of the earlier trial before Annas).

6. Turner suggests that ἠκούσατε (ēkousate) in Matt 26:65 could be appropriately rendered “detected,” reflecting Caiaphas’s appeal to the scholarly minds of the Sanhedrin (Turner, Insights, 89). In an article entitled “You Have Heard His Blasphemy,” D. Catchpole has examined the principal proposed identifications of the blasphemy: the claim to be Messiah; the claim to be Son of God; speaking against the Temple; the claim to be God; the claim to sit at God’s right hand (10–18).

7. In Jesus’ Jewish trial there may have been at least four violations of the legal procedures set down in Mishnah tractate Sanhedrin: it took place (1) in the palace of the high priest, (2) at night, (3) on a feast day; and (4) a guilty verdict was reached on the same day. But it is not certain that all of these regulations applied at the time of Jesus’ trial.