The Gospel of Luke
Chapter 22
Luke has not been careful to give us a detailed chronology of Jesus’ movements during the last week of His life. Instead, we get the important events within the week—and then we get Thursday. This last day of Jesus’ free life centered around the celebration of Passover, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. The Jewish authorities had decided to wait until after the Feast to arrest and kill Jesus, but the betrayal by Judas made it possible for them to seize Him without a riot and have Him eliminated before He could gain any more followers during this holiday.
The Traitor—Luke 22:1-6
Although Luke places the betrayal here (a logical place, given what follows) it likely occurred earlier in the week, perhaps on Tuesday or Wednesday. The authorities had already made up their minds to have Jesus judicially killed, but they lacked opportunity with great crowds hanging on His words. Then Judas allowed the devil to have control of him. This was no “possession,” but rather the deliberate surrender of Judas to evil plotting. He met with the armed guards who protected the Temple and kept order, and discussed how he could deliver Jesus into their hands. Naturally, they were delighted with an insider providing access to Jesus in a private setting, and a bargain was struck. From this moment, Judas was working for them—and looking for an opening.
The Supper—Luke 22:7-38
Daytime Thursday was the time for the tens of thousands of lambs to be slaughtered in order for the Passover meal to be celebrated that evening. Knowing that the authorities would have chosen that evening meal as the perfect opportunity to arrest Jesus while He was isolated from any large groups, Jesus took precautions and none of His disciples knew where the group was to enjoy the festival meal. He had made arrangements, however, and sent Peter and John to make the necessary preparations. They encountered the expected messenger, who was carrying a jar of water (an unusual sight in a world where women typically obtained the household water). They came with him to the house where a room was ready for them, and they finalized the preparations for the feast.
That evening, Jesus and the rest joined them and the meal was enjoyed. Sundown signaled the beginning of a new day—Friday, which would end much differently from its beginning. Jesus had a deep desire to enjoy this dinner with His disciples before the final fulfillment of His sacrifice. There were typically four cups of wine shared at the meal; Jesus took one and commanded them to “divide it” among themselves. Later He took bread and blessed and broke it, identifying it with His body and commanding His followers to remember Him in this way. Then He identified the cup of wine as His blood of the new covenant, poured out for them. That Judas had not yet left the group is shown by Jesus stating that the betrayer was still present. Betrayal was Judas’ choice even though Jesus’ death was God’s eternal plan. The disciples began to dispute with each other about the identity of the betrayer, but that seems to have led to a shameful discussion about hierarchy and status among the apostles. It is probably in response to this kind of selfish jockeying that Jesus got up and took up the towel and washed their feet, as recorded in John 13.
He definitely corrected
them, though, and laid down the everlasting principle that the path to greatness
is the path of service, just as He served. Their reward would never be a
physical kingdom but rather a spiritual throne where they would serve as the
leaders (judges) of assembled Israel. A
time of testing and trial was approaching for them all, but Simon Peter was singled out for special attention. Jesus knew that he would fail, but He prayed for Peter to turn to Him again and to encourage his fellow disciples afterward. With typical bravado, Simon declared that he was ready for anything, including injury or death. Jesus responded by predicting Peter’s three-fold denial before dawn. Then He turned to the rest of the disciples to tell them that their former experience would change. Sheltered by God’s power in their earlier preaching endeavors, they must now take reasonable and normal precautions—those heady days were at an end. One normal precaution would include a sword for defense, and the disciples pointed out that they had two swords with them! Jesus dismissed the discussion.
The Garden—Luke 22:39-53
Jesus’ usual practice was to exit the city and spend the night on the Mount of Olives. Tonight would be no exception, so He went out and the disciples with Him—except for Judas. He arrived at His usual place and urged His followers to pray to avoid temptation. Then He moved away a bit and prayed in great anguish, knowing that He was about to experience an event so terrible that the memory of the torture is enshrined in our word, “excruciating,” drawing its meaning from “out of the cross.” Jesus declared Himself dedicated to the will of the Father even in the face of this grotesquely unfair abuse. An angel came and encouraged Him, and again He prayed and His intensity resulted in sweat that fell to the ground in large, thick drops. He returned to the disciples to discover that their heavy meal, the lateness of the hour and the depression that had seized them had borne them down into sleep. Jesus roused them and called upon them to pray for their own safety from temptation.
It was in that moment that the trap was sprung. Still in fear of a riot, the Temple authorities had dispatched a large group to arrest Jesus. Judas stepped forward to identify Jesus with a kiss of friendship, and Jesus confronted him with his treachery. The disciples scrambled awake and stepped forward to defend Him. John 18:10 identifies Peter as the one who tried to kill Malchus, but only succeeded in clipping off his ear. Jesus halted this violence and healed the servant, giving no excuse to the chief priests for calling Him a revolutionary. Just as Jesus had confronted Judas with his treachery, so He now confronted these thugs with their own duplicity. Had He actually been a lawbreaker, they would have arrested Him in the daylight, in the Temple, and with confidence. But since they knew He was innocent, they needed darkness to fulfill their evil plans.
The Fulfillment—Luke 22:54-71
Once again, Luke is not concerned to give us a careful and forensic detailing of the accusations and trials of Jesus. He tells us that the entire farce was hatched and concluded in the home of the High Priest. He also tells us of Peter’s entrance into the courtyard—a courageous act placing him in the center of the opposition. However, his courage failed when a girl pointed him out as a follower of Jesus. One denial led to another, then another later on. After the third denial, the rooster crowed—and Jesus turned away from His accusers and looked directly at the stricken Peter, who could only run outside and weep bitter tears.
Meanwhile, Jesus suffered ongoing abuse, administered with fists and spit and insults by Temple guards. The scrupulous priests could never condemn a prisoner in a night-time trial, so as soon as daybreak came, they demanded that Jesus declare whether He is, in fact, the Christ. If He admitted to being the Messiah, they could claim He was a revolutionary. Jesus refused to answer them and they demanded to know whether He were the Son of God. He stated that they identified Him correctly, and that was all the admission they needed to demand His death.